1. EDGY

“What do you want?” The fat slug with big-ass glasses and messy white hair asked in a nasally voice.

I moved up to the scratched and rusted desk.

“Claiming the bounty on Grel Edora.”

She scoffed, like she didn’t believe me. “You got any proof?”

I placed the silver hexagonal cryo box on the table and pushed the switch. The panels unfolded and revealed Grel’s preserved head. The part that survived after he tried to run from me and got melted by plasma. He looked like he was going to have a heart attack when I stormed his ship and disintegrated his crew.

The giant slug apathetically leaned forward and then sighed. “Wait here. I’ll be back shortly.”

We must have very different interpretations of the word “shortly” because I had to sit there and wait for over twenty minutes. I sat down on the fucked up benches that looked like a pack of pit bulls had mauled them. As I did, I shook my red hair out of my right eye. Between losing my pay and other unplanned expenses, I was broke. It was either sit here and wait or go back to raiding, hoping someone carried valuable goods in this goddamn sector. Was not having the best luck with that. Closing my eyes, I turned up the black metal song I was playing on my way to this sad excuse for a bounty office. I adjusted my long, red leather jacket and eyed the handgun on my hip. It tempted me to make more holes in this place, but judging from the look of things, they had nothing valuable. The gun had a logo on its side featuring a winged woman’s silhouette and the name HH CUSTOMS around her in a ring. Money was tight, so I couldn’t buy new guns from there.

As the eight-minute song finished, I saw her slinking from a room behind the desk. The giant slug stabbed a needle into the half-melted face. She looked down at me as it began processing. I guess she didn’t think a short penguin in a long red coat with red hair and eyes could kill a ruthless warlord like Grel. That meant she didn’t know who I was.

The device beeped. The slug’s brow raised, and then she huffed and started typing on her bulky keyboard. She stared at her 90s-style off-white computer. Don’t know what this lady’s problem was, but she seemed annoyed about doing some work for a change.

“Enter your account information. We’ll wire you three hundred credits within twenty-four standard hours.”

Following her instructions, I left the head there. I wouldn’t have taken such a dog-shit bounty if I wasn’t hurting for cash. Annoyed with the whole thing, I searched for a liquor store and some food. All the people on planet Noron lived in underground cities. The surface was too hot because of the dual suns, one blue and one orange. I looked at the artificial sky that mimicked the surface. It was all assembled with panels. The smell of broth and fried seafood drew me to a shop selling noodle bowls for cheap. Then I found a liquor store, got the strongest of the cheapest shit they had, and headed back to my red and black ship. The central body’s back ended at a point like a sword tip.

The front had a narrow neck, an angular visor in orange-yellow, a jaw horn, and a head horn. Its main body had two bulkier arms with orange and red lights on top and bottom, branching out into two thrusters. The thrusters were smooth pointed blades that glowed red and emitted glowing red particles when engaged. My ship had a raptor-like appearance, according to people. I could see it, especially with the two laser cannons on the underside. On the back were two oval-shaped pods, housing six missiles each. The two angled triangular panels in between them hid the heavy cannon. The Vermillion was a ship designed for high-mobility combat. It had seen a ton of that over the last Universal Standard month. When I entered the ship, I spotted the two freeloaders: Jeff and Todd. Jeff was pressuring Todd to do something.

“Yo, how’d it go?” Jeff asked as I walked in. Jeff and I were both penguins, but he was shorter, fatter, and had a wider beak and blue eyes.

“They talking about twenty-four standard hours.”

Jeff took a sip of his beer. “Damn, that’s slow.”

“No shit,” I grumbled as I worked on my noodles.

Jeff adjusted his long blond hair. He had tied back most of it, but he styled the front with gel into jagged strips. Not sure why he does that.

Jeff smiled and turned to Todd. “Well, now we have lots of time to go to the Cadence Nightclub.”

You’d think Jeff said he was taking Todd to the gallows with how horrified he looked.

“Absolutely not!” Todd shouted as his large glasses almost fell off his face.

He was also a penguin, but scrawnier than both of us, had no hair, a longer beak, and green eyes. He fidgeted with the purple beanie on his head and his T-shirt with some anime chick on it with a spear.

“Aw, come on, man. What are you gonna do, stay cooped up in your room?” Jeff insisted while grinning. Even though I couldn’t smell it, I knew he was high.

“Yes!”

“Boring!”

I didn’t have a dog in this fight, but seeing Todd looking like he was shitting bricks made me smile. Todd looked at me, hoping I’d bail him out. Although I thought it would make for a funny story or silence on the ship, I now wish I had done it with hindsight being 20/20. Either way seemed like a win-win for me.

“Go with Jeff and get some drinks. What’s the worst that can happen?”

Famous. Last. Words. Realizing he wasn’t getting my help, Todd’s head drooped in defeat, and he meekly nodded, saying he would go with Jeff to the club.

“Sweet! Trust me, man. Once you get a good buzz and you check out some of the honeys there, you’ll be fine.”

Before Todd could object, Jeff snatched him and dragged him to his room, saying he would get Todd club-ready. I devoured the noodles and broth, turned on the holographic display, and began watching something, unaware of the nightmare to come.

---

2. TODD

I wanted to turn back and run, but Jeff wasn’t giving me a chance. I will say, City 15, or C15 as the locals called it, is pretty looking for an underground city, especially the holographic night sky above us. Ads and holograms surrounded us, but that wasn’t the issue. An ear-splitting boom emanated from the nightclub. Even before we were close to it, I felt the bass. The number of people increased as we got closer to the club. It made me want to return to the ship and binge another season of anime I bought from inter-dimensional traders. My flippers shook, and I found it hard to breathe as Jeff weaved between people. I kept my eyes down to the floor and whispered, “excuse me,” to anyone I bumped into.

“Come on, Todd, we’re almost there!” Jeff shouted.

“W-wait up!”

A tall alien bumped into me with their knee, and I almost fell onto the rocky soil. I didn’t want to dirty up the oversized black and blue shirt Jeff insisted I wear. He strived to get me to ditch my glasses, but I can hardly make things out without them, and I had to remind him by demonstrating it. He forced me to leave my beanie at home. Jeff traded his hoodie for a blue T-shirt with white sleeves, while mine had black sleeves. We saw the club in the distance. The structure resembled a dome with a protruding tower. Animated holograms with silhouettes of dancing women surrounded it. The dome kept shifting from white to purple, in sync with the high BPM electronic music they blasted us with. When we rounded the corner, we saw how bad the line was. My jaw hit the floor.

Jeff recoiled and turned to me. “I guess they weren’t kidding about this place always being packed. We might be here a while.”

“A while!? The line’s going halfway around the block! We’ll be stuck out here for hours!” I snapped.

I tried to turn around, but three aliens about seven feet tall each got in line behind us.

Jeff shrugged. “Relax, man. We’ll be in there before you know it.”

Now would be a terrible time to mention I’m profoundly agoraphobic, wouldn’t it? I’d rather be on the ship than in this queue. Jeff just stood there listening to the music and then pulled out a joint.

“What are you doing!?”

“Pre-gaming.” He reached into his other pocket and pulled out a silver flask. “Want some? It’s cheap, but it’ll get you buzzed.”

I don’t drink, and whenever I do, it’s because either Jeff or Edgy pressured me into it, kind of like right now. I shook my head. Jeff insisted I take some to calm down, but I refused. He shrugged and threw his head back and took a heavy sip, then he grimaced, closed it, put it away, and went to his joint. We lingered for an unknown amount of time, but my feathers felt itchy and breathing became difficult.

“Bruh, you sure you don’t want some?” Jeff asked, looking back at me. “Man, you gotta ease up sometimes.”

“E-e-ease up!? I’m stuck in this giant line with you h-h-how am I supposed to ease up!?”

Jeff inhaled from his joint and then blew the smoke out. “I mean, you got two options, and you might wanna hurry and pick because both of ’em going fast.”

Against my better judgment, I took the flask of alcohol. It tasted and burned like mouthwash as the booze went down. It somehow got worse when it hit my chest, and I found myself hunched over and coughing for several seconds.

“Yeah…when our money problems are fixed, I can get better stuff.”

It took me a while to stop coughing as I gave Jeff the flask. I saw the club gates as the line picked up speed. Gray, petite androids in tuxedo vests and short shorts acted as bouncers. I wondered about the small robots at the entrance until someone in line answered. He stepped out of line and started brawling with a smaller bug-looking alien, and one android zeroed in on him like a rabid cheetah. It took me a minute to realize what happened as the little android girl’s arm became a cannon. She zapped both potential customers after diving into a combat roll and landing in a crouch like an 80s action movie star.

They twitched like a fish out of water on the floor. The robot stood up, and her cannon transformed back into an arm. The line cheered and shouted at the android, instead of being scared.

I understood why as I watched her turn around and strut back to the entrance. Jeff elbowed me and smirked. He made fun of me for staring at the android, but others were also ogling as she passed by. They charged three-hundred credits per person at the entrance. Jeff winced and looked back at me.

“Goddamn, this place ain’t cheap.”

“P-please tell me you got this?” I whispered. I only had a hundred credits. I didn’t think to ask Edgy for more.

Jeff pulled out his credit chip, checked, and sighed. “Yeah, fam, we good.”

The android, which previously expelled two people from the line, required payment for tickets. Jeff paid, and the robot welcomed us inside. As we walked in, I took one last look at her back.

The interior was massive. A DJ booth and music equipment rested in the center, floating high above. The walls pulsed and flashed with trippy audio visualizers that matched the music and displayed info on what drinks they had and any specials. They packed the purple dance floor with people, hindering visibility. Androids danced on elevated platforms and metal poles. These androids wore less than the bouncers and had lights on their thighs and abdomens, but most of their bodies hid in the dark lighting.

The purple colors hid a lot of the club’s details. As they shoved us deeper into the nightclub, I saw multiple levels above, with dozens of people partying, drinking, and having fun.

“Oh, this is wild man!” Jeff proclaimed.

“W-what do we do now?”

“Get drinks, food and hit on girls.”

Three bars flanked the dance floor. Jeff headed over to one of them, and I followed his lead as two seats were open. The bartender was a tall alien with tentacles sprouting from her head. Three eyes, with one in the middle of her forehead, were present on her face. A holographic menu came up the minute we sat down, showing all the drinks. The menu displayed some drinks with confusing and complicated terminology. The bartender tried to smile despite her scary mouth full of dagger-like teeth while she created and served multiple drinks with her tendrils. Jeff ordered some fancy drink that came in a tall glass and was a mix of black and purple liquid. I got a simpler red drink. We delighted in watching the bartender make both of our drinks. She must’ve known we were new because she showed off and tossed the mixers into the air and caught them a second before they hit the glasses she had set up.

The other patrons cheered as she poured both drinks. Although I had little, I tipped her. Jeff knocked his glass into mine and told me to drink up. The carbonated drink I ordered tasted sweet, but then the bitter taste of the booze kicked in.

“Damn, this is good. How’s yours?” Jeff asked as he drank more of his.

“It’s, um, it’s pretty good.”

While I wanted to enjoy my drink, Jeff was eager to finish his and go dancing. While we watched, I noticed someone that stood out. She was about my height and looked human, with long white hair. When the lights flashed, I saw she was wearing a low-cut shirt showing off her chest. The woman weaved through the crowds like a dance. I couldn’t explain it, but I felt something was wrong with her. Jeff elbowed me to tell me to finish my drink, and when I looked back to where I last saw her, she was gone. I finished my drink, and I wished I hadn’t.

Jeff yanked me onto the dance floor. I didn’t dance and people kept shoving me around. Jeff flapped about to the rhythm of the music while I struggled to breathe with all these people around me. At some point, Jeff started dancing with some alien and left me alone towards the dance floor’s outer layer. I wanted out. My heart felt like it would pop out of my chest. I started making my way toward the bar. As I did, I must’ve tripped on something; I fell flat on my face. I also hit someone and got an ice-cold drink poured on me.

Someone snatched me by my collar and started yelling. I flinched. They didn’t hit me. I saw the white-haired girl there. She had her hand on the angry guy’s wrist. The creature holding me froze, and I saw his eyes widen. Then he dropped me and stepped back. Whatever she had said or done made him let it go. The woman turned back and smiled at me when I stood up. Her eyes were heterochromatic: one yellow and one red. Her long white hair was split into two tails.

“Sorry about that. Some people here can be touchy,” she spoke.

I tried to thank her, but I found it hard to talk. For once, a pretty girl talked to me and didn’t call me a dork. The girl grabbed my arm and pulled me off the dance floor and back towards the bar. The bartender got me napkins, and the woman ordered two drinks. When the bar lights flashed, I got a glimpse of her exposed long legs. She had legs like a model. I hoped she didn’t catch me looking. The bartender handed her the two drinks. She took one and slid the other to me.

“Huh?”

“That one is yours,” she smiled and took a sip of her drink.

Her fingernails were long and coated in a reflective, glossy black. With each dazzle of light, it became more evident that this woman was stunning and impossibly out of my league. I took the other drink and sipped it. I didn’t care about the taste. The booze kicked in, and I relaxed somewhat.

“Thank you,” I said.

She smiled and leaned on the bar back. Something about the smirk made my heart skip a beat. She brushed her white hair behind her ear and kept smiling at me.

“You’re not from around here, are you?”

“N-no, I got dragged here by a friend of mine.”

She giggled and sipped her drink before crossing her legs. “I can tell you aren’t used to places like this.” Her long finger tapped the side of the glass in sync with the music.

On impulse, I asked her to dance. I don’t quite know what happened after this, but I know Jeff saw us because he yelled “get it Todd” at the top of his lungs. At least, I think he did. I just remember this strange scent coming off her as we danced. The atmosphere was both eerie and calming. At some point, I felt her grab my flipper and pull me.

We weren’t returning to the bar. She led me up the steps to an upper level. We stopped on the steps for a second, and she kissed the tip of my beak and then rushed higher up. The topmost level looked like some sort of VIP lounge. Android guards blocked the doors but recognized her and moved away. The lounge’s interior had a lower level inside, with a big couch and a table with a giant bottle of alcohol sitting in a bucket of ice and water. The woman led me to the couch, and then the next thing I knew, she pushed me on top of it with surprising ease.

She reached up and began undoing the bands in her hair and shook her head, letting the full mane of white down. She looked more regal this way. I realized where this was going, and I realized I had no condoms. Before I could say anything, she was on my lap, and her boobs were at my eye level. This didn’t feel real. I expected to hear my alarm go off any second now and for me to wake up with drool all over my body pillow.

But that wasn’t happening.

“W-wait, I don’t even know your name.”

She smirked, put her finger against the tip of my beak, and giggled, “Thory.”

She brought her head close to the side of my neck. Then I felt her kiss it. She repeated this a few more times, moving downwards. Her lips were cold. She put one of my flippers against her hip and under her shirt. She was colder than ice. That’s when I noticed something strange. Her body didn’t have that natural rise and fall you’d expect: she wasn’t breathing. I couldn’t feel her breath on my neck at all.

Then I felt something frigid pass into my neck, followed by something wet trickling down. Thory had a hand on my face. She shoved me into the cushion and twisted my head away from hers.

“What are you doing!?” I said.

I tried to shove her off, but she weighed ten times her size. She leaned in closer and used her other hand to pin my arm down so I couldn’t get a grip on her. I felt something wet hit my leg, and I saw it. Blood. Mine. I tried to shake her off, but her grip only tightened, and the more I fought, the heavier she became and the harder she bit me. She eased off me, and I could look and see. She was sucking my blood!

I felt her teeth retract out of my neck, then she started licking the bite and looked down at me as blood dripped from her mouth. She started licking some of it off her arm while keeping eye contact with me. Both of her eyes glowed red. Her skin turned from pale to gray, and her fingernails had gotten even longer to the point of being claws.

“Not bad for poultry,” she smiled as she licked more blood. “Wish I could take more, but I’ve got to run.”

She climbed off me. I tried to grab her, but my body felt like cement, and I hit the ground like a ton of bricks. I only pulled at the back of her black miniskirt.

“Don’t bother.” She knelt and patted the top of my head like I was a pet. “My bite has left you paralyzed. You’re not going anywhere for a while.”

“W-why!?” I said, but it was getting harder to speak.

Thory laughed. “You’re cute when confused like this.” She then lightly slapped the side of my face as I tried to crawl after her. “Aw, don’t worry, you’ll be all mine soon.”

Thory crept over to the balcony and leaned against it. She arched her back, let her hair droop off the side, and vanished after flipping over the railing. I tried to move, but Thory was telling the truth. My body wasn’t responding. I could only twitch and flail, and then my phone fell onto the carpet.

“C-call…J-J-Jeff.” I said before her neurotoxic venom stopped me.

I sat there, unable to move. I saw my blood coming out from the bite, but I couldn’t feel it or respond. My phone kept dialing, but Jeff never answered.

I struggled to tell the phone to call Edgy, and it took intense strain to get my tongue to work. I waited with bated breath as I heard it keep dialing and dialing. No one answered. I was alone.