Cold Water

Time moves sluggishly. Like the cycle of the tides, Knauss watches the ebb and flow of the lights, and the servants coming and going. The water in the tank is stagnant save for the streams of bubbles keeping the water churning, but it’s always tasted metallic.

He longs to go above water, sit on the deck and watch TV or chat with Bain. Even if most of their evenings were spent in silence, silence shared is better than watching the glassy fish eyes swim by. Even his hunger isn’t distraction enough.

Just a few more days.

He can make it a few more days.

*

Except it isn’t a few more days. Knauss isn’t sure if he simply counted the days of the week incorrectly, but he doesn’t react at first when he hears Bain’s familiar knock at the door. It’s not until the blond crashes into the room, closing the door behind him and rushing to the stairs. His boots are hard on the decking as he hurries to the edge of the water.

Blearily, Knauss pokes his head out of his den, eyebrows drawn and confused, “Bain?”

“Knauss, come here, you gotta come out right now,” Bain is speaking incredibly fast and the English is hard to understand at first before Knauss complies, swimming cautiously to the surface. When he blinks the water from his eyes he stares up at the frantic human.

“What is wrong?” He asks, swimming to the edge of the water as Bain beckons him urgently.

“There’s no time for this shit right now. Do you trust me?” Bain asks and Knauss blinks up at him. His chest tightens at the hysterical edge of his tone and there’s a moment of silence before he admits, quiet but firm.

“Yes.”

Bain stares down at him, eyes wide, before nodding and licking his lips. He reaches into his pocket and grabs his phone, “Okay, come in now. Knauss, you have to trust me okay? Don’t swim away.”

“What do you mea- “ The sound of the door clicking open cuts him off and instantly he whips around to the entrance where he sees humans coming in in a rush. There’s at least four of them, and he sees another in the hall.

“Please, Knauss, I can’t carry you on my own,” Bain is speaking quickly again and Knauss notices, for the first time, that he’s bleeding. He’s heavily favoring one side, one hand held tightly onto his upper arm.

“You are wounded,” Knauss points and Bain snorts, stepping back to give the other humans sufficient room.

“You should see the other guy. Don’t fucking touch him yet,” Bain snaps when someone reaches for Knauss. He hisses, baring his fangs and moving back from the deck defensively. Bain is practically begging when he addresses him, “No, Knauss, this is to help. They’re going to help. Can you come out of the water?”

Knauss stares at the humans, the one that had reached for him was a woman who looked properly chastised, but his skin is still crawling terribly under the attention. Did he trust this? Would he do as Bain said? Without removing his attention from the strange humans, Knauss swims back to the deck and with a single decisive, practiced movement, he hauls himself out of the water.

“Cara, get the gurney. Jacob, can you help me here?” A large man who is obviously the leader orders, pointing towards the woman from before and then another human who comes to his side. This one is a mousy looking human, timid as an anchovy with no school, and he makes eye contact hesitantly.

“Can I touch you?” he, presumably Jacob, asks. Knauss stares at him before sending a fleeting look to Bain who’d been watching the whole time.

“Yes.”

They make quick work moving him from his position on the deck onto a stretch of cloth. It takes a few hands but with Bain leading them, they make it down the stairs and out into the hall. He hadn’t dared to think what this could be, but hearing the door click shut sends Knauss’ heart fluttering.

This is happening, this is real.

He’s being taken away.

With wild eyes he looks around, taking in the sight of the hall. By the door there’s a body of a guard bleeding, but they turn the corner before he can see if the human is still breathing. He doesn’t remember much of the day he arrived, and he doesn’t know what the house looks like outside of his little room.

Out the windows he can see the night sky, the building is overlooking hills and other lights of other human buildings.

“Wait,” Bain gestures, glancing around a corner, before waving everyone forward. They go through two more doors and then, suddenly, they’re outside. Human feet crunch on the healthy grass, and then on asphalt and they’re nearly there before -

An alarm wails.

“Shit, shit, you said the system was down!” Someone snarls. Bain whips around, opening his mouth to reply before he notices something behind them and his eyes shoot wide, mouth agape.

“Fuck, run!”

“Just get the hell out of here, we’ll catch up, get him out!”

Knauss has enough time to sit up slightly, twisting to see what was going on before suddenly the night sparks. The sound is so deafening that he winces. It happens again.

Bang, bang. In rapid succession and he grits out a sharp noise of an animal wounded, humans are shouting. A door opens and he hears the distantly familiar sound of the metal beast they’ve entered revving to life. He’s seen cars on TV, but being in one is entirely different and why is he breathing so hard?

“Fucking Christ, he’s been shot?!” A woman shouts, frantic. What does that mean? English is so hard.

Humans in general are difficult. The way they stare with their terrible, human eyes. He blinks and the familiar brown of Bain’s eyes meet his. In spite of himself, Knauss clicks a greeting, his tongue sluggish and strange.

“Knauss? Man, are you okay? What the hell are you doing? Get some pressure on that,” Bain’s voice is tense and high pitched. He can feel the way the car rumbles under his back. They go around curves very quick and it makes his stomach roll in a bad way.

Knauss chances a glance down, but everything is blurry and it makes him dizzy, so he lays back. He wishes he had his glasses. There’s a pressure building in his shoulder and stomach and it’s swelling so quickly with a foreign feeling like… nothing he’s ever felt before. Like perhaps the feeling of a jellyfish, the first time he had touched one on accident. He’d never seen them before, that first trip south had been an experience. He feels hot and wet and sticky.

He blinks and suddenly there’s hands on him, pressing hard onto his shoulder and - he has to bite down on a scream. Instantly there’s more bodies on him, trying to stop his tail from thrashing and the movement just ignites more fire and Mother.

Mother, it hurts.

The fates have never been kind to him, but in that instant he begs that the Mother at least let him sleep. At least let him slip into unconsciousness.

There’s a white hot agony that fills him, poisoning his blood and his eyesight pitches hard till all he can do is keen miserably, utterly limp. His shoulder feels like he’d taken a shark bite to it, piercing the flesh and shattering bone and the ache in his stomach is nothing in comparison.

When he catches bleary sight of Bain again he chirrups desperately, English beyond his grasp. The human speaks at him, his dark eyes bright even in the dark of the vehicle. Street lamps flashing and leaving him aglow. His freckles are dark and dusted across the bridge of his nose. Vaguely he’s aware that the other humans are scrambling around him but he doesn’t take his gaze away from his human.

Knauss manages to click a few more words, awake in agony for too long before finally, blessedly, the Mother lets him rest.