With each movement made, the water would ripple as a trickling sound would run down my skin. With each wet touch of his that I felt, I wanted to recoil in disgust.

"I've been thinking about baby names these past few days." Bennett casually mentioned as he poured the bucket of water over my head from behind. "If it's a boy, then how about Elijah? I've always liked that name."

I want to drown in this bath. God, I can't even get a second of privacy as I'm forced to bathe with him!

"Then if it's a girl we could go with Celeste." Bennett poked his head out from behind as he grabbed my chin tenderly. "What do you think?"

What do I think? I'm thinking that I should start praying that I'm not pregnant right now. Having Bennett's kids is practically like a death sentence for me!

"The water... is cold," I said, hoping to change the subject. Bennett paused to examine the water himself before smiling at me.

"You're right. Which means it's about time we get out." He cheerily said as he wrapped a towel around me and lifted me bridal style.

Once Bennett had me tied to the bed once more, I figured that now was as good as any time to try and get some answers from him. He seems to be more knowledgeable of his kind than Cyrus is after all.

"How come the Strigets are going extinct?"

Bennett turned to look at me curiously as he went to grab a nearby oil lantern. "Why do you want to know?" He responded with hesitation.

After mulling it over I came up with an excuse. "If there's a chance that we could have hybrids I think I need to know about the history," I answered confidently. "I know about your kind's diet, but there could be other things I'm still in the dark about."

Bennett nodded his head before pulling out a lighter to light the lantern. Once he placed it along with the lighter on the nightstand, he pulled up a chair. "I'll try to keep it brief but get toasty in any case."

I tried to sit upright as I cleared my mind to give Bennett my full undivided attention. "My home planet is experiencing what you might call a meteor attack."

Oh wow, so this issue is much bigger than the people themselves. "In a few years, there will be nothing left of our home planet." Bennett looked at me sadly. "The damage is unrepairable, hence why we're slowly but surely relocating to earth."

An infiltration operation huh. Who would've thought...?

"My duty is to scout out earth and report back to my superiors." Bennett waved his hand in the air nonchalantly. "Y'know so they'd know when to attack and eat all of the humans."

...

He doesn't sugar-coat it with the whole colonisation thing huh.

"The ship I was on crash-landed into this town. I thought I was the sole survivor, but it seems like another one of my kind has also managed to survive."

Bennett turned to look at me expectantly. Geez, I can't answer that question. I only found Cyrus, even he doesn't know anything about his past before emerging from that cocoon.

"The Striget I found was hibernating in this cocoon. Maybe that's why they survived the force of the impact?" I answered as vaguely as possible.

"Is that so? I suppose they couldn't recall any of their past memories, correct?" Bennett probed further.

I didn't realise I'd be the one to get grilled for questioning. I was hoping the focus would be on him alone! "Not a single thing..." I answered in annoyance.

Bennett nodded along. "Figures. A Striget's cocoon is like a protective cryo-chamber. The only drawback is that memory loss is common given that they possess no perception of time..."

As Bennett rose to his feet, he started to stretch out his limbs with a huge grin on his face. "That's enough storytelling for now. I've got things to do..."

I cocked my head to the side, curiously. "Where are you going?" I asked hesitantly.

Without answering me, Bennett opened the closet to reveal Rohan's decomposing and half-eaten corpse. "The food has expired. So, I need to go looking for a new supply."

I visibly gagged as I turned my head away at the speed of light. I really regret asking Bennett that question now!

"Don't worry, I won't be long. Don't miss me too much!" He said before walking out the door while dragging Rohan's torso behind him.

I can't stay here any longer. I don't care how; I just need to find a way out of here! The clear option to me would be to use the lighter to burn the ropes, but I can't exactly use it seeing as I'm constricted to the spot with said rope.

Using as much power as I could, I strained my neck out to try and reach for the lighter. It took me several jerks forward but eventually, I was able to grab the lighter between my teeth.

I slowly retreated back to the bed, not daring to drop the lighter till I was fully in the clear. Once I felt calm enough, I reached towards my left wrist with the lighter still in my mouth.

I wasn't close enough to take hold of it securely. So, I had to take a risk and carefully throw it into my hand. Luckily, for me, I just barely caught it.

I wasted no more time in lighting it and burning the rope from my wrist. I winced in pain as not only did I accidentally burn myself with the lighter, but the tightness from the rope was finally gone.

I had no time to rub my wrist in relief as I had to quickly burn the other ropes before Bennett would return. Originally, I thought the hard part would be freeing myself from the bed. But nothing could prepare me for my lack of mobility.

As I pushed myself off from the bed, I collided with the hard wooden floor in a thud. Even if it weren't for the fact that I was bedridden, I still wouldn't have been able to walk. The pain from the fire poker hadn't subsided in the slightest.

Nevertheless, I'm going to keep moving! Even though all I could do was crawl, I made my way slowly but surely towards the front door. As I painfully hoisted myself up onto my knees, I was relieved to find the door unlocked.

Even if it takes me days to get out of the woods, every second that I'm not confined to that cabin feels like a breath of fresh air to me. I'd gladly take catching frostbite sooner than going back to this hellhole with Bennett!