BioRisk

BioRisk

Chapter warning(s): Language, M/M, Death, Murder, Some angst/dark themes, Possibly Humor

 

[:+ + + + +:]

 

CH17: “Track It back”

I remain perfectly still as I feel more than see the thin needle of the syringe slide into my arm. It withdraws a small amount of blood and before I know it, it’s gone. Taped gauze is applied to the small wound to blot all the excess bleeding.

Without a second look, the doctor abruptly departs with the blood.

Sitting on a stainless steel table, I am forced to wait alone in the small room for someone to return.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing to look at in the entire room. Just four walls and a cabinet that’s most likely filled with medical supplies.

What feels like hours (and most likely is) passes in dull, dreary silence. During my wait, I pace the tiny room like a caged animal. With each step I take, I feel closer to snapping. I also feel torn between screaming and leaving the room. I want to do both, but something keeps me grounded in the room.

As if sensing that I’m about to go mad, Vorago walks in with his eyes glued to a medical chart. He looks…pleased. For some reason that makes me feel ice cold and sick to my stomach. Nothing good can result from a happy Vorago since only bad, sick things can make that man happy.

“I have the results of your physical, Mr. Lux,” starts the skeletal man while he occasional glances up from the papers. Ugh, even his voice sounds chipper!

He doesn’t bother to wait for a response from me. “You are healthy. In fact, you are in tip top shape. Your muscle mass has increased about twenty-five percent since last month. Congratulations, Mr. Lux. You could probably pass for a soldier.”

It sounds like he’s half insulting and half complimenting me, but he’s right. I’m bigger, stronger, and healthier. I didn’t even notice any of that until this physical. Before Dhrele, I was in decent shape, but now…well, like I said, I’ve changed. I had already been aware of certain changes, like my enhanced eyesight for once, but everything else I didn’t really notice. Since Dhrele bit me, I’ve been gradually changing into something else. If you looked at it from a different perspective, I guess you could say that what I’m going through is a metamorphosis of some kind. It makes me wonder how much I will be changing and how it will affect me in the long run.

That raises another question. What is Vorago not telling me? My gut instinct is warning me that this asshole is withholding information. Info that is significant enough to make a wretched, vile man like him feel triumphant.

“Wonderful,” I reply in a deadpan sort of voice. As if an afterthought, I ask, “Anything else that I should know about?”

For a fraction of a second, something in Vorago’s facial features wavers, but as soon as I had caught sight of it, it was gone. It is all I need to see to know that he is lying to me when he finally says stiffly, “No.”

I don’t bother to press him about it. I know it’s futile.

“That is all, Mr. Lux. You may go,” curtly dismisses Vorago as he turns away, his white lab coat swirling with that sharp turn. It billows ominously behind him as he quickly exits the examination room.

He must be exceedingly happy today. He didn’t snap, glare, or speak in his usual cold and unpleasant undertones. Vorago almost seemed warm and caring.

This can’t be good.

Vorago is the last person that I want to make happy.

 

[:+ + + + +:]

 

 

On my way out of the labs, my eyes dart around in a mild effort to search for any sign of Filia, but she is strangely absent. I haven’t seen her in awhile now and it makes me wonder if she’s ok or not. I won’t know her very well, but she’s one of the few people that I like, let alone tolerate. That and she doesn’t walk around all inert and zombie-like.

I’m walking down a wide corridor that can fit five grown men standing side to side. It ultimately leads to several different places; to the cafeteria (or mess hall as the grunts like to call it), to the supply room, and to an elevator that takes us up and down levels. And of course, if I turn around, it’ll take me back to the laboratories.

On my way to the elevator, I pass several grim-looking soldiers that stride with purpose. Ever since Xevos escaped, security has been insufferably tightened. More areas are now restricted and not even I can access places that I used to be able to freely come and go as I please.

I guess they still haven’t found Xevos, yet. Surprisingly enough, Vorago hasn’t hounded me at all about Xevos today, or even lately. I guess something else is distracting him enough that it’s no longer a top priority in his mind. I wonder…

Something slaps me on the ass and I immediately whirl around to punch whoever is responsible, but upon sight of the assailant, my fist halts in midair.

It’s goddamn Vex.

“Hi sexy! Whoa, now! I like it rough, but not that rough!”

Sighing, I shake my head and begin walking away again, but instead of getting the hint, the blond boy follows as if invited to tag along.

“I heard you had your annual physical today. How did it go?” Asks Vex as soon as he had caught up to walk steadily beside me.

“Splendidly…”

Vex seemed to ignore the fact that I was obviously irritated by him. “Where are you headed?”

“None of your business,” I mutter without bothering to look at him. I just know he’s probably smiling like a loon.

When the blond leans closer to me, I glance out of the corner of my eyes and I can see him peering at me with a big goofy smile on his young face. He looks like he’s just won the jackpot. “Oh…I see now. Off to see lover boy again? He must have you on a really short leash if you’re not allowed to talk to a friend. Or maybe he’s just that good in bed.”

“…” Now I suddenly feel compelled to ignore him.

“Oh, come on, Ergo, lighten up some! I was only teasing,” whines the blond kid.

This is probably why I don’t like women, teenagers, or girly boys. I just can’t stand all the fucking teasing. They call it flirting, I call it bullshit. Useless prattle to endlessly annoy and frustrate me.

“Oh…I guess that means you don’t want to hear about what’s going to happen to Dhrele,” Vex says nonchalantly while adorning a sly grin on his face. He shrugs as if it’s trivial and then adds, “Guess I’ll leave you alone then, grumps!”

He starts to walk off, but before he can get far, I snag him by the shoulder and spin him around to face me. Glaring down at him, I growl, “No more games, Vex. Tell me what’s going to happen to Dhrele.”

The smirk only deepens on Vex’s impish face. “Oooh, I like it when you take command. I bet Dhrele loves it, too. Lucky bitch…”

Without thinking, my first reaction is to shove Vex against the wall harder than I mean to, but I don’t give a damn. I’m pissed as hell right now and I find it difficult to feel bad for snapping like I did. I don’t know how to explain it, but a part of me knows he is instigating something. He is purposely goading me for some unknown reason.

In a low voice, I hiss, “Don’t call him that.”

Vex doesn’t seem the least bit bothered or intimidated. He didn’t even flinch when I had slammed him against the wall. Odd…

“So sensitive. Did I strike a nerve, sexy?”

“Fuck you,” I mutter right as I released him and then without sparing him another glance, I start to stalk off angrily.

 I don’t really need this shit. He may be my friend, or whatever, but that doesn’t mean I have to put up with his iniquitous attitude.

“Someone is going to terminate him, Ergo. I know when and where they’re going to do it.”

 

[:+ + + + +:]

 

 

The waiting is the worst part of it.  The anticipation grows to the point where you just want to spring into action and get it over with. If I didn’t have to keep watch then I would probably be pacing like a restless, wild predator.

I’m in the cell across from Dhrele’s. Fortunately, it is not occupied and it gives me a perfect view of Dhrele’s door. I can see anyone coming and going and no one will slip in without my knowing unless I’m not paying attention.

I stand perfectly still, my eyes looking unblinkingly through the glass of the door. Lucky for me, the glass only shows on the inside of the room. Anyone walking by will see a plain door and won’t be able to look in. It sort of reminds me of one of those mirrors from those cop movies.

To avoid suspicion, I came here hours ago and have been waiting ever since. I even had a “friend” cut the power on a few levels, including this one, so I could sneak into this room undetected while everyone was distracted. That way the intruder will show up as planned without being scared off by my presence.

 And if anyone asks where I am, or where I have been, my alibi is Vex.

In the case that anyone is searching for me or wants to know my whereabouts, Vex will tell them that I’m with him. And later, if anyone inquires about me and where I’ve been, he will tell them that I was with him having lunch and helping him out with a specific task. I’ve actually done this a few times before so it’s not entirely conceivable. It is believable.

 

[:+ + + + +:]

 

 

Just when I start thinking about giving up and leaving, I catch a glimpse of shadows flickering around in the corridor. The dark forms move around rather violently, which tells me that whatever is coming is moving quickly.

I guess that means that they’re showing up after all. Good, this wasn’t a big waste of time then.

The shadows loom nearer and the forms turn larger and focus into the actual shapes of people. The shadows abruptly stop dancing as they give way to the physical forms that they belong to.

Two men and a woman have stopped outside Dhrele’s cell.

The woman is tall and dreadfully slim with curly dark hair pressed back into a tight pony tail. Her youthful skin is smooth and brown in spite of the obvious fact that she is too skinny. She is dressed in a white lab coat and is carrying something in a plain looking duffel bag.

So she’s a scientist, huh? I find that funny because I’ve seen dozens of them and I know all of their faces. I have never seen her before.

The two men accompanying her are obviously grunts. They’re both big and tall, with bodies exploding with muscles. I can’t see their faces because of their protective head gear, but I don’t fail to notice that one of them is dragging a stretcher that has a sleek, black body bag mounted on top of it.

Shit. Something about the body bag makes me freeze over as I realize that Vex is right. They are here to kill Dhrele. But then I realize something else. There are three of them. I wasn’t expecting that at all.

The woman scientist unzips the duffel bag. Because her back is mostly towards me, I can’t see what’s inside the bag. I can tell by her movement that she’s rummaging through it, though.

Once she’s found whatever it is, she stands back up and turns towards the soldiers. Her right side is facing me and I can now see that she’s holding a syringe in her right hand. It’s filled with a bright and fluorescent blue liquid that somehow reminds me of the stuff that Dhrele has to take on a daily basis.

From closely watching her face, I can tell that she’s speaking since her lips are moving in a familiar pattern that indicated speech. Intensely curious and desperate, I find myself wishing that I could hear whatever it is that she is currently saying.

As if by the power of some god or spirit, my prayers are answered and I can suddenly hear. I still have to strain my ears to eavesdrop, but I can hear everything now.

“…drugged with the most recent batch of Xeno Toxin. The experiment should be unconscious by now and it should make the procedure that much easier. I am going to enter the cell and then administer this,” she explained and raised the syringe to indicate what she had just referred to. Then she lowered her arm and stared pointedly at the two men. “You’re both here to guard the cell while I accomplish the task. If anyone or anything trespasses here, I expect you to take care of it.”

The two grunts nod curtly and then mutter something in reply. It sounds something along the lines of “Yes’m.”

“Also, in the case of Ergo de Lux returning here, I expect you to handle the situation with precaution. He is not to be terminated. You are to subdue him by any means necessary as long as you do not permanently or severely damage him. Dr. Vorago has made it very clear that he wants the specimen alive and well. Am I clear?

“Yes’m,” grunt both of the soldiers in unison.

The female scientist doesn’t look entirely convinced that they understood her, but she accepts it nonetheless. Sighing, she then opens the door and slips inside.

Fuck. I don’t have much time. But what can I do? If she didn’t have those damn grunts with her then I could just sneak into the room and break her neck.

I don’t have time to think and I know it. Even if I did, I wouldn’t know what to think. I wouldn’t know what to do.

Something seems to take over me. The need to protect Dhrele from these people inflates in me to the point that I’m willing to do whatever it takes to ensure his safely. It feels similar to when I killed that old woman.

With the adrenaline rushing through my body, I quietly slip out of my chosen room. In unbelievably fast and nimble steps, I sneak up behind one of the grunts. The fluorescent lights are bright enough to see things clearly enough, but they don’t seem to catch my quick movements. The subtle movements of my shadow go unnoticed by the pair of distracted soldiers as they converse amongst themselves.

I count myself lucky by their sheer stupidity and lack of discipline to actually follow orders. If they had had any intelligence at all, they would have had their backs to the wall and eyes focused on any and all intruders.

Standing motionless behind one of the grunts, I search quickly for a way to engage them swiftly, yet efficiently. Spotting the gun in the holster, I cautiously unclasp it and then as carefully as I can manage, pull it out of the holster.

The soldier isn’t as stupid as he seems because he immediately senses something is amiss. Turning around, he catches sight of me holding his weapon and in a cry of outrage he lunges at me.

Too late.

Quickly switching the safety lock off, I aim and fire once in his face. Quicker than the blink of an eye, the white laser shoots through the air and kills him upon impact. Because it has a cauterizing effect, no blood splatters anywhere, but there is the unmistakable, revolting smell of burnt flesh.

The dead grunt falls to ground, but before he can thud loudly against the ground, I grab him and then lower him quickly to the ground without making much noise.

The other soldier, the one standing near the stretcher, finally snaps out of his shocked stupor. He growls something incoherent and instead of barging at me, his hand juts down for his own gun.

Before he can even unclasp the gun from its holster, I shoot him in the face, too. His body falls quickly, but I see it in slow motion as I zoom forward in an effort to reach him first. I’m incredibly fast and if the situation hadn’t been so grim, I probably would have marveled at my own nearly inhuman speed.

Once he’s taken care of, I turn towards Dhrele’s door. I don’t have time to steel myself. I know that every second counts.

Opening the door, I sprint inside just in time to see the woman scientist sticking the needle into Dhrele’s unresponsive arm.

“STOP!” I shout as soon as I see what’s happening. I don’t even know if I have time to stop her now.

Shocked, the woman in the white lab coat actually obeys my command before she can inject the contents of the syringe. Her hand slips away and the syringe drops to the ground and breaks. The blue liquid is splattered everywhere along with pieces of broken glass.

Glowering at the woman, words are lost to me as I step forward. Each step I take feels like the fluid, steeled step of an enraged predator about to jump its troublesome prey.

“You must be Ergo de Lux,” says the woman and even though she’s frozen to the spot, she is not afraid of me.

“You’re damned right I am,” comes my guttural reply as I approach her, my hand squeezing the weapon still gripped in my right hand. I have it down at my side, but that doesn’t mean I won’t raise it soon. “Now who the hell are you and what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

The woman glances down at the broken syringe and I can see regret blooming in her expression. That won’t be the only thing that I make her regret.

“That doesn’t matter now,” she murmurs as she looks away from the broken needle to glance at Dhrele. “Vorago doesn’t see what’s going on, but I do. I’ve known it all along, right from the start.”

“Why did you try to kill Dhrele?” I find myself asking, each word shaking with barely restrained rage. It frightens me how much anger I’m feeling, but what scares me more is what I want to do to this woman. Violent scenarios pop up in my head and I find myself doing everything I can not to oblige them.

“It is pointless to explain it to you,” she says with a sigh of defeat. She shakes her head and turns her head to focus her dark-eyed gaze on me. The next thing she says sounds more like she’s murmuring it more to herself than to me. “All I wanted to do was stop him, to stop them all.”

I don’t understand what she’s talking about, but I find myself not particularly caring about that. All I need to know is that she tried to murder Dhrele. I don’t need to know why. She’s as full of shit as the rest of her cold-blooded colleagues. “Well, you failed. Tough shit, bitch.”

“Yes, I have failed,” the woman admits and doesn’t even flinch when I call her a demeaning name. She looks like someone who has resigned to accept their execution.

The anger dulls enough to let an odd, but familiar sensation flow throughout my body. I’m instantly aware of something I had not noticed earlier. Something significant. “You’re one of the three…who controls the brain.”

She smiles, but there is no amusement on her face. “Yes…I was.”

“Was…?”

The woman nods, “You know what you have to do now.”

I shake my head in denial. All the rage and violence that had been brimming full within me is gone. I’m left with the cold feeling of knowing what I have to do, but unwilling to do it.

“You do know that if you don’t do what you have to do then I will attempt to terminate the exper-“ she says, but stops abruptly in mid-speech in an effort to correct herself. The woman must have noticed the look I shot her as soon as she had started referring to Dhrele as an experiment. She then turns and sweeps her arm in the direction of the white hybrid and states, “I will kill this Dhrele.”

“Do you have some kind of death wish, lady?”

She shakes her head and then it’s clear to me that unlike the old woman, she does not long for death. But I can tell she wants an end to this, to everything.

“Any last words?” I find myself asking and it sounds lame to my ears, but I know why I asked it. I know I’m stalling.

“Te perdidit, perdidit in inferno tenebrarum. Excitare vos secum habere,” intones the woman in a voice that is a plea for me and not at me. She’s not begging for her life, but for something else that has to do with me. But why? Why would she care?

Glancing at Dhrele is what actually secures my decision. I know she’s right. I know what I have to do now.

Raising the gun up until it is eye level; I hesitate for a moment as I watch her nearly impassive face. Something is telling me to do it, to kill her, so I do. I pull the trigger, but instead of shooting her in the face like I did the other two grunts, I shoot her right between the eyes to give her a painless, quick death without disfiguring her face. Because I didn’t shoot her at close range, the cauterized wound between her eyebrows is small.

I drop the gun and it clatters noisily to the ground. Lucky for Dhrele and me, it doesn’t accidently go off.

Before her body can hit the ground, I quickly catch her. I sink down to the ground with her body in my arms. I close her eyelids with the tips of my fingers and then I release her body gently on the ground. I should be relieved and angry, but all I can feel is pain. It’s feels a lot like the last murder, except this time I know what to expect. And this time I don’t pass out, either.

As I stare down at her seemingly dreaming face, her last words swim around in my head. I roll them around in my head before I figure out why they sound so familiar.

It’s Latin. She spoke to me in Latin.

Closing my eyes, I concentrate on each word she had uttered. I’m by no means a Latin major, but I know enough to read certain phrases. Fortunately, I do recognize most of the words she had spoken to me.

It doesn’t ease my perplexity one bit at all. If anything, knowing what she had said is more confusing than not knowing.

You are lost, lost in this dark hell. Wake up before they take you down with them.

 

[:+ + + + +:]

 

I’m still kneeling down beside the dead body of the unknown female scientist. I don’t know how long I have been here. I know that I should have gotten up long ago to dispose of the bodies, but I couldn’t. I’m incredibly tired and all I want to do now is sleep. Just pass out and not wake up for a long time.

Dhrele is still out cold and the gun is somewhere on the ground forgotten for the moment.

The door opens and I can hear someone, but before I can do anything, I feel the barrel of a gun pressed against my head. I don’t bother to move.

“You and your pretty pet are going to pay for this,” promises a very masculine voice. I don’t have to look to know that it’s probably just another grunt. I can tell that he’s not alone. There are at least one or two other soldiers with him.

I don’t say anything. I slowly turn my head to look up at the fuming soldier. But just as my eyes lock onto him, something grey in my peripheral vision flashes by.

There’s a gagged grunt as if someone had just gotten their jugular sliced open. I hear blood splashing down on the ground and someone breathing hard as they grab at their own neck in desperation.

Then there’s the appalling sound of a neck being broken and a heavy body thudding onto the ground.

“What the fuck-“ Growls the grunt with the gun to my head. He turns around to see what’s going on, but as soon as he had turned, something had grabbed him and effortlessly thrown him against the wall.

I watch in amazement and horror as the soldier’s body collides into the wall with a sickening crack. He’s dead before he even hits the ground in a crumpled heap of broken and fractured bones.

I remain stationary on the ground as I watch a very tall, grey-skinned Xevdren approach me with fluid grace. I don’t fail to notice the blood dripping from his claws. There’s a bit of a satisfied smirk on his face.

The alien, or whatever he is, passes me and strides straight over to Dhrele. Inspecting the mark on Dhrele’s arm, his eyes flicker to the broken syringe on the ground. He breathes a sigh of relief as he stares down at the slumbering man.  He then leans over and chastely kisses the white-skinned hybrid on the forehead.

 

If anyone else had done that, I might have felt a flare of jealousy. But I felt nothing. There was nothing sexual in the kiss, but there was something intimate. Whoever or whatever this guy was, he cared about Dhrele. That much I could tell.

Once he was satisfied that Dhrele was alive and well, he turned around and faced me. He strode over, his long-limbed steps slow and deliberate.

I should be afraid, but I’m not. Instead, there’s a calm sort of peace humming in my head. The voice is beautiful as I find myself succumbing to it like a child would a lovely lullaby.

Kneeling down beside me, the grey-skinned Xevdren leans over and kisses me on the side of the mouth. He smiles in what looks like gratitude and speaks softly, “Thank you.”

 

[:+ + + + +:]

 

 

I wake up curled against the side of a larger body. Lifting my head up from a strong chest, I look down at the white-skinned hybrid.

Dhrele’s asleep, but more importantly, he’s still alive.

As if sensing that I’m awake, he slides one eye open and peeks at me. “Ergo?”

“Go back to sleep, Dhrele. I’m fine.”

The alien hybrid seems to know better, so he sits up, but keeps me close enough to him without seeming like he’s clinging. “You don’t seem fine.”

Sighing, I lean slightly against him. There are a lot of things I don’t want to tell him, but it’s better if he finds out from me than someone else. “I had a dream.”

“I like hearing about your dreams,” Dhrele says thoughtfully. I obviously have his full attention now.

“This wasn’t a good dream,” I say as I rub the sleep from my eyes. Then I look at the wall to avoid looking at Dhrele’s face. I don’t need to look at him to know he’s gazing at me as I speak the next words. “I think I remember what happened now. I remember how I saved your life.”

Dhrele nuzzles the side of my face and it calms me somewhat. I try to ignore the hand stroking the top of my naked thigh. It doesn’t take the hand very long at all to slip down and start caressing my inner thigh.

I shiver. “Dhrele…”

“I can feel that you are conflicted. You feel bad. Don’t feel bad, Ergo. You did what you had to do,” speaks Dhrele with such unrelenting sympathy that makes me want to just bawl in his arms like some kid after a really bad day.

“It’s not just that,” I mumble and then I bring myself to look him in the face. The compassion in his face makes me not want to say anything, but I do anyway. “I had sex…with someone else. It wasn’t consensual at first, but I-”

Dhrele presses a finger to my lips and shakes his head. He doesn’t look angry. If anything, he looks bemused. “I know.”

“You know?” I repeat and I know I’m gaping at him like an idiot.

My lover nods at me and then reaches over to stroke the side of my face. “Do not worry about it, Ergo. I am not angry at you, or at him.”

“Why not?” I blink a few times as I try to process what he’s said. I don’t understand why he’s taking this so well. If Dhrele had been the one admitting infidelity, I would have been super fucking pissed. The idea of anyone else having him is an unpleasant one for me. If our roles had been reversed, I probably would have run out of the room in pursuit of smashing Zayas’ face in.

“It is what he wanted. What we all want to a certain extent. I admit that I want what he has now really badly…but…as long as I have you, I will be happy.”

“…what?” I’m confused by his words and I’m sure my face shows it. What the hell is he talking about?

“Don’t worry, Ergo. He will not be mating with you again.”

I feel kind of dumb, but I can’t help asking Dhrele to explain his cryptic words. “What do you mean?”

Dhrele smiles at me and then wistfully answers, “Zayas is pregnant, Ergo.”

 

[:+ + + + +:]

 

Not So Random Fact: This chapter is dedicated to Lepidottero. Apparently it’s Lepid’s birthday today, so Alles gute zum Geburtstag!  <3<3<3