Grey

By: CestLindor

folder Original - Misc › -Slash - Male/Male

Rating: Adult +

Chapters: 15

Views: 10,818

Reviews: 73

Recommended: 0

Currently Reading: 4

Category: Original - Misc › -Slash - Male/Male

Rating: Adult +

Chapters: 15

Views: 10,818

Reviews: 73

Recommended: 0

Currently Reading: 4

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.

On the run

Grey

Chapter Two: On the run

As soon as I pushed the button, everything I had known for years seemed to fall apart. The first tremor was only the tip of the iceberg. Following that one came another one, stronger, and then another one, even stronger than the prior. They seemed to grow in aggression, and soon most of my furniture began toppling over onto the floor.

Knowing that this was probably my only chance to escape, I pulled off my overall signaling me as an employee, and then I ran out of my apartment after I closed down my laptop and made sure everything I had done on it – even my new design – had been irreversibly deleted.

Just before I was going to lock my room I figured that it didn’t really matter if I left the door open ajar or closed off. I was leaving this place after all and I didn’t have anything of value inside that I would be sad of losing.

I began running toward the entrance of the building when I figured that everybody else must also be heading that way. Down the hall I could see others leaving their apartments and running toward and past me. I turned on my heel and ran. Although I had never really bothered to make sure where the emergency exits were – dumb witted as I had been back then with plenty of sedatives – I remembered one not so far from here.

As it was in the middle of the day, most of the inhabitants of the research facility were at work, so I didn’t expect them to take the exits around the apartment areas. When the building began shaking – and this time continuing to – the lights above me blinked frantically a couple of times more before they gave out with a hissing sound, and the hallways darkened. I could hear screaming and yelling coming from the hallways behind me and decided to run faster despite the darkness.

I let my fingers trail along the walls, feeling the electronic activities in there although the electricity had been shut off. Even though I had only tried it a couple of times, I let the lights take what it needed to function from my own energy rations. As soon as I could see again, I ran on, though not as fast as before. The machinery needed a lot of energy, and I was already feeling its toll on me. When I finally reached a bigger corridor also connected to other smaller ones, I let go of the connection and found my way via the light through the windows.

When I reached the stairs in the other end of the building, the shaking had stopped but I could still hear people rummaging about farther away.

My heart was beating hard, sweat already pearling down my forehead and going into my eyes. After I had gone three stories down I stopped and leant against a window that showed the scenery outside the building; a big, deep forest which seemed to stretch on for eternity. I could see a little narrow gravel road leading through the tall trees.

Curious as to what was causing the panic in going on in the building, I placed my palm flat against the wall to my right, and I closed my eyes; concentrating on finding the security camera footages and what revelations they held.

At first my mind was filled with all the pictures of all the security cameras in the entire facility. Then I focused on those around the front of the building, and for a moment I almost lost my concentration. It was Quincy and Verona. But not as they looked like before. Quincy seemed to have grown a huge amount of dark brown hair all over his body making him look like a bear with giant claws easily splitting one of the security guards in two. His eyes had grown to the size and shape of a football, entirely black, no white around the pupil. Verona’s hair had been replaced by red flames engulfing her skull, and her arms were also made of flames. Her eyes – as I discovered the moment she turned towards one of the security cameras and smiled venomously – were also a flaming red color.

I disconnected from the building and continued down the stairs. At least they were in the other end of the building. I could still manage to escape.

It only took me two more minutes before I rushed out of the emergency exit and I was outside the building. For a moment I just stood there as I felt the fresh air against my cheeks, the wind tousle through my hair. Sighing deeply, I closed my eyes for a few brief seconds before I told myself that I had to keep going. I couldn’t count on that Blake and ‘the others of our kind’ would come and help – not with Quincy and Verona ripping the place apart inside. I had to depend on myself.

I lifted my right leg to step forward, when a roar from inside made me freeze and turn around. Through one of the windows from the emergency stairs I could see something: A third para with a huge feral head with razor sharp teeth and slitted eyes looking at me through the glass. Without hesitation I ran for the cover of the trees although I knew that I was done for. Behind me I knew the para had jumped through the window as I heard it shatter in a million pieces. It only made me run faster.

Although I could guess that the creature was quite big it made absolutely no sound and I was about to slow down and turn around when a broad hairy arm went around my waist and I was hauled from the ground. The para jumped up into the trees, and with the agility and the speed of a jungle monkey, I was swept away from Ayers’ company.

That didn’t keep me from screaming, though. ,,Put me down! Let me go!” I wriggled all that I could and beat at the arm holding me tight against a strong, broad equally hairy chest. As he jumped from tree to tree I could feel the muscles flex and tense as the para used them. ,,Let me-”

Suddenly my wish was granted as the para let go and let me fall at least four meters before he caught me again midair and continued, grunting.

I got the message and shut up.

The para holding on to me had black fur with white, thin stripes. From what I could feel and see, he had long, lean arms and legs – and he had a black tail with a white end, which he used to grab branches with and then launch himself further on.

After about five more minutes we reached a gravel road – a little bigger than the one from the emergency exit – where a car had been parked. As soon as the para was down on the ground again, a man and a woman exited the car and ran to us. The woman – a brunette with a little nose and a friendly smile – took a hold of my arm and almost pushed me inside the car and buckled my seatbelt for me. The man had a pair of pants and a shirt in his hands, which he gave to the para who had by then changed into his more human form – the man who hid in plain sight!

When he discovered me staring, he gave me a predatory smile while he put on his clothes and got into the car beside me. The woman started the car as soon as everybody was inside, and off we went.

,,How did it go, Jeff?” the man at the passenger seat asked, looking at the changer para through the rearview mirror.

Jeff, my savor or captor – I wasn’t quite sure yet – smirked and nodded toward me. ,,I got him out, didn’t I?”

I opened my mouth to say something, but the woman interrupted me. ,,When you called, you sounded quite stressed,” she said with the sophisticated accent of the British people.

Jeff’s brows drew together and an annoyed grumble came from his chest. ,,That’s because Quincy and Kelly were there already, making their way through the security guards.” The way he said the word through reminded me of Quincy slitting one of the guards in two with the use of his claws. ,,But I got him. Tell Blake that next time-”

,,You’re with Blake?” I interrupted and looked at them with new eyes.

The man in the front furrowed his brows a little as he studied me over his shoulder. ,,Yes, we are. How did you-?”

He didn’t get to say much more when Jeff suddenly grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled my face up against his own. Up close I could feel his breath in my face and see his nostrils flaring. ,,How do you know Blake?” he asked me in a dark, growling tone. But just as he said the name of their friend, he drew in a breath through his nose – and his eyes widened with shock. Apparently completely forgotten his question he pulled me in closer and began sniffing my neck and clothes – just like a dog or another animal would. His hands began roaming my upper body until they settled in my hair, cradling my skull. He drew in a last deep sniff and sighed deeply, contentedly. His eyes glazed with comfort and he gave me a droopy smile with a bit of a fang revealed on the left side of his mouth. ,,Hmm,” he let out and – if my hearing wasn’t off – he actually purred.

The man and the woman driving the car stayed pointedly quiet as it all took place, the woman looking pointedly at the road, while the man watched with his mouth opened agape.

Not really knowing what to do, I swallowed and looked from Jeff to the other man and held his eyes. ,,I met him through the internet,” I said, answering Jeff’s question before he got all feral, sniffy kitty-ish again. ,,He said he would help me… and I accepted.”

,,You have taken Pheriodoxin,” Jeff piped in. He had drawn a little back, but he was still inside what I would call my personal space, with his hand securely holding onto my upper right arm. His dark eyes held mine while he talked, not allowing me to look away. ,,I can smell it.” His voice sounded almost like a wild animal’s growl as he said it, his upper lip withdrawing a little to sneer.

I hesitated and bit my lips. ,,Yes. But I didn’t know they gave me sedatives. I only found out about it a few weeks ago.” My jaw set tight as I remembered the fury that had coursed through my veins at that moment. ,,I stopped taking them.”

Another slow, almost sleepy smile found its way to Jeff’s lips, and once again he began purring; a deep rumble coming from his chest.

,,Blake told us where to find you,” the man spoke up, clearly wanting to get back on track. ,,He contacted Jeff who was already inside and infiltrating the build-”

,,Why?” I asked, looking away from Jeff and focusing on the man speaking.

The man gave me a somewhat perplexed expression. ,,It was all over the tabloids. Didn’t you read them?”

I frowned and shook my head no.

,,Someone from within Ayers’ company apparently had a loose tongue and leaked that almost every single car from his firm had been designed by a para. So,” the man nodded toward Jeff, ,,Jeff went in to investigate it. As it turned out, we were actually looking for you. But Quincy and Kelly were, too.”

,,I met them.” I looked from the man back to Jeff and tried not to fall too deeply into those black depths. ,,Just before hell broke loose, I was called to Ayers’ office. He told them he didn’t have any complains to the government over me.”

A snort from the driver had us all looking at her. ,,Verona Kelly and Michael Quincy working for the government? Now, that’s a joke.”

My whole face must have been a question mark because she continued as soon as she looked at me through the rearview mirror. ,,They’re not on the humans’ side – and especially not on any government’s side, I can tell you that.”

,,Have you ever read Marvel’s X-Men?” the man in the passenger seat asked. ,,Any of the movies? The TV-series? Not even the kids’ shows?” he asked as I shook my head no. He looked so down that I felt the urge to lie to him about it. But I really hadn’t watched any of them.

,,Well, Kelly and Quincy don’t really like the humans and the general hostility towards paras, so they try to… make amends,” Jeff explained vaguely. ,,Then there are us; Blake’s men. We try to exist in peace – apart from both Kelly and Quincy, and not united with a diplomat named Fallon Proctor and his men either.”

Although I had tried to get updated on the news again after so many years in an oblivious Pheriodoxin haze, I figured there was still a lot of catching up to do. ,,But what did they want with me? Those two…”

They all looked at me, studying me; as if the reason why was attached to my appearance. The silence grew as the minutes dragged along and nobody answered my question. The car drove further into the forest – or out of it, I really couldn’t say.

,,We don’t know,” the woman said gravely. Then, she gave me that very friendly smile with twinkling eyes and all. ,,My name is Mary, and this is Norewood,” pointing at the man sitting beside her, ,,That is Jeff. What’s your name?”

,,It’s Grey, right?” Jeff asked as I opened my mouth to answer her question. ,,Blake told me to help a guy named Grey.”

Although I had intended to tell them my real name, it occurred to me that Mary didn’t tell her last name, and that Norewood probably was a last name. I looked back at Jeff. I couldn’t even guarantee that that was his real name either. I just gave them all a tight smile and nodded.

We drove for about thirty minutes more before we broke free of the trees and were on a highway snaking its way through green meadows and scattered bushes and trees. We only encountered a few farms and no towns, though we saw plenty of signs to them. Mary drove securely around the towns and villages, explaining that she didn’t want any witnesses.

During the ride we all stayed blessedly silent; Mary looking at the road, Norewood playing on his phone, and both Jeff and I studying the landscape through our respective windows. I could still feel his hand clutching onto my arm, as if he was afraid I would run away even though we drove 150 kilometers per hour. His strange behavior hadn’t gone past my nose but I didn’t really know what to say to it. Was it a part of the changer para manners? From the way both Mary and Norewood had reacted I guessed it wasn’t.

As I looked out, it suddenly occurred to me that I didn’t even remember my life outside: I couldn’t recognize any faces from my past – no family, no friends, not even acquaintances popped to mind. The only thing I remembered was my name – and I couldn’t even use that.

,,Guys,” Mary suddenly said from the front seat, her accent making the word seem kind of misplaced in her mouth – if not a little comical. ,,I’m going to drive into the next town some kilometers ahead. I’m getting hungry and we don’t have anything in the car.”

Norewood just nodded, not taking his eyes from the game on his phone. Jeff, however, frowned, and I could feel his grip on my arm tighten just a bit. ,,Are you sure that’s safe, Mary? With Quincy and Kelly attacking the company, everybody around here must be looking out for uncontrolled paras.” As he said the words, he sneered again, showing off his canine-like teeth; his fangs.

Mary glanced at him shortly through the rearview mirror. ,,That’s why you have to keep your mouth shut so that nobody sees those. Besides, you and Grey will be waiting in the car while Norewood and I buy us some food.”

Jeff grumbled, but leaned back in his seat and covered his fangs again. ,,This shouldn’t be necessary at all…” he mumbled to himself.

I agreed with him but didn’t say anything to arouse his attention – he had finally let go of my arm. So this was the consequence of being a changer – permanent changes. I looked hastily away when I saw him notice my staring at him. Although I could now only see him through the edge of my vision, I was sure he smirked at me.

What’s with him? I thought. First he sniffs and smells me, now he is smirking. I almost groaned when he took hold of my arm again. I glared at him and yanked my arm free. ,,Will you stop that?” I sneered. Before he could get to answer, I turned fully away and looked out of my window. I didn’t know what kind of game he played, but I didn’t want to play along.

The shadows of the trees had become long, the light was an almost golden shine from the sun and a few dark clouds to the west held the promise of rain later if the wind went our way. It didn’t take long for us to reach the town. Mary parked the car in an abandoned alley, and she and Norewood hurried out with the promise they would be back soon.

As the silence permeated the car, I stole a quick glance toward Jeff and found him already staring at me with a gleam in his eyes. He smirked as soon as he saw me turning my head. For a few minutes we just stared at each other, neither giving in on the challenge.

,,What?” I growled at him, crossing my arms over my chest.

Jeff tilted his head to the side, the air about him certainly predatory. An amused smile grazed his lips, and I saw a tiny bit of one of his fangs before he concealed it again. ,,Just wondering what Kelly and Quincy would want from you. So far I don’t think you need a para Talent to design cars.”

Rage firing up my already boiling blood, I nonchalantly tilted my head in the same direction as his and raised one of my eyebrows. ,,What do you care?” I snarled.

Our eyes were still locked together, and I couldn’t help but not notice the flicker of emotion slither over his gaze. His smile turned into that droopy puppy-like smile again as he watched me. ,,You smell really good,” he simply answered.

Taken aback, I tried to look indifferent. What did you say to that kind of statement, anyway? ,,Your beast? Your changer-beast?”

Jeff simply nodded and moved as if to get closer to me, his nostril flaring. His hand took a hold of my bicep again. He pulled me against him, our bodies as close as the car would allow figuring we sat in two different seats. When he was close enough, Jeff shifted his head and sniffed at my throat and shoulder.

,,So good…” he sighed and began that purring sound again. He drew nearer and took in a deep breath, his grip tightening. When he looked up at me again, I could see the change in his eyes. They were slittet – just like they had been in his changed form.

Shit, this couldn’t be good.

Drawing from the experience of vampire and werewolf movies, I asked myself, what would happen to Jeff’s reason when he changed? Would he become some mindless monster? Like most werewolves in the movie industry?

The doors opened suddenly, and Mary and Norewood scurried inside, slamming the doors. Norewood held a couple of to-go-bags and a few sodas. The look Mary gave Jeff and me through the rearview mirror had Jeff draw back a couple of inches, but he didn’t let go of my arm.

,,It’s all over the news,” Mary said as she kicked the car into a start. ,,The research facility Ayers’ has been shot down temporarily, and the government has sent out hunters to make sure the uncontrolled paras are caught.” Her brow was furrowed, and her mouth a downward curve of anger. ,,Unbelievable!” she snarled as she hurried out of the town.

Norewood turned around in his seat and handed Jeff one of the bags and two cups.

McD, mmmm.

,,They’ve made an eyewitness sketch of you, Jeff,” Norewood said, noticing the slittet eyes and giving us a weird look.

Jeff sighed but dug into the food nonetheless. ,,Bound to happen sometime…” he murmured to himself.

Mary’s frown deepened. ,,Still, Blake won’t be happy.”

,,Well, that’s just too bad,” Jeff snapped, finally fishing a double beef burger out of the bag. ,,If he so wants the job done without anyone changing, then he can fucking do it himself!”

I was about to grab the bag from Jeff after him when he threw the burger into my hands, letting go of my arm. I looked up and saw him observe me, studying me intensely until I opened the wrapped paper and took a bite.

When he was sure I was eating, he nodded to himself, satisfied, and took another beef burger out for himself.

Mary grazed the speeding limit as she drove us out of the town. Every few minutes, Norewood would look out of the window with his eyebrows drawn together, his lips thin. Whatever he was looking for, it wasn’t good.

,,Are you afraid they are coming after us?” I asked when he turned around for the seventeenth time.

A growling sound made me look at Jeff as he took a grip on my arm again. ,,They can try,” he said with that growling voice.

Ignoring Jeff and silently trying to wrench my arm free – to no avail – I stared pointedly into Norewood’s eyes. ,,What will they do if they get to us?” I suddenly realized that ‘they’ now meant both Kelly and Quincy, and the government hunters. This was just getting better and better.

Before Norewood could answer me, a bang was heard against the side of the car, and Mary cursed. ,,Now you can find out!”

Behind us, three black SUVs came from out of nowhere and pursued us. Out the three passenger windows men were hanging out with actual guns. My heart began beating faster.

,,Shit!” Jeff suddenly roared and snapped the seat belt. Black fur with white stripes was growing from his arms, his neck and his face. His nails elongated into claws and his eyes slittet and almost glowed. He was about to smash the window with his elbow when Mary snarled and pushed the speeder down to the limit.

,,Fuck, Jeff! Let Norewood take care of them! We can’t drive back to get you afterwards!”

Jeff let out a final snarl before the fur began to retract. His claws and slittet eyes stayed as they were, though. ,,Then hurry it up!” he snarled in a voice about two octaves lower than usual with a growl in it, too.

Norewood, pale from the surprise, gasped when he realized what he was supposed to do. He gave Mary and Jeff an uncertain look. ,,Okay…” He opened his window and stuck his hand out. He closed his eyes and seemed to mumble to himself.

,,Don’t close your eyes!” Jeff snarled, resulting in Norewood opened them with a start. ,,You’ll have to hit them!” His clawed hand was tightly holding onto my arm now. I winced, knowing I would get a bruise there.

Paler than before, Norewood nodded, and began mumbling again, focusing on the pursuing cars through the back window. The hand outside slowly began to glow an eerie blue color, sparkling, electric, and I couldn’t help but stare at it. The light intensified by every second, the sparks getting wilder, but when another five bullets hit the car, the para got distracted, and withdrew his hand, normal as ever.

,,I-I can’t do it!” he cried out, his eyes wide.

,,Norewood!” Mary snarled threateningly. ,,This is not the practice grounds! You can’t just ‘not do it’ – you have to do it! Shit!” She maneuvered the car from side to side when one of the cars tried to speed up and get up beside us.

,,Can’t this fucking granny car drive faster?!” Jeff growled and leaned forward so he could see the speedometer. After one last long, hard glance at Norewood, he looked at the rearview mirror and caught Mary’s eyes. ,,Can you do anything?”

Mary shook her head, her lips a thin line of concentration above her chin. ,,Not while I’m driving.”

Suddenly I got an idea. I reached up, pressed my palm against the roof, close to the air conditioning vents and hoped for an electrical connection. When I found it, I experimentally urged the car to drive faster and turn a little to the left.

With surprising ease, the car complied. Mary cursed and tried to get the car back. ,,Something’s happening to the car!” she shrieked.

,,I’m handling the car,” I said, speeding up once again. I caught her eyes widened with surprise and gave her a crooked smile. ,,Don’t worry about it.”

She hesitantly removed her hands from the wheel and her foot from the pedal. When nothing happened, she nodded at me and opened her own window. Her brown hair was swept away from her face in an instant as the air rushed past her. She had her entire head out, the bullets screeching as they flew through the air, missing her by millimeters. Then she opened her mouth to its full potential, drew a breath that seemed impossibly deep, before she let it out in one swift exhale.

The result was instantaneous. Immediately, the enemy car closest to us was literally blown away, toppled to its side and rolled, twisted and turned, as it took one of the other cars with it. In a few seconds a loud BOOM! was heard, and both cars were enflamed from the explosion.

From the last car still after them, the gunman began shooting like crazy, and Mary drew back in with a hiss and a bloodstained cheek. Immediately Norewood checked it and sighed in relief. ,,A bullet scratched you,” he said. ,,When we can, we’ll get it cleaned.”

Mary nodded and looked like she was about to go out again when the next shot hit the side mirror in her side of the car, and she drew back again. ,,He’s aiming for me,” she snarled and instinctively grabbed the wheel. ,,I’ve got it.” Her eyes caught mine, and I let go my control of the car, but still kept the speed up.

I looked over my shoulder, trying to ignore the increasing growl coming from the angry changer next to me, and tried to reach the other car. At first I felt nothing, but when it suddenly got momentum and got closer to our car, it was there. The connection. Even though we were still several meters away from each other, I could feel the electrical connections from the vehicle.

Just as I was about to take control, Mary hit the speed a little bit more, and I lost it. Turning around to look at them, I noticed they had been talking of a new plan; escaping as fast as possible.

,,Can you increase the speedo, Grey?” Norewood asked. ,,Perhaps we can outrun them-”

,,We don’t have much gas left,” Mary interjected with her jaw clenched.

Jeff let out an irritated snarl, and soon his fur was making an appearance again, his muscles bulging and jumping just underneath his skin. ,,Just let me at them! I can take care of them in a heartbeat!”

,,We don’t have time for your big, fat monkey-ass to get injured again!” Mary snarled just as viciously as the changer. ,,This time Red is not with us!”

,,As if I need her to heal me every time I go for a-”

,,Which you do!” The tone of her voice held the message that there would be no discussion. ,,Stop pouting like a petulant child, Jeff! Now, Grey, increase our speed, then we can- Hey! I said to increase the speed, not slow down!”

The only way for me to enable control of the pursuing car was for our car to slow down. Even though Mary was yelling, Norewood was getting paler, and Jeff was tightening his grip, I shot it all out – as I usually did when I was working – reached out my hand, closed my eyes, and instantly saw the car before me, in my mind. The other paras’ noise suddenly subsided for that of the clicking and workings of the other car’s electronic devices.

It felt as if it were my own hands grabbing a set of wires and then wrenching them out when it was my mind that asked the car’s motor to stop – and not start again. As if eager to please the motor stopped, the car slowed down until it finally stood still. By that time our car was so much ahead of it that I lost control again.

As I opened my eyes again, I was surprised to find my savors all looking at me, saying nothing. I looked from person to person, raising an eyebrow. Then I got the car to speed up, and Mary turned around with a start and focused on the road, occasionally casting a glance at me through the mirror.

Jeff was changed back to his more human shape, still holding onto me, with that droopy smile replacing the stunned one.

,,Holy shit,” Norewood murmured.

Not knowing what else to do, I looked at Norewood and asked, ,,What’s your, er, power?”

,,Talent,” Mary corrected me, still her brows raised in surprise.

Norewood looked down at his hands with an odd expression, as if they would suddenly fall off and start dancing on his lap. ,,Electric shots,” he answered. ,,From my hands. But I don’t have a lot of control…” Clearly still embarrassed from earlier, he turned around and looked out of his window.

Before I even turned to Mary to ask her the same, she was already answering me. ,,I can make the wind… shoot, kind of,” she said. ,,Make a blast with my breath.” She gestured backwards to the would-be-pursuers. Then an evil glint made her serious expression relax. She nodded at Jeff. ,,And he’s the monkey-cat, slash dog, slash black tiger.”

,,Ha. Ha.” Jeff clapped in between each ha. ,,I bet your breath would kill even if it wasn’t enhanced.”

As they continued to banter, I just leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes. A sudden tiredness overwhelmed me. Most of the day was gone, the sun was almost down, and already I could see the clouds get darker, heavier with rain. Soon we would have to stop the car and get some sleep.

As I felt my consciousness slip from my grasp, I though that the others would manage and wouldn’t mind me if I took a few minutes’ sleep.

Just as I reached the edge between half asleep and asleep, I felt something clench around my bicep. I sighed deeply in irritation but let it be. I was too tired to do anything right now anyway.

Hi guys, I hope you like the second chapter :3 Please R&R - I wanna hear what you think of it ;)

Thanks FortunateM, for your review :D Haven't seen ' The Island' but am absolutely going to xD Hope you like this chapter as well C:

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