Babel Novel
32
Rain pov.
As I seep into consciousness, I'm very aware that something's wrong, though I don't quite know what it is. It takes me another few seconds to remember the ambush Morgan and I were in and her screams. I force my eyes open, only to be met by the same pitch-black darkness, leaving me unable to see what's going on and where exactly I am. I focus on moving my body, but it feels too heavy. Taking a deep breath, I try again, managing to move my hand and throw it from whatever thing I'm laying on.
"He's awake." A far away sounding voice says and I have to pinch my eyes shut at the bright lights that suddenly flood the room. I blink a couple of times, trying to get used to the florescent lights that seem to shine straight into the back of my skull. I manage to turn my neck to the left side, noticing a door with a peep window and that's pretty much it. The rest of the room is stark white with nothing else to offer.
"Administer the serum." Another voice says and the door opens. A grey beard comes into my line of vision and when I move my gaze up a smiling face with glowing green eyes stares down at me. I feel the prick of a needle in my neck and seconds later I'm going under again, unable to fight of whatever it is they have me, no matter how hard I try.
"...do that?" I become aware of a voice standing somewhere in the room.
"That's not what we discussed." A more female voice insists. "He's not to be touched. She'll come around and when she does, we'll hand her the mutt back." I growl a little, knowing they're talking about Morgan and me.
"He should still be asleep." The voice is panicked, and I peel my eyes open to look at the ceiling above me. When I try to move my hand, I realize I'm strapped to another table. This one isn't as soft as the one I woke up on the first one. It's hard and cold.
"Are the tests complete?" A grunt comes as an answer. "Then there's no reason to knock him about again. Let him regain consciousness, I want to talk to him." The feminine voice speaks up and then high heels are clacking against the floor, a door opens and closes, and silence surrounds me.
It takes me more than a few minutes to regain sensation in my body again but I'm still not strong enough to break free from whatever restraints I'm strapped in. I use the time to think about Morgan. About the last time I saw her and those horrendous green eyes. Her scream echoes in my head, bouncing around the neurons to make sure it's never forgotten, not that I want to forget it. It'll be a reminder that I failed her when I should have protected her. Now I'm here, wherever here is, and she's heaven only knows where. I can only hope she's okay. That they don't do to her whatever is it they're busy doing with me.
It's a long time before the door opens again and I feel the straps keeping me trapped release all at once. I don't waste time sitting up, looking around the room to see if I can make my escape. There's medical equipment all around me that looks like they're going to perform a surgery or already did one. I look at my body, noticing no new scares but I have no idea how long I've been asleep, and I could have healed since then. My gaze finally travels from the sharp blades to the woman standing in the corner of the room, five steps from the door.
She's the same blond woman Morgan ran into at the market, the one who got under her skin so much but there's something wrong about her. I carefully look her over but most of her skin is covered by the pin striped pants suit she's wearing so I don't see anything that's of note. Our eyes meet and it takes me a few seconds to notice her irises are pitch black, not a semblance of color in them and when she grins it looks eerie, emotionless.
"River, I hope you know this isn't anything to do with you." She says, walking further into the room and coming to a stop in front of me. "You are simply collateral damage in your owner's stubbornness." She picks up a scalpel and twirls it between her fingers before she puts it back down, in exactly the same place.
"Collateral damage?" I ask, turning my head to the side so I can look at both her and the door without her noticing it.
"Yes. I'm sure you have better things to do than to be locked up here, but Morgan has caused quite a setback for us. I'm sure you understand." She smiles but there's an emptiness behind her pitch-black and her shoulders are stiff so she looks more insane than whatever emotion it is she's trying to convey.RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only
"Where am I?” My eyes follow her as she walks to the other side of the room, leaving me with an open gateway to the door.
"I can't..." She gasps as I grab the closest scalpel to me and hurl it directly at her eye, a scream erupts from her as it sticks it landing and I don't waste time as I jump from the steel table and pull open the door. The hallway is empty but between her screams and the footsteps I hear rushing towards us it's not going to stay that way for long. I take a left, coming to the end of the hallway and then take another left. I push open a random set of doors, disappearing behind them and making sure they're locked behind me.
When I turn around, I nearly scream at the picture in front of me but manage to keep myself from doing so. The creatures in the giant glass pillars all look like splices between humans and other magical creatures, only, they look like they're rotting, even if the water around them is crystal clear. I walk further into the room, spotting some with wings who look more cramped than the others. The door opens behind me, and I hide myself behind one of the bigger pillars. "He's not in here, you dumbass." A voice mutters, annoyed, and then the door closes again. I breathe a sigh of relief. Relief that's short lived because when I turn around, I look straight into the face or Morgan, only, it's not Morgan. Half her body is sprouted with fur, her canines are elongated and there's some kind of wings sprouting from her back that presses her face even closer to the glass. Lifeless eyes look back at me through the glass and she has random spots that are clearly rotting on her body.
My stomach rolls and I gag onto the ground, acid splattering on the floor because of its emptiness until it also dries out and I'm left dry heaving in front of the monster they've turned my little human into. The longer I look the less it makes sense and the more dread settles inside me. Crushing my chest, making it hard to breathe. The hairs on the back of my neck rise as I wonder what's going to happen to me now but it's nothing compared to the heartbreak that brings me to my knees knowing I couldn't save her from this. Knowing I failed my little human. Remi howls in the back of my mind and I gladly welcome the headache it causes, knowing I deserve to feel this pain and so much more.