Okay, I think this will be my last note uless there's just something I can't keep quiet. Thank you HMC for sticking with me.

Peddle in the Water

Chapter Six

Mr. Elvaro stared at me in shock for a while longer before finally closing his mouth and looking at Irene. His hand grasped his clipboard so tightly his fingers were turning white.

“Irene, do you know where Dr. Xavier dug up this specimen?” he asked the assistant with clenched teeth. Irene looked at the man with as much fear as she looked at me and nodded her head. “So, you know who he is?” Another nod. Mr. Elvaro turned back at me and glared with as much intensity as he could muster. “Tell me boy, have you been in contact with anyone?”

I almost said yes. I almost said that Victoria had helped me out. But then I remembered what she had said about the science department. They seemed to have a lot of control of how things were run in this city and I did not want Victoria to be subject to anything they may want to do to her. “Of course, I have. Any I must say, killing off those boys was quite fun.” I grinned my challenge at the man.

Mr. Elvaro’s anger filled up the room as he glared at my response. “Irene?” he asked. The woman jumped to attention. “Do you know how to kill this thing?” he turned to look at the trembling woman. She shook her head. “Does anyone?” he pressed.

Again, Irene shook her head and the man growled in frustration. I was a bit disappointed that they weren't going to kill me until Mr. Elvaro grabbed a spear-like instrument and thrust it into my chest.

Right through my heart.

Stunned, I wasn’t able to do anything. The spear went right through my heart and embedded itself through the table under me. Blood flowed freely from my still pumping heart into my lungs and squirted from my chest. I coughed it up as it started to choke me.

I didn’t register anything else going on in the room. I felt bile come from my stomach but the spear had also cut through my esophagus and the bile just emptied itself through my chest with the blood. Stomach acid burned its way through my skin. Unable to take it anymore, I let myself pass out. If I was lucky, this really would kill me.

---

I was uncomfortable. It was hard to breath. I slowly opened my eyes and was greeted only by the light that entered the room through the crack in the door. The light illuminated things scarcely enough for me to see what my surroundings were.

But it was still hard to breath. I looked down to see the spear still sticking out of my chest. I moved a little and found, not only was I stuck but the spear tore through my body with every movement I made. My skin had grown around the spear to stop the blood flow and I could feel that for the most part, my body organs had healed to their original state. The only difference being, my heart was pumping blood around the stick that was plunged through it. Surprisingly enough, if I didn’t move, I felt fine. That thought was a little unsettling.

Why hadn’t the spear killed me? It should have! The damned thing went straight through my heart! I started to breathe a little heavier and in doing so I tore the hole in my chest open a bit more. Gritting my teeth at the pain, I yanked my hands from their bounds, grasped the rod and yanked it from my chest. Blood squirted everywhere and filled my lungs up once again causing me to cough up more blood.

The coughs finally subsided and then I noticed the smell in the room. I looked down and barely saw the sticky mess I was in. Everything was tinted a bit in red though what I really noticed were the splotches of where the blood and vomit were. I looked around in this strange vision. It was gradually growing stronger as I started to see other colors. Dark red for most of what I saw, yellow for the light coming underneath the door and varying degrees of other colors as they each became solidified into objects. I could see everything clearly now but was still unable to comprehend most of what I was seeing. Was this some kind of night vision?

The hole in my chest was almost healed and I decided to ignore this new development and shuffled over to the door. It was unlocked and I made my way down the sterile hallway. Though they didn’t echo, I felt my footsteps were too loud. Part of me feared for my life, which was strange as I wanted so desperately to die. Pushing down my flee instinct; I walked on in the direction I felt people would be. People that maybe knew enough to kill me. People who I hoped wanted to kill me.

I walked on for a while before I got tired of seeing the same boring hallways and forced my way into a random room. What greeted me, I did not expect.

The room was dim, much like the one I had just come from. Only this one was filled with people. They all gaped at me and I stared back. I noticed the serving girl I had met a few days ago. The one that had helped me escape the first time. Even though it was dark in the room, with the strange colors I saw, I clearly saw that she still looked at me with that strange expression of worship.

“You have come to help us?” the girl asked. The others in the room shifted excitedly when she asked this. All of them moving closer as if wanting to get a better look at me. The girl stood up and walked closer to me and put her hand on my face. “See? We’re alike, you and I.”

The others crowded me and all of them at once tried to touch me. A flicker of a headache washed over my mind and I instantly feared for these people. But they stopped and the phantom headache drifted away.

“Don’t worry,” said the girl, her hand still caressing my face, “we won’t disappoint you. Without you, we would not be here, Master.”

I grabbed her arm and yanked her hand from my face. She didn’t even flinch as she smiled lovingly at me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked her.

“This is where they like to keep us,” someone in the back called. “They don’t like to use us properly anymore!”

“But you will, won’t you?” the girl brought my attention back to her and leaned in close to me. I clenched my jaw in frustration and leaned back. The girl noticed and backed off looking slightly hurt. “Master, we will not fail you. What do you want us to do?”

The others had stopped all movement when she asked that, attentive to what I would have them do. I looked at all of them and then back at the girl. I heard a distant chatter of people down the hall and before I thought about it; before I gave myself a chance to change my mind, I had my answer.

“I want you to help me find the head of this place.”

The girl’s look of admiration quickly shifted into one of wicked delight.

“It would be our pleasure.”