It was a small room. Two single beds, a small television sat on a cabinet opposite the space between the beds. A small kitchen was to the left of the beds, with a door that lead to the bathroom. The Bathroom was a simple share one; connecting the room to its neighbor. On the floor between the beds was sprawled a thousand little pieces of cardboard, only a few of which were not assembled together into the puzzle. A little boy lay at one end of the puzzle, feet tapping on the bedside table as he looked across to the only other person in the room. The man considered the pieces of the puzzle. Picking up one of the purple ones and pressing it into position before smiling at the boy. "I think you might win this one" He smiled, watching the boy setting another piece into position. It was a rare puzzle, consisting mainly of what a normal person would call static, like on a television screen, and no borders. Without the lid the puzzle would be near impossible for most people. But that was of course, the fun of it. The man placed the next piece.
With the final piece laid into position, the child looked at the man. "Is it time for the medicine?" After letting his one eyebrow settle, the man looked over at the clock nearby. Indeed it was time for the child's injection. He nodded as he stood and headed to the cooler sitting on the floor in the middle of the kitchen. Behind him, the boy began packing up the puzzle. "Will we have to leave tonight?" The tone rung sad, but the man didn't notice. Not tonight, no. But as he retrieved the syringe from the sink and began loading the medication he confirmed that yes, they will have to leave soon. The child had been very good the last couple weeks; willingly taking both injections as it had slowly become part of the routine they had developed. "Okay Daddy" The boy smiled, putting the packed puzzle into a bag before climbing up onto one of the beds and sitting as close to the middle as he could.
The man turned. "Have you brushed your teeth?" As a response, the child grinned widely. "Well done." He sat himself down on the side of the bed. Reaching over, the man slowly rolled up the child's pyjama sleeve. It was becoming a slower process each time, so as not to catch the material on any of the slowly forming scales across the child's arm. They speckled the skin seemingly randomly, and were not large enough to overlap yet, but they were definitely scales. "I know it hurts." The man soothed as he searched for a place free of scale to slowly slide the needle in. "But the medicine will help them go away" He smiled, finishing the injection before slowly removing the needle and wiping the skin clean. "See, all done." The boy pulled the sleeve back down before hugging the man at the waist. "You've been so good. We might even get a treat tomorrow. Does that sound good?" The child nodded silent agreement before the man gently peeled him away so that he could go clean up the syringe and finish packing.
The man pulled the sheets up to under the child's chin, smiling as he kissed the little forehead and turned the lamp off. "Good night" He murmured before getting up and slowly moving through the dark into the bathroom. Here he could turn the light on without risk of disturbing any sleep. With the cooler beside him, the man lifted the lid away and began to check the contents. A new lie would have to be invented, the supply was running low. The man had taken enough to theoretically complete the process, but the changes were occurring slower than he had estimated. Flipping open the leather journal beside the sink he scanned over the tracings of the scales and the other notes he'd made over the past couple months. It may be that he simply underestimated the amount of treatment required. Perhaps the original subjects possessed some form of trigger that he had not been privy to. Or maybe this was as large as the scales were going to get. In any case he would have to make more doses at the next motel. For now he would simply update his journal and call it a night.
Three loud knocks at the door startled the man. "Mr. Rekel, Police. Open the door please." He daren't let the curse audibly leave his lips as he sat on the bed in the dark. Another two loud knocks were followed by; "We know you're in there Mr. Rekel. Don't make this any worse than it is. We have the motel surrounded" The child woke, looking around confused before the man spoke to explain.
"It's the bad men! Quick" He whispered, grabbing the boys bag and heading for the bathroom.
The sound of a key in a lock drew the man's attention to the front door, and the shadows under the door for the adjoining room told him that that way was not an option either. Fearfully he grabbed his journal and yanked the window open. Grabbing the frightened child as he made a move for his exit. He had pushed the boy partway through the window when he himself was seized and wrestled to the ground by a man in a a police uniform and wearing what appeared to be a bulletproof vest. Did they expect him to shoot at them? Really? The boy began screaming as another officer grabbed him and pulled him back into the room and out through the adjoining room with several other officers. "Let him go" the man shouted, pinned to the ground. "I have rights! You can't just take a man's pokemon!" His head was being pressed against the tile floor as handcuffs were being clasped to his hands behind his back.
"That's a child" the officer scolded as he pulled the man to his feet.
"Not any more."