Jack strode into the lab. Bozer leaned on the white table looking over Riley's shoulder. They both looked up. Bozer straightened worry on his face. Before he could say anything, Jack raised a reassuring hand.
"He's okay; he's resting. Matty's keeping an eye on him. What'd you find?"
"The screams on the video don't match up with the…" Riley looked down and swallowed. Bozer put a hand on her shoulder. Riley glanced over and nodded. "It was modified, I cleaned it up, and this is what it sounds like." Jack bowed his head. The blood-curdling scream echoed again, it was unearthly and had a desperation to it that raised the hair on Jack's neck. Jack felt in his bones that the sound held the terror only felt by those dying a slow hard death. Jack's jaw tightened. It was a sound he'd heard too many times without the benefit of a sound system. Jack looked up at Riley's moist expressive eyes filled with sympathy. Bozer, with his eyes closed and arms across his chest, looked haggard and old. The younger man opened his eyes and looked at Jack.
"It's not Mac, thank god," Bozer said rubbing his face. The heavy silence that followed screamed about the unacknowledged truth that while this may not be their friend, somewhere there was another sound track that was. Jack let out a deep breath.
"Ok, ok, then who?"
"More like a what," Riley said. Both men looked down at her. "It isn't human."
"What is it?" Jack asked frowning.
"If I had to guess, I'd say it was probably a goat."
"A goat?" Bozer said. "I watched hours of screaming goats on youtube, none of them sounded like that."
"This was recorded as it died, painfully." Jack softly said. The others stared at him. Jack rubbed his chin. "My question is how did Mac recognize it?"
"He heard it before?" Bozer asked his voice hoarse. Jack nodded.
"When? Why?" Riley asked pushing to her feet. She turned and looked at Jack.
"What the hell is going on here?"
The house was broken. The middle of the roof had pushed in as if by some divine thumb, moon beams slid through the uneven hole thick with dust, pollen, and bat guano. The air inside the house is always moist, smells like mold and rotten potatoes. Moss grew along the walls and forgotten furniture. Chairs and couches made ageless by the gnawing of animals and nesting vermin, still stand in the places where the living once put them. Broken framed pictures long since fade to faceless mush, line the few walls still standing. Studs and powdered plaster are all that remains of the halls that once separated this room from that chamber. In the middle of the most solid part of the floor is a hole, perfectly round, cut by a hand saw leaving small edges visible around its circumference, like teeth in the mouth of a worm. Mac is bound, naked and alone. He looks up the dim light above him only slightly less dark than the blackness he is bound in. Mac can't see what is around him, but he hears slithering, squeaking and feels things brush his bare legs tied to something sharp and metal. A shadow looms over him, a familiar silhouette of a clown and mallet-Mac struggles to escape, but he can't move, he opens his mouth to scream, but can only choke around the gag shoved painfully deep in the back of his throat. He gags, unable to breathe….
Mac's eyes snapped open. He winced as flashes of color buzzed across his sight. His body shook as if he were seizing. Mac moaned unable to stop the spasms and jerking of his body. His jaw tightened, and his head slammed against the arm of the couch. Automatic tears ran down his face and screams seemed to reverberate around him in multi stereo echoes.
"Mac, Mac!" The voice was familiar, but Mac couldn't make out the speaker over the static maelstrom scalding his nervous system. "Medic, code red war room!" Mac's back arched and Mac felt something snap in his chest…
Mac opened his eyes slowly. He blinked and frowned. Mac sat up. Every muscle burned and shook as if he'd run four marathons end to end. Mac slowly sat up and dabbed at the sweat and tears running down his face. Mac took a deep breath and held his head in his hands. Mac jumped and jolted back surprised as Matty strode into the war room. She saw Mac was awake and smiled.
"Look who's awake, how do you feel, Mac?" Mac offered a weak grin. He took
A deep breath and shook his head.
"I don't know how much more I can take." Mac found himself blurting around a tight throat. He closed his eyes but couldn't stop the steady burning trails of tears leaking from his eyes. He felt her small hands wrap around the tight fists he hadn't known he'd made. Her hands were warm, firm. Everything else felt fluid and foggy.
"Mac, look at me." Mac looked up into Matty's soft eyes desperate for a lifeline, something to keep him here, grounded. "We're going to get you through this. You aren't alone, ok?" Mac nodded and carefully unmade his fists wiping at his sweaty forehead with a shaking hand.
"I feel like I'm...I'm losing touch, Matty," Mac said in a soft whisper.
"What do you mean?" Matty asked worriedly. Mac's face was white, waxen.
Mac shook his head and angrily swatted at the tears that insisted on falling. Mac jumped, and he hunched looking around the room, eyes wild and breathing fast. Matty stood up and grabbed Mac's face in both of hers.
"Mac. Mac. MAC!" Mac jumped and blinked looking at her surprised. "Talk to me, what are you seeing?"
"Hearing, screams...always screams…" Mac said closing his eyes. Matty shook him until he focused on her completely.
"That's over, Mac. You're safe. Ok, you're safe." Mac's eyebrows raised when he found himself wrapped into a small but comforting hug. Mac leaned into it and hugged Matty back feeling her concern support and soothe the nightmares away, at least for the minute. He pulled back and cleared his throat.
"Thanks." Mac murmured not meeting Matty's eyes.
"Blondie," Mac looked up reluctantly. Matty offered him an amused smile.
"Don't make this weird." Mac found himself laughing and nodded. "And, Mac, don't tell Jack, he'll get jealous."
"Of you or me?" They both burst out laughing.
" Where is everyone?" Matty studied him a long minute as if deciding something. Mac didn't look away. Mac looked worn to the bone but ready to keep slugging. Matty nodded and patted the kid on the shoulder.
"They went down to the lab so Riley could dissect the screams on the video to see what triggered you." Mac winced at the word 'disect' but managed to smooth it away unnoticed. Mac nodded and stood up and stumbled a step. Matty grabbed his hand. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" Mac looked down at her and rubbed his face as he swayed.
"I'm going down to the lab." He said as if that was obvious. Mac took a step back closing his eyes feeling sea sick as everything dipped and sloshed around him. Matty held onto his hand to keep him upright.
"Sit down before you fall!" Matty snapped. Mac fell back and looked up at Matty surprised as he found his body following her orders without his consent. Matty rolled her eyes. "Stay!" She snapped heading to the door. Mac was going to follow her anyway but realized he probably wouldn't make it to the door. He leaned forward and put his head in his hands. He felt like a band of steel spikes were digging into his skull. His mouth felt like something small and furry had curled up and died in there. He took a deep breath trying to ease away the fuzzy confusion. Mac glanced up and looked around him. He felt as if someone else was in the room, close. All the hairs on his neck stood on end. No one else was there.
"Paranoid," Mac muttered. He tried to unknot the stress bunching in his muscles. Chills crept up his spine. Then he heard the soft sound, a scuff of a shoe. He pushed to his feet only to feel something grab him by the front of his shirt and lifted off his feet. It felt like a metal claw. Mac was thrown over someone's shoulder, it felt hard like a steel shell. Mac slammed onto the carpet with a groan. He felt two solid kicks to his side. Mac cried out and kicked. He hit something solid. The table moved back, and the bowl of paperclips exploded across the room. Mac tried to roll to his feet, but he was grabbed from behind and dragged to his feet painfully. Mac's head slammed from side to side blood arching from broken lips and nose. Mac dimly felt himself body slammed to the ground then a substantial weight, a heavy metal boot, rested on his collar bone. Mac jumped hearing a soft whisper in his ear.
"Anytime, anywhere, MacGyver. You can't run. We own you, we always have." Mac looked over and saw nothing; no one else was in the room. The weight on his chest dug in, grinding against something broken in his chest. Mac tried to scream, but nothing came out. Then something slammed him into darkness.