Chapter four: Two Scratches
Jonathan couldn't sleep that evening, on account of Grace and her seizure, as Ages called it, and the injections were still lingering in his system, a twinge of nausea would form in his stomach every once in a while, and the unnatural warmth was gone, instead replaced with Grace's sleeping form. Jonathan couldn't help watching her; like the whole nightmare of the night had never happened, and she laid peacefully, head on his lap, in a deep slumber. Ages had sporadically checked on them both, more worried about Grace than Jonathan, and would ask if she had woken up yet. She hadn't woken up since her episode last night, and Jonathan started to worry also; the fatigue rings and bloodshot eyes told a story that he had sobbed, secretly, and didn't get much sleep. Jonathan was going over what Nicodemus had said; why couldn't they leave yet, how long must they wait? He was sure whatever the human gave him didn't affect him as bad as they did for Grace, he wasn't sure if he could take anymore, let alone her.
Ages had waddled toward the pair again, clearing his throat as he got closer, interrupting Jonathan and his thoughts.
"How is she doing?" Ages asked, fatigue showing in his eyes as well.
"Still not awake," Jonathan replied, his voice groggy from the lack of sleep.
"Hmm" Ages grumbled, beginning to wander off again.
"Hey, um, Jericho, you got a sec?" Jonathan asked warily, Ages stopped and turned his head without a word, Jonathan took the hint, you've got my attention what do you want, was the look he was getting. He started talking. "How did…if you don't mind me asking, how did you…what is, um…" The words got stuck in his throat, the old mouse intense glare didn't help, and neither did his slowly raising furry eyebrow. "What is a seizure?" It sounded stupid to ask, but Jonathan had never heard of it before and it seemed like this 'Ages' character knew a good amount about them. Ages just glared, his gaze wavering slightly as he thought of a reply.
"Well my boy I'm not entirely sure either, all I do know is it has something to do with the brain; lack of oxygen, bad wiring, or something along that lines." Waving a hand, he turned and sat across from the pair, taking a deep breath in. "It doesn't really happen to animals, I mean it happens, but not as often as it does to humans, usually it's caused by some kind of outside changes to the mother while the baby is still in the womb, or it's a family trait." He stopped, gauging Jonathan's reaction, his red eyes blinked, showing some kind of understanding before Ages continued, "It usually happens to the ones that are slow, or weak. This mouse…" Ages pointing a finger in the sleeping figures direction.
"Grace" Jonathan filling in the gap.
"Yes, Grace, is she…slow?"
"Oh dear god no, not slow" Grace stirred, but didn't wake. Jonathan decided to whisper what he was going to say, "I wouldn't say slow; more like…" he thought for a minute. "Fragile, I think is the word."
Ages grumbled, satisfied with Jonathan's description. "When she arrived here, was she terrified? Frozen?" eyebrows raised in a question.
"Yeah," Jonathan remembering, "She was dropped in here and nobody seemed to notice she was shaking like a leaf, so I decided to help her out you know?"
"Noble thing of you to do" Ages praised, "it doesn't help however that she was taken from her home and then dropped in a box full of strangers."
"Exactly what I thought" Jonathan said. Ages just held up his hand, motioning for Jonathan to kindly put a sock in it. He listened.
"It also doesn't help that whatever these humans are doing to us have affected a number of us in a really bad way. Grace here might be a special case; the injections might have triggered some things that weren't stable to begin with to go haywire, causing her to have these episodes. I fear her mind might be too weak to survive another barrage of tests." The words hung in the air like a bad odor. Jonathan dropped his gaze to her, still sleeping soundly, moaning softly every once in a while in her dreams. His heart sank at the thought of losing her, but another question popped up in his head despite the bleak conversation.
"How do you know so much about seizures, Ages?" This question seemed to throw Ages off balance; he thought for a second then deeply sighed.
"I had a daughter, years ago; she had them all the time when she was little. Scared the bejeezus out of her mother, and me" he managed a light chuckle, but his face changed to sadness as he remembered more, voice with a slight tremble. "It was a lifetime ago; try not to think about it now." His gaze wandering around the cage, he sighed once more. An uneasy silence fell over the group; they sat there for what felt like an eternity until something happened. Grace's eyes began to flutter. Ages and Jonathan both let out a relieved sigh as she began to come to, Ages rushed over to her, kneeling over her along with Jonathan, she held her head with one paw. "What…Where am I? Who are you?" She asked the elderly mouse standing over her. "I'm a friend young lady, don't worry about me." Ages said, way to go Ages, be cryptic about it. Jonathan thought, her eyes weakly crept to the other being over her, a small smile made its way on her face. "Jon." She managed weakly, Jonathan didn't feel tired anymore after hearing her voice, and he was more awake now than he had ever been.
"Hey sleeping beauty, welcome back to the realm of the living." He said softly, returning the smile. She studied the lines in his face, his eyes were ringed with exhaustion, his eyes were bloodshot with worry, and it looked like he hadn't been grooming; fur messy with tufts standing straight up. "What happened to you?" she asked. He blinked, taking a breath in, "Let's just say, I've been better." He joked, she didn't find it funny. She tried to remember what happened before she slept; she remembered the human grabbing Jonathan and her, but he made her let go to save her. After he was dropped back in the cage she was grabbed next and stabbed with a thin metal tube, her skin began to crawl and she was dropped back in the cage with the others, then she passed out from the most excruciating pain she had ever felt. After that, everything else was blank, like something else happened, but she didn't know what.
Ages interrupted her thoughts by clearing his throat loudly; she turned her gaze back to Ages, who also glared at her with worry. "Do you remember anything from last night, young lady?"
"Not really," she replied, "I remember the human grabbing me, then I passed out." Her gaze went passed Ages, as she tried to remember more. "Then that's it, and then I'm here with you guys." Jonathan and Ages glanced at each other; both were thinking it was probably best if she didn't know about her episode. She began to stare quizzically at them, then asked; "What?"
"Nothing." They both replied.
She snapped a look at Jonathan, who shrugged. She smacked her lips "I'm really thirsty." Jonathan sprang at the chance to help her, "Here let me help you up."
"No I got it I think." She gingerly sat up, placed her feet on the ground in front of her and pushed off the ground with her hands, she rose quickly on unsteady legs, she stood for a moment before her legs buckled and she fell back onto Jonathan, who caught her before she fell on the ground. "What's wrong with my legs?" she asked, terrified. "The injections they gave us messed up a lot of things," Jonathan replied, "I had the same problem when I woke up, I couldn't stand for the life of me."
"It also doesn't help that you haven't eaten or drank anything for over a day." Ages added, running over to help Jonathan hold Grace upright. "You have to learn to walk again, we'll help you."
The two males took each side of Grace, her arms placed on their shoulders for support, and they slowly made their way towards the water dish. "I've been asleep for over a day?" She asked as they rested a moment. They had made it only 6 steps from where they started.
"Yep, you were out cold." Jonathan stated matter-of-factly. She stared straight ahead, deep in thought. She then gasped and stared at Jonathan with worry, "Has the monster come back yet?"
"No we haven't seen him all day, I think they're giving the tests some time to fully sink in." Ages stated; this seemed to calm her down slightly. "Now if you don't mind, can we continue?" he said impatiently, Grace frowned at Ages, but knew he was right, she wasn't going to learn how to walk again if they just stood around. She looked down at her feet, concentrating on lifting her right foot, and placing it ahead of the left one, Jonathan watched her face as she concentrated, her brow furrowed and her jaw clenched, determined to move her feet with grim determination. He started to giggle at her absurd expression, but quickly stifled it when she turned that look towards him. The three of them slowly but surely marched towards the water bowl, and when they finally reached it, Grace was panting like she ran a marathon; not a short walk. Jonathan and Ages let her down on her knees easy, and she lowered her head into the water dish. Ages leaned back and crossed his arms, Jon just watched Grace drink.
"So" Ages finally speaking up, "what is the plan for escaping this demented funhouse? I heard you were talking with a rat named 'Nicodemus', yes?" Ages asked Jonathan.
"Well," he replied, scratching the back of his head looking for an answer. "Not exactly; see he says we are escaping, but not when." This seemed to irritate Ages. "So you know you're escaping but not now?"
"No, Nicodemus said we need to wait for everyone to be ready, whatever that means." Jonathan said.
"Yes yes I'm aware of that, what I mean does he have a plan when we get out?" emphasizing what his intentions were.
"Not that I can think of." Jonathan thought for a moment.
"Well the next time we see this, 'Nicodemus' let him know I want in on the escape plan."
"Sure thing Mr. Ages, I'm sure we'll need all the help we can get." Jonathan beaming with hope, now we can get the ball rolling.
"Good." He cleared his throat and turned to leave, but before he did he turned to Grace, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Grace dear, are you going to be okay now?" She sat up, and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and looked up at Ages, "Sure, I think I'm alright now" she said quietly.
"Good, I'll take me leave then." And with that Ages waddled off to work on the escape plan, leaving the two youths behind. Grace turned to Jonathan, a serious look in her eye; "So if Ages is going to help come up with a plan to get us out of here, how soon do you think it will be ready?"
"I don't know, but I'm betting with Ages and Nicodemus putting their collective heads together it won't be too long." Jonathan returning her gaze, she nodded satisfied with his answer. "I don't know about you, but I kind of want to get off my knees." She said dryly; Jonathan was broadsided by the joke, and burst into a short, uncontrollable laugh. It was great her sense of humor had returned, and Jonathan had no idea she had a dry sense of humor at that; she didn't find the time to be funny. He wiped a single tear from his cheek and exhaled, "Alright, let's get you up onto your feet."
Jonathan helps Grace up off her knees onto her wobbly feet, she regained balance, but Jonathan stayed close, his arm around her waist with her arm draped over his shoulder for support. They slowly but surely walked around the container, helping Grace regain her ability to walk. After a few minutes and idle chatter with 2 laps around the container, Grace spoke.
"You know, I could walk fine the first time around." She stated. Jonathan got nervous nearly tripping as he realized he hadn't moved his paw from her side, "Oh, sorry" he stammered and started to remove it; she stopped him with her paw, and made him put it back, tighter around her as she got closer to him. "But that's okay." She whispered. He felt his face go red, and despite his fur covering his body she must have noticed as she giggled. They walked in silence together, in their own perfect little world.
Nicodemus had woken up with a start. That dream again. He rose from his sleep, rubbing his face with his paws; this dilemma is going to haunt me for an eternity. He was struggling with the visions bleak outlook onJonathan, his face now clear in the vision, and was trying every time to grab him, but failed at the last second, watching the tiny figure disappear into the darkness. He took in a deep breath as he stood, letting out a yawn and stretching. The cage he was in was almost home, what with the incredible cold floor, the reflective walls and the lack of good tasting food he had almost made it home. He took a shot of water from the bottle hanging from the cage door and stood by the window. Looking out he could see the lights were still turned off, the room dim with small sources of light coming from the red neon light above the door, casting an eerie red glow over the door. Nicodemus blinked, squinting at the sign, can I read that?
He struggled to make out the first symbol from the left; it almost looked like a three-pronged pitchfork, missing its handle and turned on its side, the next symbol looked like two sticks crossed, the third was a simple straight line and the last one was the straight line again, except the top had a smaller cross sitting on top of it. E-X-I-T, what does that spell? Nicodemus wracked his brain, somehow he could make out the symbols-despite not knowing how- and was trying to give the symbols meaning. He tried for several minutes, eventually giving up after getting a severe headache. Disgruntled, he slid his hand outside the cage, and played with the metal mechanism that held the door shut. It was something of a mystery to him; the human would put him in the cage, and somehow move that into a position that prevented the door from opening, and allow the mechanism to lock itself. It was puzzling, he would try and move it into the position when the human was gone, but didn't know how it did it. He kept playing with it, lifting it slightly until it would stop, then let go of it again, letting it hit his door with a clang. I will figure out how to unlock you're secrets, you little metal cadaver, and when I do, you will not stop us.
The giant door with the sign above it swung open, hitting the wall making an explosion of noise, startling everyone in the room. The human had returned, and like magic the lights flicked on and the human began to whistle. It was a different one, this one didn't wear glasses, and it was a female, short and slender with her black hair back in a ponytail. Nicodemus snickered; the human looked like it had a tail dangling from the back of its head, he joked. Thus began the ritual again.
Nicodemus and the other rats were plucked from their cages and all given more shots, although these ones were not as harsh as the ones from two days ago; the feeling of nausea subsided quickly, and once the human finished injecting the rats, she picked up the little black box the male human was using and spoke into it.
"Rat test subjects are adjusting well to the initial dosages of G-2, only suffering 2 wash-outs, bringing the total number of survivors to 22."
The words came to Nicodemus more easily, somehow their strange language started to make sense, he could pick out some of the words; Rats, adjusting, dosage, survivors.
"Continuing second phase of G-2, continuing to gather notes on mental progress of rats and monitoring for increases in wash-outs. Moving G-2 second phase to other test species."
The female left the room, and came back with two half-full containers holding the other test subjects- Mice. She set the containers down, Nicodemus saw Jonathan and his small friend, accompanied by a new mouse, and older one with tan fur and gruffness to him, introduced himself as Jericho Ages. Jonathan filled in Nicodemus that 'Mr. Ages', as he liked to be called, had a plan put together for when they were ready to escape, Nicodemus listened intently, as Ages laid out his carefully well thought out plan to him, Justin had joined the conversation, putting forth his 'two cents', after their plan had been finished, Nicodemus and Ages shared a cool conversation, and settled on a consensus; they had a plan and they were ready, when the time came. The woman had returned, and the mice disappeared from the rats, attempting to hide themselves among the panicking crowd. Opening the top container, she began the procedure again. One after one the mice were injected then dropped back in their cages; she reached the bottom cage, and Nicodemus recognized one of the first out, it was Jonathan, thrashing in her hand, burning the female with the fire in his eyes. Next was the little light brown mouse that Jonathan had grown quite attached to; she didn't struggle near as much as Jonathan, terrified beyond belief as she too was dropped back into the cage. The female managed to stab every mouse, and picked up the little black box again, speaking in the icy tone that sent shivers down everyone in earshot.
"Mice subjects given second rounds of G-2; sadly they were affected more by the first phase, and 12 have been confirmed dead. This is a huge setback in the G-2 line, but we are moving forward with the tests, keeping hopeful more will survive the second barrage."
She completed her task, she stacked the crates with the small unconscious bundles in them one on top of the other, and proceeded to put them in their respective places, returning afterwards to put the rats where they belonged. Nicodemus and the others were unceremoniously locked away, left with only their thoughts as the injections worked there twisted magic through their veins. The mice were drastically affected by it, most began to foam at the mouth and die within the first few hours, any after that lay motionless on the shavings covered floors, unmoving. After several hours most had come to; though there were still some that remained motionless. Jonathan and his friend were moving, along with Ages, as they shuffled about, regrouping their thoughts.
A week had passed, and Justin, Nicodemus, Jonathan, Ages, and Grace had all changed dramatically. Justin's math skills had increased tenfold, being able to count to one-hundred. Nicodemus' vision began to take more shape, though Jonathan's fate seemed hopelessly sealed after their escape. He also discovered he could write, spelling the word that glowed over the door outside. Grace's condition began to deteriorate quickly, losing much of the movement in her legs, and the seizures got worse, making her sleep more and more, Mr. Ages and Jonathan were both completely helpless to her condition, Jonathan staying by her side; never leaving her as Ages began to go over his plan with a fine tooth comb, ironing out problems that began to arise as his intelligence level increased with each passing day. All their intelligence levels had increased exponentially; taking into consideration what their normal rat and mouse brethren would never need to face in their day-to-day lives. They also changed physically, whether by age or the injections, Justin grew about an inch and put on some muscle, though still lanky by some standards, his shoulder also healed completely in the short time. Nicodemus noticed a thin mustache and beard begin to show itself on his wrinkled snout. Jonathan seemed to also grow slightly, a tuft of fur had grown on the top of his head in a thick pile, but mostly got skinnier; mostly because he stopped eating the food they left for the rodents.
Another week had passed.
Two more rats perished that week, succumbing to the injections. It was more devastating for the mice; a container remained empty, the survivors were all placed in one, and even then the container was sparsely populated. The tests seemed to level off; no one noticed any more significant changes. The only change was in the air. Nicodemus could feel the time to act was soon, as did everyone else. Justin paced anxiously in his cage, the human language, alphabet, and math skill was almost second nature to them. How come though, had become clear; by listening in on the humans talking into the black box, now known as a voice recorder, they were testing a new and unexplored arm of science, called Gene therapy. Using the rodents as guinea pigs, they tested the unknown effects of a compound they had synthesized on their small bodies, instead of using human test subjects; because it was unethical. The more Nicodemus thought about it, the more appalled he became, testing on animals is just as unethical as testing on humans, we still feel pain just like any other living being on this planet, and you claim it is all in the name of science. Nicodemus scoffed, they would never learn what their 'experiments', had accomplished, he wouldn't allow it. They were escaping before they could unleash it upon they're world, the cost of lives it took to discover the secrets was too high.
As Nicodemus pondered the escape; a gloved hand swung the door open, how unexpected, there aren't any scheduled injections this morning. He thought to himself, the hand grabbed him and pulled him out and took him to the now familiar room where all the sins of the humans had been occurring. But instead of being dropped in the cage, the creature held on to him; Nicodemus was utterly bewildered, a pang of anxiety shot through him; what are they planning? The human held the voice recorder in one hand, and spoke into it.
"The G-2 therapy has been completed, rat subjects showing the most improvement in higher cognitive thinking. Subject 1 has shown the most improvement out of the test group, arriving technically deceased and injected with B-204 strand. Heart rate returned with no signs of permanent brain damage. Survived G-2 therapy with highest improvement across all areas, Professor agrees subject 1 will be perfect for new experiment."
Nicodemus' blood ran cold; another experiment? This can't be; he didn't try to escape as he knew it was futile, the grip of the human was far stronger than him, so he watched helplessly as the creature placed the voice recorder on the table and fetched a needle. The needle was twice the size of the other ones, containing within it an unearthly black substance that resembled tar. Heart racing, he watched wide eyed as the needle was lowered, and finally broke his skin. The pain was immense, the needle nearly boring a hole into his gut, ejecting the vile substance into his bloodstream. The air was sucked out of his lungs, struggling to breathe.
The human returned Nicodemus to his cage to absorb the black that was consuming him. He curled into a ball, struggling to breathe still; feeling stars fill his vision as his mind separated itself from him. He spun uncontrollably, seeing with his eyes his very own cell structure fly past him. He must have been hallucinating; it was the only logical reason. The cells broke apart before him, breaking down into the DNA that was his very being, and they exploded into tiny atoms flying out in all directions, before forming stars in the blackness that was space. It was all so random and intoxicating, watching as his mind fractured the barrier between dream and reality, sanity and madness. It all seemed to make sense, every question in the galaxy anyone ever wanted to know, was letting itself enter the library called his mind, he knew how and when things would progress in the finite entity called life, he had an answer for every question, and knew how to unlock the next step in the evolutionary chain for his species. He found himself enlightened, in the weirdest way. He finally collapsed, his mind relenting the strange realm it held him in, his mind came crashing back to his being. He passed out from lack of oxygen.
He woke several hours later, coming back into the realm with a gasp. The world had changed, he couldn't see anything, and he blinked hoping it was just dark, but light always comes through the window. It was pitch black, but then the world exploded. Colors overwhelmed Nicodemus, myriads of different colors flashed into view. He could see, but not the way he used to; he glanced down at his form, he could see his circulation system, flowing the life essence all beings needed to survive. His paws glow a deep yellow, pulsing brightly with each heartbeat. Rotating his paws he saw his individual fingers, glowing faintly; he could actually see his life energy flow around him. the cage he called home glowed a faint purple, the dull reflective surface now covered in small globules of purple, dotting the walls, moving in slow lazy circles, he moved his hand to the wall, the purple circles parted at his paw. How strange, Nicodemus was speechless. He couldn't even grasp what he was seeing, figuratively speaking. He glanced around the new space, he saw the window; the purple parting in the shape of the bars, with black filling in the area between. He noticed a faintly glowing object on the wall, the lock that held his door shut, pulsing a faint orange. He saw the sign that was on the front of the door to his cage, the words a crimson red, mirrored to his vision. He never could read it; the door was always open and faced away from him whenever they took him out, but now he could make out what it read, despite being reversed.
TO OPEN LIFT HANDLE.
He felt around the bars to his window, and grasps the faintly glowing mechanism, lifting it, and then pulled it. The lock released with a mechanical clank. The door swung open, creaking slightly on its hinges. It felt like a dream, Nicodemus couldn't believe it, like his body was running through the motions but it seemed like it just didn't sink in yet. Suddenly it hit him.
We make our escape, tonight.