Note: This is the penultimate chapter to the Live or Die series. I wish you a lot of fun while reading and hope you like it.
Cause if I don 't follow my heart this time
I 'm gonna forget what this life is all about
...
Where was he? Where had they brought him? Someone touched him and he flailed wildly until two strong arms pinned him. The familiar sting of a needle and the feeling of cold liquid in his veins. Then darkness, a very long darkness. Occasionally voices came to him and he saw distorted figures bent over him. Plagued by pain and thirst, he turned restlessly. It was cold, terribly cold, and yet he was trembling and sweating at the same time. His head was filled with confused dreams and flashbacks letting him unable to rest.
In his feverish dreams, he saw his comrades and how he killed them. Over and over again. He shouted, cried, crunched his teeth, clutched his head, and just wanted it to stop, wanted something to numb the pain, to numb his emotions.
At the same time a tremendous rage rose within him. This anger was what showed M‑21 that the wolf had not left him. The animal struggled and fought with him, it waited patiently for the time when everything would be over and he could sleep. Finally, sleep long and become stronger to live.
Cold and fever eventually vanished, the nightmares faded. Someone dabbed his forehead and spoke to him in a soothing voice. He got water which relieved his worst thirst and he slept. He did not know how much time had passed before the wolf woke him up.
The animal excited, and impatient. An obtrusive voice in his head that asked him to open his eyes. M‑21 rolled over to the side, feeling as if a nervous fly was shaking around his head. His animal self was in his head - that made the whole thing more difficult.
Something rattled and squeaked unpleasantly. The wolf snapped his ears angrily. M-21 twitched in response and grimaced. As if to soothe him, someone gently stroked his hair, the touch was so light it almost tickled, or did he imagined that? Sleepy, M-21 wondered if he should be ready to fight, but the gentle stroking hand seemed to represent no danger. On the contrary, the wolf in him enjoyed the touch immensely.
M-21 himself could not help but enjoy it as well, until the moment he remembered that this could not be any of his comrades. So who was it? His mind began to stir. Fragments of what had happened after he had been released from the lab, the cave, the deprivation, the stranger were suddenly standing before him ...
Fear gripped his chest and narrowed his throat. He tried to open his eyes, but his body was slow and his eyes felt heavy. The wolf was also nervous. He could not tell if it was because of him or there was another reason that his animal counterpart was getting restless.
At attention, he focused on the voices and sounds around himself. There had to be several people nearby. A few voices were familiar to him, and M-21 understood the words spoken without being able to understand the meaning behind them. Mechanically, he closed his fist surprised to feel something soft. He laid on something soft and warm, pleasantly warm. As he tried to process these facts, a cool breeze passed over him.
He took a deep breath as a reflex, and gasped softly as the Wolf whimpered impatiently, its longing swept over his mind and drowned his worries for a moment. M-21 smelled the earth and salt mixed with dozens of other odors that he could not associate. They was so intense that he almost tasted them. In addition, there was noise and the countless other sounds he'd never heard before.
Focused on the strange sensations and on his other side, he missed the voices that had approached him. M-21 came back to himself when a firm hand closed around his arm and something cold touched his skin. A perception he knew all too well. He opened his eyes, the shock was enough to accomplish in an instant what he had tried just a few minutes ago.
The surrounding light was too bright and pricked his eyes. He saw only shadows. But to recognize that a person was much too close to him and held a syringe in his hand, was enough. He sat up with a jerk. Without thinking, he struck the hand with a wild growl. The wolf roared furiously, neck hair impressively set up and the teeth bared, the wolf made itself ready for the attack.
M-21 panicked, startled, and backed away instinctively until he had his back pushed against a wall. Never before had the connection between him and the wolf been so intense. Like an angry animal that turned under his skin, imprisoned in his head. He clasped his head, trying to push the wolf back to regain control.
"Well, I guess he's awake," remarked a rough voice that seemed familiar to him. Still holding his head, M-21 looked up and regretted it. It was Muzaka. So far so good, but his animal counterpart was joyfully fierce at his sight which was not good.
He did not like the present situation at all. M-21 had his fair share of loss of control in the muck he could call his crappy life. This was just a bit more, just why was his animal counterpart so busy wiggling its back and whining to Muzaka if it wasn't obviously that bastard who had put him back into a lab?
And that he had to be in a laboratory was proved by the second man who stood next to Muzaka wearing a lab coat. M-21 recognized him, it was the stranger from the cave. The wolf growled, at least this was of little comfort to M-21, since the animal docked ears and ducked at the same time giving M-21 some control back. Unfortunately however the wolf's behavior owed simply to its instinctive recognization that he was facing an opponent he could not defeat. To make things perfect, another stranger stood next to the first. Even this one seemed vaguely familiar to him, but he could not say exactly where ... besides, he really had other problems right then.
The scientist had just sighed and picked up the syringe M-21 had struck out of his hand. M-21 and the wolf watched him put it on a table, which was not far from the bed. "Now that you say it, Muzaka, I also notice it," replied the man unimpressed that M-21 hissed at him.
The aforementioned bastard whistled and snapped his tongue. "I never thought he'd wake up so early ..." Muzaka grunted and bent over the bed to look at him more closely. Here, M-21 unintentionally slipped one more strange, squeaky sound from the throat. Muzaka raised his eyebrow in surprise and retired. "What's wrong with him?"
"What do you think?" The scientist adjusted his glasses annoyed, and grabbed a clipboard coming even closer. The growling in M-21 chest swelled. The wolf was ready to fight, but he held it back with some effort.
The scientist stared at M-21 thoughtfully. "You seem to have a piece of control. I had hoped that."
"When we found him, he could still talk," Muzaka remarked, successfully mediating the impression that irritated and annoyed him.
"With the amount of drugs that were given to him, it's no wonder" the man leafed through a few pages. "Without the drugs, it's hard for him to keep control of himself. Can you speak?" He asked him, but M-21 could only stare back. His tongue was paralyzed as if suddenly he did not know how to use it... No, that was wrong; his animalistic counterpart lacked the knowledge of the tongue. M-21 shuddered as he tried again to break his mind free, but the wolf's grip became even stronger.
Muzaka narrowed his eyes "He is losing himself. Just like the other infected." His voice, or rather what was swung at him, caused the wolf to lay flat on the ground and moan. M-21 just managed to stifle this sound. The result was probably even more remarkable, as everyone looked at him.
"He ... is untrained," a gentle but meaningful voice mixed in with the conversation. M-21 shrank back. Both he and the wolf had forgotten that another person was present. He clenched his fist, the opposite of what the wolf wanted. The animal hissed annoyed, but still managed to retreat to a corner, to the greatest possible distance to all. Muzaka commented on this with a further perplexed look while the scientist only leafed through some papers which probably had his data.
"He will learn" the scientist jammed the data under the arm. "I'm surprised that his control is already so good and he did not attack me again after waking up" the blonde tapped his chin thoughtfully, "I'm assuming you understand what we're saying to you", he turned directly to M-21 who stared back, curling his lips weakly in the attempt to not growl again.
"This much loss of control is ... normal, as far as you can assume in your situation. Do not fight against it and try to get used to it. It could take a little time" blue eyes looked at M-21 thoughtfully, not that this felt better. "We'll continue talking when you're able to do it. Until then rest as good as you can ... oh and please do not go through this door. I still have other patients and I lack the time to look for you everywhere. "
Was that a joke? M-21 blinked. Where would he go to without being captured again? He wondered why had he not been chained, or imprisoned. And what did the man meant by patients?
Muzaka seemed to have similar doubts and studied him with a worried expression. "Are you sure Frankenstein? I don't want him attacking someone."
"Let this be my concern, Muzaka" the scientist glared at the man, "Do you have anything else to do than disturb me? In addition, it is too late to think about it after you brought him here and I took the trouble to save his life. Rest assured, he will not attack anyone as long as one does not provoke him"
"Aren't you saying this only because you want his blood samples?" Muzaka poked unimpressed.
"Have I not just formulated the phrase: As long as you do not provoke him, too difficult for you? Let me do my work Muzaka, I beg you. "
"Yeah ... yeah ..." Muzaka actually turned around and waved his hand. "I think I can only remember that you mean he is extremely unstable? We'll see you later " The wolf whined as Muzaka moved away. M-21 slapped his hand over his mouth and missed a spiritual blow to his counterpart.
The scientist breathed heavily and pinched himself in the nasal tip. "We'll leave you alone now," he said before he walked away. Irritated, M-21 stared at their retreating forms. They just left him alone? Without locking him up or otherwise being sure that he could not escape? The wolf relaxed and loosened his staple. Apparently, everything was all right.
This gave M-21 enough courage to look around. Upto the walls there were only beds and a large number of devices, which reminded M-21 of Union labs. The room, however, did not consist of the desolate naked walls he knew too well, but bare stones.
There were many windows without panes, invaded by the light. All the other people in the room seemed relaxed, some were even laughing. He recognized the people talking to Muzuka, they were the lab prisoners freed by Muzuka. Nobody gave the impression of being here involuntarily or of having pain. The familiar, slightly sharp smell lay in the air but the rest was missing. The blood, the screams.
M-21 spread his fingers, watching as muscles and bones worked. He could move without the familiar sharp stings of pain or the dull throb of an injury. His mind was clear ... apart from his personality split. His senses unusually sharp, unclouded by any drugs.
The wolf told him it was safe. But it was hard for him to believe. Despite the fact that his body seemed cured, he had not been locked up, and treated in a friendly way. He was not allowed to neglect his vigilance. He did not know these people and one of them was a scientist. This situation could all too quickly develop to his disadvantage.
-.-.-.-
When the moon had already crossed the sky, the wolf woke him up. The animal had reacted from the lack of understanding his worries. After all, his animal side could not ignore him and watched over him as soon as he went to sleep. Throughout the day the scientist came to him with a plate of food and later to pick it up again. M-21 ate little, although the wolf assured him it was safe. On the plate there was simply too much - admittedly delicious and completely unknown - food. More than he could eat. Then he had gone to sleep with the wolf at his side watching him.
But why had he woken up? The wolf was excited, but not worried. M-21 opened his eyes. It was dark. Somebody coughed and a bed squealed, otherwise it was quiet.
His body moved as if by itself and rose from the bed. The wolf had taken control again and steered him to the next window to lean out and taste the greedy air. There it was again, this salty taste in the air. Without realizing it correctly, he jumped, the wolf jumped out of the window and landed hard enough on the ground to press out all air from his lungs.
In the next moment, he ran past the trees through the undergrowth just straight ahead, and although he had no control over his body, he clearly saw what was going on with him. The burning of his lungs, the raging heartbeat, the wind that struck him in the face, the earth under his naked soles. All these sensation were clear as never before.
The wolf jumped on some rocks, M-21 felt like his muscles were shaking and he knew his body was coming at its limit. The wolf howled in triumph sweeping this short weakness aside, and climbed the rest of the way up. An endless surface of water spread before him. The moon threw its pale light on the waves that broke down at the coast.
M-21 closed his eyes and just listened.
For the first time in years he felt that he was free.
-.-.-.-
Frankenstein massaged the bridge of his nose. It was an annoying habit he had taken to lately, with good reason. A heap of werewolves was not good for his nerves, not at all. His beloved Master patted him gently on the shoulder, the only way for him to cheer up his servant. Not far away stood Muzaka chuckling like a small child.
Speaking of child ...
"I can remember asking you not to leave the room."
The reason for his anger, the modified boy who Muzuka had literally taken from the labs, turned his gaze away from the window. He sat on his bed, with leaves in gray hair and dirt all over his body. Frankenstein had really spent a lot of time washing the boy when he came into his care. Now the boy was sitting on the once white bed sheet and showed no signs of repentance. There was still dirt on his soles and somehow he had managed to lose his top. It would cost Frankenstein much time to clean this mess up.
A grim grin spreads over the boy's face. "You only said that I could not go through the door ... so I took the window."
"You should have told him about the windows." Muzaka bared his teeth and laughed. Frankenstein himself could only stare while his brain was trying to decide how best to react to this jab. Strangely, he was more concerned about silencing Muzaka than correcting the boy.
"Funny ..." the boy muttered, his eyes scurrying back and forth "To hear that from someone who just entered through the window, when the door is right next to it."
Muzaka stopped laughing.
"You were right Muzaka, he really is amusing."