[PROTOTYPE: Sanctum]

Chapter VI

'Can I break away make me fall, just to see another side of me. Push me away you can see, what I see, the other side of me.'--Trust Company (Downfall)

oOo

"I'll be back soon," she had said. "No more than two hours," she had said. "Not even long enough for you to get into trouble." she had said. Those, Toby now realized, were nothing but lies.

Dana wasn't coming back in two hours. It would be a goddamn miracle if she came back at all now. He felt sick, physically sick as the last echoes of her screams fell away into the fading sunlight and newly creeping darkness. Beside him, Alex was practically vibrating with rage and fear and it was the first time Toby had seen him act so human.

It was disconcerting, in a way, after thinking of him for over a month and a half now as nothing but a virus. One that he found slightly (just slightly, nothing more. Really. Honestly.) attractive, but a virus nonetheless.

But now it was as if he was the real Alex again, as if Alex was suddenly alive and the virus was nothing but a bad dream. If only Dana could see him now instead of being hauled off violently in the hands of a slobbering, growling, monster of a Hunter heading off to...hell, to bum-fucked Egypt for all they knew.

The sky stained itself an unforgiving red (God, he hated that color) and started to bleed slowly into a deep, dark purple. Like a painful bruise.

Alex lurched forward shouting Dana's name just as the Hunter leaped over and behind one of the nameless, numerous buildings littering Manhattan. Toby just barely snagged Alex's sleeve, and even then had to dig his heels hard into the gravel of the roof to keep himself from being flung over the edge.

"FUCK!" he shouted and scrabbled for footing. "Alex, Alex!" Toby gripped the rough leather of Alex's jacket tighter and hauled backwards as hard as he could. "Fuckingshit!"

Alex was like a wild animal, pulling and snarling against his hold, completely hellbent on chasing after the monster that had taken his sister. Deep inside, Toby rejoiced that there was still something human left in the man after all, but then shoved it away because it was stupid to think about anything of the sort.

"Let go of me!" Alex dug his shoulder into Toby's chest and the pain that bloomed there was white-hot and fierce. Toby didn't let go, though. Instead, he pushed into Alex and tangled his legs and arms with Alex's in a sloppy full nelson and locked his muscles.

He knew it wouldn't hold, he could already hear the slick wet noise of those black and red tentacles creeping out of Alex. The sick feeling in his stomach worsened but he swallowed it down. He had to get Alex to listen to him before he got himself killed.

"Do you want to save Dana or not?" he hissed, eying the menacing looking extensions hovering so close that had burst from Alex with a wary, cautious eye. Nothing the Marines taught him could have ever prepared him for any of this. From getting kidnapped by a man-turned-virus to being used as a lab rat for his blood toxin to eventually coming to care for both the bastards who had taken him.

It was like Stockholm syndrome, only enhanced and amplified to impossible levels, to where it couldn't even be categorized in the same vicinity as Stockholm's because of the sizable difference in mental and physical alterations.

Toby swallowed and closed his eyes tight, wishing for all the world he didn't feel relief and a pathetic kind of reassurance at having Alex's weight pressed against his chest. Hoping that what he was about to propose would work because, despite how much he had fought it over the past month and a half, he was worried for Dana, too.

"Alex, listen to me," he said, his voice hoarse. "I think I know how to save Dana."

The black cord-like whips stilled in the air and Toby opened his eyes.

oOo

Alex gave a subtle shudder at the intense heat coming off of Toby. He hadn't been listening, not really, up until Toby had said that he knew of a way to save Dana. Only then had Alex realized that he was seconds away from killing the marine and had forced himself to gain back some semblance of control, but only just barely. The effort made him shake and oddly enough he felt chilled against Toby's warmth.

When Alex calmed down enough, he felt Toby move away from him, though his arms slid from around his arms and wrapped firmly across his chest and shoulders. If he concentrated, he could hear the erratic beat of Toby's heart and could feel Toby's own body shaking like mad against his. It sparked something in him, something he'd rather not think about at all, especially when Dana could be dying. With a struggling effort he pushed it away and took in a deep, ragged breath.

"Hurry up," before I push you off the edge and start running.

oOo

Dr. Ragland stared at Toby as if he had grown three heads and thirty pairs of eyes. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Toby felt like slugging the aging man right in the mouth. "Turn my blood into bombs. Now."

Ragland's lips twitched as if he were fighting back a laugh. "Where's Alex?"

"He's gone to track down the Hunter that took Dana!" Toby shouted, feeling like he was going to blow up himself at any second. "I've already explained all of this to you, now will you please do as I fucking ask?"

Finally, it seemed as if Ragland sobered up as he turned and fiddled with a few shiny looking tools on a tray. "I'm guessing you know how this works, right, wonder boy? I take your blood, it becomes unstable, you go weak and sick all over my floors, yadda yadda."

Toby waved a dismissive hand impatiently. It didn't matter that he was going to be a bit woozy after this, what mattered was getting the blood compacted as soon as it was out of his body so that he could help Alex with Dana before it became unstable.

He walked over beside Ragland and sat down on the edge of the cot, the choking antiseptic smell of ammonia burning his nose badly enough, after a few short seconds, to numb it.

Toby watched as Ragland pulled out a long, thin needle and snapped it onto a syringe. God, but he hated needles. To distract himself, he drummed his fingers on his knees and bounced his leg on the lino floor.

"Why didn't you just come to where we were to take my blood before?" Toby asked as Ragland rummaged through a box of latex gloves. "The toxin always ate itself because of over exposure, if you were with us, that wouldn't have happened, right?."

"That's right," Ragland glanced over his shoulder. "I see you've been talking to Alex."

Toby snorted and scrubbed his face with his hands. What Alex and him did couldn't really be classified as talking...more like friendly fire without the friendly part.

"Too dangerous to travel that far," Ragland grunted, answering Toby's question. "Without armed guards and many, many forms of artillery. I would've liked just sending Alex back to you with the necessary equipment, but," he gestured to his left where, pushed into a corner, sat a large and bulky machine glittering with chrome outlines and glass projections. To Toby it looked like something from a Scifi movie. "It's a little big and too delicate for Alex's rough handling."

Toby trembled and a ghost of a smile lifted his lips before he pushed it away, kicking himself for even thinking down that road. If Mark were with him, he would have smacked Toby on the head and yelled, "PERVERT!"

He cleared his throat. "Is that thing going to keep the toxin safe?"

"It should," Ragland smirked. "Haven't had the opportunity to test it 'til now. Alright, let me see your arm."

oOo

Toby pressed a finger to his neck on the throat mic. "Alex? You there?"

Static buzzed loudly in his ear when he released the button, before cutting off soon after as Alex answered him back, "Yes. Did you get it?" He sounded out of breath and very, very angry.

"I got them, there's three. Where are you?" Toby sprinted to the nearest vehicle and prayed thanks to the heavens that it was unlocked.

Alex cut off the static once more as he relayed an address that Toby had trouble remembering. If he was right, it was at least eight, maybe nine blocks away. Goddammit he didn't know left from right in the city, thanks to never bothering to learn differently. He'd thought the Marines would always be there to dispatch him to wherever was necessary without hassle. Easy, simple.

Bullshit.

"There's more of them here, keep low," Alex said, his tone sounding oddly strained and distorted over the connection. "If you come from the left--" There was an ungodly roar that vibrated through every nerve-ending in Toby's body and he almost ripped the mic out of his ear, had it not been for Alex's equally paralytic (for completely different reasons than the Hunter) and haggard shout of pain. It caught off mid-pitch.

"Alex? Alex! Answer me goddammit!" Toby yelled, breathing heavy into the thick silence of the car. The static crackled in his ear mockingly. "FUCK!"

Toby ripped out the bottom of the steering wheel and hot wired the car. The wires sparked and sizzled in his hands, but thankfully the engine roared to life and he quickly twined them together.

"Alex, if you can hear me, I'm coming," he shouted through the connect. There was no response.

The truck's tyres protested loudly on the asphalt as Toby swung out of the lot, forgetting each and every lesson he had learned about driving as a teen and fixating solely on the roads as he sped past them, looking for the junction that would take him to Alex.

You better be alright, you bastard. You had better be fucking breathing, or so help me...

By the time Toby swerved into the turnpike, he believed that his eyeballs were painted over with the colour red, as was everything within sight. His stomach rolled but he shook himself and jumped out of the truck.

As soon as his feet hit the pavement, Toby bent over as the rancid smell of cordite, blood, and infection attacked his senses and made him sick, curling up and dry-heaving helplessly next to the truck.

"Ah, fuck..." Toby carefully stood straighter, one hand going back to steady himself on the driver's door. He covered his mouth and nose with one hand while the other went to his jacket pocket, unconsciously stroking the three thin cylinders, barely protected by the fabric of his coat.

He had to find Alex, and quick. Dana could be dead by now for all he knew and Alex well on his way. Toby shook his head violently, hating the fact that thinking of Alex as being dead dead was enough to make his nerves short circuit and leave him blindly staggering for the nearest wall, his hand jerking itself from his pocket as if it had been burned.

"Knight? Oh, my fuckin' God! Toby!"

A hand snatched at his shoulder and Toby was whirled around. Scott stood, breathing heavily under his gear, with his helmet's face-plate shoved up to show his smoke and blood streaked face. He looked exhausted and haggard, but Toby could see the relief and shock strikingly bright in his eyes.

"It is you! What the hell? Where have you--SHIT!" Violently, Scott pushed Toby down and out of his line of fire as he let loose a round of bullets at the advancing Hunter. Had it not already been previously wounded, it would have devoured them instead of collapsing in a bloody, stinking heap.

Toby's eyes were drawn to the Hunter's side by their own volition, perhaps sensing what he himself couldn't consciously understand. Three deep gashes were slashed into its' side, reminding Toby of roadkill splattered on asphalt left for the carrion birds. Of razor sharp claws forming where a hand was supposed to be.

Alex.

"Come on. Hey! Come on! We have to take cover, they're breaking the defenses!" Scott snatched Toby's elbow and hauled him up from the ground.

"Wait--no! I can't!"

Scott looked at him as if he had completely lost his mind. "What the fuck are you on about? Do you want to die, Knight?" He had to yell in order to be heard over all the screaming and gunshots and blood-curdling roars.

Bombs. Ragland. Gotta find--Alex. Alex! ALEX!

Finding it physically impossible to explain to Scott what he had to do, Toby shook his head roughly and twisted around, sprinting back the way he knew the dead Hunter had come from. Behind him, he heard Scott curse loudly and then his heavy footfalls as he chased after him.

And then there was the sickening sound of crushing bones and a single, wetly muffled whimper.

Toby knew even before he looked, knew that it was too late and pointless to see the devastation, but he stopped running and looked back anyway.

Toby moaned quietly to himself like a beaten pup. "Nooooo."

The deformed beast fell just off to the side of Scott's body with a hollow 'thump', it's jaw open in a silent screech of hate as the bullet holes in its skull spurted blood down it's pink, fleshy face. A few yards away, Toby could hear Cavin's distinctly accented voice crying out hopelessly for Scott to-- "Get up! Scott! I cannae--I cannae hold 'em off for long! Scott! Oh God! OhGodohGodohGod--SCOTT!"

When Toby looked up at him, Cavin's face was broken. It was the only thing that came to mind to describe it. His usually rugged, handsome expression was pale, sickly looking, and so full of pain it was like a physical force punching Toby in the stomach. There was not a single trace of the teasing grin Cavin usually wore, it was gone, wiped away coldly as if it were never coming back again.

And it was suddenly very clear why Cavin was so affected. The complete and utter heartbreak was like a shining beacon in his eyes, and Toby looked away, embarrassed and terrified of what he had seen exposed before him, unintentional as it was.

A wild scream of rage and hurt echoed over all the other noise as Cavin whipped around and began shooting blindly, too far gone to care anymore. Toby squeezed his eyes shut. It had all happened so fast, so damn fast. In the space of thirty seconds, a life had ended, another had shattered, and he was forced to watch it.

Gathering himself, Toby ran back to Scott's body and gently removed the gun from curled, dead fingers. He didn't tear his eyes away from his own hands, unwilling to look into the endless pit of glassy hazel that had once reflected a living, breathing man.

The next thing Toby was concsious of, he was running like hell down the road toward where he knewAlex was. Later, when he would end up questioning himself, he wouldn't know exactly how he knew, just that he did and that had been enough, and that's all that mattered.

oOo

"Alex!"

The relief Toby felt at seeing Alex standing and fighting was enough to almost knock him over and send him sprawling to the ground.

He stumbled over the broken and cracked asphalt like a drunk, swinging the gun he had pilfered off his comrade's body around and letting round after round unleash on the slavering monsters littering the road.

Just ahead, Alex leaped into the air and shot back down like a bullet, slamming his fists down into the concrete and snapping it to pieces like it was nothing. Seconds later, it seemed to Toby as if the world exploded as giant black spikes burst from the ground, spearing and maiming any and all that was in range of the attack.

Something nudged his foot and reflex had the barrel pointing down in lightening speed. Next to his leg, the end of one of the spikes quivered harmlessly. Something (Alex...) was physically holding it back when, truly, it was supposed to have struck him right through the chest and killed him.

When Toby looked up, Alex's eyes were locked on him. They were slightly crazed and too bright with a sick excitement whirring like a physical energy inside them. Toby swallowed and forced his nerveless legs into a staggering run, knowing that he wasn't running at all, but crawling to Alex.

Pathetic, Knight. How the fuck were you ever a Marine, huh? What kind of Marine crawls like some kind of worm on the front lines? What happened to your sense of duty? Your pride?

Toby sneered and clenched his free hand into a tight fist, stopping only when he felt blood on his fingers. I don't have any fucking pride left! My sense of duty died along with Scott!

He couldn't help it. He winced. It was too easy to see Scott's broken corpse, blood leaking from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose like a steady river.

"Dana?" Toby panted, grasping onto Alex's sleeve for support as his knees shook dangerously when he finally reached him.

Alex pointed wordlessly to ahazy red (Fuck!) building in front of them. It was swarming with Hunters, their monstrous bodies fighting to get out, fighting each other, as they tried to grab a meal.

Toby slipped his hand into his coat pocket and pulled out the three cylinders and stared, dazed, down at them. The red buttons on top flashed ominously as if saying, "Push me, push me. I'll make it all better."

"Are you alright?"

Toby laughed without humour, the kind of crazy chuckle you choke out when you're on the verge of cracking completely and have no way to stop it, and met Alex's sharp look. "Yeah, 'course. Sure."

Alex took the explosives easily from Toby's hand and, quite suddenly, without even thinking about it, Toby flipped his wrist and grabbed Alex's arm tightly back. He glared, actually glared with a fiery blazing purpose, up at Alex--unable to fully comprehend what he was even saying as his lips moved.

He knew he was speaking though, because Alex's eyes flicked between his own and he gave a short curt nod as if he understood. It even looked like he was preparing himself for something-- To lean in? Say something back?--but he didn't. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and turned away, launching easily straight at the building and disappearing through one of the many broken windows.

Toby watched the building for a small stretch of time, not even long enough to draw in and exhale a breath. It was long enough, however, for one of the beasts over-running the street to launch a large chunk of asphalt at a large crowd of Army and Marine battalions. It was long enough for Toby to be clipped on the head by the granite in the crossfire. It was long enough for Toby to go down, knocked out cold.

A/N: -cringe- Sorry it took so long, end-of-the-year exams and all that jazz. Yay--(sarcastic). Special thanks to Joveesia for helping me out of my writer's rut. =__= Losing your writing muse is such a biiiiiitch. Please forgive me for being MIA, the next chapter will be out sooner, scout's honour. Please review!