Chapter 7
A/N: the formatting on the text is weird so whenever I put a page break in it doesn't show up. If anyone knows how to fix this can you leave it as a review, I'll upload this is a DocX file instead of a story file to see if it works that way. R&R!
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The ambulance pulled into the emergency spot, paramedics wheeling out the stretcher, now painted with crimson blood. They tried desperately to keep the boys heart pumping, resorting to the defibrillator several times throughout the journey. Eventually they arrived and carted him off, rushing through the hospital corridors to the operating theatre. The surgeons worked for hours on end, trying desperately to stop the ragged flesh from bleeding too much. The bullet had done a lot of damage, but it could be salvaged. It travelled through his upper jaw and into the lower part of his skull, deflecting off and nicking the spinal cord before leaving through his lower neck. The mess it had made of his face shocked even the surgeons, likening it more to an injury seen in a war zone than a sleepy town in Middle America.
Eventually they wheeled him out and into an intensive care unit, the ECG machine beeping away methodically as the only sign of life. Brenner himself was taken to hospital too, several stitches as well as an assessment for concussion performed before he was allowed to leave. A message was sent to Emily in the city, telling him that he had been involved in a serious accident and that he would not be able to see her. Another was sent to Luke, who rushed out the door in the middle of a dungeons and dragons campaign, leaving the rest of the party in shock.
Emily arrived first, breaking down on seeing the lifeless body of Matthew in the hospital bed, her childhood friend now permanently disabled from one 'accident'.
"What happened?" she asked Edward, whom too was looking over his brother like a vulture.
"He got lost and jumped a wire fence to a military facility thinking it was just a farmers fence, a guard took a pot shot at him and hit him in the face" Edward coolly replied, the rehearsed story sounding believable.
"Listen, stay at ours for tonight and we can arrange a plane to take you home if you want" Edward replied, trying to sound as soothing as possible. He hugged her arm gently, rubbing her back as he did so, her tears streaking the front of his lab coat.
"Go home, get some rest and I'll see to him. I'll let you know as soon as possible if there are any developments. I'm sure he'll want to see you first" Edward finished.
"Why would he want that?" Emily asked.
"Oh he's been talking about your visit all week, never been able to shut up about it" This made Emily smile before crying once again.
"Great" Edward thought "If she gets attached to him now, she's more likely to leave after"
"Why are you wearing a lab coat?" Emily asked pulling on the white fabric.
"Oh I'm doing some work experience at another hospital" he brushed off.
Emily hugged him once again, them being friends from childhood before she took the bus to their address.
XXX
Edward dozed off by the time Luke arrived, seeing his sleeping brother he tried not to wake him by entering quietly. Seeing his brother shook him to the core, the unconscious body was heavily mutilated by the bullet, bits of bone and flesh sticking out at random, despite the surgeon's best efforts at reconstructing the face. Sensing another presence, Matthew opened his eyes, briefly startling Luke. His brother's wide eyes and manic expression, bloodshot and raw, staring into his soul like a panicked horse, terrified him further. Matthew started to tap sporadically on the metal side of the gurney with his left hand the right side being completely paralysed.
Luke was stunned in silence for a bit, the once loving and caring brother reduced to a shivering cripple in a moment. The once strong and protective figure, caring for Luke through the hard times of the war and afterwards with their mother, now reduced to an immobile corpse on the bed, the only sign of life being the beeping machine beside him and the tremors of his left hand.
Tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap.
The tapping had taken on a rhythmic pattern now intriguing Luke to the point where he looked at Matthew in his maddening eyes for the first time since he arrived. The eyes were brimmed with tears, but still stared into his, begging for something. Then it clicked.
Morse code.
Luke grabbed a notebook he kept in his coat and started writing down the words.
FACILITY – LAB
He scribbled down the words, correcting misunderstood letters here and there.
BRENNER – EDWARD – TOGETHER
He looked up at his brother who paused momentarily.
EXPERIMENT – CHILDREN – LIKE – FOLDER
He looked up, shocked at the silent revelation.
HELP – KILL – ENEMY
TRIED – ESCAPE – FAILED – CAUGHT
BEATEN – INJURED – THIS
WATCH – EXPERIMENT – HELLFIRE
Hellfire was a code they had used in the Falkland's when they witnessed something terrible or the damage was extreme, either on their side or the enemy force's.
EDWARD – DID... The door opened suddenly, startling Luke as he ripped out the sheet of paper and stuffed it into his shirt.
"You've arrived have you?" Edward said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"What happened?" Edward asked, eyeing him with suspicion. He had figured out Edward was working with Brenner from the code.
"He trespassed on a government facility by accident and someone took a not so pot shot at him" Edward responded with a sigh.
"Emily came" Edward said. "She was broken" Edward said this slowly, eyeing Matthew with almost a smirk as the injured boy glared straight back at him with bloodshot haunted eyes.
"Where's dad?" Luke asked his elder brother.
"He's at home, fell down some stairs and is in a pretty bad state" Matthew's eyes began laughing momentarily lighting up.
"I'll go to him, stay here with him" Luke turned to leave as Matthew started tapping on the bed again, this time with more fury. If only Luke had heard him, the final message, the final word that would piece together everything.
THIS.
XXX
Luke half ran out the door, the reality setting in that his brother not only condoned the experiments, but was also participating in them. The horrors of that one paper he read painted stark enough pictures for him to realise the true evil his brother possessed, as though it was a current throughout the family; the only one being seemingly untouched was now lying in a vegetative state. He picked up his bike and pedalled as fast as he could, the warm summer air temporarily calming his nerves as he re – entered the basement of the party, who were still playing their game.
"The prodigal son has returned" Dustin commented, noting his entry.
"Dude where did you go?" Lucas asked.
Luke started hyperventilating, the shock of his brother being shot, the anger being felt about the continuation, the pain of his brother joining in on them made his blood boil further, all triggering him into a downward spiral, his legs grew weak and his vision blurred until he felt the cold hard basement floor on his body with an audible thwack.
He awoke to the party circling him with concerned expressions, a glass of water lay by a table nearby and his head started pounding as he got up on his elbows, the concerned looks of his friends slightly relieved by his awakening.
"What happened?" Max asked: the redhead in her signature yellow jumper.
"Matthew has been shot, he trespassed on some facility and a guard shot him in the face, the right side of his body is paralysed" Luke took a sip from the water.
"Anything else?" Dustin asked
"There's a second lab. Edward and Brenner work there and carry on with the experiments" The group went silent and Mike's face took on a very dark demeanour.
"I don't know how Matthew found this out, but he's telling the truth, I can sense it. He told me by tapping on the bed with Morse code" Luke stared at the blank wall, visibly shaken from his experience.
"We need to warn El" Dustin blurted out before thinking.
"Who's el?" Luke asked whilst the other's punched Dustin or glared at him.
"Nobody" Mike said darkly, unflinching from his position and beginning to shake violently.
XXX
"What do we do with this situation?" Brenner asked his son, the fire crackling in the background.
"I have told you, leave it with me" Edward coolly replied.
"What cover story have you got for this, he's survived!" Brenner half shouted, visibly getting angry.
"It is good that he did" Edward said smoothly.
"What makes you say that?" Brenner asked, taking a sip from his whiskey.
"A teenager gets lost in the woods doing something, we will leave it to the listener's imagination as to what exactly he was doing, and as a consequence jumps over the fence and is promptly shot by a guard who was patriotically doing his job in defending a sensitive area from the communists. The boy puts a brave battle in hospital, only to pass away one night. He is buried a couple of days later and that's it, plus no one goes near the facility for the next five years" Edward finished.
"A good plan, but there's one bur"
"Which is?"
"He's still alive" Brenner hissed.
"Father, you entrusted me with this and I shall say what I said to you then" Edward said coolly, sipping from his own glass.
"Leave it with me"
"You would really do that? To your own brother?" Brenner asked, slightly shocked by his son's boldness.
"I have killed before, the only difference to me is it that the blood will look similar to mine this time" Edward replied calmly.
"To kill a soldier is one thing, but to kill your own brother?" Brenner asked, staring out of the window and into the night sky.
"Don't bring the war up" Edward snapped at his father. "Besides, it's for the greater good. You told Matthew yourself that he should 'see the bigger picture'" Edward downed the rest of his drink before joining his father, their resemblance striking in the silver moonlight.
"Pull this off and you'll be the one to inherit the lab" Brenner said, staring into the moon.
"Don't worry, I'm practically a professional now" Edward quipped darkly.
"Indeed you are son, I can see you going far in this field" Brenner said, patting his son on the shoulder amicably.
XXX
Edward wandered through the hospital, hoping to slip in and out undetected. Dressed in casual clothing, no one would recognise him amongst the fray of A&E.
He walked up the familiar corridor, entering the room where his brother was at, using a butter knife to prize his way into the locked room. The lights were off, leaving only a faint glow in the room from the light in the corridor flooding through the small window in the door, illuminating only the first few feet of the room.
HE stood over his sleeping brother, his head and face wrapped in bandages of all shapes and sizes, the gentle sound of his breathing being the only thing to disturb the silence. He stood there for several minutes, taking in the sight of his brother, savouring the image. Eventually he sighed to himself and bent over; taking a fresh pillow from underneath the bed and turning the ECG machine off so any alerts wouldn't give away his presence. The familiar moon hung low in the sky, its light rays just seeping through the window as he steadied his breathing for what was about to come.
He took his brother's sleeping arm and put it to one side, barring it from access to his upper body with one of his knees. Taking one deep breath he forced the pillow down onto Matthews face suddenly, waking the boy, and so it began. Matthew writhed and clawed at his brother with the pinned down left arm to his best abilities, his right arm lay numb and broken from the injury to his spine. He jerked and shuddered, arms and legs flailing about as he tried to get purchase onto any flesh that could give him monetary refuge. Onwards this went, the only sounds in the room being the faint commotion from Matthew's feeble attempts at saving himself. Before long his body went limp and his pulse stopped, his lifeless eyes stared up at the ceiling as Edward removed the pillow from his face. He shut his brother's eyes with his fingers and repositioned his arms and legs, making it look as though he had died in his sleep. Replacing the pillow into the area underneath the bed, he sighed one last time before gazing at the moon and leaving the body of his brother behind.
And like that he slipped into the night.
A/N: Well this took a dark turn, and I know I'm spoiling you with two chapter's but I don't know whether I'll be able to upload tomorrow so I thought I'd better give you something at least if I can't update you on the story. Stay tuned to find out what happens next! (I wonder who'll die first.) R&R!
