Chapter 7: Seven
Even if he had been able to, Reno wouldn`t have dared moving; not yet anyway. He simply witnessed the strange reaction of the boy, that could maybe most closely be described as similar to a culture shock. Although he had no idea what was going on, Reno instinctively felt that it was something tremendous, something almost sacral and at the same time so profound that it was painful. The hairs on his neck stood up, and he was paralyzed, even though he felt the strange need to bristle.
This was the perfect moment to make a run for it, to jump up and escape as far as his shaky legs would carry him! Still, he could not move or pull his gaze away from the crouched, motionless figure that was hyperventilating in strange, agitated, hitched breaths.
Something was going on here, something he was an essential part of and still could not grasp. It made him feel rather stupid, and if Reno loathed one thing (apart from almost dying of thirst, chained in a hell hole by some freaky fridge boy) it was being out of the picture when something crucial was going on that included his own self.
Before his temper could kick in however, he first had to witness the boy rinsing his face,the water revealing part of it. It was not enough to get a full image of what he might look like under all that dirty crusting, but it was enough to reveal some incredibly white skin, devoid of any lines or wrinkles. A high cheekbone was visible, along with almost gaunt cheeks and the already known, full, pouty lips. Part of a perfect, straight nose. The thin, elegantly arched bow of a silvery eyebrow.
Constricted pupils in feverish, glowing cateyes.
For a moment time seemed to stop (not that it was an important guest anyway, time was lazy and had not much to do down here), as Reno stared at the beast and the beast stared at Reno.
"…Yo sunshine."
The venomously sarcastic words were spoken from a need to fill the awkward silence and to express Reno´s discontent with the situation in general, but it certainly hadn´t be said to evoke the reaction he got.
The boy squeezed his eyes shut, lowered his head and violently clasped his hands over his ears. To Reno it looked like he was in pain, but he didn´t have time to linger on that thought, because the very next moment the boy bolted, rushing back to his room on all four and only the smashing of the fridge door could be heard.
Blank faced, the turk laid there for a moment, mouth hanging slightly open. Then his instinct for survival kicked in and he hurriedly got up, grunting.
He had to seek support from the walls, since his legs were weak and trembling. Not only was he dehydrated, he also hadn´t eaten for quite a while now and felt dizzy, but the adrenalin rushing through his veins kept the hunger away.
He had no sense of direction down here; everything was just dark and stuffed and sticky and he did not know which way he had been dragged, so he just followed the corridor, away from the room.
Just get away from the fridge and its content.
Gritting his teeth, sharp eyes narrowed to slits, the redhead staggered through the darkness, passing trays, broken needles, rusty clipboards and abandoned, empty beds. All his thoughts were focused on escaping, getting through to one of his peoples. They surely were searching for him, if they hadn´t given up already, but he didn´t dare shouting for he didn´t want to draw the fridge boy´s attention.
The corridor ended in an intersection and Reno went left, since he somehow felt that this was the way up. He truly hoped so.
While shuffling along the dirty walls he fumbled with a paper in his pocket, pushing aside a zippo and extracting the crumbled map to have a look at it. His eyes flickered to one of the rooms as he passed it, absently noticing a large pool filled halfway with water that gave off an eery green light, probably due to the slick algae sticking to the old tiles. He didn´t have time for that, he was busy, frantically searching the map for some way out of this mess. However, as he walked further down the floor, passing more and more rooms it became clear to him that it wouldn´t work this way. He had no clue how far he had been dragged into the maze from his last known location and all the corridors looked pretty much the same to him: they were all dirty and chaotic and looked like they had been left in a great hurry.
Still, he couldn´t afford to stop and have a closer look, so he just silently cursed instead, racking through his hair with one trembling hand as he continued walking.
When he came to yet another crossing he decided to go right this time, still scanning the map for something!
Then he remembered the pool. Something as big and unusual as that surely had to be marked on the map, didn´t it? Frantically searching through the different levels depicted on the plan, he noticed several changing rooms and showers for the staff, but no pool.
"Excellent."
He took another turn, this time not even caring where he went, as his frown and the unnerved expression on his handsome face deepened.
"Fuck!"
Exasperatedly, he squeezed the map in his fist, very tempted to just throw the damn, useless thing away. Instead he took a deep breath, briefly stopping to lean against the wall and closing his eyes to calm down. Losing his temper would not help him get out in any way. The map was the only thing that could help him right now and he had to get back on track and follow the usual routine. Keep a cool, level head.
Okay, first things first:
There still was some beast running wild (even though he had that strange, disquieting feeling that this was the least of his problems…) and he was not armed. This problem at least got easily solved, as the redhead picked up a curved pipe from the dusty ground, weighing it in his hand. It was heavy enough to deliver a strong blow, but not too weighty to hold him back on his run either. Perfect. Also, there was a sharp end sticking out of it, where it had been broken. That would take care of his second dilemma, namely marking his way through this labyrinth. The last thing he wanted was getting lost in these creepy corridors.
For a moment he thought about making a torch before abandoning the idea. It might keep the roaches and mutant rats away, but who knew what other creatures it would attract in return!
Besides, his eyes had gotten pretty used to the darkness by now, there was no need for extra light…
Reno had to force himself to open his eyes again, to not just glide down the wall and curl up on the ground. He was so exhausted, the adrenalin rush slowly wearing off and the nausea caused by his cramping stomach weakening his enthusiasm about running directionless through endless corridors.
Still he pushed himself off the wall and made his way further down the hallway. Sometime he just had to reach an exit, didn´t he?
'Sometime' was a rather wide term, as Reno came to realize, after dragging himself through tunnels and half collapsed corridors. They seemed endless, and quite a few times he discovered that he had been walking in circles, as his roughly marked Xs´ gleefully enlightened him.
Eventually, he couldn´t go on. When he came back upon the same intersection for the seventh time, he just tiredly stared at the mark, not even having any energy left to be frustrated or angry, and just slowly slid down the dirty wall. The pipe resting in his lap between his outstretched legs, Reno leaned his head against the cold concrete, eyes sliding half shut, chin lifted.
A monster rat scurried past him on five legs, its too long front teethscratching lightly over the ground.
Weakly, the redhead waved away a roach crawling up the wall next to his face, its antennas feeling the unknown creature up.
For some strange reason he did not care thinking about, a slightly hysterical laugh was bubbling up in the pit of his belly, coming out as a snort that ended in a shaky sigh.
Tabbing with his pipe on the floor a few times, Reno knitted his brows, before taking a deep breath and screaming his anguish through the dark, empty halls.
"FUUUUUUU-UUUUUUCK!"
After that his throat was raw and he fell back against the wall with no energy left. He was still trapped in this hell hole, but he did feel better. A bit.
At least it adequately summed up his inner turmoil and the situation he was in.
Grunting, he chewed his lip, letting his sleepy gaze wander over the wall opposite him. All expanding corridors had been marked with an X, meaning he would have to go back to the previous crossing and try his luck there… The thought alone made him squirm inwardly. He probably should get up and…
- but he didn´t want to. He wanted to sleep, and his waning iron will, his stubborn thickhead he was infamous for, had run out of arguments why he shouldn´t.
He needed to rest…
…7.
Blinking, Reno narrowed his eyes, slowly lifting his upper body to sit up straight and stare at a pale smudge on the wall opposite him. It was partially covered by old stuff piling up to the ceiling.
With his last bit of energy, the redhead got back on his feet, fumbling for his lighter. After a few fruitless snaps of the cog, a small flame flared up, its light drawing sinister, long shadows, but Reno didn´t care. His eyes were fixated on the smudge that was part of a seven. A minus seven.
-7.
He was seven fucking levels under ground, in a secret military science lab that was only supposed to have three bloody floors.
No wonder his map was useless!
No wonder no one had found him yet.
Moving a hand through his wild hair and letting it fall back against his leg, Reno stood there for a moment, holding the lighter, not knowing if he should laugh or cry.
Reno decided for neither, instead kicking the trash that towered against the damn number, causing it to collapse with a voluminous rumble.
The avalanche revealed more of the wall that the agitated turk was still grouchily eying and his gaze got caught by a strange line on the dirty surface. The walls were dark here, and uneven, so he got closer, holding his lighter up.
The light violently flickered onto his face and Reno almost dropped the thing, surprised and dumbfounded, as it slowly dawned on him what he was looking at.
This was an elevator door. It had become almost unrecognizable over time due to the rust and dirt making everything look equally depressing, tarnishing his exit, his way to freedom.
Because the slight draft escaping from the door meant that there was a way out!
Quickly flicking the zippo shut, Reno picked up his pipe and started to work his way through the rusty metal, brimming with new found energy and determination.
He was so focused on his task to get out that he did not notice the shadow soundlessly creeping up to him from the long, dark corridor at his back.
tbc
AN: Many thanks to natzilla for betaing this chapter! I hope you liked it^^
Review replies:
Aeriths-Rain: Thank you! I´m glad you like it, it wasn´t easy to write, but I had fun ^^
Vietta: If I was Reno I´d be confused as well XD I´d so pretend to be dead XDOh yes, poor beast, it must have the migraine of the century! _
Divanora: Yes, writing the last chapter was a challenge! Oh, cats don´t know that its them when they see themselves in mirrors? I thought they were smarter XD
Trigger happy Chaingunner: Hehe, I think it got its head kicked already XD Yeah, poor Reno, he really isn´t that lucky right now XD
Rina: Yah, I think beast-boy has quite a headache now :( Haha, no botox indeed! If only I had known before... but the clue is, in order to not make facial expression you can´t feel much either – which might not be so desirable. I rather like my little wrinkles^^ (ask me again in 20 years). And thank you very much! I put a lot of effort into the chapter, and I´m very happy you´re seeing it! *huggles*
natzilla: Hehe, so it works for you? Not making facial expressions? Maybe I gotta try then too... But the bad thing is, the harder you try the less it works -_-
IA1979: Yes, one word did change a lot indeed! Hm, I am not quite satisfied with the chapter, I must admit, there are things I think remained a bit unclear and confusing, but at one point I had to stop changing and writing things and natzilla helped a lot by clearing things up as well. Maybe I´ll give it another try at a later time!
Soyna: Yes, ignorance is bliss, indeed! But I suppose you can live in an illusion for only so long... And for the beast this 'illusion' was reality till the point it came into contact with 'the outer world'^^
Review please?
