Chapter 7 The Ghost

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a bed. It was uncomfortable and stiff, it smelled of mildew. Atheyr's arm felt sore from the injections, but a new pressure on it encouraged him to try and move it into a new position. But unable to move his arm more than a twitch left Atheyr feeling weak and useless. When he looked up he could see that it was cuffed to the metal bed frame. With a sigh he took it as his cue to inspect his new environment.

It was downsized for sure. No more white pristine hospital walls, bright lights or expensive equipment. It looked like Atheyr had been left in the attic. The roof came closer to the floor on the sides of the room and above his head was a small window. Too small for him to get his body through, figures. If he concentrated hard enough through the headache still plaguing him, Atheyr could pick up the voices of RoaneG and RoaneB, they were somewhere on the ground floor, arguing. He couldn't make out their words, he was too tired for that. So he changed his focus from his new environment to the war raging on inside of him.

He had improved, the virus ceased its attack on his hearts and bones, but the dermal damage still went on. There were massive boils all over his body and Atheyr's immune system struggled so much now that he was sure the only way to really get rid of the virus was to drain the boils. Urgh. He wasn't looking forward to that. He lifted his head up to try and get a good look at himself, but he didn't have the strength. The sedative they gave him still circulated in his bloodstream. Atheyr struggled and fought the sedative, but his system was weak from tsunami of injections. Fighting the sedative exhausted him until he couldn't fight, until he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

"Arrrgh!" Atheyr woke with a scream in his throat. There were bright lights around him, it made him regret attempting to open his eyes. But there it was the sharp pain on his left thigh. "Stop!" He tried to yell, but he was breathless and it came out as a strangled gasp.

"Keep going." Atheyr heard RoaneB say and the terrible pressure returned. Atheyr was much too tired for this. He gasped as what felt like needles dig into his skin and the soft tissues beneath. There was pressure and prodding and then it stopped. Other pains came in an out of his focus, his back felt like there was a wild fire burning away tissue and muscles. His arms hurt, his face hurt, his chest, legs and feet. Everything felt like drops of molten mental had been left on his body and it hurt.

Atheyr wheezed his way through the agony, but he managed to open his eyes. Before him stood RoaneG and RoaneB outfitted in scrubs and wearing medical gloves. Around Atheyr were an array of medical utensils, gauze, bandages, and bloodied rags tinted scarlet with his blood and green and yellow with infectious pus. They'd been draining the boils and it hurt like hell.

Atheyr gave them a confused look when the began cleaning up the mess. RoaneG looked at him, she wore a medical mask, "That was the last one, you slept through the others."

"Fifty-nine abscesses and boils. The second to biggest one was on your thigh, the one we just finished." RoaneB explained.

"It may scar, for a while, considering you're a Time Lord now, it might not be there for long." RoaneG added.

"You should have seen the biggest one, on your lower back. It was massive, a radius of five inches. It'll be sore for a while, there is a lot of muscle damage. About half an inch deep. We got loads of infection out of that one."

"Please stop," Atheyr panted.

"We'll get you more comfortable after we clean up here. But you're not contagious anymore." RoaneG added.

Atheyr watched her with uncertainty. "Whatchya goin' to do to me?"

RoaneB glanced at her, also curious to her answer.

RoaneG pulled off her gloves and then pulled down her mask. "I honestly don't know."

Atheyr's eyebrows raised in hope, "You'll let me go?"

"I can't do that. You're my biggest success." His expression turned angry, but she continued. "But I can't show my face ever again at any Katharisei Facilities."

"And you've doomed me to that too, thanks, sis." RoaneB complained.

"I didn't have a choice, it was get him out of there or..." RoaneG stopped.

RoaneB gave her a look. A warning, not to tell him. Not to tell Atheyr.

"Or what?" Atheyr asked right at his cue.

RoaneG looked at her brother and turned to Atheyr. "Either save you, or she swore she'd make us suffer a living Hell."

"She who?" Atheyr asked.

RoaneG glanced at RoaneB, but he had thrown his hands up into the air and then went back to sterilizing everything as RoaneG took a chair and pushed it close to Atheyr's bed.

"She's a...you'll think I'm crazy. She's a ghost. She's been haunting facilities since...forever I guess. She doesn't have a name, that we know of. And she specifically doesn't like Dr. Vermaak."

"Who's that?"

"Tall back man with a thick Afrikaans' accent." RoaneB commented as he worked. "He's like our president. Runs all of it all the facilities. You have a project, you talk to him. He commissioned your resurrection. And now we've earned him as our number one enemy thanks to 'the Ghost."

Atheyr's expression darkened as he thought about Leera and Zanna and that man's expression as he had them experimented on.

"Anyway, Dr. Vermaak originally was located down in Johannesburg. But the Ghost caused so many problems, from electric outages to interfering with experiments to haunting and even attacking scientists that Dr. Vermaak had to close down the facility. He thought maybe the Ghost was anchored to location and he moved to different facilities. Each time the Ghost followed him." RoaneG took a breath, "She's followed him for over thirty years. This isn't the first time she's forced us to release prisoners. She's a malicious force no one wants to be involved with."

"So she coerced you to help me?"

"Yes," RoaneG's expression darkened, "Threatened mine and Abel's safety, promised she would make us suffer Hell if we didn't save you."

"Well, no harm should come from you, since you've helped me, you should be safe."

RoaneG considered this, "Maybe."

"So you'll let me go?" Atheyr asked hopefully. He tugged pointedly on his handcuffed arm, but RoaneG made no move to release him.

"We can't, not yet. Its not safe, you'd be found and we'd be punished."

"But-?"

RoaneG shook her head as she interrupted him, "Being blood relatives doesn't help, breaking loyalty with the Katharisei...there's no coming back from it. And to be honest, I'll take my chances with the Facility."

"This ghost is that bad?"

"She's not a force to be reckoned with. I've not seen her much, but all the stories are true. She's killed our scientists before. Tortured others. She gets into our security systems and interferes with...everything. She can phase through the walls. There's no hiding from her and she's ordered your release, I don't to die and I want my brother to be safe."

"So the ghost is in charge now."

RoaneG shuddered, "Yeah...So I've gotten you out, I'll keep you safe from the Facility...we'll just hang low until she comes back."

"Okay...I don't suppose you could unhand cuff me?"

"I'm not risking you escaping and getting caught by the Facility, you're in no condition to go wandering about."

"I'm not going to risk capture again, please, just free my hand."

"Listen Montmore, let me just make something clear here. I don't trust you. If the Facility finds you the ghost will blame me and hurt my brother. I'm not taking the risk. You need your rest. I'll bring up some food in a few hours."

"Please, just free my arm." Atheyr nearly begged as RoaneG dragged her brother out of the room. RoaneG gave him a final glance but didn't respond. They left him quietly. Atheyr tugged a final time on the cuff angrily.