Burned
Chapter 11: The Order's Return

A/N: This one's a little easier to follow. Same deal as the last chapter, though. There will be flashback/RW moments, just like Ch. 10. Plus, it should explain why there are so many bodies in the Nightmare part of the beginning of the game.

Alex stared at her for a few minutes. The thought of him leaving the hospital before, was almost unreal. His only memory of coming home was this last time, coming back in the cab of Travis Grady's truck. He had no memory of coming back before then. "And this really happened?"

"Oh yes. It happened, not without serious consequence, though. Getting you back through Shepherd's glen wasn't easy. I waited till dark, before leaving the docks. I got to my office, calling Elle, letting her know I was on the way home."

"Mom? Where have you been? I called your office, and got no answer, a few minutes ago."

"I stepped out. I'm on my way home, though. Meet me on the intersection in front of Town Hall."

"Ok, but what's going on? Why so late?"

"You'll see."

Hanging up the phone, Margaret turned to Alex, who was sitting on the couch in her office. His eyes were darting around the room, half expecting someone with a syringe to jump out at him. They had freed him of the straight jacket, allowing her to see part of his chest, from the v-neck shirt they had him in. It didn't surprise her to see the red and irritated flesh. "Come on, we'll get you home and out of that prison outfit."

A weak smile flitted over him, quickly replaced by a frown. His head began to ache slightly. They slowly made their way out of Town Hall, and saw Elle coming up Craven Ave. She took one look at Alex, and shot a look at her mother.

"Where has he been?"

"I'll explain later. We've got to get him home. It'll be hell if Adam and the others find him here."

They proceeded back down the street, and took the side street that led home. The house rivaled Alex's own. It had somewhat the same framework, but it was almost reversed. Shoving the key into the lock, Margaret looked around, before opening the door.

"You expecting someone, Mom?"

"No…"

That was one thing I had to keep Elle in the dark about. I didn't want her to get worried that the Order would come. That was my main concern. We got upstairs, and got you settled into the guest room, and I had to fill Elle in.

"You're kidding! A seclusion ward? He's not insane! I know he acted a little weird after that night his parents got pissed, and his dad kicked him out, but…"

"Exactly. I don't know what they were really doing, but I will find out. In the meantime, Alex has got a load of recovery to do."

"No kidding. He looks like someone kicked the crap out of him and then some." Elle crossed her arms and fixed her mother a rivaling stare. "How can his parents do that to him?"

"I'm sure they had no idea this was going to happen, Elle. Adam may be thick-headed, but he's not the type to sell his son away to that place."

"Come on… His dad has been the worst." Elle started to head upstairs, to check on the subject of their conversation, and didn't hear her mother's last words.

"Unfortunately, I know why…"

"Your recovery was slow, but it was sure. All you did was improve, to the point to where you were walking around, talking, and were almost back to your old self. The problem was that your father paid me a visit one day, expecting me to be alone."

"Adam?"

"I want a word."

"Alright… What's this about?"

"Like you don't know." He stepped into the living room, choosing to stand, rather than sit. Movement upstairs caused his head to jerk to the balcony. "Who's up there?"

"Elle. Now, what was this visit about?"

"You went to see Alex, didn't you?" It was almost an accusation.

"Yes. I see you haven't. Why Is that?"

"I can't bring myself to see him there." Adam averted his eyes, and Margaret used this moment to her advantage.

"You're the one who put him there!"

"You know I had no choice! After what happened, it was only a matter of time, before they would come looking for him."

"Don't even make it sound like you did it to protect him!"

"Why are you so invested in this?" Adam's tone was venomous, now, and he pinned Margaret with an icy glare. "Of all people, you should know how it is to choose-"

"I know, but I didn't cause Nora pain, did I? You want to know why I'm so invested in this? Finee, follow me."

"I took your father upstairs, knowing you were asleep, and opened the door. He was damned furious, but when I made him look at you, really look, his whole attitude changed. He was still pissed, but there was something of an understanding there. He hadn't expected to see bruises, burns, and various other injuries. He expected you in a straight jacket, muttering something about how you didn't kill Joshua."

"What the-"

"Take a good look, Adam. When I first got there, he was so jumped up on meds that he wouldn't feel the pain he was in, but it was clear that he knew his body's limits. He didn't move for the first few days."

"What do you mean didn't move?"

"I mean he sat stone still, staring at nothing, until his body was ready for him to move again. Normally, he wouldn't struggle with the 'treatment', but on the last few days, he did. They had to 'rough him up' to get him still. After his treatment, on the final day, he resisted, tearng the IV out of his arm, causing the drugs to wear off."

"And?"

"And he became aware of everything! The pain hit him like a brick wall, and he was suddenly very aware of what was gong on."

"So you busted him out? Don't you know how dangerous this is? If the Order knew…"

"They probably already do! Adam, you have to ask yourself, what's best?"

"What the hell are you talking about? I put him there to protect him FROM them, not-"

"Look at this, then. I subpoenaed their records, and by a miracle, I had an old friend working over there. By now he'll have fled the region, but these are his hospital records."

"Looks like a log of hhow much pain he could take in a day.."

"There's more. They've been using electroshock therapy on him, which wouldn't surprise me, if they weren't going way past the legal limit."

"Past the legal-" He continued reading, seeing that they had indeed exceeded the legal voltage limit. Continuing down the page, there was no note of progress, but the doctor in charge, Dr. Copen, was still wanting to increase voltage. "God-damnit, I took him there to be safe, not to see how far they could push him…"

"Looking through the records, and knowing what I do now about the Order's methods, It'd be safe to say that the hospital is a front for the order's tests on how far they can push a human being. Your father realized this too, sooner than I, but it was too late…"

"Mom? Mom!" Elle rushed into the living room, to find hermother out cold on the floor. She had just gotten back from helping Wheeler with some flyers for missing people, and had heard that there was something wrong. There was quite a bit of noise coming from upstairs, and after checking on her mother, she headed up. The door to Alex's room was ajar, and from inside, she heard muffled screaming. There were two people standing, and someone, presumably Alex, on the bed. Elle saw the shadows on the wall behind them.

"Shut him up! We've got to get him out of here before the one downstairs wakes. You know how dire it is to get this kid back. We're not ready."

"Shut up! If anyone hears, it'll foil everything! Just whack him over the head, so we can-"

"Shh! We're not alone!" One of the figures dove at the door, not allowing Elle time to move, and pulled it open. "You can't be here!"

Elle dove moved quickly, getting down the stairs, and the man, in a mining outfit, dashed after her. He took the rusted pipe in his hand, and proceeded to swing at her. The other man came, pulling Alex behind him, and Elle was happy to see him still struggling. The one trying to restrain him slammed his fist into Alex's skull, causing Alex to go limp. Elle soon realized there was nowhere to run.

"Gotcha!" The man chasing her swung and hit her in the head, knocking her down and out.

"Let's go!"

"They took you away… Presumably back to the hospital. They barred anyone from seeing you, even your father."

Alex continued to stare in amazement at this tale. His memories of the hospital were vague, but part of the dream he had been having, about seeing people doing things, and then Josh in the nightmarish otherworld hospital came back. "Wait, I think I remember being brought back in… I remember in a nightmare I had that I was being brought back into a hospital, restrained to a bed, and I kept asking where I was. The doctor wouldn't answer…"

"I remember you talking about the nightmare to Elle. I remember you saying that there were points in the dream where you saw people doing things to others."

"Yeah… That was the strange thing. Now that I think about it, my nightmare was showing me what happened to Joey, Scarlet, and Nora…"

"After they took you, it took awhile to get my head clear…"

Sitting up, Margaret looked around. Th living room was a mess, furniture knocked over, portraits hanging by a nail on the wall, but the most obvious thing out of place was Elle. She was lying on her back, out cold. Through dizziness, Margaret made her way over to her daughter.

"Elle… Elle? Elle!" Shaking her did no good. Elle's head lolled back and forth, with no sign of consciousness. Putting her back down, Margaret slowly pulled herself up, feeling increasingly dizzy, she held onto the wall. Making her way to the staircase, she saw that Alex's door was wide open. "No…"

Heading up the stairs, she went to the door and looked inside. The room was a mess. The bed was in shambles, and what struck her was some blood on the sheets. They had managed to clean him up considerably, but there were some sensitive wounds on his back, wounds that could be ripped open very quickly. Alex had begun to recover, started talking fully again, and was even speaking with his father. "That will all have happened for nothing… They've got him now."