Ladies and gentlemen- Chapter 6. Again, thank you for checking out my fic and leaving reviews because it helps a lot. So, we got a Hopper centered chapter, and now you are getting a Joshua centered chapter. Maybe some questions from his past will be answered- who knows?
Also, ummm... I may have seen some leaks of the S4 plot. I know, I know, I can't forgive myself either. It was just too captivating. I wouldn't suggest reading it if you don't like spoilers lol.
Anyways, I hope you guys like this chapter, and I'll see you next time.
Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things. All rights reserved to the Duffer Brothers and Netflix.
Biloxi, Mississippi (Spring 1982)
"Five…."
He was stuck in perpetual darkness. He was looking for someone to hold him, to tell him it was okay.
Please, ANYBODY! Help me!
"Five…"
No, no, no… it's too dark. I need light. I need light!
"Five!"
His eyes open, and he sees him staring down at him with a slight, sinister smile on his face.
"Daddy?"
"Morning Five," he says, sitting on the bed, "how did you sleep?"
Five pulls his knees towards his body, burying his head into his thighs, "Not good."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Daddy says, but Five knew he really wasn't sorry. He could tell from his voice.
"It's okay," Five barely whispers out.
Daddy is silent, then Five feels his hand running through his buzzed hair, "We have something special planned for today.."
Five looks up, "What?"
Daddy leans in, "We are taking the next step."
Five's chest started to hurt, "Already?"
His sinister smile returns, "Yes. It's time. I believe in you."
Five could feel his throat start to dry, knowing what will happen if he doesn't do it, "Okay Daddy."
The wrinkles on his forehead lifts as well as his smile, "Good."
He stands, walking to the room door, and turns around, "Are you coming or what Five?"
Five nods, running his hand across the bedsheet as if it's the last time he'll sleep, and stands, walking behind Daddy as they enter the hallway.
Whenever he walked with Daddy to his daily lesson, he always felt underdressed and small. Five was wearing a simple hospital gown, and some underwear underneath, and that was it. Daddy was always in a suit and tie while everyone else had dress shirts underneath their lab coats. He felt naked, and Five has always felt that way since he was younger.
The others that passed by Daddy greeted him, but made no mention towards Five. That was normal for him. He was looked at as an object rather than a human being.
It only took a couple of seconds, but they got to the room where Five has spent most of his life. It read "005", no doubt a code for him, and they entered. All the room had in it was a metal table and one singular chair, and it was in front of a mirror. But Five knew that's not what it was.
"Sit," Daddy ordered, and Five only obeyed, sitting against the back of the chair, hands at his sides. He sees the older man knock on the wall, and after that silence. The door opens and another man walks in, who has a black mullet and goatee, and comes with a cart, and on top of it was a blue blanket covering a cubed item, and under it was some hissing.
Oh no.
"Here you go Doc," the man says, and Daddy nods, "Good."
The man leaves without another word, as the cart begins to shake and Daddy walks next to Five, "We've tried getting you to change other items, things that were not alive, and you did well. Now, this is your real test…"
Please no.
Daddy takes the blanket off, and shows an animal inside of a cage. A cat.
Five's heart dropped.
Daddy places something on the table, and slides it in front of Five. It was a Coke can, and Five knew what he wanted him to do. An EEG was put on his head, and Daddy stepped back with a smile, "Look at you my child...you are truly perfect."
He was grooming him, making him feel good, like he was wanted. But all Five felt was dread, with pressure on his shoulders and mind. He looked at the cat, who was hissing and swiping at the cage walls, then at the Coke can, then at Daddy, "I'm perfect?"
"Always," he answers, and Five didn't believe him.
He looked back at the cat, and closed his eyes. He pictured the can in his head, and placed all of his thoughts towards the cat, imagining the transformation. Five only did this to show he was trying, but he knew he couldn't do this.
He opened his eyes, looking at the cat one more time, and started to cry, tears running down his cheek as he rips the hair net off, slamming it on the table and shaking his head, "I can't do it."
The look on Daddy's face was unmistakable. He was furious.
Five didn't break his glance though. He was tired of being pushed around, and the tears that were coming down were more angry than sad.
"Such a disappointment," Daddy grinds out, "and after all I've done for you."
"You've done nothing for me."
If looks could hurt, then the look on Daddy's face said it all. He leans in, only inches from Five's, "Oh yeah? So what happens if I walk away?"
He backs off, opening the door, as the man with the mullet walks back in, "Sir, what are you..?"
"I'm leaving Lawrence," Daddy interrupts, "keep working on the child. I'll take my business elsewhere."
And just like that, he walks out the door.
Five stares at where he leaves, not truly believing what has just happened. He left me. Just like that.
The man named Lawrence looks at Five, giving a big old sigh, "Well kid, guess you are stuck with me now."
Five couldn't tell if that was good news or bad news.
So, in response, he cried.
Joshua arrived at the house just before the sun went down.
He tried to be quiet as he opened the front door, but he knew it would be to no avail, because Larry noticed everything. Joshua knew that it wasn't any different when it came to him.
After running away from the boys with their voices to his back, he spent a long time in the forest. For some reason, it felt like a world away, miles from where he needed to escape from for a second. Joshua didn't understand what was going on, and he didn't understand how the boys knew about where he was from.
He might be from the lab.
How… in the fuck did they know about it?
Joshua kept thinking about it on his way home, and as he walked deeper into his house, it was still buried deep in his thoughts.
He lays his backpack on the living room couch, gently walking to the kitchen to get a glass of water. He grabs a cup from the sink and runs the faucet into it, taking a sip.
"Why are you late?"
Water splashes all over Joshua's face as he sees Larry walk in, running a comb into his hair, as he is completely clean shaven with paper on his chin to cover cuts. He looks like he just got out of the shower, something he does when he needs to think. Unfortunately for Joshua, he didn't look happy.
Joshua wipes at his mouth, pouring the rest of the water out, "I met some kids."
Larry sticks his comb into his jean pocket, "Kids?"
"Yeah, kids. I went over to their house and everything."
"Wow, three days is a record for you doing something ridiculously stupid," Larry says dryly, looking even more pissed.
Joshua knew why he was angry, "What, you don't want me to do anything but stay here?"
"Yes Joshua," Larry says as if it was obvious, "doing so keeps you safe."
"Larry, come on. Safe? I could turn people into piles of goo if I don't want to.."
"Don't say that," Larry bites back, eyes suddenly wide, "we don't joke about that."
"I'm not joking," Joshua answers, walking to the front of him, "I think I'll be fine out there by myself!"
"What if Brenner catches you?"
That name sent chills down his spine, and he grows serious, "He won't."
"Like hell he won't," Larry yells, crossing his arms, "he's still out there Joshua, and he's probably pissed we got out of there with all our limbs attached. If he knows I helped you out of there…"
"Then we are dead. Yeah, you've told me that."
"And it's true!" Larry screams out, "if I knew that he would've gotten to you, and I wasn't there to help," he stops, his voice caught in his throat, "then I wouldn't have forgiven myself."
"Weren't you one of his lackeys?"
"How long are you going to hold that against me?" Larry asks, clearly hurt.
Joshua sighs, knowing he hit too hard, running a hand through his hair, "I didn't mean to say that."
Both of them are silent for a while, still brewing from the obviously emotional conversation.
"So, what happened?" Larry asked gently, finally sitting down.
Joshua huffs, "I saved them from a bully. Knocked him flat on his ass."
"Smart."
Joshua ignores his sarcastic tone, "Once that happened, I learned their names: Mike, Dustin and Lucas. Then, I went to Mike's house…"
He stops, and Larry sits up, "What happened kid?"
Joshua suddenly started shifting his feet, "They noticed that I was nervous and I sat down in his basement…"
"Basement?"
"Yeah, a nice basement too."
"What else?"
"Then, they huddled up and… started to talk about me. Of course, I could hear them, and Mike said, 'What if he's from the lab?'".
Larry leans back in his seat, "Shit."
"Yep, my thoughts exactly."
"Did they look like Russians to you?"
"I mean, Mike was pretty pale.."
"This is serious, kid."
"No, they didn't," Joshua answers, "at least, I don't think they looked like Russians."
Larry runs a hand across his face, standing up now, "Okay, let's think about this. How could they know about the lab?"
"I don't know."
"This is fucking crazy," he says, starting to pace, until he stops, "unless…"
"What?"
Larry turns to him, "What if they have powers too?"
"No, they don't. I would've felt them."
Larry nods, "Okay. Here's what we can do. You can hang around them… but you need to see why they know the lab. Be discreet though."
"Didn't you just tell me to stay away from anyone to keep me safe?"
"Are you trying to change my mind?"
"No," he says, sighing, "okay, I'll see if I can make amends because I basically ran away from them."
"Good," Larry says, looking at Joshua with fatherly worry, "just, be careful with them, please? We can never be too sure."
"Of course. If push comes to shove, I can turn them into goo."
This time Larry laughs, and it gets Joshua to smile, "I'll keep that in mind."
Just like that, all was good again. Joshua was happy they were not at each other's throats.
Larry then asks, "Are you hungry?"
Joshua's stomach grumbles in response, "Starving."
"Hey... Josh?"
Joshua doesn't look up from his math work, "Yes?"
"Um, can I talk to you?"
He places his pencil down, "Why do you…"
Once he looked up, a red headed girl looked back at him, and he was surprised by her beauty. He was also surprised she was talking to him, based off of how stupid he looked.
She clears her throat, "Hi, my name is Max… nice to meet you."
Max extends a hand and Joshua takes it, "My name is Joshua. But you seem to know that already."
She smiles slightly, "Yeah, I guess so.. the boys sent me to talk to you."
"Oh yeah. Them."
"You don't need to sound so unenthusiastic."
"No, it's not like that. I wanted to talk to them anyway, straighten things out."
Max smiles wider, "Okay then, good. So, meet me outside school after and we can catch up with them?"
Joshua nods, "Sure sounds good…"
"Mayfield, Barnes," their teacher says from his desk, "mouths shut. Get to work."
They do, but Max gives a wink before settling back to her work.
The class blew by quickly and both of them walked together outside in the middle of the busy after school gatherings, and she walked him to the bike rack, "We'll wait for them here."
"Ok. So, I'm guessing they told you?"
"About what happened?" She asks.
"Yeah, and why I ran away."
"They did," Max says, putting a strand of hair behind her ear, "I apologize for them being so stupid."
Joshua smiled. He liked this chick. She had a very dry sense of humor.
"It's not that big of a deal. I've dealt with worse than them."
Max looks at him sympathetically, "Bullies?"
"Something like that. I can see they deal with it."
"Probably not anymore after what you did to Troy."
"I knew you could do it Max!"
Joshua hears Lucas, and turns to see the boys headed their way, and they are all smiles. Maybe they are actually happy to see me.
Lucas kisses Max, and Joshua is taken aback from the display. So, they are dating. Although Joshua was disappointed, it was also good to know.
"Josh," Mike says, breaking his trance, "it's good to see you. Sorry about.."
"Don't worry about it Mike," Joshua interrupts, "you didn't mean it."
Mike smiles, "Oh, okay. Can we hug now?"
Joshua laughs, "Yeah, I guess we can."
They hug, and Joshua admitted it felt good to hug someone. Felt like home.
"Let us join!" Dustin yells, and he feels all of them join in, and they all laughed. Again, it felt good.
"Alright, that's enough," Max blurts out and they split, "I can't handle all that boy smell for any longer."
"I thought you liked my smell?" Lucas pouts out.
"Eww," Max says, wiggling her nose.
Joshua sees Mike smiling, and he looks at him, "Why are you so happy?"
Before Mike notices, Dustin points at Joshua, "See? Even he can tell!"
"Alright, calm down," Mike says jokingly, "I'll tell you on the way Josh."
They all get on their bikes, with Max on Lucas' and Joshua on Mike's, as they rode away from school and Dustin turns on his radio that was hooked to the front of his bike, slightly playing some music, "So, Josh, are you sure you want to ride with us?"
"Is there a reason I shouldn't be?"
"He's messing with you," Lucas says, "besides, we are happy that you gave us a second chance."
"Yeah, we didn't want you to think we wanted to hurt you," Mike admits, "or whatever we did."
So, they aren't even mentioning the lab. Interesting.
"Again, it's fine," Joshua reassures, "you don't have to worry about it."
"I'm glad you don't want to kill them anymore," Max jokes, and Joshua could feel Mike's shoulders tense up, and he could just feel an awkward silence coming along so he asks, "So, what's this story you wanted to tell me?"
He could see Mike smile, "Oh yeah.. so, about a year ago, some of our friends moved away to California. We were tight and spent most of our time together, and we were really sad when we were told that they'd be moving."
"Why did they move?"
Mike just shrugged, "They thought a nice change of scenery was best for them. Anyway, they moved as a family during the summer, and we just got word that they are coming back in a couple of days."
"Yeah, and his girlfriend is coming back too," Dustin mentions.
"Dude!"
"I think it's endearing Mike," Max adds, "there is nothing to be ashamed about."
"Well I don't even know if she's my girlfriend anymore," Mike mutters, "it's been a while."
"Mike, you said I love you over the phone just a few days ago," Lucas says.
"Just because we love each other still doesn't mean we are together."
"I'm pretty sure that's exactly what it means."
"Sounds like something to get excited about," Joshua says, completely meaning it, "I'm happy for you Mike. I'm excited to meet them."
"Wait, you are going to meet them?"
"Yeah, why not. If we are going to be friends, then I need to be friends with your friends."
Mike smiles, "Yeah, that sounds good."
"You hear that you fuckers!?" Dustin yells out loud, particularly to no one, "We've added one more to the Party! He laid out Troy Harrington- you can't fuck with us no more!"
Everyone laughs, and Joshua just chuckles, "Party?"
"Yeah," Dustin shrugs, "that's our group name. Nerdy I know, but that's who we are."
"I like it. It's simple... like you."
The group cackles as Dustin's smile drops, "You are really going to do that to me after I just initiated you?"
"That didn't feel like an initiation," Max says, holding her heart, "more like a proclamation."
Dustin sighs, "Okay, fine. All in favor of making Joshua a member of the party…"
All of them say "aye" and Dustin nods, "There you go. There's his fucking initiation."
Everyone was content as they rode in silence, and Joshua closed his eyes to feel the light breeze on his face. So this is what freedom felt like, how he could breathe without having to worry about someone chasing him down. He felt safe with these guys. With his newly acquired bundle of friends. The Party.
They eventually got to Mike's house, and Joshua followed them into the basement where they all took their jackets, and Mike asked, "Any of you want any soft drinks? I'm gonna go upstairs to get some."
Everyone says yes, while Joshua blurts out, "What are soft drinks?"
All 4 kids look at him like he's an alien, and Max clears her throat, "It's soda, Josh."
"Oh. Well, what do you have Mike?"
"Coke and root beer."
"I've never tried root beer before. Is it good?"
"Yeah…?"
"I'll take that then."
Mike looked at Joshua like he wanted to ask a question, then seemed to decide against it, "Okay, sure thing. Same for the rest of you?"
"Yeah, but make sure to combine both of them together," Dustin says.
"Okay, okay," Mike surrenders, muttering "weirdo" as he climbs up the stairs.
"I like experimenting with things," Dustin explains as Mike disappears.
"You don't have to lie to me," Joshua jokes, "you can admit you like it."
"Yeah, remember Dustin- Friends don't lie." Lucas adds.
Dustin smiles, knowing some sort of inside joke that Joshua didn't know about, as Dustin hits him on the shoulder, "I like that you are so forgiving."
Joshua drops his smile, "Am I?"
The color completely drains from Dustin's face. Then, Joshua laughs, "I'm joking. You should've seen the look on your face."
"You looked like you saw someone eat Yurtle," Lucas manages to get out in the middle of laughter.
"Very funny," Dustin mumbles out, sitting at the DnD table.
Joshua sits on the comfy basement couch, "Sorry Dustin, I didn't mean to upset you."
Joshua kind of meant it and kind of didn't, and Dustin could hear his tone and just shrugged, "It's okay. I guess it's payback for making you run off…"
"Look at you two," Max teases, pouting her lips, "like two peas in a pod with the mature apologies."
"No, no… as much as I love Josh even though we have just met, Steve is my guy."
"Steve?" Joshua asks.
"Yeah, you know, Steve Harrington?"
"Harrington? Wait, Steve is Troy's broth…?"
"Common misconception," Lucas interrupts, "they aren't related, they just have the same last name."
"Anyway, he's another member of the Party. Really chill guy- you should meet him."
"You should," Lucas agrees, "Dustin is right. But man, he was such a douchebag. He treated Nancy like shit."
"Nancy?"
"Oh yeah, details. Nancy is Mike's sister."
"She attends college at the moment," Max says.
"So, I guess I'm not meeting her at the moment?" Joshua asks.
"Probably not, but we can definitely make that happen."
"Definitely. But yeah, he's a better person," Dustin defends, "like, a thousand times better."
"I can agree with that," Max adds.
"Plus, he owns this really good ice cream truck. We should bring you sometime."
"I'd like that," Joshua says, hearing the arrival of Mike from the stairs, carrying all their drinks, "Here we go. Waiter Mike here to serve you."
"Well thank you kind sir," Max says in a posh accent.
Joshua takes his drink and sips at it, "Hmmm… this is not too bad."
"Right?" Mike exclaims, sitting next to Joshua, "So, what do you want to do?"
Joshua shrugs, "I don't know. Just hang out and talk."
"We can do that," Lucas agrees, wrapping an arm around Max, "we'll interrogate you."
"Interrogate?" Joshua asks, smiling, "I hope there is no bad cop, good cop situation here."
"No, nothing like that, I promise."
"Are you actually from the lab?"
Joshua freezes as all three kids yell, "Dustin!" and look at him like he's a moron.
Well, so much for them being discreet. Sorry Larry.
Joshua sets his drink down, "What lab?"
The room is quiet, and based on the look on Dustin's face, he knows he's dug himself into a hole, "Oh, did I say lab? I meant… I meant… the country! Yeah, the country, like farms and stuff!"
"Lab and country don't even sound the same," Max says, shaking her head with how stupid her friend could be.
"Plus I've told you I'm from Indianapolis," Joshua adds, looking at Dustin.
"Are you?" Mike asks, leaning forward to look at him.
Please forgive me Larry.
"No," Joshua admits, "I'm not."
"Oh thank god," Mike blurts out.
Joshua looks at him a little hurt, and Mike holds a hand up, "Not like that. It's just that Nancy attends college there."
"And?"
"If the lab is there…" Mike starts, but he sees the looks from everyone, and he stops talking.
"Dude, don't be surprised if he kills you first," Lucas jokes.
Joshua just about had it, "Can you stop talking around me like I'm insensitive or some shit? You wanna know the truth?! I am from the lab, is that what you wanted to hear?"
He places his head in his heads, letting out a breath he had been holding, as the room is deadly quiet, until he feels a soothing hand on his shoulder, "Sorry Josh."
Joshua sits up, wiping his eyes as they got a little wet, "It's fine. I just… I was supposed to keep this a secret, and I can't even do that."
"We can keep secrets," Dustin responds, "unless, you don't want to talk about it."
"Yeah," Max adds, "this is a safe place. You can trust us."
He runs a hand through his hair, as he thought this situation was fucking crazy, "Well, first, I got to know something… how did you know I was from a lab?"
"The buzzed hair," Mike answers.
"Damn it. I knew I should've worn a wig."
"That and your skin was pale, as if you've never seen the sun," Lucas goes on, "and your clothes were too big…"
"I get it. I don't look normal."
"What was it like?" Dustin asks.
You don't have to tell them Josh. You can just walk away, and not tell your secret to the world.
But he didn't want to.
"It was… hell, simply. I was tested almost every day, and I was looked at like an object. I remember waking most days, sometimes in the middle of the night, and not wanting to be alive. I would've done it too if I wasn't positive I would get out."
"How did you?" Max asks gently.
"I basically fought my way out. Me and Larry."
"Larry?"
"My guardian," Joshua simply says, not wanting to say too much, "he helped me out. That was almost 4 years ago."
"Shit," Lucas whispers.
"Yeah, that's the word."
"Where was it?"
"A small town named Biloxi in Mississippi. Nice little place. Too bad it was run by the commies. Before that, we kind of ran all over the place- couldn't stay in one spot for too long."
"Where would you go?"
"We were in Illinois mostly, but we had entered Indiana not too long ago."
"What's your power?" Mike asks slowly.
Joshua sighs, pointing at one of the DnD figures next to Dustin, "Let me see that."
Dustin tosses it to him, and he grabs his root beer can, "You might want to close your eyes."
Without waiting for a response, he gives the drink a glance and closes his eyes. His brain felt like it was melting, like he had stuck his head into a working stove. His eyes started to pulsate, and at that moment he believed he couldn't do it, that he had succumbed to the pressure of proving himself. Then, the heat dissipated, and he opened his eyes, "You guys can look now."
He sees them follow his instructions and he hears Mike gasp, Lucas and Max speechless, and Dustin yelling, "Holy shit!"
There were now two figures instead of one, settled in Joshua's palms.
Joshua sets them down, "That's what I can do."
Dustin laughs like a kid on Christmas, "That's fucking sweet! Can you turn it back?"
"No, I can't, unfortunately. Still, you've got two of them now."
Joshua passes both of them back, and Dustin is in nerd wonderland, as he turns to Mike, "Now, your turn. Spill."
Mike sighs, "You know the friends I talked about that moved away?"
Joshua nods, and Mike continues, "Well, one of my friends, the girl I like… she's got powers too."
"Wait," Joshua says, his jaw hung open, "there is more of me?"
Mike nods, pointing at Joshua's wrist, 'You've got a number there?"
He lifts his sleeve, showing off his 005 tattoo, and he sees Max from his peripheral grab his wrist gently, "Wow. I mean, El told us she had met her sister in Pittsburgh, but I didn't figure it would be more than them."
"I'm sorry, but I'm lost here."
"Mike's girlfriend's name is Eleven, but we call her El for short." Lucas explains, "Her actual name is Jane, but it's kind of weird to call her that."
"Plus El is a better name anyway," Dustin adds, still checking his DnD figures in awe.
"She lives with my other best friend, Will, and his family. They moved away to get away from here after what happened."
"What happened here?"
He could see the Party get uncomfortable, until Mike just says, "You know that Starcourt mall on the way through town?"
Joshua nods, and Mike sighs, "It's closed for a reason, I'll just tell you that. We want to tell you what happened… but, we just rather wait until El gets here to tell you."
And with that, the conversation moved on to other things, like if Star Wars or the Hobbit was the better movie for him to start with, and Joshua appreciated the nice change of pace, but was still confused and irritated about their crypticity.
El, whoever you are, get here quickly. I need to know.
Biloxi, Mississippi (Spring 1982)
One month.
That's how long it's been since Daddy left him.
Five thought he would be happy, and he was, but he felt lost without his direction. The man Daddy left him with, Lawrence, tried to make him feel otherwise, but it was to no avail. With every test they ran, the higher ups were not happy enough with the results, as Five was told.
It made him sad. Not only is he not worth anything at this point, but he might be killed soon. It's been way too long without any sort of outcome. There would be repercussions.
He cried himself to sleep that night, and thought he would never fall asleep. But he was proved wrong, as he was shaken awake and heard the noise of sirens in his ears.
'What?" He mumbles, and that was then he realized that Lawrence was standing over him, shaking his shoulder, "Come on kid, wake up!"
"Wait… what's going on?" Five asks, wiping his eyes.
"We have to go, it's urgent," he says, heading towards the door without explanation.
"Lawrence, what's going on?"
He opens the door, and looks back at Five, "We are escaping. Come on."
"...escaping?"
He holds out his hand, and Five takes it, as they make their way out into the hallway, the sirens turning the once white tiles into red glares. His eyes started to hurt, "What happened?"
"I made a decision," Lawrence said, simply, pulling a gun out of his waistband. Five's eyes bulge out of his sockets, "Why do you have that?"
"Like I said, we are escaping."
They continued to walk, hand in hand, as Five basically dragged through the laboratory. They made their way past Five's designated room and into the administrative block, where the sounds of footsteps could be heard.
Lawrence freezes, as he picks up Five into his arms, "Hold onto me tight, okay?"
"Okay," Five mumbled into his shoulder.
A group of soldiers rounded the corner, and they aimed straight at the both of them, yelling in some other language.
"Stand down," someone yells from behind them, and then walks up in front. It's a man Five had never seen before- he was wearing a full on soldier uniform, with the suit and some kind of hat on, and his cold menacing blue eyes stared directly at him, like he was a piece of meat.
"Doctor," the man says, now looking at Lawrence.
"Ozerov."
"What are you doing with the child?"
"I thought that was pretty obvious sir."
"This is suicide," Ozerov states, "you know this better than anyone. You'll never be able to get out of here. So, do the smart thing, and put the boy down…"
"So you can continue to experiment on him?" Lawrence asks, "Make him a lab rat? You and I both know that this isn't right, and I'm not standing by and letting this happen."
"Doesn't matter if it's right. It's right for our cause."
"And your cause can go eat shit."
"You know he isn't going to be happy…"
"I don't care what Martin has to say to me," Lawrence responds, "because he left us, left Five… just like we are going to do right now."
The cock-back of guns echoed through the hall, and Ozerov slightly smiled, "That isn't going to happen doctor."
Five tensed up Lawrence's arms, but all he could feel was a gentle circling on his back from Lawrence's thumb, as trying to calm him down. To prepare him for the inevitable.
"I mean, you think so… but me? I like to think that it can."
He shoots the siren next to him, covering the hallway in complete darkness. The soldiers were speaking rapidly as Lawrence led them past, where Five could feel a couple of shirts scrape against his left thigh, and before he knew it they were being tracked again, the yelling being directed at them.
"Go," Five pleads, "they are close by!"
"I'm trying!" Lawrence grunts out in response, running at a full speed, the gust of wind hitting Five in the face. His heart pounded as they reached a metal door, and Lawrence started to pat himself, "Oh shit."
"What's wrong?" Five asks.
He could see Lawrence's pasty white face in the darkness of the hallway as the color leaves his face, "I don't have my key card.."
Before Five knew it, Lawrence started to shake violently and fell to his knees. The soldiers had caught up to them, and one of them had a taser in his hand, yelling for the others. Five started to cry out, "Get up! Please… get up!"
Lawrence looks at Five, tears in his eyes as his hands were put behind his back, whispering, "I'm sorry kid.."
Five looked at the soldiers, who were approaching him with guns pointing at him, and he could feel the heat start to build up.
He screamed.
First, the soldiers looked confused, then started to hold their heads, hunching over in pain. Five didn't care that he was emotional, and he surely didn't care about the soldiers. He finally felt something he has never experienced before- anger.
They started to hold their faces, as golf ball sized welts popped up on their skin, scratching and clawing as if something was under their skin, and they started to scream. Blood dripped from their eyes, and the reverberations of bodies hitting the floor brought them to an end, and all was silent again.
Five wanted to cry, but he was completely drained, feeling the blood dripping from his nose as he fell to the floor, chest heaving and tears falling silently. He can't move, but he hears footsteps chiming into his ear, as he is lifted bridal style, and he sees Lawrence's tired face looking down at him, "I'm so sorry kid."
Five was sorry too. But, he was only sorry to Lawrence- not the soldiers he just killed in cold blood.
I hope you guys enjoyed. Stay safe, stay warm and wear your masks!
-Traveler