Please forgive me
The officer led them to his office. But he didn't stop there; he opened a door into a side room and harshly threw Rachel inside. He locked the door and turned menacingly towards Tobias. At a jerk of the officer's head, both soldiers let go of the former Animorph and silently took their usual places at the sides of the door leading out into the corridors.
Tobias stood where they had left him, shaking, refusing to take his eyes of the floor. The officer watched him, the tension in the room growing, until finally it was thick enough to walk on. Then Tobias looked up and cast an uncertain glance at the door behind which Rachel was hid.
He knew what else was in that room. A -
"Don't you dare look that way!" the officer snarled, and Tobias's gaze was jerked away. "Do you know what you've done?"
Tobias hesitated, but then nodded, but his spoken reply was no more than a weak mumble.
"Do you know what I think about it?"
Tobias nodded again, and mumbled the same phrase again.
"Speak up!" the officer roared.
"Yes master," Tobias said, almost jumping straight into the roof at that tone of voice.
The officer checked the lock on the door behind him. "We can't allow that kind of behaviour here, can we?"
"No master," Tobias whispered.
"And those who break the rules are punished, aren't they?"
"Yes, master."
The officer nodded, pleased. "But first… you had a key. Where did you get the key?"
Tobias stared at the floor.
Suddenly the officer was right in front of him and his entire arm swept with full force at Tobias's head. Tobias was thrown to the side, staggered away, head ringing like a thousand bells, fell down by the wall and pulled together as if to protect himself.
The officer followed, grabbing the former Animorph by the neck and lifted him back to his feet. "Stand up to face me, you coward," he spat, pushed Tobias back against the wall and punched him in the chest, sending all air out of his lungs.
Before Tobias could sink down to the floor again - as he had a habit of doing, since the officer disliked it and it was the only defying he could do - the officer had taken a hold of his chin.
"The keys, bird-brain… where did you get the lousy keys?"
"I… found them…" Tobias managed weakly.
The officer stared at him. Then pushed him away in disgust and uttered a few well-chosen curses. "You're not a very good liar, you wretch of a rebel," he muttered, glancing at the guards and then at Tobias, again pulled together by the foot of the wall. "Grab him."
With that, he headed towards the door, the guards following with Tobias. He yanked it open. A hunching shape that could be none other than Rachel tried to get out, past him, but he took a hold of the back of her shirt and threw her back in. The guards followed inside with Tobias and the officer slammed the door shut behind them.
Chained to the other wall in the room was a Taxxon. The special thing about this Taxxon, as Tobias had been unfortunate enough to notice at several times, was that he was extremely underfed. He did not look like the usual large, round centipede; his sides stuck to his skeleton, his legs were even thinner than usual, his claws had shrivelled down to a poor imitation of their former shape from lack of nutrients, and his face was filled with hollows where his skull did not support his skin, his eyes had lost their red gleam and were now a pale orange, and they had sunk down deeply into their sockets. The officer kept him like that for his own, strange reasons.
The result was that the Taxxon was very, very hungry. He would eat anything that came within his grasp. And it need not be meat; he would eat paper, pencils, keys, chairs…
One of the reasons, probably.
Tobias had never believed himself capable of actually pitying a Taxxon, but for this one, he'd make an exception.
"Sreeeee!" whined the Taxxon. His orange-shaded eyes were fixed on Rachel, who was the most wounded of the humans, and thereby the easiest prey.
The officer was holding her by the hair - as usual - and just outside the Taxxon's reach, no matter how much he yanked and pulled at his fetters.
"Tobias," said the officer. "You mentioned not knowing where you got those keys. Maybe this will help you remember."
He took a hold of Rachel's wounded hand and held it out for the Taxxon. The wretched creature struck at once, his yellowed teeth snapping after her fingers. She tried to pull her hand into a fist to keep them away, but his teeth grazed her knuckles and snapped closed around the fingers she could no longer bend. He tore them free with a cry of delight - a cry that was drenched in Rachel's howl of pain.
"No!" Tobias gasped, pulling forwards but being yanked back by the two guards.
"Where did you get the keys, birdbrain?" the officer repeated. He held out Rachel's hand even closer to the Taxxon, but as the Taxxon's teeth slammed closed he pulled them free just in time. "Where?!"
"I found them, I told you!" Tobias wailed. He noticed that Rachel was watching him; but he couldn't read her expression. Was that fear, or defiance? He didn't know.
"Where?" the officer thundered. "My office? The guards? The clinic?!"
"Your office," Tobias said, thinking quickly. "In your drawer, in -"
"LIAR!!"
The officer almost threw out Rachel's arm towards the Taxxon, and the creature stretched out eagerly to grab it. His teeth closed around it, left long scratches on her arm, and easily ripped what remained of her hand away.
Rachel screamed again, maybe more in fury than in pain, and started to kick to break free.
The officer pulled her back from the Taxxon and swung her head against the wall. Rachel's eyes glazed over and she went limp in his grip.
"Better," muttered the officer. Then looked up towards Tobias. "You, bird-brain, are going to tell me exactly where you got those keys, or I'll feed her to this Taxxon, bit by bit… starting with her hands and arms and feet and legs."
He smiled cruelly, eyes glinting dangerously. "Slowly, of course. Because as she starts running out of body parts and chances of survival, you'll start running out of reasons to save her."
"Sreeeeerrrrr!" The Taxxon yanked madly at his chains. He had gotten the taste of flesh and blood in his mouth, and he wanted more.
"Oh, poor thing's hungry," the officer murmured, taking a hold of Rachel's limp arm and holding it out to the Taxxon.
"No!"
The officer hesitated. "The keys, bird-brain. Where?"
"I told -"
"You lied!" the officer drew breath to roar again, but then his eyes narrowed. "You got them from the clinic, didn't you?"
"I -"
But the officer threateningly held out Rachel's arm towards the maddened Taxxon again and spat; "Didn't you?!"
"Yes," Tobias wailed, "Anywhere, just don't -"
The officer let Rachel's motionless form fall to the floor, just out of the Taxxon's reach. "I guessed as much," he said. "That nurse. Probably handed the keys to you personally, did she?"
The Taxxon let out another "sree" of self-pity as he noticed that his chain reached just far enough for him to feel the warmth from his prey but not actually eat it. His teeth snapped at air just millimetres away from her face. Her eyes were open again, but she seemed to have some trouble focusing them. She wasn't aware enough of her surroundings to notice the Taxxon and move away, and so close he was hard to miss.
"Did she?" the officer repeated impatiently.
The Taxxon let out another "sree!" of hunger. Rachel still didn't move.
The officer gave Tobias a sharp look, and Tobias sighed and whispered; "Yes."
The officer nodded at his guards. "Tie something around her arm before she bleeds to death. We can't let her morph, of course. Then get this Taxxon out of here."
The guards saluted, let go of Tobias and did as they were told. A rough piece of cloth was secured around Rachel's arm to slow the bleeding. Then they - carefully - took the Taxxon's chains and forced the miserable creature out of the room, to tie him up somewhere else until the officer told them to bring him back.
Tobias, who had sunk down to sit on the floor, had a very bad feeling. He kept a careful eye on the officer, who had picked up a spare chain from the floor and was inspecting it. Then the officer returned Tobias's look and said; "I'll deal with that nurse later, don't you worry. The bosses will surely let me… teach… her proper manners once they hear about this one. But first, there's someone who needs a punishment." He grinned evilly, whipping the heavy chain through the air to get a feel of its weight. "And you know punishing always is foremost in my mind, my little coward."
Tobias felt the sudden tension in his shoulders and mentally began preparing himself for another beating, and waking up in his cell, dizzy and bleeding. Wouldn't be the first time. Nothing amused the officer as much as 'a good punishment'. But he couldn't help the note of panic that came into his eyes, which the officer noticed and barked a laugh.
"Not you," he said. "Remember my promise." He narrowed his eyes and pointed at the slowly waking Rachel. "Her."
Tobias flew to his feet and had already opened his mouth to cry out a protest when the officer whipped the chain forwards. It caught the side of Tobias's neck and sent him back to the floor.
The officer dropped the chain and gave Tobias a kick before he had any chance of getting up.
"Out," he ordered, pointing at the open door.
Tobias tried to clear his head, forced his arms to obey him and pushed himself up on all fours with some difficulty. But another kick, and he fell and tumbled. "OUT!" Then the officer grabbed his arm and roughly threw him out the doorway. He could hear the door slam shut behind him; heard the lock click into place.
He stayed where he was, feeling drenched, closed his eyes and tried to close out the world around him: his only defence against the thought of what he had caused.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Author's Note;
I know it's taken long to get this up. I got stuck. A number of times. (Might be something about this story just getting worse and worse, and I'm getting tired of writing about pure cruelty - in fact, disgusted by it. It's one-sided and in the end you can't do much with it.)
Review this chapter, and the next one will be up when it's finished. Can't say anything about when that'll be, though.
The officer led them to his office. But he didn't stop there; he opened a door into a side room and harshly threw Rachel inside. He locked the door and turned menacingly towards Tobias. At a jerk of the officer's head, both soldiers let go of the former Animorph and silently took their usual places at the sides of the door leading out into the corridors.
Tobias stood where they had left him, shaking, refusing to take his eyes of the floor. The officer watched him, the tension in the room growing, until finally it was thick enough to walk on. Then Tobias looked up and cast an uncertain glance at the door behind which Rachel was hid.
He knew what else was in that room. A -
"Don't you dare look that way!" the officer snarled, and Tobias's gaze was jerked away. "Do you know what you've done?"
Tobias hesitated, but then nodded, but his spoken reply was no more than a weak mumble.
"Do you know what I think about it?"
Tobias nodded again, and mumbled the same phrase again.
"Speak up!" the officer roared.
"Yes master," Tobias said, almost jumping straight into the roof at that tone of voice.
The officer checked the lock on the door behind him. "We can't allow that kind of behaviour here, can we?"
"No master," Tobias whispered.
"And those who break the rules are punished, aren't they?"
"Yes, master."
The officer nodded, pleased. "But first… you had a key. Where did you get the key?"
Tobias stared at the floor.
Suddenly the officer was right in front of him and his entire arm swept with full force at Tobias's head. Tobias was thrown to the side, staggered away, head ringing like a thousand bells, fell down by the wall and pulled together as if to protect himself.
The officer followed, grabbing the former Animorph by the neck and lifted him back to his feet. "Stand up to face me, you coward," he spat, pushed Tobias back against the wall and punched him in the chest, sending all air out of his lungs.
Before Tobias could sink down to the floor again - as he had a habit of doing, since the officer disliked it and it was the only defying he could do - the officer had taken a hold of his chin.
"The keys, bird-brain… where did you get the lousy keys?"
"I… found them…" Tobias managed weakly.
The officer stared at him. Then pushed him away in disgust and uttered a few well-chosen curses. "You're not a very good liar, you wretch of a rebel," he muttered, glancing at the guards and then at Tobias, again pulled together by the foot of the wall. "Grab him."
With that, he headed towards the door, the guards following with Tobias. He yanked it open. A hunching shape that could be none other than Rachel tried to get out, past him, but he took a hold of the back of her shirt and threw her back in. The guards followed inside with Tobias and the officer slammed the door shut behind them.
Chained to the other wall in the room was a Taxxon. The special thing about this Taxxon, as Tobias had been unfortunate enough to notice at several times, was that he was extremely underfed. He did not look like the usual large, round centipede; his sides stuck to his skeleton, his legs were even thinner than usual, his claws had shrivelled down to a poor imitation of their former shape from lack of nutrients, and his face was filled with hollows where his skull did not support his skin, his eyes had lost their red gleam and were now a pale orange, and they had sunk down deeply into their sockets. The officer kept him like that for his own, strange reasons.
The result was that the Taxxon was very, very hungry. He would eat anything that came within his grasp. And it need not be meat; he would eat paper, pencils, keys, chairs…
One of the reasons, probably.
Tobias had never believed himself capable of actually pitying a Taxxon, but for this one, he'd make an exception.
"Sreeeee!" whined the Taxxon. His orange-shaded eyes were fixed on Rachel, who was the most wounded of the humans, and thereby the easiest prey.
The officer was holding her by the hair - as usual - and just outside the Taxxon's reach, no matter how much he yanked and pulled at his fetters.
"Tobias," said the officer. "You mentioned not knowing where you got those keys. Maybe this will help you remember."
He took a hold of Rachel's wounded hand and held it out for the Taxxon. The wretched creature struck at once, his yellowed teeth snapping after her fingers. She tried to pull her hand into a fist to keep them away, but his teeth grazed her knuckles and snapped closed around the fingers she could no longer bend. He tore them free with a cry of delight - a cry that was drenched in Rachel's howl of pain.
"No!" Tobias gasped, pulling forwards but being yanked back by the two guards.
"Where did you get the keys, birdbrain?" the officer repeated. He held out Rachel's hand even closer to the Taxxon, but as the Taxxon's teeth slammed closed he pulled them free just in time. "Where?!"
"I found them, I told you!" Tobias wailed. He noticed that Rachel was watching him; but he couldn't read her expression. Was that fear, or defiance? He didn't know.
"Where?" the officer thundered. "My office? The guards? The clinic?!"
"Your office," Tobias said, thinking quickly. "In your drawer, in -"
"LIAR!!"
The officer almost threw out Rachel's arm towards the Taxxon, and the creature stretched out eagerly to grab it. His teeth closed around it, left long scratches on her arm, and easily ripped what remained of her hand away.
Rachel screamed again, maybe more in fury than in pain, and started to kick to break free.
The officer pulled her back from the Taxxon and swung her head against the wall. Rachel's eyes glazed over and she went limp in his grip.
"Better," muttered the officer. Then looked up towards Tobias. "You, bird-brain, are going to tell me exactly where you got those keys, or I'll feed her to this Taxxon, bit by bit… starting with her hands and arms and feet and legs."
He smiled cruelly, eyes glinting dangerously. "Slowly, of course. Because as she starts running out of body parts and chances of survival, you'll start running out of reasons to save her."
"Sreeeeerrrrr!" The Taxxon yanked madly at his chains. He had gotten the taste of flesh and blood in his mouth, and he wanted more.
"Oh, poor thing's hungry," the officer murmured, taking a hold of Rachel's limp arm and holding it out to the Taxxon.
"No!"
The officer hesitated. "The keys, bird-brain. Where?"
"I told -"
"You lied!" the officer drew breath to roar again, but then his eyes narrowed. "You got them from the clinic, didn't you?"
"I -"
But the officer threateningly held out Rachel's arm towards the maddened Taxxon again and spat; "Didn't you?!"
"Yes," Tobias wailed, "Anywhere, just don't -"
The officer let Rachel's motionless form fall to the floor, just out of the Taxxon's reach. "I guessed as much," he said. "That nurse. Probably handed the keys to you personally, did she?"
The Taxxon let out another "sree" of self-pity as he noticed that his chain reached just far enough for him to feel the warmth from his prey but not actually eat it. His teeth snapped at air just millimetres away from her face. Her eyes were open again, but she seemed to have some trouble focusing them. She wasn't aware enough of her surroundings to notice the Taxxon and move away, and so close he was hard to miss.
"Did she?" the officer repeated impatiently.
The Taxxon let out another "sree!" of hunger. Rachel still didn't move.
The officer gave Tobias a sharp look, and Tobias sighed and whispered; "Yes."
The officer nodded at his guards. "Tie something around her arm before she bleeds to death. We can't let her morph, of course. Then get this Taxxon out of here."
The guards saluted, let go of Tobias and did as they were told. A rough piece of cloth was secured around Rachel's arm to slow the bleeding. Then they - carefully - took the Taxxon's chains and forced the miserable creature out of the room, to tie him up somewhere else until the officer told them to bring him back.
Tobias, who had sunk down to sit on the floor, had a very bad feeling. He kept a careful eye on the officer, who had picked up a spare chain from the floor and was inspecting it. Then the officer returned Tobias's look and said; "I'll deal with that nurse later, don't you worry. The bosses will surely let me… teach… her proper manners once they hear about this one. But first, there's someone who needs a punishment." He grinned evilly, whipping the heavy chain through the air to get a feel of its weight. "And you know punishing always is foremost in my mind, my little coward."
Tobias felt the sudden tension in his shoulders and mentally began preparing himself for another beating, and waking up in his cell, dizzy and bleeding. Wouldn't be the first time. Nothing amused the officer as much as 'a good punishment'. But he couldn't help the note of panic that came into his eyes, which the officer noticed and barked a laugh.
"Not you," he said. "Remember my promise." He narrowed his eyes and pointed at the slowly waking Rachel. "Her."
Tobias flew to his feet and had already opened his mouth to cry out a protest when the officer whipped the chain forwards. It caught the side of Tobias's neck and sent him back to the floor.
The officer dropped the chain and gave Tobias a kick before he had any chance of getting up.
"Out," he ordered, pointing at the open door.
Tobias tried to clear his head, forced his arms to obey him and pushed himself up on all fours with some difficulty. But another kick, and he fell and tumbled. "OUT!" Then the officer grabbed his arm and roughly threw him out the doorway. He could hear the door slam shut behind him; heard the lock click into place.
He stayed where he was, feeling drenched, closed his eyes and tried to close out the world around him: his only defence against the thought of what he had caused.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Author's Note;
I know it's taken long to get this up. I got stuck. A number of times. (Might be something about this story just getting worse and worse, and I'm getting tired of writing about pure cruelty - in fact, disgusted by it. It's one-sided and in the end you can't do much with it.)
Review this chapter, and the next one will be up when it's finished. Can't say anything about when that'll be, though.