Dark Tomorrow

Chapter 3: Forgive me

The room was dark and fairly small, and her feral senses could detect no other life in it; only the smell of musk and the glimmer of the cream walls.

Her head hurt like hell. She sat up slowly; realizing that blood soaked some of her tank top and that there was dried blood on the side of her face where her attacker had hit her to knock her out when she had put up too much of a fight.

Shalimar buried her head in her hands. How long had she been unconscious? What did Max Reyes want with her, and why hadn't he brutally attacked or killed her yet, like all the other mutants? Where were her friends? She just hoped they were okay.

Suddenly, her ears picked up the sounds of footsteps, and the next second, the door opened - and the same sandy-haired, green-eyes man who had grabbed her walked in. He switched on a light, and the plain, cream-coloured room was filled with brightness that nearly blinded her for a second. She growled and tried to flash her eyes, but was rewarded with unbelievable pain.

A governor!

"Well, Shalimar, I see you're awake - at last." Max drawled. "What took you so long? It's been nearly thirty-six hours since you were attacked." He came towards her and touched the side of her head, looking amused when she flinched away. "Looks like I may have hit you harder than I had intended. But you do have that effect on people, Shalimar."

"What do you want?" Shalimar spat at him.

He grinned. "The other mutants were tortured and killed within twelve hours of capture," he explained. "Don't you get it? I want YOU. No other mutant has fought me off with as much fire and as much skill as you did, and I'll admit it: I like 'em feisty."

Shalimar was repulsed. "You're crazy if you think I'll do anything for you."

Max shrugged. "You will, even if I have to hurt and torture you until you beg for mercy and beg to be given another chance to do what I want. Don't worry," his smile was extremely frightening, "I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

"Screw you." The feral snarled.

Max wasn't paying attention. He had gone to the computer screen at one side of the room and was tapping something into the keys. "I know all about you and your Mutant X," he told her casually, as if it were a coffee-shop conversation. "After Adam created me, I kept a tab on him. Incredibly good luck, isn't it, that I get you and get revenge upon my creator with just one stone?"

Shalimar stared at him, beginning to feel terrified about what he might do. She felt tears sting her eyes as she longed for Brennan to have Brennan come here and keep her safe, but she refused to let Max see her real feelings. She simply glared at him.

He opened a cabinet near the computers and pulled out a bunch of things. Shalimar could identify a Polaroid camera and a WHIP - but then her mind froze. A whip???

The next seconds happened in a blur. Shalimar only registered the grief and pain growing inside her as she felt Max hit her over and over again and then lash at her with the whip - "like an animal," he said with a laugh.

Then it stopped. Her eyes closed and her body and experiencing pain unlike anything else, Shalimar barely registered the loud click from somewhere close by, before she slipped into darkness, tears beginning to slide down her cheeks.

"Brennan!" she whispered desperately.

Before she drowned in that endless black void, only one thought kept playing over and over in her mind:

Forgive me.

***

They were having dinner in the kitchen, none of them very hungry, when the system in the lab began to beep loudly.

Adam leaped up. "That's a new e-mail alert!" he said, hurrying off, closely followed by the younger members of the team.

"Maybe it's form Shal!" Jesse said eagerly, his red-rimmed blue-grey eyes giving away the fact that he hadn't gotten much rest or peace since his oldest friend and sister had been captured.

"Maybe." Brennan muttered softly, but Emma could see that he too was hoping. But what Emma didn't say - what she couldn't tell them - was that until a few hours ago, Emma had received weak heart signals from her best friend, signalling that Shalimar was alive. A couple of hours ago, those signals had stopped.

Emma had never been more scared in her life.

Adam was accessing the e-mail when they came in. His eyes were blank, which signalled trouble, because it meant Adam's feelings were much to strong to be shown. "It's from Max." he said tersely.

"What does it say?" Brennan demanded, staring over Adam's shoulder.

An image came up onto the screen; an uploaded photograph. The entire team looked on in pure horror at the photograph of Shalimar, scarred, battered and bruised - blood everywhere and the wide red slashes of a whip covering her body. Her clothes were dishevelled, and her eyes, the only part of her face distinguishable through the cuts and blood, were closed in an expression of resignation that meant only death to them.

There was a message attached in the e-mail: "To her credit, she put up a fight till the end. I'll be keeping her body, Adam, but don't bother searching for me: you'll never find me. Even your psionic mutant won't be able to locate me. Till we meet again - Max."

For a moment, no one spoke and no one even breathed. Then Adam bowed his head, and they heard him choke out: "Come back, Shal. Oh, God, I'm so, so sorry."

"No." Brennan growled angrily, his grief beginning to seep out. "Not her! No, Adam!"

He turned and fled from the room, his jaw hard. In the room, Emma began to cry, her tears and sobs mingling together to release her terrible grief. Jesse automatically put his arms around her, but he was crying too. He wept as he thought about Shalimar and how much she had done for him and how much she had meant to him. How was he supposed to go on without her? How much pain had she felt before darkness had taken her?

They didn't notice that Adam, his back to them and his head low, was also grieving deeply and although they sensed the uncontrollable shaking of his shoulders, they couldn't help him because they couldn't even help themselves.

And losing control against the corridor outside Shalimar's bedroom, Brennan Mulwray, tough rebel and hardened electric, felt his heart break as he fell to his knees and sobbed.

TBC.

A/N: So how was this chapter? I got some great reviews for my second chapter - thanks a lot! :-D I hope you guys enjoy this one too; please R&R and tell me what you thought. Fourth chapter coming up soon!