The Net: "The Need For Blood": Chapter 6

An hour later Angela was set free. After she had changed out of the orange jump suit, and back into her own clothes, she stood beside Walter, and waited for Jacob.

"Why isn't he here yet?" she asked after they'd been standing there for a long while.

A guard walked over to them. "We have a problem, sir," she spoke to Walter. "The boy won't leave his cell. He keeps asking to see Angela."

"Alright, let's go."

The three of them went to Jacob's cell, where a crowd of guards and doctors had gathered. Angela and Walter pushed their way through to the cell and found the door wide open. Jacob was huddled in the corner, knees brought up to his chest and arms around his knees. His bright orange suit looked huge on him.

"He's been like that all day," a doctor said. "And he hasn't eaten anything since he got here!"

Everyone was staring at him like a monkey in a cage, waiting to see what he would do next. Angela rushed forward into the cell and fell to her knees beside Jacob, wrapping her arms around him as she did so.

"Everything's going to be OK, Jacob. I'm getting you out of here now."

"Thanks, Angel," Jacob said weakly.

Angela looked up at the crowd in front of the cell, still looking at him. The doctor wrote something on a clip board and looked back at the teen.

"Something's going to have to be done with him. I think something's wrong mentally. We'll run some tests….."

"Leave him alone!" Angela shouted, cutting him off. "And stop staring at him like he's some kind of monster!" Her arms encircled Jacob tighter. "Because he's not a monster! He's a normal human being just like you and I! Just go away and leave him alone!"

The guards and doctors left at Walter's nod. Angela carefully picked up Jacob's nearly rail thin body and left the cell.

"Has your teeth grown back yet?" she asked.

"They only just started. They're still small yet."

"Good."

Jacob rested his head on her shoulder. "Who's that guy?" he asked, pointing to Walter.

"I'll explain later."

"Angela, can you please explain what's going on? What's wrong with him? Why won't he eat? And how can you just pick him up like that?"

"Walter, you ask too many questions. Maybe someday I'll be able to tell you. But I can't right now. OK? You've got to trust me about this, the same as I've got to trust you about that job."

"Yeah, OK, fine. But I'm letting you know I don't like it."

"Fine. Just leave us alone for a week. Give us time to recuperate."

"I don't like this."

"Yeah, well you're not the one who's starving, now are you? I need to get him home and take care of him as quickly as possible."

"Alright! Alright! I got your old apartment back. Here." Walter handed her the keys. "And, there's your car." He pointed up the street a ways at a small blue car.

"Thanks." Angela took the car keys from him and carried Jacob over to her car. Walter followed to help with the doors. "Look, Walter, I'll call you at the end of a week. I just want to spend some time with him and make sure he's OK."

"Alright. Here's my number." Walter handed her a business card. "But at the end we're going to have to talk about that job and sending you to Quantico ."

"Sure."

Then, with Jacob lying down in the back seat of her car, Angela drove home to her old apartment, which she hadn't seen in over a year.

Entering her apartment, she found it just as she's left it that one rainy night so long ago. Several dead plants were overturned, dirt spilling out of their pots onto the floor. Her desk chair lay on the floor half way across the room from her computer which had been hacked into and the insides stolen. The cushions from her sofa had been spread throughout the apartment while the sofa itself was pulled away from the wall.

She felt a tremor in her heart at the sight but she quickly ignored it. She had work to do. Holding the door open with a brick, she carried Jacob inside and set him down gently on her double bed. She pulled the covers up over him.

"Jacob, I'll be right back. I just have to go to the store."

"Angel, I'm hungry…" he whispered.

"I know, Jacob, I know. I'll be right back to get you something to eat." And with that, she quickly left.

When she came back, she thrust the new needle into her vein and began drawing blood. She grabbed a cup from the kitchen and filled it up before bringing it to him. His eyes were closed when she saw him.

"Jacob, Jacob, wake up." Slowly his eyes opened. "Here." She lifted his head off the pillow and held the cup to his lips. He began to drink. He breathed deeply when he was done.

"Thanks, Angel."

"No problem. Just try to get some sleep," she said, resting a hand on his warm forehead. She brushed his hair back from his beautiful blue eyes.

"Where are you going?" he asked, his voice slightly stronger.

"I'm just going to clean this place up, since Sean messed it all up. Don't worry, I'm not going far. Alright?" Just call me if you need anything."

Jacob tried to nod but his eyes closed and he fell asleep before he could. Angela left the room and quietly closed the door behind her. She then went about putting her apartment back to order, after the trauma it had seen over a year ago.