Drum

The lab was a still, quiet place, in the early hours of the morning before Liza had woken up. Deyana, however, was sitting up in her chair, awake, after sleeping several hours. She'd watched the three of them, and the boy looked like he might be coming around soon.

She turned, puzzling over the next option. She needed to know how to make a synthetic body. She'd thought of the possibility before, but hadn't thought it possible. Now, it was a bit more feasible.

The blond boy breathed slowly as the IV dripped. He would sustain too much brain damage for another mission to be worthwhile, soon. She knew they needed to act, now, and they needed to be fast. Deyana worked the last pieces of metal together, then sat the helmet like item down.

She heard him move. The bald boy had moved slightly. She walked over to him. His brown eyes had opened up, and although still dazed, he was awake. He blinked, looking around without moving his head.

Deyana reached down and removed the oxygen. The boy moved his head, and then stared straight up at her again. "Where am I?"

"In my lab," Deyana replied as she helped him sit up. "You're dislocated and broken your right arm. Other than effects of trauma and blood loss, you're not doing bad."

"Where am I?" The boy asked again as his stocky legs dangled over the edge of the table. He was large for a boy of almost fourteen. Deyana made the assumption of some kind of steroids, maybe like the kind she'd used, buy used at a younger age on this boy.

"You're in an under water lab. You were found, along with your three friends. One is dead, one is in critical condition, and the other should be okay," Deyana said as she pointed to each of the tables. He nodded, a frown coming over his face.

"How did I get here?"

"In a sub, but more specifically, a team brought you here," Deyana replied, admiring the boy's calmness. She hadn't met many people who didn't question motives lately. This boy just wanted some hard core facts.

"So, the overlords don't know about this place?" He asked. Deyana nodded. The boy nodded in return, surveying the lab again. His eyes lingered on the white sheet for several moments before looking again at Deyana.

"Now, who are you?" It was her turn to begin asking him some questions.

"Drum," was all he said in response. "Can I get some food?"

"Yes, give me a second. Wait here and don't move," Deyana replied as she walked out of the room. She knocked on Liza's door, waking the girl up from her sleep. "Liza, I'd like your help again."

"Hmm?" The groggy girl asked, her hair matted and damp around her face. However, she stepped out of bed, already wearing a pair of sweats and a T-shirt.

"Could you get food ready? One of the boys woke up," Deyana explained. Liza perked up at this, waking out into the hallway.

"Which one?" she asked as she yawned.

"Drum," Deyana responded. Liza felt suddenly invigorated, and headed towards the pantry. She returned with food and followed Deyana into the lab.

"Should I wake everyone up?" Liza asked as she handed Drum some bread, water, and a can of fruit.

"Yes, we need to get ready to go anyway," Deyana dismissed Liza, who almost ran out of the room. Drum ate silently, and not until he'd finished, did he speak to Deyana.

"Where are we going?" Drum asked.

"We'll talk about that later with the entire group. I'm going to bath, lay down, and wait for everyone to get ready. The bathroom is down the hall, and I'm sure Liza will show you to it," Deyana told Drum. They both heard the shouting start, but while Drum turned towards the door at the noise, Deyana ignored it.

"What's going on?" Drum asked.

"I don't know," Deyana sighed as she checked the vital signs on each of the two blondes. She frowned slightly, knowing the worst was yet to come, even if they would be able to help the blond boy.

"Will Eric live?" Drum asked Deyana. He was staring at the blond boy. Deyana frowned slightly, and then, turned to face Drum. The boy's face was set, almost unemotional, except for the keen light burning in his eyes.

"I hope to get him another body. Time isn't on his side," Deyana stated frankly. Drum nodded as he slowly climbed down from the table. Deyana walked over and helped him steady himself. Drum walked slowly towards the door, just as Liza came storming back in.

"That slut! Deyana, she was sleeping with him!" Liza shouted in a shrill, high voice. Deyana sighed, taking a guess at who she meant. She'd heart Calvin's low voice in the argument, and hadn't taken it for a good sign.

"I think we have a larger problem," Deyana stated frankly as she looked over at Liza. Liza paused, about to yell again, but she caught sight of Drum. She met Drum's eyes, and she clenched her fist and clamped her jaw. She looked about to explode, but she paused, and finally drew a deep breath.

"Yes, well, maybe," Liza sighed, taking Deyana's place beside Drum. She's a smaller girl, Drum thought as the tiny Hispanic girl held up the left side of his body. He was glad to have her as support, but could only wonder what she was so angry about, but decided not to ask.

"In and hour or so, we're going to meet," Deyana told them as Liza led Drum slowly towards the door. Liza nodded as she led Drum out the door. She took another deep breath, unsure of what to say. She walked farther down the hallway, away from the lab.

"I think I need to tell you something," Liza whispered so softly Drum leaned right up to her mouth to hear her. He nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"We found you," Liza whispered, turning to meet Drum's eyes. He nodded, satisfied to meet someone that knew how he'd gotten here. As he looked at the petit, tanned girl he thought she mustn't be too old, probably barely thirteen.

"We?" There are more people, Drum mused. Yes, to take all four of us, there must have been more. He leaned closer to Liza's mouth so she could talk to him again.

"Julio, myself, and Calvin found you," Liza whispered, barely getting out the last word. It was barely say it or scream it out in anger, Liza decided, so she chose to whisper it like a faint wind into Drum's ear. However, he heard it, and gave a mental start, but physically, he hardly moved.

"Where?" Drum asked one out of a thousand questions on his mind. Alive? How did he find you? How did he escape? What were you doing up on the wharf? How was this place built? There were many more, but Drum decided to let them lay.

"That door," Liza pointed to the door. Drum nodded, as he stared deftly at the metallic door. Liza opened her mouth, and pressed it tightly against Drum's ear. He didn't move, but felt her breath exhale as she spoke to him.

"He's a creature," Liza's hot breath went into his ear. Drum couldn't physically move without falling, but he snapped his head around, locking her eyes. Liza's lips were pursed, but her eyes were deadly serious, any anger she had replaced by a steely stare.

"Deyana removed the controlling device the Overlords transplanted in the brain," Liza gave what she thought a good explanation. Truly, it didn't answer much, yet everything, for Drum. His brain reached a vast, empty area of thought he didn't know. It's as if someone had told him you could defy gravity.

"Okay?" Drum asked Liza, waiting for another answer, maybe another question or order. He just wanted something, anything, from her right now. Everything Drum thought real seemed to have obliterated into smoke. A friend inside a creature?

"Well, just a second," Liza said as she helped Drum hobble over to the door. She opened it, leaned Drum against the door so he could hobble in, and then, she promptly turned and left. The little incident this morning had made her more than a little irritated with Calvin. He can handle this problem alone, Liza decided.

Drum reached out, staggering into the room. He used his left arm to support himself against the metal wall. The lights were on, but he kept his head towards the door, watching his progress along the wall. When he was free of the door, he closed it with his foot, still propped against the wall. He wasn't too shaky, but he didn't feel excessively strong, so he decided to forgo the risk of falling and breaking something else.

Drum turned around. He knew he'd have to look, sooner or later. He was never one to run from his problems. Why start avoiding it now, Drum thought as he surveyed the bare room.

He examined the creature, sitting upright in the bed, and it also seemed to be observing him. No armor, Drum realized instantly. The traditional Myrmidon armor was piled against one wall, a mass of spikes and cold, black metal. He'd never seen a Myrmidon without armor, and he took it for granted that there was a body under that armor.

He could see the chest, arms, and face of the creature. The face had a human shape to it, except the nose and mouth protruded more, making a small muzzle, and there was a lot more hair, well, it might be fur technically, all over the creature. The eyes were dark, and there was almost no distinction between iris and pupil. The ears were more pointed, slightly higher on the head than a human's ears would've been. The chest, arms, and neck were all very muscular, covered with the same raven colored fur, but it was thicker on the chest and arms. He looked at the hands, which had four, large fingers of the same size, but with thick claws at the end. There was also an opposable digit, which had a small nail, and looked like the larger version of a human thumb.

No, this wasn't a normal creature, Drum realized. The girl was right, she had truth in what she said, Drum thought as he slumped down against the wall. His legs were still weak, but he saw the creature watching him move. However, by now, he was starting to explore the possibly, not the seemingly unreachable idea that there was a human in there.

"Underwater," Drum sighed as he looked out the little, round window. Yes, they were really underwater. The impossible story suddenly seemed to be weaving itself into an odd truth. "Didn't believe that until now."

"We're on the sea floor," the creature-humanoid, as Drum started to think of it, spoke in a deep base voice. Drum looked again at the humanoid and away from the window. He'd never heard a Myrmidon speak English, and he'd only heard battle speech a couple times. It was odd, and it occurred to him that the humanoid might actually speak for the first time.

"What were you doing on the wharf?" Drum decided to forgo useless chatter. It was time for some real questions.

"Creatures," was the deep throated answer. Drum nodded, trying to understand that one. Where they out to kill them? Or was it something else odd, like removing things from their brains?

"Supplies, we went for supplies. Tell me about Deyana," Drum locked the humanoid's eyes. He felt an odd jolt when they met. The humanoid looked . . . sad? Yes, Drum realized that with an ice-cold shock to his brain, he was sad.

"She's old," the humanoid replied. Drum felt his heart beat faster, quickening its pace in anticipation, and suddenly, he knew he had to know. "She was down here during the change."

"What did she do to you?" Drum felt his mind race as he asked the question.

"She took something out of my head . . .and she didn't kill me," the humanoid answered, the voice deepening with a slight bitterness. Drum knew, he didn't know how, but he knew exactly what she'd done. He thought maybe she'd made them slaves, under her control, like an overlord, but he realized an immense possibility. What if he remembered?

"I told you I'd escape," Drum teased good-naturedly, testing his hypothesis. The humanoid jumped, which was the first physical movement he'd made. Drum held his breath, waiting for a response.

"You did, lucky bastard," the voice sounded heavy, and he suddenly realized the enormous grief in it. Drum let his breath out, and he tried to bite the upward curve of his lips.

It was ridiculous! The entire idea was crazy! Nothing ever makes sense, Drum sighed. Drum leaned his head back against the wall, feeling a weight off his chest. Was he happy? Yes, he was. Ridiculous! Then, he began to chuckle, unable to control himself. He sat there and went into hysterics at the whole entire twisted mess.

"Huh?" was the simple question from whom he knew now to be his old bunk mate.

"I run away, you stay in the dorms, and we both end up here. Except now, I have a broken arm!" Drum laughed all the more. He knew he should've been emotional or disgusted or shocked, but he found he wasn't. He should've been grieving like Calvin, maybe, but he kept laughing, feeling a huge weight lifted off his chest. Damn, it was the craziest day of his life!

"You got the better deal," Calvin mumbled. Drum almost stopped laughing at that remark, and let his laughter did die out a little.

"You were always so damn depressing," Drum smirked as he got his giggling fit under control. Calvin's thin, gray lips turned up a little bit in the semblance of a grin.

"Still finding ways to get yourself killed," Calvin replied, and Drum didn't feel the weight in his voice any more. Drum chuckled, remembering the days of their dynamic duo.

He was a bit more of a dumb ass and reckless. He never spoke much, didn't like too much beating around the bush, either. Calvin always tried to add the tack into the situations Drum screwed up. He'd pissed off his share of dorm boys, and Calvin would have to patch things up with them before they got steroid rage and decided to fight.

Drum went to say something, but realized, he was . . . happy. The last time he'd even experienced anything close to happiness was when he'd met Ella, Eric, and Cassie. Even then, he'd only had an elated sense of bitter relief. He'd been relieved, actually, but now, he was safely away from the overlords and with friends and other people that wouldn't kill him.

And I've met up with Calvin again, Drum thought. Calvin stood up, then, and pulled the large blanket around his broad shoulders. Drum realized that even without armor, Myrmidons were still very large and strong. Calvin lumbered over and sat down on the other side of Drum.

That's how they remained, both silent, for several minutes, just letting the world drift in and around them. They'd caught themselves in a little eddy, and the rushing, torrential river of life drove it's endless current by them. Even if Calvin didn't register it before, he also suddenly felt a deep sorrow life off his chest. The memory of his past had become tangible, and with it he felt some deep wound healed.

"We have a meeting," Julio said politely as he peeked his head inside the door. He surveyed the two of them before walking in the room. He was also dressed in sweats, and there was a tense air about the older man. He came in and leaned against the wall with the porthole.

Next, without a word, Liza trudged into the room. Calvin knew she didn't want to be here, but she couldn't help staring at the two of them. In a surprise change of events, her anger seemed to simmer away like water evaporating. She sat docilely on the other side of the room, to the surprise of Calvin.

"We haven't got much time," Deyana commanded the room as she strode in, Theresa in her arms. Kelley followed silently behind her. Deyana sat on the bed, and Kelley took a seat beside her after smoothing out her long, navy, cotton nightgown that was definitely not transparent.

"What are we going to do?" Liza piped up.

"I need to make Eric a new body," Deyana lowered her voice, as if debating if her actions were justified.

"How?" Theresa spoke for the first time. It startled Drum, but he didn't move, just made a mental note that this was the first time he'd heard a winger speak, too. It must be like Calvin, Drum realized.

"Tell them," Julio spoke up in the silence Theresa had left. It had lingered, unabated for several minutes.

"I didn't tell you," Deyana sounded mystified for a second. Then, she sighed, realizing Julio must have guessed her game from the beginning. "I need the information the overlords need to make bodies. You get that only at the meat factory."

Liza gasped, and Calvin felt his stomach reel. The two of them met each other's eyes, and for their own reasons, they didn't want to make the venture. Calvin didn't like to think about seeing the dismembered bodies, and that, once upon a time, one of them was his. Liza was simply terrified.

"Youh'll nhever ghet in," Theresa said in her scratchy voice.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. We're going to split up into two groups. If one group goes down, the mission is aborted. I need a stock of who's going on this mission," Deyana asked all of them, trying to meet all but one pair of adverted eyes.

"I'll go," Julio volunteered first.

"Good, because I'm going, too," Deyana spoke in a concrete voice. Calvin and Liza both looked at her, wondering at this change of events. Liza remembered the last time Deyana had gone on a mission with them. She'd liked the experience, though, feeling some how more protected with her there.

"I'll go," Drum spoke up, making everyone in the room start slightly.

"Your arm," Calvin began to try an excuse to keep his friend from danger. Drum shook his head, refusing to hear the blather that was being thrown at him.

"I said I'll go because of Eric. You're going to need all the manpower behind this trip that you've got. I just want someone here to watch Ella in case she wakes up," Drum asked Deyana, as well as the rest of them.

"I'll stay," Kelley gently volunteered herself. Deyana nodded her assent.

"Like there's anyway we wouldn't go," Liza blurted out. "The three of us are in. That makes six, two even groups of three."

"Julio and I will each lead a group," Deyana began talk out loud to herself about the group configurations. "Drum will need protection because of his arm, so I'll put him with Julio . . ."

"And me," Calvin interrupted. Deyana raised her eyes at this request, but nodded her head in assent as she quickly began to organize the mission out loud.

"Alright, Julio, Calvin, and Drum in a group and Liza, Theresa, and me in a group should work. The map," Deyana summoned them out of the room. She led them down the hallway into the lab where she'd spread a huge map on a table she'd cleared. There were two lines drawn, a red and blue one.

"We're going to stay together until we reach this tunnel, and then we'll separate, and my group will go above ground while Julio's group will take the tunnel to the opposite side of the meat factory," Deyana pointed out the routes. "We'll join up at this gate and go in together."

"Question," Drum casually let himself into the conversation. "How do we get in without getting caught?"

"These," Deyana opened a cupboard, pulling at what looked like large, aluminum helmets. Liza snickered slightly at the sight of them, but everyone else fell silent, not liking the idea of trying to sneak any where wearing a ball of aluminum on their head.

"What do they do?" Kelley asked innocently.

"They're a metal alloy that repels the metal I found inside your heads," Deyana explained as she looked over at Theresa and Calvin. "It repels the signals that the other metal in your brains absorbed."

"That's amazing," Julio breathed, honestly awed as he picked up one of the helmets and studied them. "I didn't know you were working on anything like this."

"It's not a bad discovery," Drum added as he put a helmet on his head. He shaped it around his neck, too, just to cover every part of his head possible. "I'm ready."

"Weapons," Julio directed them into their littler armory. Calvin went back and donned all the parts of his armor except his helmet. Julio passed Drum, Liza, and Deyana several knives and guns. He took an amble supply of dynamite for himself and handed some to Deyana. They both shouldered large backpacks, and Deyana gave Theresa a smaller backpack to carry some small food rations.

"Let's go," Deyana ushered the five to the sub. She turned to Kelley, though, walking her back into the lab. "If she wakes up, calm her down, give her some sedatives, too," Deyana instructed Kelley on how to deal with Elle. The girl nodded, and Deyana turned, too preoccupied to give her too much attention right now. The moment had come to break into the meat factory and tap a wealth of secrets.

Hey, MorganRay here. Thanks for the reviews. I apologize for any confusion and mistakes. Feel free to point them out in a review or email.