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Welcome...to the Disturbance
Chapter 13
Lie To Me
The smell is odd, different. Drifting through the leaves, it reaches the rock. There's a bitterness to it, but I recognize something in it, nonetheless.
Shifting, I pull myself from under Charlie and slide off the rock. With a glance to my sisters, they sleep soundly under the dark sky. The moon has since disappeared leaving the small suns winking at me from above.
I trot through the territory, nose held high, toward the metal jaws. Something feels off. My tail twitches as I quiet my breath. Something isn't right.
I glide through a narrow cave to the smaller territory. Nothing seems to have changed since we were allowed into the new area earlier.
The quiet surroundings cause my heart to pound faster. I focus on not making a sound. The area around me feels unfamiliar in the dark.
Passing the waterhole, I finally arrive at the edge of the leaves. Through them, the large metal jaws are ominous causing my muscles to tense. A dark figure stands there, swaying slightly. There's a familiar rhythmic growling that comes from it and my muscles loosen. The smell is recognizable as well, but the odd bitterness makes me snort.
Leaving the safety of the trees, I trot to the metal jaws and pause. Alpha bares his teeth at me and stumbles to the right. I'm impressed that he remains upright. His breath hits my nose and I'm stumbling backward with a growl. The odd bitterness makes me sneeze and scrunch my nose. It's horrid, and my stomach lurches in response.
Alpha looks at me. His soft growls seem sad as he reaches out.
Something is wrong with him. Is he hurt? I don't smell blood. My breathing increases as he lurches to the left. I don't know how to help him. I've never seen him like this before.
A shadow appears behind. Despite being able to see in the darkness, their skin covers their snout and eyes. Fortunately, I know that scent well and my tail swishes. Meat Bringer has arrived.
They gently place a claw on Alpha. Turning, his eyes squint as if he can't see. He seems confused. Meat Bringer growls softly and slowly leads him from the gate. They seem to understand what is wrong with Alpha. They seem to know how to help. They seem kind.
It makes me accept something that confuses me.
Meat Bringer cannot be the one who used the lightning stick on my sisters. So, who is?
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When he wakes, his head is pounding worse than a jackhammer on cement. The agony he feels has Owen wondering if Echo attacked again. Glancing at his nightstand, he notices a blue and white bottle of Advil and a glass of water there—or maybe it's a few glasses of water. He can't quite see straight.
Reaching out, he grabs the pill bottle and winces since it sounds like a firing squad. Owen manages to open it and takes out two translucent blue pills. As he swallows them down with water, he tries not to gag over the lemon scent in his house. He feels as if he now lives in a yellow citrus.
The world spins when his eyes close. A monitor lizard appears followed by a woman with a horse's head. Blood seeps into his vision as Ben is attacked by Echo.
At some point, everything slows, and he's left with images of Blue as a baby. They're sharing a burrito, watching hockey, and he sees her first steps.
Owen isn't sure what time he finally wakes. His phone is dead, and his body is tentatively deciding if he's still in pain or if he has a headache. He doesn't know how he got home or in his bed. He's also unsure how Advil and water got on his nightstand.
The last thing he remembers is Ben in the hospital.
The man was sleeping—no surprise. He was still in ICU but considered stable. Nurses claimed Ben would be up and walking in a few days' time, much sooner than Owen. However, Ben also wasn't brutally attacked in an open pen. At least there was a gate in the way.
Regardless, Echo was just hungry.
Making his way to the bathroom, Owen knows that someone helped him get home. Apart from his shirt, he's still clothed—something that rarely happens when he sleeps. He's been drunk before and still stripped naked to sleep. Someone must have stopped him, and part of him wonders why. It's not as if he's that horrible looking—although maybe he is and that's why his fiancée left him.
In the shower, the water pours down, and the steam chases away aches but leaves the tired feeling. Owen's dying to go back to sleep, though he knows he can't. He knows Ben's okay, but he should really stop by Doe's apartment and make sure she's all right as well.
Thirty minutes later, he's dressed and searching for apartment 1407. The complex is a place he rarely visits since Barry prefers to hang out at his bungalow.
Owen has always been impressed that the place is more like a hotel than a complex. There are elevators and all the front doors are in an air-conditioned hallway. Room service is readily accessible and there are constantly events going on for employees to take part in. If Owen didn't love the privacy of his home and its ideal location, he would have gladly moved into an apartment here.
The elevator dings as it reaches the fourteenth floor. Stepping out into a quiet hallway, he notices a sign before him that informs him 1407 is to the left.
Walking down the corridor, the lush blue carpet silences his footfalls. The lights that sit outside of every door are on, but with a softer glow—similar to mood lighting. Surprisingly enough, it's easy to see both ends of the hallway.
Reaching 1407, Owen knocks like a woodpecker on a tree. Several long moments pass and when there's no answer, he knocks louder. There's still no answer, but the door pops open.
Peeking in, Owen looks around. "Hello?"
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The sun's warmth on my skin is what wakes me. It's not burning. It's comfortable. Looking around, I see Charlie curled against me and Echo near my head. I also spot Delta curled on the rock. She must have gotten over her anger and joined after I returned from the jaws.
Quietly, I take my leave of the rock and trot to water.
In the daylight, things don't seem as eerie as they were last night. With a stop at the metal jaws first, I see no hint that Alpha or Meat Bringer were ever there. Backtracking to the waterhole, I gladly hop into the lower one.
The cool feeling over my skin causes me to shudder, but I enjoy it. Rolling, I take a deep breath and drop my head below the surface.
My eyes open and I look around the strange land. The sun is no longer a circle but becomes waves of light. Shadows are everywhere and shift as the water moves. Charlie has once spoken of the water meat eaters. At this breath, I wonder what it would be like to be one. Could I breathe the stuff I drink? Would I drink it still?
My head pops up. Taking a breath, I discover Delta stands before me. Her tail swishes toward the ground, and she takes a large breath.
"About last night…"
Shaking my head, water flies to both sides. "You don't have to growl anything."
"But I do." She sits back on her haunches. "I heard the snarls after I left. Echo and Charlie were mostly right. I was trying to kill the fleshling who shocked us—and get some meat. Echo was just doing the same thing, although not for the same reasons."
I approach her. "Has someone really come after you with lightning sticks?"
"While you were gone…every night. Even after you returned." She shudders. "I shouldn't have been mad at Echo for doing what I did."
Climbing out of the water, I leap up to the higher hole. After taking a drink, my gaze meets Delta's below. "Mistakes happen. We're only living; it's bound to happen."
She gives a nod and looks up as Charlie and Echo push through the leaves. The latter immediately backs away from Delta.
Delta's gaze shifts to the ground before she moves toward Echo. "I'm sorry. I was wrong."
Echo's eyes narrow as her nose flares. With a swish of her tail, she lowers onto her haunches. "You were afraid. We all were."
They surprise me. Both have disagreed with each other from the beginning. They've disliked each other since they'd first met. Now, after everything, we all seem to be finding a middle territory. We all seem to be of one growl.
We all seem to be a family.
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Owen walks further into the apartment, looking for any sign of life. "Doe?"
His gaze travels around the room, and he notices how minimal it is. There's a couch to the right facing a small 28-inch TV on the wall. In front of it is a rickety coffee table with a Bible on it. The left holds a foosball table where the dining room—or would it be considered a part of the living room?—table should be.
The kitchen is small, consisting of a counter and stove creating a pony wall to end off the living room. Following the half wall leads to an open door Owen assumes is the bedroom.
He rocks back and forth on his feet. Going back there could reveal a number of possibilities. Clearing his throat, he calls louder, "Doe?"
Biting the inside of his cheek, Owen struggles with what to do. Doe could be in a lot of trouble, seeing as how she was bleeding pretty badly yesterday. However, he could walk back there and face a situation like when his ex was banging his CO pretty hard.
At some level, her safety is more important than anything he might walk into. With a deep breath, he ventures into the bedroom.
The full-sized bed is made up with sapphire fabric. Light brown pillows accent the sheets. Again, there's not much in decorations apart from a simple, empty nightstand that looks as if it's going to fall apart. Above the bed is a quote which reads: "Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good."
Owen knows he's read it before but can't place where it's from. By this time, however, the sound of water catches his attention. Slowly, he approaches the bathroom door which is wide open.
"Doe?" he calls out and pauses. Bandages, both clean and bloody, are scattered across the sink counter. Water streams from the faucet into the drain. Doe stands at the counter with her back to him, scabbed arms held out toward the water; frozen—much like time itself.
Normally, he wouldn't be able to tell what was going through someone's mind who has their back to him. Be that as it may, in this case, the mirror reveals all.
With wide eyes, her pupils are dilated, and her shoulders are scrunched up with a slightly open mouth as if she's readying a scream. She pulls in a soft gasp, and his eye catches the movement in her chest. It's then he realizes she's in a white camisole which looks see-through due to the red bra underneath. At least her sweatpants are dark and flowy. He can't see anything there.
The second time starts again, chaos enters the room. A shriek leaves her lips. He tries to say he's sorry, which comes out sounding just like, "Oh shit!" Doe lunges to the left. He bolts through the doorway and into the living room.
Owen ends up facing the foosball table with his back to the bedroom door. Fingers wrapped around the handles, he spins them absentmindedly.
"Who walks into an apartment uninvited?!" he hears from the other room.
"Well," he responds and peeks over his shoulder. "To be fair, your door just opened up and let me in."
"Is that a joke?" Doe questions, appearing in the bedroom doorframe in an over-sized, black, zip-up hoodie.
Fully turning to her, he shrugs. "Not really. It let me in of its own accord."
"We're you raised by wolves?" She shakes her head. "Who friggin' does that?"
"I-uh—" He pauses. "Did you just say friggin'?"
Her brow lowers, and she storms past him into the kitchen. She yanks open the fridge door, where he sees some Tupperware hiding out, and she pulls a lemon from it. Turning, she faces him. Wincing, she reaches up to the cupboard and pulls out a plate and cup. Grabbing a knife, she cuts into the lemon.
"Why are you still here?" she growls.
"I wanted to see if you were all right."
After putting lemon slices in the cup, she throws the rest in the garbage disposal and runs it. The sweet smell of lemon envelops the apartment.
"I'm fine," she responds after turning off the disposal. "You can go now."
Except he can't. He's frozen to the spot. Because lemons jog his memory. "You hypocrite."
Pulling a bottle of water from the fridge, she pours it into the cup. "What are you talking about?"
"You were in my home," he says and looks to the still-open fridge. He has the same Tupperware in his fridge. "You made me food."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
He gasps. "You cleaned off my mac and cheese burner!"
Her brows sit high on her forehead with the look that says he should be committed to an asylum. "Why would I enter your house? No, better yet; why would I clean it?"
"Because you felt it was dirty?" Owen focuses on her, watches her carefully as if he's playing a chess game, because that's what this has become.
He knows without a doubt that she was in his house. The Tupperware and lemon scent speak for themselves. Obviously, she's not going to be forthright with him and admit she was creeping in his house for whatever reason. He's left with no choice but to trap her in a lie.
"You tell me what you were doing at my bungalow. We don't know each other."
She sips her water. "You're never around for us to get to know."
He leans against the counter. "That's not what this is about."
Doe turns and opens a cabinet. She pulls out a straw and shuts it, but not before Owen notices a bag of opened Jolly Ranchers.
"Do you like Jolly Ranchers?" he asks.
"Who doesn't?"
"They're helpful for low blood sugar."
Placing the straw in her glass, she looks at him. "Why are you still here?"
"Why were you in my bung—?" His brow rises as he realizes she's not wearing her glasses. In fact...
She hasn't been wearing them.
If she needs them—which she seems to, since she has them every day—wouldn't she have them on? "Where are your glasses?"
"On my nightstand, inquisitor."
No, Owen distinctly remembers only a lamp on the stand.
"I've answered your questions; get out," she growls through gritted teeth.
Owen can't prove anything, but he knows she was there, knows she's lying now. Turning toward the door, he sighs. Why was she in his bungalow? How can he get her to fess up?
He pauses. "You knew I was on Vicodin."
"It wasn't a hard guess," she replies as she catches up with him and pushes him toward the door. "You were severely injured and there are very few things you could have been on."
"But you knew I didn't take the whole pill," he mutters and purses his lips. It's another thing he knows but can't prove. It's driving him crazy. If he up and fires her at this moment, he'll never know why, and he's not ready to live without the answer.
As he reaches the door, the black fabric of her hoodie caresses his skin. He looks at her, at the over-sized hoodie and realizes he's got her pinned. "You were feeding Blue."
She scoffs. "Are you out to get me? Do you take joy in accusing the innocent?"
"No," he says and looks her in the eyes. "You were feeding Blue. You're the one that the cameras caught bringing her meat. Why?"
"You are out of your mind."
"Do you think I don't know my Blue? When Echo attacked yesterday," he snaps as the images rush him again, "Blue called off the attack when you got involved."
She shakes her head, but as she tries to respond, he railroads her.
"No, Blue stopped because you were there. She wouldn't kill you. The hoodie you're wearing, it's the one from the images. I thought it was Tanner—or a male, at least—because the person looked larger. With that, though, you're the right size. You're the one that was feeding her.
"And you clearly know something about hunger levels, since you told Ben to give me the Jolly Ranchers. It now makes sense why Ben's always around you. You tell him what to do, and he reaps the benefits. However, if Ben was truly the intelligent one, he never would have gone near the gate.
"Not to mention, you knew I had only taken half a Vicodin and was still trying to work when I fired Tanner for calling you a—"
It's here Owen freezes because he's now realizing what the men were talking about in the bar the previous night. "Holy shit… They think you're La Segua."
By this point, Doe has no response. She's staring at him, wide-eyed with a slightly open mouth—like he's simply lost his mind, and she's wondering if he's going to kill her.
Looking out the hallway, Owen looks left and right before shutting the door. He leans against it and takes a breath as his gaze meets her. "You lied. Tanner only thought you were sleeping around. But you didn't sleep with any of those men. You made sure they were drunk enough to forget; then you leave them and feed Blue. That's why they're calling you La Segua."
Doe moves to cross her arms but winces and decides to shove them in the pockets of the hoodie. "I didn't do anyth—"
"No," he interrupts. "You did. I just don't understand why. Why would you look out for me? Why would you look out for Blue?"
"I'm not," she objects and huffs. "I swear. All I've done is the late nights at a Walmart and a grocery store. I don't know much. I'm only here because at least I'll die doing something with my life than selling drunks alcohol. Plus, it helps Jurassic World that I have no family because no one cares if I die. So, all these things you're accusing me of, I didn't do. I couldn't have done."
There's that little hiccup. The file says she comes from a small town. She dropped out of high school. Worked those two jobs. Her file's pretty much empty. It's like she hasn't done much with her life. Almost like she ceased to—
His head drops back against the door. He's seen resumes like that before. It's exceedingly amateur and the simplicity is why he overlooked it.
Owen pins her with a stare. "Why are you living under another alias?"
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