His breath was caught in his throat as he felt her warm hands grip tightly to his damp shoulders; she gave a brief, hard squeeze before she quickly pulled him to her.
And it felt like he had no other choice but to go with her.
His entire body felt numb and unresponsive... he could barely move.
At any other time, he was certain he would've been beyond glad to see her again. In fact, he had been initially- until everything happened.
He had absolutely no grasp on timing, he didn't know how long it had been since he had last seen her, or anyone for that matter. It could've been weeks, months- hell, a year for all he knew. What he did know was that, he recognized her almost immediately and he felt that skip in his chest follow afterwards; he knew that this kind of reunion should've been wanted, it should've been celebrated...
But all he could think of, with her being this close to him, was the smell of blood on her clothing.
...
He didn't see all of it- he didn't even know how it had started or how she even got here.
He just prayed that he had missed something, a trigger or something that would've caused her to do all of this...
The first scientist went down in a mess of blood and screams as Kidman brought the fire axe down on his shoulder first, which ended up breaking his collarbone. She embedded the axe into his neck second, when she was able to get a more accurate aim on it- she didn't want to miss after all.
Blood sputtered out of the man's mouth and neck as hands grasped uselessly at the gaping wound. The chipped blade had all too easily severed his jugular in the open swing, causing a mayhem of blood to spray out with every cardiac pulse.
A crimson pool was already forming underneath him as his movements became more erratic and convulsive.
But she just stepped over him and moved on to the next person in her way.
Joseph felt her hand cup the back of his neck as she slumped forward from her kneeling position and pulled him tightly against her shoulder.
He could hear her softly humming to him now as fingers gently traced circles over the base of his neck. At one point, he might've been comforted by the action, maybe even yearned for it, but... not now. Not after he had just watched her slaughter every single person in this room- whatever this room was. Or rather, wherever the hell it was. Nothing here looked familiar to him, reality or STEM related.
He had absolutely no idea or recollection of where he was now.
The unfamiliar environment crept fear into his unsettled mind as he began to wonder why he was here in the first place... and what exactly were these people doing to him?
The only thing he knew here... was her.
And now, he wasn't entirely sure if that was true anymore.
Shaking fingers moved to tangle in her stained shirt regardless as he tried to block out the dying, convulsing gasps that filled the rest of the room.
The woman screamed as Kidman struck her with one of the surgical trays she had been working with.
She ended up striking the woman hard enough to knock her flat to the ground- hell, she nearly knocked her unconscious as well. But, she was glad that she didn't- she wanted the scientist to be fully conscious for this.
The woman gasped and struggled to move her sluggish body away, as Kidman knelt down and carefully picked up a scalpel that had gotten knocked aside.
She held the tool firmly in her hand as she walked over to the scientist and leaned down to grab her by the arm. Pulling the woman up, she lifted her just enough to dig the scalpel into the center of her throat.
With the exception of only a few, these people- either scientist or doctors, he wasn't sure- didn't even try to fight back.
Most of them tried to run away from her, but... she wouldn't let them escape. He guessed she had managed to lock all of them inside somehow and simply killed them one by one as she went around the room- forcing each survivor to watch and wait until it was their turn next.
...
He had to sit there and watch her go from person to person.
He had to listen to her ignore their pleads for her to stop or their attempts to reason with her.
But she never responded- she didn't even act like she had heard them. Hell, she didn't even give them a reason as to why she was doing what she was doing.
She just murdered them.
He felt her pull away from him and felt her warm hands cup against his jaw; her hands were trembling as she looked at him and moved to trace small circles over his cheekbones with her thumbs. She looked just as lost and scared as he was before she leaned in and brushed her lips against his own. His initial instinct was to pull away, but with a literal wall against his back, there was nowhere to go.
He could taste blood on her lips and in her mouth- and it was bitter and disgusting.
It was difficult to admit that, despite the gentleness in her touch and even the look of worry and concern in her eyes, in this one instance, he was terrified of her.
"Please, just tell us what you want?!" the man screamed, as he kept one hand pressed to the bleeding hole in his chest. He probably would've been dead by now if she hadn't broken the scalpel off in his ribs."Listen, I assure you, Mobius can accommodate for whatever you need-"
Kidman kicked him hard across the side of the head to cut him off and knocked him back to the floor, before she slowly walked closer. She had decided to watch him grovel for a little while, following him slowly to where he eventually collapsed to the floor. If he had been lucky and not had fought her before, then the scalpel could've punctured his heart and this mess would've been over with by now. But he decided to be difficult- and now he had to pay the price for it.
She carefully placed her heel on the back of his neck, and pushed downward- enjoying the sounds that came out of him until his neck finally snapped.
Her fingers brushed over the raw needle scars that lined down the side of his neck, in the crook of his arm and over his wrists.
He could only faintly recall the different variations of needles that had been stabbed into his skin over and over again in search for a working vein. In fact, he somewhat remembered the small collection of them that had been forced into the back of his neck and head as well... and silently hoped she didn't find them.
At this point, he just didn't want to think about them or what their purpose might've been...
He just tried to focus on not flinching every time she touched one of the scars- there was still a little bit of pain that accompanied each one.
She didn't even look surprised, just... concerned at first and then almost angry.
And he held his breath as she gently turned his head to one side to examine the fresh bruises on his neck; it was as though he was half-expecting her to bring a scalpel across his throat just as well.
But she didn't.
He heard a broken sigh escape her, before she pulled him against her once more. Her lips brushed against his forehead this time as she moved to run her fingers through his wet hair. Despite the warm blood on her hands, she was gentle and comforting now... completely opposite of the person she had just been.
She held him for a short while, as though more for herself and for her own comfort, before she pushed herself to her feet and stepped back.
He heard the subtle clicking of her heels against the tiled floor as she walked away.
It seemed like she was searching the room for something.
It was a quick sidestep to avoid the man's useless swing, before Kidman grabbed him by the back of his coat and threw him into the nearest wall.
And he hit it with enough force to daze himself for a few seconds- just long enough for her grab a handful of his hair.
She held tight as she began to smash his head into the wall, listening to the repeated sounds of his face breaking with each hit. He was gasping and choking between each strike and uselessly tried to free himself from her grasp- all to no avail. She could see the blood spilling out of his mouth and nose and watched the crimson stain on the wall become larger and larger with every contact.
And it didn't take long before the man stopped struggling and went limp.
The fact that he didn't go completely dead weight told her that, while he wasn't entirely unconscious just yet, he was dazed enough to be useless.
Grabbing him by the back of the coat once more, she dragged him over to the nearest subject tub and dropped his upper body into it.
She felt nothing as she watched the water splash around him.
He desperately wished he could remember what had happened, or at least how he got here, or... anything at all to do with this place.
But his head was a mess of blurred memories and images, and the more he tried to concentrate on something, the more his head began to throb. And the resulting pain that shot across his skull and down his neck was absolutely agonizing.
His own fingers touched at the scars on his neck, somehow still able to feel the burning sensation of the drugs that had been forced into his body.
If he had been drugged this entire time... it would certainly explain a lot.
He felt himself flinch as he heard her heels clicking louder now as she slowly returned to him.
She said nothing as she knelt down once more and draped what might've been a sheet of some kind around him. Her hands were particular with making sure it covered his back completely and making sure it encased him as best it could.
It was only then that he became vaguely aware of how undressed he was- at least from the waist up. And suddenly how cold it was... and how badly his body ached.
Kidman barely managed to dodge the syringe the woman stabbed towards her- barely avoiding the needle from going into her shoulder. There was honestly no telling what was in the damn thing either.
Grabbing the woman's vulnerable wrist, she twisted it and forced her to let go of the syringe before she brought her elbow back into the scientist's face. It was enough to knock the woman back as her hands instinctively went to her now bleeding nose, which was spilling blood over her lips and down her chin. There was no hesitation as Kidman grabbed the woman by the collar of her jacket before she forced her head into the edge of the nearby countertop- knocking over several glass beakers and cylinders.
She reached for the fire axe that had been disarmed from her before and, with a swift swing, brought it down on the back of the woman's neck.
She pulled the sheet tighter around him, before she moved her fingers through his hair once more.
Somehow, it seemed like she knew that he was hesitant around her- that he couldn't return whatever emotion she was feeling towards him at this very moment. And yet, it didn't seem to phase her.
She had been in a similar situation after all...
"… I know how it feels now." She whispered, as she pressed her forehead to his and let her fingers gently stroke his jaw. "To know that… this is what I would do for you…"