Chapter 2
Of course Tyson had heard the rumors of that bunch of nuts who were experimenting with those 'nano things.' He knew that supposedly they had made some sort of huge breakthrough that would apparently make them safe for everyone to have. He also knew that a few of their experiments had somehow managed to escape from their facility a few months back.
However, none of these things seemed to have anything to do with him. He had other things to worry about than a bunch of crazies down in South America. Things like keeping his sisters safe, happy, and fed. There was no way that any of that would ever affect them. It was getting hard to believe that now, not with a 5 ton worm in front of him, and damn sure not with his sisters behind him while there was a 5 ton worm in front of him.
A moment of tense silence stretched out between them and into infinity. Tyson began to back slowly into the hut, and as he did, he accidentally bumped Emily who he didn't realize had followed him. This shocked her out of her speechlessness, and she started to scream that high almost painful scream that only little girls in extreme fear could pull off. This effectively broke the moment of silence, and the worm began to move forward again.
Tyson grabbed Emily and ran onto the shack. He dropped her onto the ground, and started to feel along the floor, leaving Sarah to attempt to calm her hysteric twin. Tyson started digging into the hard dirt floor, the rocks tearing into his fingers, making them bleed. He was frantic, and a steady mantra of "It has to be here, it has to be here." was going through his mind. He could feel the rumbling of the earth as the monster came closer and closer.
Sarah had figured out that something outside had scared her sister, so with the bravery and stupidity that comes with being so young, she was going to stop it. Finally, his abused fingers scraped the hilt of the only treasure he still had. He reached in and yanked it out. Tyson looked up just in time to see Sarah running out of the door, hand clutching a big stick, and with Emily right on her heels, trying to stop her.
He stood up, and began to run out of the door, the heavy hilt still in his hand. What he saw made his blood run cold, and his heart nearly stop beating. The worm had gone after his sisters, and they pressed themselves together at the base of a huge tree. The beast had reared up in the air as he was going to crash down on them at any moment. His little twins had stopped screaming in favor crying and hiding their faces in each other's shoulders.
That is when every bit of coherent thought left Tyson. He acted purely on instinct and rage as he pulled the rusty old sword up to his body and began running towards the creature that was threatening his family.
o0-(O)-0o
He slashed and hacked, simply trying to do enough damage that it would have no other option than to leave the girls alone and concentrate on him. Tyson continued the barrage even as the huge beast started spraying some type of stinging fluid at him. As his body slowly began to go numb, Tyson continued to give his everything. He had to protect his sisters. He saw the spots begin to appear behind his eyes, but he forced the hazy feeling away and continued to slice wherever he could reach with his sword. Finally, after what had seemed like hours but was probably only a few minutes, the worm put its head down close to him so that it could spray more of the acidic ooze on him. Tyson saw it as the opportunity that it was, and with one final leap, he slid the now slick sword through its eye, and deep into the brain of the beast.
He watched emotionlessly as the huge thing flopped onto the floor of the forest.
He vaguely heard the sound of helicopters in the background, but he paid no attention to them as he used the last of his energy to walk towards the girls, but he didn't even manage to get close before everything went blank.
o0-(O)-0o
There was bright light. There was warmth. There was something weird going on, but Tyson couldn't bring himself to care about any of these things. Then there was a hazy person leaning over him, they fiddled with something. Darkness greeted his mind again.
The second time Tyson woke up, there was no doubt that there was something wrong. He was gasping for breath, and slamming himself forward he looked around franticly trying to figure out where he could possibly be. When it wasn't immediately apparent, he went down a mental checklist, thinking that maybe it would help him.
The room was way too clean. Sterile would be a good word for it. There were dozens of machines with various blinking lights, though nothing seemed to be attached to him. The bed was very soft, and he was warm. The walls were a soft tan color, and there was a small table with a plant, and a glass of water. He was wearing a paper gown thing, and he felt a suspicious breeze playing around his spine. As he slowly categorized all of this, he came to an obvious conclusion. He was in a hospital room. His still fuzzy mind did notice one very important thing that wasn't there. Rather, two very important things weren't there. Where were the girls?
Ignoring the way that his whole body burned, Tyson struggled to his feet and stumbled out of the door. As he opened the door and looked out into the hallway, all pretenses of it possibly being anything as normal as a hospital were vanished. The hallway stretched seemingly infinitely in both directions. Occasionally there was another hallway crossing the main one, but everything was made of featureless grey steel. There were no other doors, and it was perfectly silent, except for Tyson's ragged breathing.
Tyson stopped for a second, his mind not able to handle the sudden change in the atmosphere. Suddenly he thought he heard a footstep down one of the hallways, and he was running as fast as his still weakened body would allow him.
o0-(O)-0o
Tyson had been running for nearly an hour, and he had yet to see another person in this maze. There were seemingly an infinite number of halls, but the only room he had found was his own. Somehow, just as soon as he was sure that he was almost out, he would turn a corner, and there would be his room. This happened about 6 times before Tyson just gave in and walked back into the room. He was confused, his skin felt weirdly stiff and painful, and he had no idea how to find his sisters even if he did get out. He sat down on the bed, and closed his eyes for a moment. Wherever he was, there were sure to be people watching him. He knew that much. They probably had the girls too, so it would be best to just cooperate with them, so he could get the girls, and they could go back home. Whatever was left of home.
He had no sooner thought those words when with a little swoosh, a drawer at the end of the bed opened. Tyson awkwardly stood back up, and walked to the end of the bed. Sitting innocently in the drawer was a simple set of clothes. Well, not exactly. Tyson looked down distastefully at the drawer of clothing. Who wore things like this? Tyson removed the paper gown and slowly put the suit on, feeling just a little awkward. He really hoped that wherever he was, and whoever had him, had kept his clothes. He couldn't go around in a suit, it was just impractical, not to mention stupid, no matter how comfortable it was. Who thought that green was a good color for a suit anyway? They didn't give him much of a chance to object though, since as soon as Tyson had picked up the blazer, the little drawer shut with a clack.
As soon as the jacket was on his body, and he had straightened it out so that he didn't feel like even more of an idiot than he already did; a panel on the wall opened and he was tackled.
o0-(O)-0o
He didn't see them until they are already in the air and flying towards him, but as he caught them it was with the biggest smile he had worn in a long long time. He hugged both girls to his chest as if they were going to be snatched away any moment. Then, he felt the warning signs, and he knelt to the ground so that he could continue with the hug fest, and not have to worry about dropping them. After a few moments, one of them, Emily, broke away. She pulled her sister out with her, and both girls smiled up at Tyson expectantly.
It was with surprise that Tyson noticed what he hadn't before. Each of the girls was sparkling clean, and their hair was brushed and cut to the middle of their backs. They were even wearing matching little dresses, Emily's was blue, and Sarah's was red. Under the dresses hey were wearing long sleeve white shirts, and stockings, with little Mary Janes on their feet. They got a little impatient as he took in the whole cute picture. Emily walked up to Tyson and pulled on his sleeve "You are supposed to tell us that we look prettyful!" she pouted.
Sarah crossed her arms at her brother "Don't you like it?" she narrowed her eyes at him.
Tyson couldn't help but laugh at the pair of them, and this was obviously the wrong reaction since they began hitting him on the chest. "Meanie!" they yelled together as they continued beating on his chest.
Finally, Tyson managed to get himself under control and hugged both girls to him, effectively stopping the volley of hits that hurt a little more than he cared to admit. "You are both very prettyful." he grinned at them. With that, he planted a kiss on each of their noses, causing them to giggle wildly and start twirling to show off even more of their 'prettyfulness.'
A sudden discreet cough from the area of the now open panel brought Tyson's attention back to the present, and he stood suddenly to face the two new people in the room.
o0-(O)-0o
"Hello." Tyson felt stupid for saying something so obviously wrong. These people were going to think that he was an idiot. Well, it was too late to take it back now. He looked steadily at the couple, and was surprised at the kind smile he received in return.
"Hello there, are you feeling better now?" asked the gentle looking older man. "That acid did quite the job on you." Tyson didn't have any chance to answer him before the man was speaking again. "You are quite lucky we found you when we did! I should say that if the acid managed to work its way into your body any further, only a few hours and you would be dead. You have been out for nearly a week now."
Tyson broke in "Who are you" he said it as calmly as he could, but it still sounded a little panicky. Tyson squished the panic; he had to act as if nothing was wrong. The best way to get out of a situation like this is to bluff your way out. At least until there is a better plan. He closed his mouth on all of the unused panic, and simply looked flatly at the bemused gentleman in front of him.
"Well, I suppose we have not been formally introduced yet." He answered with a little smile. "My name is Emanuel Holiday. I am the head scientist around here. I also act as a physician in the very most extreme cases. Unfortunately, you qualified as one of those cases. Well! That doesn't matter now does it? You seem to be as fit as a fiddle. That's good that's good." The girl standing behind him shifted, and cleared her throat. This seemed to jog the good doctor's memory, and with a sheepish smile, he turned to her. "How silly of me! I seem to have forgotten to finish the introductions. I would like to present my protégé, prodigy. and daughter Samantha Holiday." He patted the girl's shoulder fondly. "She is going to be running this show once I'm gone."
"Aw dad, you know that won't be for years and years," the teen blushed. "and by then the nanites will be perfected. They won't need this place anymore."
"What? With genius like yours you think you won't be needed somewhere? Even if its not here, you're going to be a big deal."
Tyson felt slightly awkward as he watched them interacting with each other. He didn't want to intrude on what was obviously a family moment, but their exchange brought more questions than answers to mind.
"Can someone please explain to me, what is going on?"
Once again, the old man adopted a sheepish look. "Sorry 'bout that. Welcome to Providence. Please enjoy your stay, but I have to go. Important Business to take care of you know." With that, the old man was gone.
Tyson rubbed his neck to recover from the whiplash. "What just happened?" he asked bewildered. He looked over at the two girls, still chattering happily, taking no notice of anything or one in the room.
As he looked back at the woman, and suddenly knew without a doubt that this stunning girl had somehow come from the loins of that bumbling man. They shared the same sheepish look and tone of voice as she replied, "Oh, he just remembered something he forgot to do. You get used to it." As suddenly as her fater had before, she snapped out of her sheepish persona and adopted a mischievous smile. "Anyway, I see you're dressed. I have instructions to take you to my leader."
Tyson deadpanned for a moment, but he held his tongue and simply looked back over his shoulder to the two girls that were seemingly in another dimension for all they cared about what was going on around them. "What about Sarah and Emily?"
The girl smiled encouragingly "We have people to watch them."
Tyson was reluctant to accept that, but when a matronly looking woman came in and instantly the girls ran over and began to hug her as if they had known her their whole life, he decided he was ok with leaving them with her.
Ok, that's total bullshit. Tyson was a little creeped out at how friendly they were. Sure, they were friendly girls, but usually they are a bit more cautious of strangers. He didn't have much of a chance to object though as Samantha grabbed his hand and practically dragged him out of the room.
Almost as soon as they had made it to the hallway, he tripped on air and fell. Then, of course, in the way those things have a tendency to happen in these situations, his face went right onto Ms. Samantha Holiday's breasts.
o0-(O)-0o
An/: That's chapter 2! I hope you like it!
Read, review, criticize!