Hey all.
This will be a two-update week as well, considering how short this chapter is. Stay tuned - the next chapter introduced Rapture and get's Fang's side of the story underway. =]
Chapter 3: Transit
The first thing Fang was aware of when he woke up was that he didn't remember falling asleep, followed closely by the pounding in his head that indicated he didn't fall asleep of his own accord. A tentative touch to his forehead revealed a swelling he assumed to be going a nice shade of purple. Then the floor lurched, and Fang became acutely aware of the fact that he was no longer in the School.
Sitting up straight, he felt his head skim the top of his new cage; taller but slimmer than the one he was used to, stacked next to two others with one side smelted to the sides of the vehicle. Windows set into the back doors beyond his cage showed thick darkness, suggesting the time to be about midnight.
As he tried to prop himself against the back of the cage, he realised his arms had been bound behind his back. Using the wall as leverage, he struggled to pull himself up against the back of the cage and rested his aching head against the cold metal, trying but failing to remember when he'd been knocked out. His last memory was still of Jeb dragging the girl away with him down the corridor, his anger evident in every step.
Was that why he'd stopped being his carer? He'd had a daughter?
That didn't make much sense; if she wasn't a hybrid like himself, that would have made her younger than him to coincide with his disappearance. Admittedly he didn't see Jeb every waking moment of the day but he was there for all the tests, which lasted a goof four hours a day. She looked to be older than him, but if she were a hybrid too her looks could mean very little.
The vehicle lurched again, jogging his head against the metal. The dull laugh of Erasers wafted to his ears from the cabin in front. Fang took a steadying breath and stared out into the blackness, not for the first time wondering where they were taking him. The most any white coats had said about decommissioning was that it was the worst thing that could happen to an experiment, but the Erasers had spoken like he was getting special treatment.
The van swerved sharply to the right, throwing his head into the bars, before coming to a sudden halt that almost threw him forwards onto his chest. The engine cut and doors slammed. Laughter moved around the vehicle towards the back doors, and Fang found himself unconsciously using his legs to push as far back against the bars as possible, as if he could melt into the metal and be ignored.
Instead the doors flew open, and the harsh white light of a torch fell directly on his face, forcing the preteen to squint and tilt his head away. "Awake, piggy?" An Eraser growled, grabbing a hold of one of his ankles, preparing to pull him from the van. Fang could almost hear the smirk in his voice, and attempted to pull his ankle free. The Eraser's grip simply tightened. "We'll give you a nice heavy dose of sedatives before we send you on your way. We wouldn't want you getting bored on your trip."
With that Fang was yanked from the van. With his better-than-average vision he could make out the shapes Erasers surrounding him in the pitch-black, and could hear what he thought could be waves. Then a needle slipped beneath the skin of his neck, and everything went black.