CHERUB: Fitting in...

Chapter 10

Big thank yous to everyone who reviewed/favourite. I'm working on the next chapter as this is uploading and hopefully as you're reading it. With any muck, I'll be able to post it before I leave for Germany for two weeks!

I barely felt the voltage, but I felt myself lose my balance, falling backwards, through the branches, plummeting to Earth, my mind unfocused enough to stop my fall. I don't even remember hitting the ground.

I couldn't open my eyes, the room was too bright painted completely white. I whimpered quietly, curling into a tighter ball on the white floor, my eyes squeezed shut and my head tucked into my chest. My chest still hurt though from the shot from the stun gun, a dull ache right between my collarbones. Someone had taken off the black band, and my dark grey hair was splayed freely on the pale floor. I didn't even look up as I heard a door swish open, willing my eyes to adjust.

"Shad?" Asked a quiet voice. The ache in my chest seemed to grow worse as I recognised Bruce's voice. "Shad?" He repeated. "Why'd you run away?"

I didn't, couldn't answer him. I didn't want to hurt him more than he probably already was.

"Shad, tell me, please..."

I managed to unlock my jaw long enough to speak. "I can't stay in a place where I'm always reminded of what I've done..."

"Shad, Melanie's just a bit of a hot-head, you didn't have to run away from campus just because of that."

I didn't answer him, still lost in my own little world of darkness behind my eyelids. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Shad? Why won't you look at me?"

"I can't, it's too bright..."

"Just try, ok, trust me."

I opened my eyes, just a fraction, looking through the narrow slits in an attempt to keep most of the brilliant light out of my eyes. There was someone standing behind Bruce, and that someone came just close enough for me to recognise him as Mac. I slowly pulled myself into a sitting position, blinking furiously as my eyes refused to adjust to the light.

"Shadow Roth.... I must admit that we haven't had many breakouts from CHERUB campus. We're not a prison. However, the few escapees that we have had have always been caught in a matter of a couple of hours. You managed to stay on the run for nearly twelve. Had it been under different circumstances, I would applaud you, but in this case, I have to refrain from doing so." Mac paused for a moment. "I have only had to do this once or twice for any CHERUB agent, but first, do you honestly want to stay on as an agent?"

"Yes, sir," I said quietly.

"You can drop the 'sir', Shadow, we're not in the assassin guild here."

"Assassin guild? " Bruce asked quickly, frowning.

"A tale for another time, if Shadow is willing Bruce. Now, Shadow, you want to stay on campus, we want to keep you, we think you have the potential to become a renowned agent, but I think we need to fit you with some sort of tracking device."

"Yes, Doctor." I said quietly, nodding. I was still mentally kicking myself for letting myself be caught like that. Well, I was kicking myself mentally. Had this been the Guild, someone would be kicking me physically for the failure.

I got up as Mac instructed me, following him out of the bright room. I later read on the door that it was a 'holding room' supposedly designed to hold CHERUB agents, who were already stronger than your average kid, who needed a little time out after a fight, or if one happened to be contagious and they couldn't transport them to a hospital.

The darker corridor was a relief to my eyes, and I managed to open them fully again. Oh, how I hated the light. All be had in the Guild were candles or low-light bulbs in the places where we managed to scavenge some electricity. I followed Mac with my head high, as I always held it, even knowing that I was already in a lot of trouble, and that I shouldn't be adding to it.

I walked out of the medical room only an hour after entering, one hand touching the point between the bones of my shoulder where the doctor had placed a tiny tracking device, no bigger than a grain of rice. I was surprised that technology could get that small, but I put it to the back of my mind. I was due in basic training in two weeks, and I had to get some of my own training in before I had to report to the compound for the 100 days of complete and total hell.