Chapter 18: Tobias: Being Compliant
I woke to my body screaming in pain. I was feeling the most pain I have ever felt in my life. I couldn't feel my wings. I felt my ribs broken, moving inside of my chest with every breath. I tried to open my eyes, but my left eye was gone, and my right was barely working. The side of my eye saw only red. I tried my best to look around, I was in a metal cage just tall enough to stand up in in my hawk body, far too small to morph anything larger like my human form. My right leg had a thin metal rod drilled through it which was connected to a chain to the side of the cage.
But where was I? I couldn't see very well in the darkness, but I could hear what I assumed were humans walking around the room. I could hear at least three or four people walking around. I also heard something that my hawk brain recognized that my human brain didn't even notice. Long, thick claws scraping on the floor. The creature sounded very large but not large enough to be a Hork-Bajir. It sounded to have four legs, a tiger, lion or maybe a bear. A bear! I thought, the bear could be Rachel! But if it were her she would of talked to me already and freed me. So what was walking around and where am I?
"Hey," a gruff, low voice said. "The little birdies awake." He stepped closer and stuck his finger through the bars and poked me in the ribs. The pain was unbearable, I felt one of the ribs hit my lung.
"Hey, go wake the other one, the bird is awake and the other boy will be here soon." The man with the gruff voice said, but who was he talking to? And who were these other people? Were they the others? Could it be Jake or Marco who was going to be here?
[Jake, Marco, are you there? Rachel?]
"Tobias?" It was Jake, he sounded in pain, most likely he was captured too.
[Jake where are we? Is anyone else here?]
"I'll tell you where you are, you're with me and my friends. And don't worry, your friends will be here soon."
[David! How are you here? What's going on?!]
"I'll tell you what's going on." He remarked. "I won, you lost."
"You haven't won yet," Jake shot back weakly, almost out of breath. "The others are still out there. Two of us down is barely a victory."
"Hmph, what? You get that out of a fortune cookie? And plus, lights." He stopped, and on his command the lights turned on. I could see the room, there were seven pillars that connected to the ceiling, my cage was chained to one and Jake was on the one opposite side to me. I could see David, he had two other guys standing next to him. On the far side of the room to the right I could see a panther pacing back and forth. So that's where the claw sounds were coming from.
"Bring him in." David said as he waved to some guys in the hallway. They were dragging someone in, the person had a bag over it's head. From the way David was talking about him, he could only be Marco.
"Put him one space away from Jake. And take that bag off his head, I want them to see him."
The bag was taken off his head, it was Marco. He wasn't moving, his head was split open, bleeding everywhere. His arms and legs were chained to the pillar just like Jake.
[Marco! Are you okay?] I yelled in thought speak. Why was Jake not saying anything? Why wasn't he threatening David's life? Marco could be dead.
"Oh Marco's just fine, Tobias." David smirked. "He's just taking a little nap. Guys! Wake him up." He walked over to Jake and whispered something in Jake's ear.
What were they talking about? Jake was just nodding, not saying anything but an occasional yes, or okay. They talked for only a minute, but I saw Jake's face sink and grow disgusted.
"Do you understand Jake? Do you know what I want?" He backed away from Jake and smiled at him.
"Understood" Jake managed finally.
"Now," David said, talking to everyone. "Time for some fun. Jorge!" He called out to one of the men around us and motioned for him. "It's time for you to get our next guest. But let me ask you something, what is Jake's favorite morph?"
"A Bengal tiger, sir" Jorge answered quickly. Strange, he called David sir.
"Correct, so pick her up as Bengal Tiger, just thrown her around a bit, but don't do too much damage."
"Cassie." Jake said weakly. "Be strong."
[David! What do you want? What are you doing? Leave Cassie alone, you have the three of us, that's enough. You-] Jake broke me off.
"Shut up, Tobias, just do as he says." His voice was a combination of anger, hatred, and sorrow. "It'll be best for her to be here."
[Jake. What are you saying? They almost killed me to get me here. They could do the same to her! What is wrong with you?]
"Stop Tobias. David is in control, we should just do as he said. The others will be here shortly, I'll handle it."
"Listen to him Tobias, Jake, the leader of the former Animorphs. Look at him, he's not fighting this. He has accepted his fate."
I stared at Jake in silence, how could he be wanting David to capture Cassie? And what did David tell him to make him so compliant?
