"The Benevolent Doctor"
23. Swapping Stories
Sometime in New New York
Mr. Arpen had known where to find the other door. Blind as he was, his other senses were not failing him by far, and without even seeing it, he had become aware of the sound of footsteps, felt the slight passage of wind at times… When he pointed this out to the others, after they'd been sprung from their cells, they found it, a second door through which they might have a better chance of slipping unseen. The first door would have gotten them caught immediately, and while there was still every chance something would happen here, too, where they would be found, they had at least some possibility of going unnoticed, and they would have to risk it. It was either that or staying put.
The corridor they found outside was dark, but for the time being it was clear of any other foot traffic, so the six prisoners went, one after the other. They had no idea where they were going, but at one point they were bound to find a way up – they knew they were underground – and out of the building. For the time being, they had the element of surprise on their side, but that would all be taken away as soon as Benedict's people realized they had gone, so there was no time to spare.
They had a close call where they were forced to duck into a small cupboard they'd passed just seconds before, when they thought they heard people coming from around the corner. It was bordering on being cramped, but it didn't matter, so long as they were quiet and no one found them.
Brittany was hoping no one could tell how scared she was when she felt Agnes take hold of her hand, bringing her relief unrequested but much appreciated.
"I think they've gone," the former cat girl whispered.
"Better wait a while more," Risha did the same. So they did, sitting quiet but nervous. Risha held on to Erlin's hand, sensing her anxious as well.
"I hope the others are okay," Agnes suddenly realized, thinking of her other brothers and sisters, and Brittany's friend. They'd all been in the store, too, when they'd been taken, so what if they were also trapped here, and she just didn't know? They'd already lost Alfred, and thinking about him had not gotten any easier.
"What others?" the other man asked.
"There were eight of us, we'd split up, and us and Alfred got snatched up," Agnes explained.
"They're not here," he shook his head. "We would have known." He was trying to reassure her, and she was glad for it, but at the same time what if he was wrong?
"How did you get stuck here?" Brittany asked the man. She still had trouble looking at his head, seeing the shape of it. He was just… wrong.
"He didn't get stuck, did he?" Mr. Arpen cut in before the other man could answer. "His is one of the last faces I ever saw. He worked for him, for Benedict, but then he messed up, let one of the subjects get out, and the next day, there he was, in the cell next to mine, sampled, injected, the whole lot. Won't even tell us his name."
"I have family," the man frowned, barely managing to keep his voice down. "All it takes is someone finding out where they are, and they might be in trouble."
"Where do they think you are?" Brittany asked.
"Dead, and they're better off," the man's hand brushed just near his face but then pulled away; he was ashamed of how his head looked, too. They had a vague idea of how Mr. Arpen had ended up here, and as much as they might want to find out about Erlin's story, they didn't expect much out of the memory challenged woman.
"What about you?" Brittany turned to Risha. "How did you get here?" The old girl stared at her mismatched hands, touching thumb to thumb, index to index, and so forth.
"I was looking for someone," was all she finally said, and before anyone had dared ask her what this meant, they'd remembered where they were, what they were trying to do, and Agnes stuck her ear to the door.
"I don't hear anything. We should go," she told the others, who all gave quiet assent.
After Agnes had slid the door open in silence, just far enough so to see what was outside, and confirmed that the way was open, they had emerged, one behind the other.
"Are those the stairs?" Erlin had barely asked, when everything went wrong.
They never saw the guards coming, not until the nameless man, who'd been at the back, all of a sudden groaned and pitched forward, convulsing as though he'd been electrocuted. In the next moment, Risha, at the top of the line, was hit in the head and tripped into Erlin's arms behind her. The second they'd touched, a sort of primal and inexplicable fury took the woman over, and she lunged at the one who'd hit the old girl. After this, it was impossible to make out what was happening to who, not until it all stopped.
"Down! Get down on the ground, right now!" one of the guards barked, and those of them who were still capable of doing this of their own accord did as they were told.
"Mr. Arpen?" Agnes' voice trembled as she looked at the man next to her, who was bleeding and barely moving.
"Quiet!" the guard approached her, and she fell back at Brittany's side, the two girls grasping one another's hands.
They were all taken back to their cells, and for all the questions they might have had, no one dared speak. The two girls might have been the only ones completely unharmed, and this time they were placed in separate cells, which caused them alarm thought they didn't resist. No one was saying anything about those who were hurt, and Mr. Arpen might have been dying, for all they knew. They could only hope that a doctor would be sent shortly to tend to them. Until then, all they could do was sit in the heaviness of their failure. They were back where they had started, worse than, and hope was dwindling away.
TO BE CONTINUED (TUESDAY)