Chapter Six:
Blue struggled to open his eyes. They felt heavy, as if someone had taped them down ― again.
He panicked, raising his hands, only to find them unmoveable. The familiar clink of metal hitting metal brought tears to his eyes. He whined loudly struggling the bed, breathing in and in and in and in―
"Hey there, calm down, don't worry," Someone said, coming beside him. He felt something tug at his eyes, and he panicked, pulling himself away and flinching. Tears welled in his eyes as he tried to make sense of the situation. "It's okay, calm down. Your bandages fell down over your eyes ― can I move them out of the way for you?" Blue tried to breathe in and out. In and out. In and out.
He gave a reluctant nod, and he heard the person moving again. Gently, fingers brushed against his eyes, moving a few layered bandages out of his line of sight.
Blue winced, squinting through the brightly lit room. He blinked, unable to rub at his eyes. He looked, and saw the man he was supposed to kill leaning over him. He was close enough to smell him — apples and seawater. Blue jumped away, his arm that was still latched to the side of the bed burned, and he hissed. "Don't worry ― I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to ask you some questions, okay?" Blue shook his head fiercely. "Can we start out with names? I'm Steve. What's yours?" Blue shook his head again, and the man frowned.
Blue flinched, tugging away again. His heart was pounding, and sweat building up on his brow. "I want to help you, kid," Steve said gently. "I don't want to hurt you. I want to know what happened ― you didn't look like that when you left the other day. What happened? Who did that to you?"
Blue shook his head, and the man sighed, "You don't have to tell me your real name. Do you have a nickname, or something?"
Blue frowned, "Nickname?"
"Yeah, you know. . ." Steve struggled to explain it. "A shorter version of your name. Something someone else calls you."
Blue frowned for a second, thinking, "Ball of shit," He replied and the man's eyes widened. His mouth opened and closed.
"Uh. . ." Steve rubbed his head, "No, not like that. It's, uh. . ." He pursed his lips, "How about this, the first two letters of your name? Can you tell me that?"
Blue frowned, he only had four letters in his name. "B," He finally said, and Steve nodded.
"B. That's a start. Okay, B," He smiled, "I'm Steve." Steve paused for a minute, then gave Blue a easy smile — Blue didn't trust it. "I know you were trying to kill me, the other night," Blue flinched, sinking into the bed. "But, I don't believe that you meant to do it. Did someone tell you to kill me?" Blue swallowed and gave a small nod. "Can you give me their name?"
Blue shook his head, eyes filling with panic. "Okay," Steve drawled, "Why not?"
"No. Master. . ." He swallowed, thinking about last night's disciplining.
The large animal breathing over him, his teeth sinking into his arms. His blood staining the animal's teeth, it's white eyes crazed and dangerous. It's stiff breath breathing down his front, smelling of dead carcasses and raw meat.
"Hey, B? Are you with me?" Blue blinked, staring at Steve, who was watching him carefully. "You said 'Master', what do you mean?"
"My Master," Blue replied, confused. What did he mean, 'what did he mean his Master'?
"What do you mean by that?" His eyes squinted. "Is. . . he he related to you? Why do you call him that?"
"He Master," Blue replied.
"How? How is he your Master? That makes you sound like a―" Steve stopped talking, staring wide-eyed at Blue. "He. . . oh. . ." Steve looked him over again, "He did. . . this to you, B?"
Blue shook his head, "Big dog," he replied, shaking his arms for emphasis.
"How did a dog do this to you? Did anyone stop it?"
"No. Drink ― fight," Blue replied. "Dog fight me." Blue moved his arms, shoulder and thigh. Then, he paused and made a correction. "You fight me."
Steve winced, "I'm. . . Sorry, I–I, uh," he rubbed his neck. "I didn't. . . I shouldn't have done that. That was my fault. Bruce check it, right? He made sure it wasn't infected?" Blue blinked, and Steve nodded, "Oh, right. Don't answer that." He gently scooter over to see his leg.
Blue kicked his legs, panic filling him again, and Steve backed away. "Sorry. Getting ahead of myself." Blue slowly began to relax and he cleared his throat. "How old are you, B?"
Blue shook his head. "No."
"Do you remember what year you were born?"
Blue frowned. "19. . . 1998?"
Steve's mouth opened again, but he closed it and sighed. "Sixteen. Where does. . . your 'Master' live, can you tell me?" Blue shook his head, "Can you tell me his name?" He shook his head again. "Can you tell me what he looks like?"
Blue frowned, considering this. "He tall. Messy face. Big. Eyes dark."
"Anything else? Like a scar or something?"
"Messy face," Blue replied.
". . . Okay, I get it. Messy, like scarred?" Blue didn't know what he meant. "Take it as a yes. What does he do? Where does he live?"
Blue shook his head, "No."
"Why did he do this to you?"
"No kill. Bad. Fail no," Blue replied, remembering the stern words of his Master.
"Failure is not an option! Failure is never an option!"
". . . Squeeze all of the blood out of you."
Blue shivered, and tried to lunge at Steve, who quickly moved away. His eyes were panicked, and his arms shaking. "Kill you," he breathed. "Have to. He kill me."
"You don't have to kill anyone," Steve rose his hands. "Your Master can't get you here." Blue shook his head, trying to hit him again. His fangs slid over his teeth and his eyes were desperate.
"B, you don't have to hurt me," Steve said. "You don't have to do any of that. Your Master isn't here. He can't hurt you." Blue shook his head disbelievingly. "Your Master made you try to kill me ― he's doing it now too. You don't have to listen to him. You can decide yourself. Do you wanna kill me?"
Blue stared at the man. Then he swallowed and looked down. He didn't want to hurt anyone. He didn't want to kill anyone. He never wanted to kill anyone. He just wanted to lie down and sleep. He wanted to be left alone. But, he knew that if he didn't his Master would him. He'll make him bleed out slowly. He'd put him in the ring with another beast like the last time ― but this time, he wouldn't shoot it.
"Do you?" Steve asked and Blue slowly shook his head, tears welling in his eyes. He closed them and looked away from the man. "Good. Me neither. If you promise you won't try to kill me, I'll take those off," Blue looked back at Steve, who motioned to the cuffs on his arms. Blue nodded and Steve smiled warmly. "Good." He dug into his pocket and pulled out a key.
A minute later, but his wrists were released. Blue drew his hands to his chest, rubbing his wrists. He tried not to think about the old scars on them from being chained down before. The cold metal that dug into his skin, sometimes cutting it shallowly. The way that hims struggling only made it worse. The fact that he did it anyway.
"―Food?" Blue blinked, looking up. "I said, do you want some food?" Blue nodded immediately. He hadn't had the chance to eat in a while, and his kibble bowl in his cage was practically empty. It only got refilled every two weeks.
Steve smiled, "I'll be back," he said, standing, but Blue sat up quickly.
"No! No! Please!" He begged, and Steve sat back down.
"What's wrong?" He asked, confused.
"Stay ― no leave. Please ― no leave," Blue begged. He didn't know what would happen if Steve left. He didn't know who else might come through the door and try to hurt him. Would Steve let them hurt him? Would he care?
"You don't want to be alone?" Steve asked, and Blue nodded. "You can come with me, but. . . you might have to use crutches for your leg."
Blue looked at his injured leg. "Leg fine," Blue said.
"It's not," He frowned. "If you don't want to be left alone, you have to use crutches, okay?" Blue bit his lip and nodded. He didn't know what the crutches were.
Steve stood, but he didn't go for the door. He went to the closet instead, searching and muttering to himself. Finally, he pulled out a strange metal thing. It was tall and almost looked like a skinny Y, had there not been a bar in between and a padded top.
Steve looked at Blue, frowning a bit, and fiddled with the bottom, making it click a few times. Finally, he handed it to Blue. "There!" He smiled and handed it to Blue.
Blue held it awkwardly, experimentally touching the bottom and the clickers. "Oh, ah, let me show you," Steve said, after realizing that Blue had no clue how to use it. He waved Blue over to the edge of the bed, and gently put the crutch under his good shoulder. His forearms still burned in pain whenever he moved it, but he could live with that. "You're usually supposed to use the other side, but that might cause more damage and pain."
Steve stepped back, "Now, walk. Put your weight on your right leg." Blue did as he was told, standing and putting his weight on his right leg and tried to walk.
He immediately fell down.
Blue scrambled to get back up, his leg burning when his knee hit the tiled floor. "It's okay, I'll help you," Steve said, putting out a hand to show his support. Blue immediately flinched, despite knowing that Steve wasn't going to hurt him. Steve frowned, but didn't take his hand back.
Slowly, Blue gave the man his hand, and he helped him back to his feet. "Try again," Steve encouraged. Blue watched the man, a bit curious ― and concerned. When his Master was teaching him something, if he didn't get it right the first two or three times, his Master would discipline him. Steve didn't even seem a bit set off by Blue's mistake.
Blue stepped again, doing at Steve told him. He got three steps before the crutch slipped under him and he began to fall again. Steve was right behind him, catching his shoulder before he fell. "Good job! You got far!" Steve praised. Blue couldn't help his look of shock at his words. "What's wrong?"
"'Good job'?" He repeated. He knew what it meant, but he never really heard the words said to him before.
"Yeah, good job. You did it correctly. Do you think you can get to the door?" It took Blue a second to process the unfamiliar praise. He nodded and continued to walk, stopping at the door and waiting for Steve.
Steve grinned at him and opened it. Blue stayed near the wall as Steve led the way to food and eating.