Chapter three

Super 8 Motel
Highway 24, Colorado
October 11th, 2008

Lex was careful as she climbed out of the taxi parked in front of the main office of the Super 8 Motel on Highway 24 her and Elaina had stayed in, when they first escaped Gunnison. It had taken her a bit to recall the motel and actually had to rely on the taxi driver's knowledge in the area in truly locating it. Her memory of their trek through the woods as they tried to outrun the military, was foggy at best, days after the fact. By the time Elaina had talked her into resting, Lex had been nearly delirious, and the pain in her leg had been unbearable by that point, every step threatening to send her to the ground for good.

Staring at the front of the building in the light of day, she remembered them stumbling out of the trees and making their way to the front where she stood now. It seemed like a memory from years ago though, vague and unclear. Exhaustion had been breathing down their necks, fear biting at their heels. A little voice in their heads telling them to keep going, keep pushing.

Leaning back into the backseat of the cab, she directed her attention to the driver. "Do you mind waiting for me? I'm not planning to stay here long," she asked the older gentleman.

The driver looked at his meter, and possibly the time displayed on his radio, before looking back at her with a reluctant nod. "Of course, Cher, I'd wait out dere for you," he offered in a thick New Orleans accent and settled back into his seat as if to get comfortable. He pulled out his cell phone then and started up a game of solitaire.

She gave the driver a smile in thanks even though he was no longer paying her any attention, before shutting the door. She was grateful the driver hadn't minded driving her so far out of his way already, and that he was willing to wait for her now.

Resting her eyes back on the front of the motel, she twisted her lips in a grimace. She had been in the hospital for about three days and had to wonder if their things were even still here. If anything, she would at least get some answers to her questions, hopefully.

Adjusting her crutches to fit snug under her armpits, she hobbled her way across the cracked asphalt to the front door. Inside the glass, she could see the owner standing behind the counter, watching her as she struggled to pull the door open and juggle the crutches to avoid dropping one.

"Thanks for the help," she muttered under her breath and then quieter so that he didn't hear her, "-Asshole." After all these years, Elaina was starting to finally rub off on her.

"Excuse me, what was that?" the man behind the counter asked, his voice a little nasally. He must have seen her lips move, but hadn't heard her, thankfully. His eyes squinted behind his coke-bottled glasses as he eyed her shrewdly.

"Uh nothing," she answered in kind, not wanting to upset the guy any more than he already appeared to be. She watched him slide his palm over his slick-backed hair that was starting to thin on the top. The brown strands were graying all over the place and she tried not to notice the dandruff decorating the tops of his shoulders.

Lex made her way forward to the front counter, stopping just before the owner. "My friend and I were checked in room 108," she said producing her room key from the pocket of the sweats, the hospital had given her.

Jeffery had been very generous to her, going out of his way to supply her with a clean pair of clothes and crutches. The male nurse had taken pity on her, since the pants she had been wearing when she was brought into the hospital had been covered in blood and had to be cut off her, and then disposed of as a biohazard. Thankfully, they had retrieved the keycard from the pockets before doing so and had kept them with her personal affects. Jeffery had managed to scrounge up a pair of sweats from the 'loss & found' they kept at the nurse's stations, so that she wouldn't have to wear the hospital gown out in public. While they were a little big for her narrow waist, the corded ties were pulled as tight as they would allow to keep them from falling off as she moved around.

Still squinting at her, the man looked down at the key card she held, before looking at his records. "The previous renters never checked out," he muttered with a slight curl of his lip. "You only paid for one night, so I removed your items when you didn't check out the next morning." He pointed to the sign that read, 'Check out at 11 AM,' on the wall behind him.

"My friend never checked out?" she asked with a furrow of her brows. This was all starting to sound like Elaina had not left the hospital of her own free will.

"As far as I can tell no one has been back to the room and both key cards have been missing," he said with an annoyed tone. "Thanks for finally bringing it back." He started to reach for the card, but Lex slapped her hand down on top of it, before he could snatch it from her.

"Where are the items you removed from the room?" she asked him.

"This is not a storage facility," he harrumphed at her.

"So, you got rid of it?" she asked, her gaze narrowing on him, as if daring him to tell her he had done just that.

His eyes shifted to the side, as if his attention was draw to the boxes that had been stacked in the corner next to the counter, but quickly flicked away as if he meant to have never looked at them in the first place.

"Well, no," he admitted, reluctantly. He sniffed loudly then, sounding stuffed up with allergies.

Lex looked over towards the stack of boxes, wondering which was hers. "Is that it?" she asked him, pointing at the boxes in question.

The man shrugged noncommittedly and refused to look at her now, as he reached for a Kleenex to blow his nose.

Lex hobbled over, leaving the card on the counter for the man to collect and made her way to the boxes. She rested her crutches against the wall as she bent over and picked the top box up. She set it down on the countertop to fish around inside it. She spotted both of their items, her jacket and Elaina's shoes. Lex's wallet was inside, and she checked it to find her cards all there, but no sign of any cash.

"Really?" she asked in an accusatory tone, as she looked over at the man.

He just stared back at her, his expression telling her he really didn't care for her accusation. Lex grabbed her crutches with one arm and tucked the box under the other. It took some finesse to hobble her way to the door, since putting weight on her leg still caused her pain. The whole time the owner blatantly stared, not offering any assistance. Once at the door, the driver of the taxi she took to get to the motel, reached the door before she could try to figure out how she was going to open it with no free hands. Relief smoothed her features as the older man held the door for her and even offered to take the box from her.

"Thank you," she said with a genuine smile.

The man tipped his head in turn, and he carried the box to the backseat of his taxi to set it inside on the seat to the far left. He stepped back and took her crutches to let her climb into the backseat without any hassle. He then leaned in to place the crutches at her feet and shut the door for her.

Once they were on the road again, Lex asked to be taken to another hotel in town, wanting to put as much distance between her and the Super 8 motel, as possible. As they drove, Lex settled back in her seat, her mind racing with ways on how she could find Elaina. The box had just the bare bones of what they escaped Gunnison with. The items Elaina had made sure to bring with them, the sword, the plasma gun and Ci'tde's mask had been buried before they went to the motel. Lex had no idea where her friend had hidden the items, other than that she had buried it within the trees just in case the military caught up to them while they rested.

Her brows pinched together with worry, as her eyes stayed out towards the passing trees. "Where are you Elaina," she wondered aloud. A part of her had hoped her friend had just left her behind, wanting to be stubborn like her father, but now Lex knew that wasn't the case. Elaina would have gone back to the motel and grabbed their things first.

Now she just had to figure out who had caught up to them and had taken her friend.

OoOoO

Underground Cell
Unknown Facility
October 11th, 2008

Elaina paced back and forth like a caged lion at the zoo. With each pass she stared at the solid glass that spanned the wall in front of her. On the other side of her, to finish off her cell were three solid walls made of a metal she couldn't place by sight or touch. After waking up a few days ago in her new home, on a cot in the far corner of the room, she had searched every nook and cranny for any weaknesses. It was as she was looking for these weaknesses, that she realized that whoever owned this facility had made the room to hold something or someone much stronger than herself. All the furniture in the room was structured out of the same metal as the walls and was secured to the ground with bolts she couldn't loosen no matter how hard she tried. Her eyes flitted back to the window again and she squinted to peer into the room adjacent to hers. It was dark beyond it, and she couldn't make out any shapes beyond her own reflection.

Regardless she felt eyes on her with each pass she made. Since waking up in her cell, her only company had been the guards who brought her, her meals twice a day. The food was dropped into a slot that had been built into the bottom of the door. All they had to do was open it and slide the food tray in on the ground and slam it back shut. They never spoke to her, and she was led to believe that there had been sound proofing built into the walls, since she neither heard them approach the door, nor heard them leave afterwards. Silence and her own thoughts were her only companions and she worried she might lose her mind being isolated as she was.

Gritting her teeth, Elaina dropped down and started her stretches to warm herself up for another strenuous exercise. There was nothing in the room to occupy her mind, so she found herself doing stretches and then working on keeping herself fit to pass the time by.

She had no idea what these people's plans were for her. She didn't even know who they were, since not a single person had visited her longer than to give her food and water. Even prisoners got yard time, she muttered to herself as she started on her curl-ups.

The ground beneath her was built of the same metal as the furniture and walls and was unforgiving against her sore muscles and bruised skin. Sweat beaded across her brow as she counted to fifty before switching to push-ups.

What she would do for a shower though.

Her reflection in the viewing window in front of her, did not hide anything as it bore down on her. She looked worse for wear and with each new day, it became exceedingly worse. Her skin was filthy, having only had half a bar of cheap motel soap to wash off the horrors of surviving Gunnison and then trekking miles through a forest to escape capture. Her auburn hair was more of a dingy brown and after days without a shower, left it feeling slick with oils and gritty feeling to her fingertips.

She never felt so grimy in her life, well except for maybe after trekking through the sewers a few days ago. That had been disgusting. The clothing they had redressed her in while she had been unconscious, after capture, was looking a little worse for wear too. It was a thin cloth like material, a t-shirt and leggings combo both a baby blue color. Not the best color on her, not that she really cared about such things anymore. However, it did not hide the sweat stains she had built up over the past couple of days.

She counted out loud to fifty, mostly to fill the silence with something other than her thoughts and switched back to curl-ups. Her mind briefly wondered what these people had done with the things she had on her when they kidnapped her from the hospital. Were they studying them like she was some weird lab specimen and not a human? Or had they just discarded them like trash and were holding her hostage because of who she was? Maybe they were treating her like a terrorist and were holding her responsible for what happened in Gunnison?

She doubted they had told the public what really happened in Colorado. She kind of felt like she was being treated as a terrorist. She hadn't been allowed any privacy, no change of clothing, and no showers. She should be grateful they gave her a toilet in the corner to use when she needed it. Her modesty in this place had barely lasted a day, unless she wanted to lay in own filth on top of everything else, she was marinating in.

Thinking of Gunnison and what transpired there, brought tears to her eyes. All those people, Wolf, Scar, and Celtic... Gritting her teeth, she growled at herself. "Don't you dare cry," she said through her teeth. She just barely managed to keep her voice quiet, even with her emotions choking her, she worried that whoever was watching her, could hear her too.

Thinking of Warkha, Skl're and Ci'tde had her throat bobbing as a lump formed there. Tears burned at the backs of her eyes, and she fought them with everything she had. Forcing her thoughts to a less tragic place, she turned them onto Lex. She wondered what her friend was doing, if she was free or had been captured too.

"Forty-three… forty-four-" She was lowering herself back down to the ground, her muscles straining, her body trembling from the exertion, when the door, across the room from where she was, swung open without warning. She startled, dropping flat against the ground and the back of her head cracked against the metal. She winced, her hand lifting to the injury, and she pressed her fingers to the spot that had made contact. "Fucking-hell," she cursed.

She looked over at the two people who let themselves into the room, to the open doorway and debated her chances of making a run for it right then and there. Before her visitors closed the door behind them, she spied two guards standing to attention outside the door, causing her to grit her teeth in annoyance. They wore what looked like a light grey jump-suit and were armed with semi-automatics, which seemed a bit extreme for little ole her. She was unarmed and much smaller than them. She spied a patch on the two guards' sleeves last, but they were too far for her to make them out, and then the door was blocking her view of them.

Twisting her lips in annoyance, she turned her attention to the two people, who had opted to finally join her. The first person her eyes were drawn to, was a woman in a business suit. She was dressed sharply, the blue suit fitted to her slender form with pin stripes, that made her seem thinner and taller than she was. Elaina pressed her lips together when her eyes leveled on the woman's heels. As if this situation wasn't cheesy enough. Dragging her eyes back up, she frowned at the woman.

She looks familiar, she thought to herself.

Elaina pushed herself up into a seated position, slowly, just in case the two spooked easily and might have been armed with something other than a clipboard and a pen. She didn't like feeling vulnerable on the ground with these two in the room with her.

The businesswoman held herself apart from her companion, standing a foot or two between them and with her arms loosely crossed over her middle. There was a familiar smirk toying with her lips, and her almond shaped eyes were dark brown, as they studied Elaina in turn. The woman was of Japanese descent, that far she could tell. Her jet-black hair was swept up into a twist behind her head, and Elaina couldn't help but feel she had seen this woman before. I know her... but from where...?

Pushing herself up onto her shaky legs, and Elaina had to lock her knees to keep from toppling over. She turned her eyes to the man as he greeted her, amicably. As if she wasn't being held there against her will and this was just a routine visit.

"Miss Weyland, it is a pleasure to finally meet you," he said at last, his hands holding onto the clipboard in one and tapping the top of the pen against it casually. He wasn't familiar to her, and if anything seemed rather plain compared to the woman next to him, who seemed to exude authority. This man was dressed in a white lab coat, however, and his blonde hair was greying along the roots. "I've heard you have been through quite the ordeal."

Elaina's brows furrowed further, and refused to respond to him, as her lips pinching together with annoyance.

He seemed much older than the woman, maybe by ten to fifteen years, and his face was weathered with his age. However, he was not anymore friendlier looking, than the woman. They both stood at about the same height though of 5'7, just a hair taller than herself. If she had a weapon, she would have been tempted to take them down. Hand-to hand, she wasn't sure of herself, especially with how weak and tired she felt in that moment.

Elaina refused to speak, in turn, instead opting to let them speak freely. It was as the man looked at the woman next to him, as if seeking her lead on where to go from there, that Elaina's eyes snagged on the logo on his lab coat. It was the same logo the guards had, she just hadn't realized what she was looking at, at the time. The bright yellow W with the white Y behind it, made her blood run cold in her veins.

Her attention jerked to the woman then, realizing just why she was familiar to her. She had met this woman once, years ago, after Bovetoya Island. Yutani, her mind supplied the name. The woman whose company that had bought into her father's.

Elaina swallowed thickly, and she repressed a shudder. This woman had hounded her for information on what happened to the expedition team after the incident in Antarctica. She had gone so far as to have her followed on a few occasions. Her expression darkening, Elaina straightened her spine.

It didn't matter what these people had in store for her, Elaina would give them nothing on Ci'tde and his people. His belongings were well hidden and not even Lex knew where she had hidden them.

Elaina would die before she gave them any of that technology.

Revised 3/13/22

AN: Howdy! Sorry for the long delay. I had an issue where I lost everything, all my writing, was just gone. So having to rewrite this chapter and the next couple chapters have been the hardest thing I've had to do by far. I hope this chapter is to everyone's liking, though and hopefully not too raw. We finally get to see what happened to Elaina, so yay for that XD...

I just want to thank everyone for sticking with me here on these stories. Because of all of you, I refused to walk away and I hope to get this story completed at last.

Inky out!

Oh, wait I almost forgot... did you like, love, hate it?

Inky out! For real this time.