"No...No! DAMN IT COME ON WOMAN!...LIVE!"
"ARRGH!! WHY IS IT NOT WORKING?!!?!"
"BOY! ANOTHER! BRING ME ANOTHER ONE!"
"But S-sir. D-Doctor J. That was the last one. Y-you-you've used every other subject that was brought in..." A young voice replied. "...this week."
Breathing heavily with his hands placed on his hips, his face blotched red and his mouth turned down into a snarl. The young boy standing there with him waited anxiously, watching the blood pool and run down the drain that was installed in the floor.
"Why are they dying so quickly?! It's perfect. P-perfect! The serum is perfect I know it...Their blood?...it has to be...this disease...it spreads through contact. The infection...it begins after...unless...no. No!...but is it too much?!"
Dr. Henry Jekyll rambled on to himself then growled in frustration and tore his glasses from his face, leaning back against the tile wall as he ripped the black gloves from his hands.
"MR. HYDE!!" The doctor shut his eyes and yelled, running his fingers back into his light brown hair.
After a minute, whistling rang out inside the house and the slow melodic sound of the mans heels clicking against the floor was heard too. The squeaky hinge of the door opening was next and then the click of each step he took as he descended down the wooden steps until he finally reached the last one.
Wearing a white button down dress shirt and black slacks, the pale dark haired man pursed his lips together at the scene laid out before him before finally directing his gaze to the crazy blue eyed man.
"You…yelled?" his deep husky voice spoke out monotonously.
Looking up and taking a deep sigh, Jekyll pounded his fist back against the wall repeatedly.
"I need more." He simply stated.
Slowly licking his bottom lip and chuckling lowly, Hyde shook his head as he stepped down and began to walk over to the body hanging from ceiling, handcuffed to the pipes above. Being careful not to step too close, Hyde racked his eyes over the half naked form.
The elderly woman's skinny sagging form already beginning to turn pale and grey as her blood dripped from her body. The blue of her veins mapping out her arms, and the red of her flesh from the bite mark in the middle of her stomach beginning to ooze and turn a whitish pink.
"It's too soon to go out again, Henry...You know this." Hyde's deep voice rang out.
"We can go out at night!" Jekyll popped up from the wall, insisting. "I am this close."
"Henry-"
"My serum is perfect! I know it! It's the subjects! I need someone young! Someone healthy. Their blood mixed with the serum will guarantee success, I know it!" Jekyll walked over to his cluttered table of notes and papers.
"You said that about the last one." Hyde rolled his eyes.
"You know! You know what I've been doing. W-What it takes to get it to work. This will work! I just need more."
Jekyll sat down onto the stool infront of the desk, his back turned to them now.
"I need more!"
"And what of the red heads? Why can't you use them? The three boys all fit the criteria. Young."
"Arthur has them kept in a different holding room and you know he said they are off limits. But enough about them!" Jekyll turned in his sit. "If you talk to him he will provide the resources to find more! You know he will."
Sighing and looking at the Doctor, Hyde studied the mans current state. For months now, they had been attempting to find a cure or develop an immunity serum. For months now they'd conducted tests and trails on the citizens of Camelot. On the old, the young, the sick...the dead...and so far Henry Jekyll had managed to almost perfect his serum but every time their test subject died.
"I will go and speak to Arthur."
Hyde rolled his eyes and turned to walk back up the steps, but stopped and looked over his shoulder.
"And Bobby..." He called the young boy's name and got his attention from just standing there staring up at the woman hanging from the pipe.
Bobby slightly jumped but turned his head to look at the man. "Yes sir?"
Turning his gaze on the woman too, Hyde's nose twitched in disgust before he continued back up the steps and answered darkly.
"Clean this mess up."
Sitting in his office, looking down at the hustle of everyone down below. Arthur Pendragon basked in the glow of the sun shining through the glass window.
"Still no sign of Fergus and the girl?"
Turning his head to side, Arthur's gaze fell onto his sister, Morgana Pendragon.
"You know if you want them found so badly, you could actually leave the community and search for them yourself, brother." Morgana titled her head, picking imaginary lint from the fabric of her jeans.
"I still don't understand how they managed to escape. But from what I was told in the condition Fergus was in, he's most likely one of the dead by now." Arthur rolled his eyes and turned around walking over toward the display of liquor he acquired over two years.
"I don't understand the need to have them back here, you wanted them gone did you not?" Morgana asked.
"I did. Fergus no doubt is dead. But the girl. Merida. She is resilient. With her mother and brothers here, there's no doubt she'll be back and she will strike. The sooner she's found the better." Arthur reasoned.
"To give you a peace of her mind no doubt." Morgana rolled her eyes.
"She is a threat, Morgana. Don't you see? Fergus too. A threat to the peace we've found here. To our sanctuary we've built."
"Fergus was the first one to question you and you didn't like it. He challenged your role as leader so you got rid of him." Morgana replied.
"...You disagree then? With the way I handled this." Arthur asked sipping the dark liquid.
"I think...that you need to at least let Elinor and the children go, Arthur. They should not be in those cells, kept in the dark..they've done nothing wrong." Morgana answered carefully.
This only seemed to anger Arthur more though as he slammed the glass down.
"The way I see it, her husband and their father is a traitor. And should they be brave enough to ever show their faces back here...I will make them wish they'd stayed away."
Sometime later as the sun was beginning to set, standing high up in the watch tower facing the woods, Arthur stood there with two other men. Looking through a pair of binoculars, Arthur purses his lips to the side. He could see a few of the dead moving about in a clearing not too far, none of them had bright red hair.
Climbing up the ladder, Hyde took a deep breath as he reached the top. Finding Arthur and two men, he nodded towards them before walking up next to the shorter man.
"Mr. Hyde." Arthur acknowledged him without looking away from the binoculars. "What can I do for you, today?"
"I need to back go out there." Hyde simply replied.
"You need to? Or he does?" Arthur asked lowering his hands.
"I'll need the van for a couple of days." Hyde ignored his question and continued.
"We use the van for supply drops and transport now, you know this Hyde." Arthur rolled his eyes. "You can't keep taking one of the only well working means of transport we have and go off for days."
"So you'll use something else should you need to get around." Hyde sneered as he stepped closer standing directly at his side. "It was Jekyll's van before you started using it for your errands. Or have you forgotten."
"Errands he says." Arthur chuckled and scoffs. "How many more bodies will begin to pile up in that basement before the Doc has this life saving serum up and running? Hmm? In the beginning, you know I truly believed in what he had to say. But do you think Fergus was the only bump in the road that we'll see?" Arthur clenched his jaw. "People will begin to notice the longer this continues and the more people that continue to go missing. They will get angry and I won't be the one that they take that anger out on. Elinor is already trying to stir up trouble."
Turning so that they were facing each other, Arthur squared his shoulders as he spoke. Looking the shorter man up and down, Hyde glanced back at the two men watching them before looking back at Arthur and sucking his teeth.
"As long as you continue to keep Elinor's mouth shut and do as you're told, there is no way of anyone else finding out." Hyde replied matter-of-factly. "I'm sure you can figure something out, Arthur. But don't you worry I will speak to her before I leave…And I will be taking one of the three with me."
Smirking devilishly at the man, Hyde chuckled darkly before stepping away. Listening to the click of heels, Arthur kept his back turned looking over the horizon and out at the clearing where gorks roamed aimlessly.
"Just don't kill him!"
"Draw 2."
"Dude, where are you getting all these draw 2's from?!"
"I think he's hiding them under his leg."
"Dude! Quit cheating!"
"I'm not cheating, you just suck at playing Uno."
"Cheater."
"Whiner Baby."
"Cheater!"
"Sore Loser!"
"Boys..."
Three red heads turned over to the other side of the room, the three sets of eyes landing on their mother sat on the bunk inside her cell sitting with her legs crossed. Their mothers eyes had dark circles under them and were slightly puffy from crying. Her long greying dark hair in tangles, tied in a ponytail behind her back.
"Play fair." Elinor said gently. "Harris, I can see those cards under your boot. Put them back."
Harris sighed and blushed at being caught, his cheeks turning a rosy color. Hamish snatched the cards up and quickly hid them back in the deck.
The boys resumed playing and Elinor watched them, adoring the way the light shining through the barred window shined on their red locks.
She felt her heart squeeze and couldn't control the tears that built up in her eyes, breathing sharply she quickly wiped away the wet trails they left behind.
For days now, they had been kept in this small room and been given two meals a day. She had no idea if her husband and daughter were alive, with no idea where they were. If she could go back and stop Fergus from trying to leave she would if it meant they could all still be together. Now she was alone with three young boys, desperately missing their father.
The sound of whistling, heavy boots, and jingling keys made the boys stop what they were doing, all three heads turning toward the door simultaneously. Quickly they all dropped the cards and jumped off of their cot, moving over to the bars separating the cells.
"Why is he back?" Hubert asked grabbing his mother's hand through the bars as the lock on the door clicked.
"He hasn't come here in days and now he's back." Hamish groaned and wrapped his arms around himself from a flutter in his stomach.
"What if they found dad?" Harris whispered. "Mom?"
"Shhh. Just don't speak to him when he comes in." Elinor pulled them as close as she could.
The door slowly pushed open and blue eyes watched carefully as the pale dark hair eased inside. His heels clicked with each step he took and he didn't stop until he was only a few feet away from the cells.
Eyeing the trio of brothers and their mother, Hyde had a haunting smirk on his lips, saying nothing, and that alone made the young boys skin crawl. His eyes were alway so dark, rimmed red all the time, like something had snuffed the life out of him before the world even ended.
To Elinor it was apparent that the man had a drinking problem or suffered something traumatic but still he never managed to show any weakness. He always appeared hard, sometimes unbothered, definitely unimpressed with the way a lot of things were conducted around the community.
When people saw him, they knew to steer clear.
"Boys." Hyde spoke lowly.
"Mr. Hyde." Elinor addressed him, eyeing him through the bars. "What can we do for you?"
Smirking devilishly, Hyde took the few steps over to her cell and studied her. "That's the right spirit to have, Elinor. What can you do for me?"
He emphasized pointing from her to himself, then looking pointedly toward the three young boys.
"No!" Elinor shook her head, not liking the look in his eye one bit. "No!"
The dimly lit room filled with haunting laughter as the boys tried to make themselves small.
"Pick a number boys." R
