Chapter Twenty-Four
—
Authors Note: I kinda rushed this chapter, will clean it up at some point.
The tree rustled and the branches swayed as the last sniper fell, her limp body thudding sickeningly to the ground. The dull clatter of her weapon came after her and nestled in the pine needles not far from her corpse.
No time was wasted as Mr. Gable left her there, no time to deal with the bodies, the police could handle it. He raced to the zoo's central building where zoo maintenance took breaks and ate in the cool indoors. He barged in, the essence of speed, and dialled the phone inhumanly fast. He contacted the cops first. He called another and spoke almost too quickly to understand.
He came up with some half-baked excuse if anyone caught him leaving work, but he got through without interruption. He wasn't aware the frightening determination on his face was what kept anyone away. He came upon few people, but those who were present, steered clear.
His first instinct had been to go straight after Anya, and discarded the idea after considerable thought smushed into the half-second he needed to give it proper deliberation. He concluded they'd be gone by now.
So to the phone it was, and out to his car in the parking lot.
Twilight tore off the mask as he closed the door, barely yet settled in his seat.
He hoped he wouldn't be pulled over for speeding.
—-
The conversation ended and Yor didn't bother putting the phone down, and pushed the little button that ended the call to start another.
Yuri wouldn't be able to help just yet, but he should be notified of the situation. She couldn't wait for him to join her, it would take too long. He would have to wait for an update since she had no location at the moment.
The call was as brief as she could make it, excusing herself from work for a family emergency. She didn't have a car, so she'd have to run to meet up with Loid.
She used the roads only if they were more efficient.
—
Damian couldn't identify what he was feeling.
He was shaky and prickled with goosebumps, he breathed somewhat normally (compared to when a gun was at his head) and thought with odd clarity of the present predicament, blended with profound disorientation.
Where were they going? Had Forger been there before, is that where she was when she was kidnapped? What was going to happen to them? What was going to happen to him? Why was he still alive? How was Forger involved with these people? Did her parents know about this pinky-jerko who sat stewing in the passenger seat? Wasn't he related to Forger? How would they not know about him?
Damian gripped at his chest where his heart beat unsteadily and where the shaking surely originated. He frantically searched for answers or reasons to calm him and all he had was a bottomless pit of confusion and uncertainty.
There was so much he didn't know. Forger was like an iceberg and only she knew how far it went. When Damian first met her, he would never have guessed she had these secrets.
On the opposite side of the back seat, she had wrapped her arms around her legs and leaned against the door. Her mouth rested on her knees so her half-lidded eyes peeked out and stared silently at the floor.
They'd been driving for half an hour and she'd been like that since. She cried quietly at first, but when they dried up she was sombrely anxious.
No one had spoken. Damian was too scared to ask for answers and the man offered none. He hadn't looked Desmond's way once, much less spoken to him.
That was fine with Damian.
Forger shifted to hide her whole face in her knees, and Damian started at the movement. Every little thing shot his heart into overdrive.
She hadn't spoken to him either.
That was not fine with Damian.
Without Forger's solidarity, he was alone in an alien environment to cope on his own and he didn't know if he could. She cared wether he died or not, she jumped between him and the gun without a second thought, but then turtled herself away.
She was scared, and that fact scared him. She had an idea of what was coming and hid from it.
Damian didn't know what he should be hiding from.
—-
The drive was long.
Anya huddled diagonally from Kai who sat in icy disapproval, the agitation quelled now that he had Anya in custody, his anger, tightened into something controllable until he could relieve it.
Anya didn't want him to.
She dug her nails in her leg. A hand felt the other where the bandages were starting to come loose from the sweat and constant wringing and clenching. She left it and hugged her legs tighter.
She let the low rumbling of spinning rubber over pavement fill her ears, the only thing she heard as she tried to forget what was happening.
Hours went by, and the patter of rain slowly built to a deluge hammering the car like thousands of tiny mallets. It painted the windshield thickly, the wipers at full speed to open curtains of visibility that were gone a spilt second later. The vehicle had to slow under the darkened sky to avoid hydroplaning and ending up in a ditch.
The town was far behind them at this point, and billowing trees became more frequent, thicker and taller, where forests had remained untouched. They left the highway and soon turned off into a muddied dirt road spotted with watery potholes.
Anya's stomach twisted at the too familiar similarities.
It was another fifteen minutes before the next turn and the next, and the tree line crept near to the shoulder, leaning over as if reaching for any passerby.
Ten minutes more and and the road ended. The car plowed through anyway, over the grassy terrain, slowly, and through tight spaces. Five minutes and there was a wide clearing covered over with moss and bits of weed.
They stopped before it.
A remote clearing in the middle of the woods.
The director used the car phone and a minute later the ground moved.
Anya watched in horror as cracks slowly fissured the moss apart and the earth slanted upwards towards each other like a roof. The gaps grew wider and muddy water spilled into the hidden passage below. The monstrous groaning was not dulled by the heavy rain as great, big, metal doors opened skyward at least three cars wide. The spongy plants and scant weeds held strong to it's surface as the earth opened for them and set to the sides at obtuse angles.
Kai had another lab.
And the yawning blackness welcomed her back.
Authors Note: Thank you J. Rhaye for "Pinky-jerko."