CHAPTER 2

This chapter is a bit darker so just wanted to put a 'violence' note before it. It's just how it progressed as I wrote it. Thank you for the interest! I might do the next chapter from Frank's point of view but not sure yet? - Red

Frank waited outside the clinic, somewhere blending into the shadows. The place seemed empty today. When I gave blood yesterday, it wasn't particularly packed but I must have seen half a dozen other people there besides the staff. The automatic door slid open to the clinic reception. There was no one at the front desk, not a whisper or creak around me. I waited anxiously but patiently for a minute. Then, I saw a little gold bell resting on the surface of the desk and a sign that read 'ring for assistance'. I took my index finder and tapped it against the top. No ding sounded out. I sighed with annoyance and went to push it harder. With this attempt, I felt the shiny gold button unstick and descend into the base. The force rang out the bell but I also felt a sharp sting in my fingertip. I hissed with short intake of breath, pulling it away to glance down- only to find my hand swaying, blurring and eventually disappearing behind the darkness of my eyelids. I knew I was falling but before I felt the pain of the impact from the floor, I lost consciousness.

Somewhere high-pitched noises sounded. It rang in an off/on rhythm that continued relentlessly. I could feel my chest heave up heavily, with breathing more of chore than it should be. My body felt tired, my lids weighed down. The screeching had become louder as if my hearing was focussing, like tuning a radio. In the background, I thought I heard voices yelling. Then when the air cracked with the sound of gunfire my eyes shot open. As reality came back to me, I became aware my arms were pinned to my sides. Straps bound me to the metal frame of a fold up bed that was railed either side. There was no way to avoid it; I felt the panic flood my system, my eyes darting around me to take in the scene. Along one side of a constricted corridor, identical beds lined the wall. On them were half a dozen other people, gagged and bound. Their clothes soiled and crease, their arms scattered with bruised needle holes, their bodies each distorted in some way. The girl next to me stared into the wall opposite us, not even the slightest reaction when I called out to her. Dried blood streaked down the one ear that faced me. It took me longer than it should have to realise the girl wasn't staring at anything, nor would she ever again.

"Oh G… God" I stammered. I turned my head away, but I could still see her vacant eyes, as if she'd been emptied of hope- of fear- of everything that made a person human. Tears broke free, coming hard down my face. The screeching I now knew to be the alarm beckoning overhead. The other victims were bleeding and broken. One was having seizures, pulling vigorously against his restraints. Another had bloodshot eyes that raged in the dim light of the narrow space we shared. More shots echoed from behind the door at the end of the corridor. Then, through it strode in two men. Surgical masks covered their faces and they wore black scrubs, aiding to the conceal blood stains.

"We need to go. Now!" One shouted to the other.

"You know what needs to be done. No test subject alive" He ordered, cocking his gun back. I screamed as the first bed became soaked in blood and brains. I squeezed my eyes shut, they stung from the fear and the shock. Another shot rang out, then another. My heart hammered in my chest and threatened to give out before it was my turn. Every inch of me was slick with sweat and my wrists hurt from the struggle against the restraints.

"Stop!" I cried out. They didn't and as I looked over at the last one alive, I saw a familiar face. A face I'd saw in only photographs. As the shot rang out his name fell out of my lips. "Toby". I didn't have time to feel the swell of loss for his mother whom I'd seen just yesterday. He had been one of the ones missing, and now I'd found him and failed him in one fell swoop. With every bit of strength in my muscles that I could gather, I tipped myself over. The bullet that was meant for me, pinging on the underside of my metal bed. My shoulder hurt, so did my hip as the side railings dug into it. I waited for them to try again, to hear the bullet leave the chamber but the only thing that filled the air was their screams. I heard flesh hitting flesh, the slicing of skin and I heard a familiar gravelled voice. I sobbed quietly, the floor catching my tears. I couldn't see him but I felt him as I always did. As bad as I knew it was, I was glad he was giving them the ends they deserved. Then, Frank's hands touched my face, they were not hesitant like they usually were when he touched me. They cupped my cheeks as if savouring the feeling of my skin. His dark eyes were wide and full of worry. Blood splattered over him, already drying on his face. This was the Frank that was seared into my memory at night, when I settled under the covers and closed my eyes. This was the Frank that haunted my mind. He cut me free, sliding his fingers into my hair and tilting my head towards him.

"Did they hurt you?" He asked. I tried to focus on his words.

"I don't think so. Oh God…. Frank" I said with a broken voice, looking at the bodies. He helped me to stand, his face solemn but focussed.

"I know Karen…. I know. We've gotta go, nothing more we can do now" He said.

"Why would they do this Frank? What were they doing here?" I asked. Under his jacket something was hidden and when he pulled one side open a thin folder of papers sat there.

"I'm hoping there's some light to be shed in these" He started to walk me forward but I stumbled, my legs either weak from the drugs or the shock. It didn't take him long to bend down and lift me into his arms. When we reached the corridor more bodies lay mangled in our path. I pressed my face into Frank's neck so hard, so completely- that I could see nothing, that I could smell only his skin, that I could hear only the steady thump of his pulse. I felt his muscles move under me as he walked, my weight not affecting his stride at all. My hands balled up fistfuls of his t-shirt underneath his jacket. I focussed on the stubble on his chin and every time my mind wondered to violent images, I rubbed my face against the prickles there to bring me back into sound mind. It was a small thing but it worked in that moment when I was desperate to keep my sanity. When I felt the wind on my face I opened my eyes and realised I'd been moved away from the clinic in the time I'd been unconscious. It was an industrial estate that looked abandoned. How many hours had I lost? How many hours had Frank hunted for me and how many bodies had he left on his heels?

I stood under the water, making the shower as hot as I could handle. When I first stepped in, I cried into the water pressure. I cried for those I couldn't help and I cried because the vicious memories pressed on me like an anchor on my chest. The minutes bled into each other and I stood until my legs gave out. Then I sat hugging my knees, my back pressed against the side of the tub as the water poured over my head. Minutes passed again until the water shut off and the shower curtain slid to one side.

"Shhh" Frank soothed. He wrapped a towel around me and stroking my drenched hair. He moved quickly, confidently as always but trembled a little when his hand brushed my bare shoulder. "Shhh…. There's nothing you could have done Karen. You hear me? You went further than anyone else to try and save them" He stated. His jacket was off now, my hair was making his top wet as I leaned back on it.

"No matter what I do, people keep dying around me" I said, my voice hardening. It had been that way since before I'd come to Hell's Kitchen and it was like it now. There was a moment of silence.

"Murdoch…. It hurts you that he's gone" Frank said. I blinked, Matt. Yes, Matt was gone.

"Matt never let me help him, he never let me into that world" I said. He was crouched down on the tiled floor outside of the tub, eyes boring into me.

"When…. When you care that much for someone, there's nothing- nothing that you wouldn't do to stop them seeing the darkest parts of your soul"

"Is that… what you did…with Maria?" I asked hesitantly. His jaw tightened as it did always before he spoke of his wife.

"If you can hide something from the person that knows you the best, it almost makes the lie real. A way of denying the demon" He said. I thought about it, how Matt had been with me.

"I was angry at him, Frank. I was angry for hiding who he really was from me but I didn't realise until he was gone…. That I had no right to be. For as much as he kept from me, I kept from him" I confess. I didn't realise I needed to say it out-loud until I did.

"Not everyone can find the acceptance they need in the ones they love"

"You accept me" I said. A second passed before the air grew thick with tension. I'd unintentionally told Frank I'd loved him and I was curled up in my bathtub, wearing nothing but a towel and the crimson on my cheeks.

He stood to hold an arm up for me and I stepped out, holding the towel with the other hand. I went into my bedroom and pulled on comfy things, leaving my strawberry-blond hair wet. When I walked back into the living room I noticed he'd washed up also and he was now pinning papers to my wall. Files from the folder he stole no doubt. The TV was on in the background but I tuned it out. I took a hard stare at the wall; my eyes being drawn to the word 'Terrigenesis Experiment' in bold.

"They were experimenting on people" I let out a breath.

"Whatever they were doing I don't believe this ends with a botch set-up in an industrial building" Frank said and of course he was right.

"We need to take this to the police" I said. Frank's head turned towards me, his arms crossed over his chest. The darkness outside my window made us feel more secluded than we were. Frank pointed to the television and I focussed on the story in the background.

"They have already found the bodies but they wouldn't believe you if you told them everything now. We have to find them ourselves" He said.

"So you can take them yourself?" I asked.

"Do you think they are going to wait to take more people? Something has to be done now" He said. I began to feel a little dizzy so I sat down, holding the arm of the couch.

"Then why did you kill them all Frank? One of them could have given us something to go on" I asked. He grew quiet, his eyes avoiding mine. He rubbed his face with his hands, like he often did when he was stressed.

"Frank…...?" I asked again, in a softer tone. His fists were balled up so tight his knuckles were going white. Then he kneeled in front of me, still finding it difficult to meet my gaze.

"There was a moment back there Karen…..." His voice broke and faded out. He took a breath, his eyes closed. "…. that I thought you were dead" He said. With those words, the memory of his face in the dim light came back into view, how full of fear it had been. I touched the stubble on his jaw and traced the line of it with my fingers. My lips touched his forehead, placing a soft yet meaningful kiss there. He put one hand on my knee and I could feel the warmth of his skin through the thin fabric of my nightdress. As my lips lingered on his cheek, each second felt like a minute. With the touch of his face in one hand and the feel of his fingertips tracing my thigh, my heart sped away from me. I stayed still, perfectly still and I wished nothing more than for him to come to me from the dark place he'd lived in for so long. His head began to slowly turn to the side, his own lips hovering over mine now. My breath was heavy with anticipation and as he closed the space between us. The kiss was tender and savoured. Goosebumps covered my body as his tongue met mine, it was gentle and playful yet it made me want more. Then he leaned in a little further, lacing his fingers through my hair that was still wet from the shower. He pulled me right off my seat until I was knelt on the carpet with him, still our lips finding each other and moving with ease. When I whispered his name, he ran his fingertips down side of my neck, only to be followed by his teasing kisses. When he stopped I sighed with the absence of his touch, it was something I could never have known how much I wanted until he'd kissed me like that. Franks eyes were not staring off into the distance, thinking of his wife and the guilt there as I had partially expected. It focussed on the television and the news woman's voice.

"Police have officially confirmed one victim is alive and stable, making him the sole survivor of this gruesome crime. The victim was nineteen-year-old Toby Foster whom had been missing for two weeks…..."

"That's not possible. Toby is one of the missing people I was looking for and…. I saw him die in that place Frank. Shit…. was he still alive?" I said. Frank frowned and his eyes narrowed.

"No one in that building was alive but me and you Karen" Frank said, with certainty. My hand covered my mouth as I watched more of the report.

"We need to find out what he remembers" I said, standing upright and swaying a little. Frank supported me up and he led me to by bedroom.

"You need to rest Karen- please. You have been through a lot in a short time" He said as he lowered me on the cotton sheets.

"Your leaving" I said, the words came out quiet, laced with hurt. He shook his head.

"I'm going to watch over you tonight, to make sure your safe" He said. I couldn't help but smile at the way he spoke, tying to comfort me and it was working. He headed for the door.

"Frank?"

"Yea"

"Thank you…. for saving me again. For everything" I said. He smiled in the dark room.

"Thank you…. for reminding me that I am still alive" He said in almost a whisper.