Serum – Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The slamming of the door shutting startled Sky awake. His world flooded with light with each blink. He had lost feeling in his arms, chained behind his back, hours ago. The dampness of the dark room of rusty metal walls had seeped into his bones, eliminating the memory of warmth. If not for his hatred burning hotly in his veins—for his overwhelming need to rip the heart out of the man responsible for him being where he was—Sky would have felt the chill more.

His legs had been broken to keep him from running. Broken to keep Keita from fleeing, because the bastard had known his brother wouldn’t have left him alone. The Elite had used his crippled body to force Keita to follow him deeper into the tunnels.

Ketia…

“Have you calmed down?”

Light filled every corner of his made-shift cell, highlighting the redness of the puddle Sky lay. A pool of his blood…and his brother’s blood. “Where is he?” Sky croaked. “What did you do to him?”

Though his new long blue locks, Sky glared at the Platinum Elite. “Where is my brother?”

The Platinum ignored his question and kneeled at his side. Sky tried to jerk away from the Elite when his tried to touch him.

“You have come though the change perfectly. Motor skills seem to be functioning properly, as well as, speech,” the Elite said. “I will be taking new samples to compare it with your old, so if you would be so kind as to refrain from moving, I would appreciate it.”

Sky grit his teeth as the shackles were removed from his wrists. Thousands of needles stabbed his wakened limbs, but none more so than the hypodermic needles that was speared into his inner elbow.

“If you behave, I will allow you to rest on an exam table,” the Elite said. “Will you behave?”

“What do you care,” Sky bitterly said. “If you wanted me to live, you wouldn’t be conducting your damn freak show in this place. I could die of shock from your ‘treatments’ or from infection, since you haven’t bothered bandaging any of the injuries you made.”

The Elite brushed Sky’s hair off his forehead. “How perceptive you are. No, I care not if any of my subjects die. However, my previous subjects were tests—trash. Despicable creatures that are not worthy of life. While you and your friends are not.”

Sky’s breath stilled. Friends?

“I have taken a great liking to Violet,” the Platinum continued. “I did not think I would. After all, mongrels are disgusting beings. Yet his beauty calls to me—well, his remaining beauty. But his ruination makes him all the more special to me. He and I are connected now.”

Sky gasped as the feel of cold steel cut into his broken legs. His mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood as he bit his cheeks in a sad attempt to hold back his agony as the Elite peeled the flesh from his inner thighs.

He lay weak and panting, his strength completely sapped by the time the Elite was finished.

“My apologies,” the Elite said calmly. “But I did warn you that I needed more samples. You need not worry about infection, not if your test results come back positive. There will be scaring, of course, but you should heal up nicely in a week or two.”

Sky rolled onto his back. The chill of the cement extinguishing the flames of his new and previous wounds. “Please…where is he?” he wearily asked. “Please tell me. Where did you take him…?”

He was not above begging. Sky had been in this situation before a long time ago. He had been eight. Beaten. Whipped. Bloody. Helpless to do anything as his brother suffered an unknown fate. Left in a corner chained to the walls without food or water, and asking the same questions he was asking now.

“Mm?” the Platinum blinked at him. “Where is who?”

Tears welled in Sky’s eyes, but he refused to let them fall. “Where is my brother!” he growled.

“Ah,” the Elite said, smiling. “I had hoped I had not broken your spirit. You were so quiet and…unanimated throughout the whole process. Unlike your other friends.” The Platinum frowned. “I must say, the blond prince is quite a disturbing individual. I do believe he is someone who would benefit greatly with a little bit of therapy.”

He has Rio too…

Sky closed his eyes. The helplessness of their situation pressed heavily upon him. Riki will come, he told himself. Riki was still out there, and once he finished talking to the gangs, he would find and save them.

“But we were not talking about your friends, were we.” The Platinum picked Sky up—none too gently—and carried him to the ratty exam table in the far corner of the room. Sky moaned as the Elite dropped him on the thinly patted metal bed, and shackled his wrists to it.

“What were we talking about, hum?” The Platinum mockingly tapped his blood stained gloved finger on his chin. “Ah yes, your brother.”

Sky held his breath as the humor faded from the Elites eyes.

“Your brother was not a viable candidate. He did not take the injection kindly and became wild and uncontrollable.” The Platinum drew a shit sheet over Sky’s chest, tucking it around him before looking him in the eyes. “He was disposed of.”

Sky stared at the Elite in disbelief. He opened his mouth to tell the Elite to go to hell—that he didn’t believe him, but the only thing that emerged was a scream. A scream of pain. A scream of loneliness and grief. Agony exploded in his heart, overshadowing his physical suffering.

Ketia wasn’t dead. He wasn’t.

“There, there,” the Elite cooed after his screams died.

Sky felt a pinch on his arm.

“I’ve given you a sedative to help you relax,” the Elite told him.

Tears fell unashamed from Sky’s blurry eyes. “I’ll kill you,” he whispered as the drugged pulled him under. “I’m gonna bathe in your blood…and you’re gonna watch me…as I rip your heart out…and…eat…it.”

And his brother will be standing at his side helping him. Because Keita wasn’t dead. He wasn’t. He was no one without his brother.

No one.

There could not be one without the other…

oOoOoOo

V jacked up as a scream echoed outside. Jerking at his chains, V turned to Rio. “Sky. Rio! That was Sky!”

The assassin opened his eyes. “Yeah, dude. I heard it too.” Rio grimaced as he attempted to sit up. Landon had been ‘kind’ enough to give their chains some slack, allowing them to sit—or, more importantly—lay down on the dirty floor of their prison cell.

“Not much we can do about it though,” Rio said falling back down. “Sky’s gonna have to tough it out until we come up with a plan to get out of here.”

V looked at Rio with concern. The assassin had taken more lickin’s than V thought humanly possible. And it was his fault. Rio… Rio the greedy, selfish bastard who had ripped out his pet tracker and tried to sell him—

Pet tracker!

V glanced down at his pet ring with excitement. “Bless you, Orphe,” V said, “and your paranoia!” His Blondie had placed two trackers on him. A new chip implanted in his hip, and a dummy ring just in case someone thought to kidnap him, thanks to Rio.

V moved as close as he could to Rio and whispered, “If I set the ring’s alarm off, Orphe will know I’m in trouble.” And then the Blondie would track his location using the one in his hip!

“Better your ring than mine, because he took my bracelet off. And how you gonna do that?” Rio asked playing with his long hair that had grown down to his hips scantly an hour ago.

V frowned. Why would Landon take Rio’s pet bracelet off, but not his ring? Whatever, he couldn’t think about that now. “I’ve been told I have a talented tongue.” V opened his mouth and flashed Rio his tongue ring. He had given up the bit of twine because he still had the ring. Landon thought he knew all about them, but if the Elite had then he would have known about that his piercing was a lock pick in disguise.

“That tongue of yours is the reason why that freak is all hot-to-trot for ya,” Rio replied. “If you run, he’s gonna charge after us like an angry father whose caught you wearing his daughter’s pearly white G-string.”

V shuddered. The humiliation of the Elite’s hands on him, touching him intimately. His mouth on his… He was only thankful Rio had been knocked out, and hadn’t witnessed Landon’s disgusting affection for him.

“That dude is psycho,” Rio said. “Fucker would benefit greatly with therapy, I shit you not.”

They would all be needing therapy when this was all over. V looked grimly at Niko’s still form. The kid had yet to waken. “Niko,” V mumbled. “We let Niko go and create a diversion so he can run and get help.”

“What about the ring-thingy?” Rio asked, dragging his body to the wall and using it to help him sit up, and stay up.

V pulled at his newly acquired long hair in frustration. “If I set off the alarm, it won’t do anything but get Orphe here. We’re in the underground tunnels. It would take him hours to find us in this maze.” But Niko was a smart kid. He had tapped out directions on his neck, so if he got Niko free V was sure he’d be able to lead a rescue party back to them.

“Only one problem with that plan,” Rio said.

V looked at Rio. “Yeah?”

“I’m getting stronger by the minute,” Rio said. “Whatever drug he gave us that gave us our new hairdo is awesome.”

“What the hell does that have to do with the plan?” V asked. Yeah, the pain was subsiding a bit—

“We need more than you and I to get it done,” Rio said. “That golden shot felt as if it ripped me apart, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I could run fast enough to be of any help.”

V stilled. Slowly, he removed the piercing from his tongue. V gasped and held his bruised ribs as he slid it across the floor to Rio. “You can pick a lock, right?”

Rio hand closed over the little bar. “I can,” he said slowly. “Why?”

V swallowed audibly. “I’ll be—“

“You’ll be what, my precious?”

V trembled, his words locked in his throat as Landon appeared. He had not heard the Elite enter the room, and from Rio’s wide eyes, neither had he. To make matters worse, Niko chose that time to waken.

“Julius?” Niko mumbled. “Bob?”

Confused, V glanced down Landon and saw two men in the Platinum’s fists being dragged into the room with them.

“I’m afraid you will have a bit of unsavory company for a bit, my precious,” Landon said. “I have yet to administer the serum to these two. They had passed my first tests, but Niko had been gifted to me, so I hadn’t any time to give it to them.”

V stared helplessly at the two men. “Cid? Norris?”

“Oh,” Landon said. “You know them?”

V shook his head. “Nah… I thought they were someone I knew, but it can’t be them. Not unless you got them off world.”

V stared into Cid’s eyes, willing the mongrel to keep silent.

“I’m afraid not,” Landon said chaining the two mongrels across from Niko. “The serum does not work on off-worlders—well,” Landon looked at Rio. “He is an exception. I doubt there is another like him.”

Rio grinned. “I am one of a kind.”

Landon frowned at Rio. “It would not matter to me, my precious, if you know them or not.”

V didn’t believe him.

“I doubt they will survive, regardless of how much of a perfect their test results were. Riki’s colleague, what was his name…Guy,” Landon said walking toward Niko. “He was a perfect match for the serum, but he failed miserably. And, as his duty, Riki put him down like the rabid dog he was.”

“Guy attacked Riki,” V called out, panicking at how focused the Platinum was on Niko. “Guy was obsessed him and he couldn’t stand the fact Riki had chosen his spooky Blondie over him.”

V breathed a sigh of relief when Landon moved away from Niko, then paled when the Elite turned toward him, his face twisted with anger.

“Chosen?” Landon hissed. “Riki did not choose Iason!”

“You flipped his crazy switch, dude,” Rio muttered.

“She gave him to Iason!” Landon shouted. “Her interference is the reason why I am operating in such unsavory conditions. If she had taken Riki from Iason, I would not have had to struggle unnecessarily to unlock his secrets.”

V tried to scramble away as Landon reached for him, but the Elite grabbed him by yanking on his chains, dragging him across the floor until he was in Landon’s arms.

“But she won’t take you away from me,” Landon whispered. “She can’t make me give you back.”

V wildly looked at Rio. The plan, he mouthed.

Rio gave him a firm nod just before Landon carried his struggling body out of the room.

Serum – Chapter 16 ★ ～☆ Serum – Chapter 18
✿Bookshelf ✿  ♥  Book 6 – Chapter Index