6 Days A Sacrifice: The (Un)Official Novelization (Chzo Mythos #4)

Day One

                                                                                 July 24th, AD 2189

        "I told you, I have no idea who he is."

        "Then why do you care?"

        "I'm a doctor, for god's sake!"

        My hearing returned and my sight followed soon after. The walls were grey, I was laying down on a cot. A dark-haired man dressed sharply was arguing with a ginger-haired woman. I could hear banging coming from a nearby door that was just out of sight, and a door to my right.

        "You don't think, if he was our agent, we would find a way to get him down here without smashing him to pieces?" She barked at the man. "A broken neck is not something I call convenient!"

        "Don't think me a fool," he cooly replied. "He arrives now, of all times, and you insist it's a coincidence?"

        "What else could it be?!" She barked with a low, raspy voice.

        I groaned, the pain catching up with me. It seemed as if mentioning one of my new injuries made my nerves catch up.

        "He's awake!" She called and came to my bedside. "Can you hear me? Do you know your name? Can you tell me your name?"

        "D-DaCabe...Theodore...DaCabe..."

        "My name's Samantha Harty." Now that she was closer, I could see she was an older woman, with fine wrinkles pressed into her face.

        "What's...happening?"

        "How much do you remember, Theodore?"

        "Hey!" The man barked back. "Stop talking to him! I don't want either of you saying another word until my employer gets here."

        "This man is seriously injured! He has to be returned to the surface and taken to a properly equipped hospital!"

        The man pushed her back. "I will not tell you again. No one leaves, no one breathes a word until my employer tells me what is to be done."

        "...god damn you," Samantha grumbled back.

        "Not a word." The man told her, standing in front of the right-hand door and crossing his arms. The guard himself was dressed absurdly old-fashioned with a vest, slacks, and trilby hat and looked to be about in his mid-30s.

        "Psst." Samantha looked at me questioningly. I pointed to the guard. She shrugged and shook her head, indicating that she didn't believe she could reason with or defeat the man. I pointed to the door on the north wall, and she inspected it. She shrugged. I pointed to the console at the bottom of the room, and she mouthed the word 'password'. I pointed to the line across the wall, indicating a privacy screen. However, she shrugged. She had no idea how to activate it. I mouthed the word employer, and she pointed to me and then mimed cutting her throat menacingly.

        I groaned again, the pain of what I could only presume was multiple broken bones making me incapable of almost anything. 

        "What's the matter now?" The guard yelled at us, annoyed.

        "His condition may still be degrading," Samantha grumbled back. "The facilities here are very understocked."

        "Move aside, I'm going to check him." 

        Samantha moved over, and the guard came over to me. He checked my eyes and temperature, and as he moved on I noticed a slip of paper sticking out from his waistcoat pocket. I slipped it out and concealed it in my fist before he could notice. He finished his exam and Samantha took her place next to me again.