Horizon

Chapter 14

I went with my right shoulder. There was no way that I was going to let a stranger burn a tramp stamp onto my lower back. I wasn't really in a position to decline to be branded, however. I knew that Talon's upfront attitude, and honesty, was just an effort to smooth over the fact that I had been taken against my will...again.

It was a little unnerving to me how painful it was compared to the serum that Thomas injected me with. The serum was many times more painful than the branding. The smell of burning fur was more panic-inducing than the actual pain. Once Talon released the brand from my shoulder, he slowly trickled water onto the cauterized flesh. I couldn't feel the water, but I assumed that it was to help cool the wound down.

"There," Talon said as he put his tools away. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

I shook my head. "Not as bad as that serum Thomas used on my back. This doesn't even compare to what my back just went through."

Talon let out a sigh. "You'll build a tolerance to it pretty soon."

Talon reached at the straps that were restraining my arms and legs, and released me from my chair. He then pulled the straps away and waved his claws towards the metal door, as if to beckon me towards it.

"Why didn't you just give me tour, or something?" I muttered, as I poked at my burnt shoulder. I stood up and started to follow Talon out of the branding room.

"What do you mean?" asked Talon. "I'm showing you now."

I shot Talon a look of disdain. "Yeah, you're showing me...after impaling me with a throwing knife, severing my spinal cord, painfully repairing it, and dragging me into a hole to be marked as part of the crazy animal clan."

Talon looked taken back. "Crazy? I assure you this isn't crazy, Hank."

"What's crazy is that I haven't either strangled you, or tried to escape," I growled.

Talon stopped mid-stride, and eyed me slyly. "First...I'd like to see you try to strangle me. There's a reason why I'm the leader, and not someone else. Second, you're not here against your will. Go ahead and leave if you want. You were the one who wanted to meet us, but you've been fighting us the whole time."

"But..." I stammered.

"As for the branding...I only assumed that you wanted to be a part of a group of beings that aren't humans. I guess I was wrong. If you want, I can show you the way out," Talon added, and started walking down the hallway again.

"Fine, dammit," I grumbled. "Show me your colony."

"So you want to be a part of the family?" Talon asked excitedly.

"Well, what else am I going to do...go back to failing at fighting crime?" I sighed.

"That's the spirit," Talon replied as we took a right into another tunnel. "I guess I should give you basic info on the colony. It's pretty simple. There's one entrance to the colony, which is the one you came in through. There are multiple exits, however. Everyone that enters back into the colony must use the entrance that you came through, even if it's an emergency. This decreases the chance of a human stumbling upon a way into the colony."

"Smart," I muttered.

Talon continued, "The layout of the tunnels is pretty simple. Think of it like a cavern. The deeper you go, the larger it gets. Upon entering the colony, there will be a series of tunnels, like the ones we're walking through right now. Follow the tunnels, and you'll reach the center."