SHIFTER ─ marvel

XXV. The Kimoyo Beads

Chapter Twenty-Five
Soroya

I watch as Analiese lets out an exasperated groan, looking inside a metal box that I don't know the contents of. She glares at the table of needles next to me, so I suspect she's out of drugs to give me.

She grabs a needle on her desk, injecting herself with it. I'm assuming it's the less concentrated version of the serum she's giving me to stop my shifting. She goes to grab a backpack and a coat, looking at me with fury in her eyes. "I shouldn't be that long," She says, not really talking to me, more to herself. "I've given her enough of a dose. She should last. Fuck." She starts cursing in Russian. She stares at me for a few moments, looking reluctant to leave me alone.

But she knows in order to keep me here she needs to leave. I would feel more happy about this if her hair didn't look like snakes hissing at me. Like Medusa. Even her coat looks like a a vampire cape to me.

I hear something open and close, then after a moment of silence, I realize that I'm truly alone. She's gone. For how long I don't know, but this was my time to escape. My only time.

I strain against my restraints again, pushing past the hallucination that they're electric eels, and trying to pull against them. It just digs deeper into my skin, not budging and keeping me against the table.

I try to move my head around, trying to find something that could help me in my escape. Everything looks different, it's so hard to distinguish my hallucinations from reality. I look around at the items on her desk, at the table next to me, at the wall in front of me. Nothing that could help me.

I turn my head to the left, trying to decipher anything on the other side of the room. There isn't much; there's a kitchen table, where some food and towels are. I haven't really noticed this kitchen table before, and it makes me question if it's a hallucination or not. Something on the table catches my eyes though. I squint, trying to decipher what it is. There seems to be a pile of clothes on the table, and they look oddly familiar. I think they're mine. There's an object resting on top of the clothes. After several moments of starring at it, I realize what it is.

It's my Kimoyo Beads.

-

Alex

I sniff at the ground, still trying to pick up on her scent. The night sky is getting quite dark, but thankfully in wolf form this isn't a problem for me. I can see and smell the animals around us, and it makes tracking more complicated. The hardest thing about tracking is the fact I have Khari and Bucky with me. Soroya and I have similar scents, which one would think would make tracking her easy. Khari has traces of my scent on him and Bucky has traces of Soroya's scent on him. It messes with my senses. I've told them both to keep at least a few yards away from me to help me focus.

Even with the distraction gone however, I think everyone can agree that tracking isn't my strong suite. I wish the animal part of me would take over just this once. I wish my humanity wasn't in control right now, because an animal is what we need right now. But even one wolf probably couldn't find one person in all of Russia.

I keep pushing through however. I won't give up on my sister.

I see a flashlight shine in my eyes, so I know Khari and Bucky are about to ask for an update. I look back towards them, watching as they point their flashlights at the ground. They both look exhausted. Khari almost sounds like he's sleep walking as he ask; "Have you found something?"