EYES OF FIRE AND ICE

Chapter Eight

She opens her teary eyes and notices that all of the people she had passed are nowhere to be seen. Wondering where they've went, she tries to distract her thoughts from the brutal compressive force she's experiencing. It's as if she's being shoved closer and closer to the ground and she can't seem to understand why.

Dark spots begin to cloud her blurry vision.

All sounds go silent as fatigue overcomes her body. Alia struggles to keep her suddenly heavy eyelids from blocking her sight. She is exhausted.

Alia spots a distant figure in a pair of black boots running towards her just as she succumbs to the darkness.

Waking up in a dark, cold room is not a situation Alia would have thought herself ever being in.

Some sort of metal binds her wrists to the armrests of an examination chair and she quickly finds that her ankles are also bound. Roughly pushing against the restraints causes no results. Only one plausible conclusion to why she is here comes to mind and dread starts to fill the pit of her stomach.

They have found her.

Sparing a glance at the metal walls surrounding her, she finds them bare with a slight sheen in some areas. The only source of light in the room comes from the screen of some sort of cubed-shaped monitor atop a black metal stand to the right of her legs. The technology is unfamiliar to her and looks very old, ancient even. Where is she?

Footsteps outside the completely metal door before her catches her attention and she tenses. It is pushed open and a bright light momentarily blinds her vision, she turns her head to the side without second thought. The movement felt unusual and quite forced, but she pays it no mind as her eyes train in on the male entering the room.

A buttoned-up, white lab coat covers the man's frame. Alia is unable to look away as he moves forward with an unnaturally large scalpel in his left hand. Dark hair and dark eyes with a sickly pale tinge to his skin, the man looks disheveled and slightly irritated.

His hand twitches as he sneers, "Ready to play nice?"

Alia says nothing.

Anger fires up within the man's dark orbs and a crazed expression takes over his face. Suddenly, he lunges forward with the blade extended towards Alia's chest. She does not have a chance to react before her right hand breaks free from the metal restraint and wraps tightly around the male's neck.

The sudden reaction is not what surprises her. No, what surprises Alia is the fact that her hand is not her hand, but that of another man.

The large, unforgiving hand tightens around the perpetrator's throat until his spine and trachea crunch from the force. She is not in control. Wide, bulging eyes look back at her and they are surrounded by disturbingly purple skin.

The lifeless body drops to the ground after the hand releases their grip and her eyes focus briefly upon the other restraints. Within seconds, they are no longer and she stands to a towering height just as another scientist, she presumes, walks into the room.

Horror laces his features whilst he gasps at the body on the floor. Before he can make another sound, thick, elongated claws slice through his throat with ease and blood splatters onto the wall beside him. The crimson liquid both sprays out into his surroundings and flows down his body with speed as he falls to the floor spluttering whilst trying to cover the torn flesh with his hands.

Where is she?

Looking up from the bloodied male, her vision turns to look through the open door and she sees two men spot her - him. Instantly, words of alarm come from the pair and it alerts others nearby who come running towards the room. The runners wear all black clothing and she realises they must be some form of security. From what she has just witnessed, Alia realises that they are done for and braces herself for further bloodshed. But, it does not come.