Three months after relocation...
Tap tap tap. Tap tap.
A man drumming his fingers on the dashboard of his car was watching the building he was parked across from. Blistering rays of sunlight bombarded the outside of his vehicle, the heat seeping in causing his forehead to sweat. He ran his eyes across the glass front of the building and could still remember the clover shaped logo that was no longer on it. Hate for this place burned inside him just as hot as the red car he was in. All too suddenly he could hear the echoes of screams that were forever trapped in his mind, and he could remember the... operations he performed that caused them.
No, "operation" wasn't the right term.
"Torture" was...
He squeezed his eyes shut and willed himself to think of something else, anything else.
C'mon, brain! he yelled internally, don't do this to me!
But you deserve this, his mind taunted.
No! We're going to make this right!
You really think she is on your side, don't you?
A familiar laugh from a distant memory caught the man off guard, causing him to snap his hazel eyes open in shock. His eyes then grew heavy as he gazed down at his lap, wishing he had something to wash away his past... at least for a little bit.
The sound of his phone vibrating made him turn his head towards the passenger's side seat where the device was laying. He reached over to pick it up, scanning the familiar number displayed on it.
He tapped the green button on the screen and held it up to his ear, answering, "Hello?"
"They're out of creamer in the break room," a woman's voice said calmly in response.
"Regular or vanilla?"
"Hazelnut."
The man sighed and ran his free hand through his greying brown hair, saying, "You called at the right time, Deb. I was considering going out to get a drink."
She gave him a slight huff in return, "Are you having those thoughts, again?"
Irritation hit him as he responded, "I can't believe that you are fine with what we did here."
Hesitation.
Then, "I'm not, Wes. I just don't allow it to slow me down. Now, has he found it?"
Wesley glared at the front of the building he was watching and replied begrudgingly, "No, I don't think he has."
"Good, the time hasn't come for them to start. You got the coordinates for the next spot, right?"
He glanced down at the small case that was on the floorboard next to him, a sense of dread washing over him as he thought about its contents, and he said in a faraway tone, "Yeah."
"You know what to do. I'll see you at the lab in an hour."
He shook the look off his face as he said, "See you there. Love you."
Deborah paused for a moment, then replied, "...Love you, too."
Their connection was then cut off, the woman on the other end having hung up. Wesley took a deep breath as he lowered his phone from his face, glancing longingly at the image on the lock screen. It was of him and Deborah posing in front of a mountain from the time they went on a business trip together in Colorado. He could recall the happiness of that time, them having egged his old partner about loosening up and enjoying the moment. His partner eventually did so, taking the photo of Wesley and Deborah begrudgingly. One of his fingers showed itself in the top right corner of the frame, his haste in taking the picture having distracted him.
Of course that was before all three of their worlds turned upside down, madness consuming what he and his partner had built together.
I should have seen the signs sooner..., Wesley thought with a wince, tossing his smartphone back onto the seat beside him.
He then turned his attention back to the building, and with one last sigh he grabbed the key that was in the ignition. The vehicle sputtered slightly before the engine began running smoothly, and he put it in reverse to back out of his parking spot. He slowly drove out of the parking lot and onto the street that ran by the building he was watching. With one last glance towards it he turned the corner, placing other buildings in front of it.
Hopefully that was the last time he had to see it...
Wesley drove for what seemed like hours, wishing that he had taken the time to get the air conditioner in his car to work again. It felt as if he was sitting on the surface of the Sun, the sweat on his brow rolling down into his eyes. When he finally got to his destination he quickly scrambled out of his vehicle, the still air outside somehow cooler. He grabbed the handkerchief that was in his pocket and used it to wipe his face, looking around the barren land that his coordinates led him to. There was nothing that occupied the ground besides a few dry shrubs and snake holes, as well as an old water tank that seemed to have been unused for years that was a few meters away from where he had parked. The intensity of the sunlight reflecting off of the sandy ground made Wesley's eyes water and he blinked several times until they focused. As he was doing this he thought he saw a figure move by the tank, causing his heart to skip a beat, but when he looked again the figure was gone.
Must be the heat getting to me, he thought as he rubbed his face, turning around to walk over to the front passenger's side of his car. He opened the door, immediately locking his gaze onto the case on the floorboard, his arms feeling heavy as he hesitated to pick it up as if it were a bomb that could explode at any moment. With a clenched jaw he reached down to grab the handle on it to pick it up with a shaky hand. He then went around to the back of the car, opening the tailgate to retrieve the shovel that was shoved in the back of the vehicle. Wesley turned towards the water tank, taking a deep breath and rolling his shoulders, gripping the handle of the case harder as he approached the metal container. When he reached it he placed the case on the ground and began digging a hole with the shovel, but sunlight glaring off of something on the ground next to him distracted him.
He set down his shovel, squatting down to get a closer look at what was there. It was a glass tube with a metal cap containing some sort of fluid. As he reached out to pick it up the fluid inside moved around violently with his motions, and as he brought it close to his face to get a better look, the tube began to heat up.
When he realized what was happening it was too late. His eyes widened as the fluid inside the tube caused it to explode. Searing hot liquid splattered into his mouth and onto his face, getting into his left eye, and it ran down his left hand. He screamed in agony as he dropped the broken tube, clenching his injured arm as he fell to the ground. The inside of his mouth burned as what had went inside of it slowly made its way to his throat.
Eventually his mind shut down, cutting off all feeling as his vision faded into darkness...
Am I dead? was the first thing Wesley thought as he slowly gained consciousness.
However, his ability to slightly move one of his fingers made him think otherwise.
He was somehow alive.
The sound of machinery around him faded in as his hearing came back.
Did Deb find me?
His mind felt foggy as he slowly opened his heavy eyes...
Panic set in as he quickly saw that he could no longer see out of his left eye and that the left side of his torso had blisters and scars.
His breathing became sharp and he tried to sit up, but straps held him down along with the mask that supported him with oxygen...
No, that's not just oxygen! he thought as he glanced down at it, a red tint on its plastic.
He frantically darted his eyes around the room. On one side of his bed was a heart monitor, but on the other on a small cart sat the very thing he was supposed to hide:
Three vials of red serum.
And the serum was being fed into the oxygen support machine that was connected to him.
His panic rose even higher and he began to struggle against his confinements, his desperateness greater than the pain his struggling caused.
That was when someone made a familiar chuckle from the other side of the room and a voice Wesley knew all too well purred, "It's good to see you awake, old friend."
The feeling of his bed rising so that he was sitting up startled Wesley slightly, and the sight of the man now standing before him filled his heart with dread.
Nelson..., Wesley thought as he gazed at the man he used to call his friend so long ago. He looked the same as the day he disappeared: stark white hair and piercing blue eyes. Those eyes still held their intelligent look, but they also concealed a side of the man that lashed out like a caged wild animal. It was a side of him that most would not notice until it was too late, and once it revealed itself one could never forget it, nor would he allow you to forget it.
The slightly shorter man gave Wesley a chilling smile as he approached, his gait revealing a slight limp in his right leg, and he rested his hand on the heart monitor as he said, "Welcome to my lab."
He then guestered around the room, but Wesley kept his eyes on Nelson as he asked in a raspy voice, "What--?"
A dry cough escaping his throat cut him off, and the other man attempted to finish his sentence with, "What happened? Well, it seems you had an ugly run in with a heavily radioactive substance. Quite unfortunate, but the sensors in my facility were able to pick up on it. Of course, a reading that large wasn't one to go unacknowledged, luckily for you. When I arrived you were on Death's door, your skin still boiling from its exposer to the source."
He paused as he sat down in a chair that was by Wesley's side, leaning forward on his elbows as he continued, "Frankly, I thought about leaving you to rot, but the happy memories we shared made me think otherwise. So I had my team take you back with us, along with what you were trying to hide."
Wesley furrowed his brows together. He knew Nelsen too well, and happy memories were something that had never motivated him before.
"That can't be... why you helped," Wesley slowly rasped with a wince, his throat raw from the scabs that had formed inside of it.
The white-haired man gave him a hurt look and replied in an innocent tone, "What? I can't help an old friend? Even when he was the one who betrayed me the most?" he then smirked, and mused, "But I must say: I do have another reason for saving your life."
The glare that he received from Wesley made him laugh as he continued, "That reason being the moral bond of repaying the one who saved you. However," he then reached out to tap the oxygen mask on his captive's face, "this is going to be a problem for you... The serum only slows down the effects of the radiation and chemicals you consumed. And I don't have access to the notes we made for it, thanks to my... ousting, so I can no longer make it quickly. You would have to collect what is left of it in order to stay alive and for me to reproduce it. I could even make an antidote for you, but I first have to know that you won't turn against me, again..."
Wesley glanced up at him, asking hesitantly, "What would make you think that?"
"Well, I hate to say this, but from the looks of it it seems that your dear Deborah had set that trap for you... "
The other man attempted to lunge at Nelson, yelling, "How dare--!" before he was cut off again by violent coughs.
Nelson gave him a pitiful laugh as he asked, "She has you wrapped around her finger, doesn't she? She used you, Wesley. And now she thinks that you are no longer of service to her, so she sent you out all by yourself in the middle of nowhere so that you could find your demise. We both know that she is fully capable of this, I'm proof of that," he motioned towards his right leg with a grimace.
Wesley glanced at the man's leg in thought. He hated to think it, but maybe he was right. Deborah showed countless times that she would have done anything for what she thought was right. Maybe she thought it was right to get rid of him as well...
The feeling of Nelson touching his shoulder made him jump out of his thoughts, and Wesley glanced up at the gentle smile the man was giving him.
"We could do something about this," Nelson said, "but that is up to you."
He then glanced at the watch on his wrist, standing up with a grunt as he said, "I have some business to attend. You should rest."
The man then walked out of the room, leaving Wesley alone with the only sounds to accompany him being the beeping of the heart monitor and his heavy breathing. He closed his eyes as he inhaled the evaporated serum against his will.
Without his say his mind wandered to recent conversations he had with Deborah. He didn't like to admit it, but her attitude and movements had seemed... off in some way.
And the way she had hesitated at the end of their conversation before his accident...
Perhaps Nelson was right.
She had tried to get rid of him...