I JOLTED WHEN I heard the sound of the tank door swinging open. I quickly glanced behind me to see the two men walk in with Hunter, who looked entirely unamused.
"Don't you dare touch him." I warned, feeling fiercely protective of the creature resting his head on my lap. His eyes were now open, watching the men that entered with a steely gaze.
Hunter laughed, "How scary." Hunter jeered at me, snapping his fingers at his men who took that as a cue to approach me. The creature stiffened in my lap, lifting his head to sit up and face the men that quickly approached, but I put my hand on his chest.
His skin was cold and smooth beneath my fingertips as I steadied him, he was in no condition to fight.
I hesitated as the men approached, but made no move to shove them away. Not yet at least. To my surprise, they didn't immediately grab me and drag me off, instead, one of the men reached over and unclipped my access badge from my blouse. I felt the creature stiffen under my hand at their proximity, but he made no further move.
With my access badge, the men retreated, handing it over to Hunter. Hunter took the access badge and slipped a small black tablet from his lab coat pocket, which he used to scan the badge. I observed his actions with skepticism, watching the men in the corner of my vision in case they approached again.
Hunter typed something into the tablet and slipped it back into his lab coat pocket. Then he looked up at me and grinned, "Calm down." He started, walking over to hand me back my access badge.
I looked at the laminated badge in his hand for a moment before slowly reaching my hand out to grab it, still watching him carefully.
Hunter then reached into his pocket and held out my car keys and phone that he had taken from me earlier. My eyes widened in disbelief as I took the items, quickly pocketing them and regarding Hunter with a look of confusion.
Hunter crossed his arms, "We aren't here to take you away. In fact, you've done very well today. Aside from your idiotic act of aggression." Hunter said, rubbing his eyes which were still red and irritated.
At his discomfort, my lips lifted up into a small smile.
Hunter scowled. "In fact, you can leave whenever you like. As we cleared up earlier, you know what would happen if you tried to contact the authorities." He spoke as his men began to file out of the tank, "And besides, in the impossible case they would believe such a delusional little girl, just remember, you signed a confidentiality agreement. You are legally sworn not to say anything about anything you have seen to anyone, including the police. Anything you admit while under this contract will not be usable in court. If you do tell anyone, you will be in breach of your contact, which is also punishable by law." Hunter drawled, turning to follow his men out of the tank.
My eyes followed his movements, and Hunter paused at the doorway, turning back to me.
"Oh, and I've updated your badge privileges. You've been granted access to this section. However, you will be monitored and your access can be revoked at the press of a button." Hunter said, peaking his black tablet out of his coat to show me. "You'll do well to remember that." Hunter warned, pointing his finger at me. It was clear that he was threatening me, but I was more angry than scared of him.
Just then the men returned, holding buckets of water and rags.
"Now, clean up your mess." Hunter ordered with a vicious grin, before he pivoted and exited through the door. His men followed behind him, closing the door as they left. Once I was sure they were gone, I looked at the buckets of water and clean towels they had left behind.
If they expected me to sit here and clean the floor, then they would be sorely disappointed. I thought wryly.
Though now to think of it, it would be a good idea to clean up. I looked down at the pool of blood beneath us that had managed to soak my pants and completely mark the creature.
I turned to the creature. "Do you think you can move over there?" I asked, gesturing to a clean spot on the tank wall a few feet away.
The creature looked over to where I pointed and back down at his legs. He opened his mouth to speak, "I don't know." He admitted, hanging his head, his voice was low and exhausted.
I bit my lip. "I can help you, you just have to trust me." I offered, awaiting his response. It wouldn't surprise me if after everything he might not trust me, but I really wanted him to.
The creature hesitated for a moment before relenting. With a nod, he made to sit up from his position to stand. When he rose, I was shocked to see just how tall he was. At full height he was at least six feet, and well over a foot above me.
I noticed he was a little wobbly, so I draped his arm over my shoulders to steady him. My knees almost buckled when he leaned his weight on me, but I managed to hold it together. He was a lot heavier than I expected, but I managed to support him as much as I could. Together we walked a few feet before collapsing against the side of the tank wall.
His face was dejected and I could see a hint of pink beginning to stain his cheeks as I steadied him. It seemed that he didn't have much practice using his legs, and that bothered him.
"That was great!" I said prasiningly, hoping to assuage his embarrassment. He seemed to relax a bit at my words, and I smiled internally.
"Here, sit down and I'll get the buckets." I added quickly, before moving the water buckets and rags beside me. At least this way we would not have to sit in a pile of blood. In response to my words, the creature slowly sat down, leaning against the tank wall for support.
Taking one clean rag, I hesitated before quickly placing it over his lap. I told myself that covering that area would somehow make this task less awkward. After all, I've never bathed another person before, let alone a man. It was hard to focus when he was clearly very naked.
The creature looked down at the rag I had hastily set on his lap in a mix of curiosity and confusion. I busied myself aligning the buckets beside him when I noticed the creature went to remove the rag. I stopped him just as he had started to pick it up.
I averted my eyes. "Wait! Just leave that there okay?" I pleaded, waiting for him to put it back.
The creature stared at me before slowly putting the cloth back and returning to lean against the wall. I let out a sigh of relief.
I felt his eyes on me as I turned back to the buckets of water and began dipping the other clean rag into one of them. Once the rag was thoroughly saturated, I turned back to face the creature.
"Can I?" I asked, gesturing to the blood that coated his body. By the way he slumped against the wall, I doubted he had the strength to do it himself.
The creature watched me for a moment, as if not fully understanding my question before nodding slowly.
I sucked in a breath.
Safely starting at his arms, I dragged the wet rag down from his bicep to his forearm, washing away the stains of blue. It was awkward at first, but eventually I relaxed, focusing on the task.
Once I was done, I took his hand, washing his wrists where the cuff had dug in. The creature jerked when I ran the cloth over the wounds there.
I pulled back, "Sorry!" I gasped. "I can stop."
"No." The creature answered quickly. My wide eyes met his sparkling blue ones.
"Don't stop." The creature continued lowly, breaking eye contact to look away in what looked to be embarrassment.
I fought the blush forming on my cheeks.
"Okay." I breathed, before continuing.
I dragged the cloth across his chest, avoiding the gills that lined his ribs. They twitched and flared as I dragged the cloth down his chest to his stomach.
Dipping the cloth into the bucket, I started on his legs. As soon as my cloth touched his legs, the creature jerked again.
"Sorry!" I said again, cursing myself silently. "Did that hurt?"
The creature shuddered. "No, it didn't."
"Oh." I breathed, my face heating.
The silence grew heavy as I continued, and I searched my brain for anything I could say to make this less awkward. His legs were incredibly sensitive, and I noticed he struggled to stay still as I wiped off the drying blood.
"Will it grow back?" I wondered aloud, glancing at his legs.
"Yes." He replied, his breath hitching as I brushed over his bare thigh with the wet rag. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was in pain. His lips were pulled back and he sat stiffly, jerking with every brush of cloth against skin.
Shaking my head, I focused my attention on my task cleaning his legs. Without the tail, the creature looked like a normal man. I was beginning to feel bad about calling him the creature all the time.
"Do you have a name?" I asked suddenly, looking up into the creature's face. His blue eyes looked down, meeting my gaze with a scowl.
"I am Subject 0017." He said simply.
I'll take that as a no.
"Is that what you would like me to call you?" I asked, turning to clean the rag again before refocusing on him.
The creature stared into my eyes, searching. "Call me what you will." The creature by muttered finally, looking away.
With a sigh, I removed the cloth from his legs, tossing it into the bucket.
"I'd prefer it if you picked." I began, standing up. The creature watched my movements. Our eyes met again and I let out a breath.
"I should go." I spoke finally, glancing at the tank door and down at my access badge I had reclipped to my pants.
The creature stiffened and his eyes widened. Suddenly he tried to stand, but I acted quickly, putting my hand on his shoulder and gently pushing him back down. But the creature was fast too, taking advantage of my nearness to grab me. His long cool fingers wrapped around my wrist, keeping me close to him.
"It's okay." I cooed to the creature who watched me with fierce blue eyes.
I put my hand on his, meeting his gaze. "I promise I will return." I began, feeling the creature's grip around my wrist relax, "I have a plan, but I need to find someone first."
I squeezed the creature's hand, "Please, you have to let me go if you ever want to get out of here." I pleaded, looking into his eyes.
The creature looked conflicted as he slowly released his grip around my wrist, dropping his hand to his lap.
I let out a sigh of relief. "I'll be back." I said with finality before standing back up and heading towards the tank door.
I needed to form a plan, and for that, I had to find Noah.