A/N: Sorry guys, sort of a short chapter but it is a bit too intense to make a lot longer. You will see why ;) Hope you are enjoying the story!
Chapter Six – Snake In The Grass
I had never seen darkness like this before. My eyes hurt from trying to see. I couldn’t move my body at first so I had to do my best in order to comprehend where I was. Slowly, my memory returned to me and I realized I had submitted myself to the man who called himself Ethan. I would be more familiar with calling him master, however.
When I was finally able to move my limbs I curled my arm in towards my body and comforted my sore chest. Unlike all the muscles throughout my body, my chest felt as if it had incurred physical damage like an extreme blow. It was almost like I had fallen a great distance and landed face first. I then stood and tried to feel around. It was not too cold or too hot but my teeth were chattering from the pain.
In all my years alive, I couldn’t remember feeling so god awful. I was also still deathly thirsty from my hike and it had only grown worse. I didn’t know how long I had been there but my body had not been cared for or nourished in whatever span of time it was. When I finally found a wall I followed it for what felt like miles. When my body couldn’t go any further I fell to my knees and began to scratch at my face.
If I could have screamed I would have but my voice was strained I couldn’t get out a whisper. Scratching at my face seemed to make the pain through the rest of my body go away. I wanted more than anything for the super healing I had seen before, the ones from the hospital with my burns, to come back.
“They won’t be back.” My master’s familiar voice echoed throughout the room I was in. I looked up to find that candles were beginning to illuminate the grand hall. It was slightly different, much larger now with a wide open floor and no throne for him to sit upon. I turned to find he had been standing there watching me.
I did my best to stand and pushed my weight against the wall. Just as I had it disappeared and I fell to my side. I screamed out in pain, some resemblance of my voice coming back to me.
“What…” I couldn’t finish. I was so angry and yet nothing could have moved me from that spot without godlike force.
“Your healing. All the abilities you had before you submitted yourself to me are gone. I have them now. Call it a consolation prize for the long hours and dedication I am going to have to invest in training you.”
I smiled and shook my head. At first, I thought he was joking. But as his slight smirk did not changed I realized he was serious.
“What exactly did you take from me?” I asked really wishing for one second I could heal the way I healed in the burn ward. Woulds like I had, a now very blatant bruise and rips in my skin all over my body, would take weeks to heal properly followed by some recovery time for the muscle damaged I seemed to have acquired.
“That is not important. Do not dwell on what it is you have lost but focus on what you are about to gain.” He neared me now and kneeled over so that he was close to my face. He looked at me like I was some sort of magnificent piece of artwork he had been dying to add into his collection, “I am going to mold you into the perfect weapon. You are going to have everything you ever wanted. Strength, security, power. But with this you must never forget. You are mine, Perses. You will always be mine.”
It was hard to take in what he had been saying. I tried to stand one last time but this time, as I fell to the ground, it was from the boot of my new master. I cursed in his direction which was followed by a superhuman grip around my neck. His nails sank themselves deep into my flesh causing hot blood to rush down to my collar bone.
“You will address me as your superior, not an equal. You and I will never be equal. You will also remain down until I command you differently. I am going to tear you down as far as possible and then I will take you to hell another fifty feet. Only then can I build you back up in my image only.” He stood and straightened his robes. With a snap, the machine guard brought in a large trunk and placed it in the center of the area. Master smiled and now addressed the object.
“What lies inside of this box is your first level of training. I will not tell you what is inside but I am sure you will find out as soon as you are able to walk again. Your only hint is that it is alive. Your only task is to kill it. Once you have done that you will be nourished with food and water, given clothing and a place to sleep until your real training starts. Good luck, my child.”
He disappeared before my eyes. It took me nearly an hour to find the will to move and then another twenty minutes just to crawl over to the box. The pain was no longer the problem so much as how hard it was to just move. Once at the box I fiddled with the chains for several minutes before I was able to pop open the lid.
What lie inside was horrifying. Of anything I could have found in there, this was the very last thing I expected. I had to turn my head for a moment to throw up blood. It was the only thing in my stomach by them. I wanted to turn my head back and find something different but the image didn’t change.
“B-Bradley?”
Inside of the box, under three, neatly placed weapons, a knife, a gun and a rope, was my old friend from the school in Texas. He had been squished into the chest in the fetal position, a bruise across his eyes, probably from the blow that knocked him out.
He looked dead but I could tell he was lightly breathing.
The reality of my situation was finally taking its toll on me accompanied by the selfishness of my actions. I wanted to go home and apologize for what I had done and said. I wanted it all to be over and for this to go away. I wanted this to be a nightmare. Ethan wasn’t real, he was just a mockup of every crazy, vampire looking, goth-like, psychopath weirdo I had seen in those crazy movies I always watched and I would wake up, back in Texas dreading the next day at school.
I would then hide out and try and be invisible. It would be weekend, just like I promised Bradley and we would play videogames and eat all the greasiest food in the world until we passed out the next morning and slept until noon. My mother would have blown up my phone by about lunch time because she was quite the worrier. Dad would be telling her to calm down because I never get to go out and that I am a good kid. He would then be secretly telling me not to get anyone pregnant and drugs aren’t all they are cracked up to be.
After we were finally conscious, Bradley and I would go to my house so he could meet my parents because he was curious like that. We would eat my mom’s award winning fried chicken and greens and my uncles would come over to entertain us that night with stories about their world travels. Bradley would have been so excited, having been so deprived of social interaction before, that he would not want to leave.
After that we would be best friends and stay in touch. I would get over how weird he was and we would be like brothers. The brother I never had. We would go off to some random college and I would study something average like liberal arts to please my parents and he would study something like directing or videogame design where he would meet a girl who was equally nerdy.
From there, I don’t know for sure. I would like to keep it as a surprise. But there would not be any more surprises. Not the type that you end up liking and can tell stories about later. My life had changed dramatically and I knew it was my fault alone.
Why couldn’t this all go away? Why couldn’t it disappear?
I watched him breathe for a long time, removing the weapons. Every so often I would look down at them. I grew hungrier, more thirsty, more tired. I was desperate for sustenance. If I didn’t get any soon I would die. It was down to me or him.
Could I do it and call it survival? Would that allow me to sleep better at night?
I picked up the knife and allowed the blade to rub against my rough, dirty palm.
Him… or me?
Oh Bradley, I wish you’d never met me.
_
60 Days Later
_
“You have come so far, my child. I am proud of the progress you have made.” Master stated as he placed his hand onto the top of my head. I knelt down in the submission position, one knee on the floor the other supporting my body. My standard uniform here was the leather pants, boots and jacket.
I bowed my head to him and stood at the snap of his finger. To my left was my accomplice. His name was Pippa. He had been my cyborg accomplice. Much resembling those of Masters, his eyes were bright red, glowing orbs and his body was made of a titanium frame anatomically correct to that of a human core.
It did as I did until commanded otherwise. He was a drone created only to obey. I was the same. I only obeyed.
Master walked to his throne and snapped his fingers twice. The cyborg to his left then pulled a long, thin blade out from a sheath attached to the side of the seat. Once it was in his hands he signaled for me to walk over. My hair had been slicked back neatly, my skin nearly white from having lived in total darkness for my months of training.
The only time I had seen the light was when I was training… or killing.
“Now give me your hand, palm up.” He stated. I did as told. It was hard, callous from the work I did and the training. My wrists slightly exposed from under the leather jacket and you could see scars, battle wounds, making themselves seen.
I watched as he dipped the blade into my skin. But this was no ordinary blade. In fact, as it submerged itself into me the area of contact went numb. The numbness traveled from my hand to my arm then my chest. It lit my chest up like a red light bulb. I then watched was my veins started to turn black across my skin like some morbid roadmap.
“This is the mark of final submission. I am putting a piece of myself inside of you so that you cannot ever leave me. I will hear as you hear, see as you see and feel as you feel.”
I looked at him for a moment, my sight fading from a color scheme to black and white. It had absorbed the last bit of life from my body. And then all thought went blank. I could actually feel his presence inside of my mind.
Master took in a deep breath and shut his eyes. He was making himself comfortable in my subconscious. I allowed my body to relax as the numbing turned into a burn and then faded away as he pulled the knife from my palm.
I looked down to see that a mark, somewhat like a tribal ‘X’ was now left behind.
“Your first mission is very simple.” He smiled and opened his eyes. They were as red as the cyborgs at this moment now, “You must bring me Pandora.”
Nodding my head I bowed to my master, “Permission to speak, Master?” He agreed, “How shall I lure her in so that I might find and bring her to you? I have turned her away and her trust must be acquired.”
He laughed, “You will pretend that you have seen the error of your ways. You will allow your former friends and family to feel as if you have found the light and that you would like forgiveness. You then do as Pandora tells you. You find her and bring her to me.”
It was like a program uploading itself into my subconscious. I couldn’t think of anything else. My mind went blank and then it went very, very clear.
Find her.
Find her.
Find her.
I didn’t know what he wanted her for. I didn’t need to know. I also didn’t need to care. All I knew was that the sister that had driven me away from everything I ever knew was the one person I would now have to revolve my life around.
Only this time, I was sure she wouldn’t be the eye of worship. Not here. Not this time.