CHAPTER 16: She's Gonna Be Mad
"It's just about dinner time, brother! You excited?" Derek says. "Oh wait. I guess you won't be getting any dinner, since, you're here, and Miranda, she's out there, and... yeah...uh oh. That means she's gonna find you gone. She's not gonna like that. You know, I bet she's gonna be pretty mad at'cha." He flops down beside me. "I don't normally like to eavesdrop -nah that's a lie- but I just happened to be listening in on a little conversation you two were having. Yeah, I was down here, in the vents, wriggling around, following you," he laughs. "Anyway. Sorry. Do you really think she's gonna kill your friends just cause you ran away?"
Suddenly I realize what he's doing. My heart starts pounding. He's going to get Beta and Zero and everyone else killed by making it look like I ran away. He's torturing me and killing people at the same time. He's a God damn evil fucking genius. I can't, I can't let them die. Not like this. No fucking way.
Footsteps outside. Miranda walking through the house.
"ALPHA," she says, "YOU LITTLE SHIT. I KNOW YOU CAN'T HAVE GOTTEN FAR. YOU'RE PROBABLY HIDING IN SOME PATHETIC CORNER OR CRAWLING IN THE VENTS LIKE A RODENT. DO YOU THINK YOU CAN HIDE UNTIL NAOMI GETS HERE TOMORROW? IF YOU GIVE ONE SHIT ABOUT ANYONE ELSE IN THAT CAGE, YOU WILL MAKE YOURSELF VISIBLE IN THE LIVING ROOM IN TWENTY MINUTES. THAT WILL BE EXACTLY MIDNIGHT. UNTIL THEN, I'M GOING TO FIND OUT WHO'S CLOSEST TO YOU, AND I'M GOING TO GET READY TO KILL THEM SLOWLY."
I can feel her footsteps as she walks by us. I try to get up and dash out the vent, but Derek presses his knee into my back as soon as I try to stand, forcing me painfully onto my stomach.
"Yeah, I know. Sorry brother," he says, slapping my back fiercely, "that just ain't happening'."
I want to scream. My chest starts heaving. Calm. I have to stay calm and figure this shit out. Going bugfuck crazy isn't going to help. I flex my arms, testing the bonds around my wrists.
"Nope," Derek says, smiling, "I tied that shit up good and tight. No way you're getting' out of that hair, trust me. This ain't some stupid movie where you can just loosen your ropes, uh-uh. Shit doesn't work like that. Now come on, we gotta get to the living room."
Chapter 17: Forgiveness
"Uh-huh. Yep, you know what, I bet she's gonna do it right there," Derek says, pulling me forward to the vent that opens into the living room and jamming my face against the metal. "You see that glass coffee table? That's perfect, I bet she's filmed some movies there already. Nice thick glass, looks sturdy. Low to the floor. No magazines or shit on it right? Enough room for a camera underneath. Yeah. That's a real nice view from underneath, am I right? That's what I would do." He laughs, "You know, if I was into that shit! Ooh, I bet that's her now. Shh!"
I feel the vibrations against my cheek as Miranda enters the room. She's wearing a hoodie and printed leggings, barefoot.
I gasp slightly, seeing the tights. They're printed with the night sky, all black and violet and green with nebulae, speckled with bright stars. I remember the dreams, reaching for the night sky. The ghastly open flesh of the person beside me that is also me. Seeing the similar star print on her leggings has me feeling lightheaded, like I'm seeing double. This is too strange, to surreal. Get a grip on yourself. It's just a coincidence.
One hand is held close to her, cupped. In the other is a roll of clear tape. I watch as she sits down on the couch in front of the table and unceremoniously pours two little figures out onto the table. From here I can’t tell who it is, but I dread that it’s Beta and Zero. She takes off several pieces of tape, sticking them on the edge of the table. Then she places one of the people in the middle of the table, and then holds them spread-eagled with her fingers while she tapes down their limbs. I start to struggle against the vent, but Derek grabs me by the shoulder and slams me into into the floor. He drags me on my stomach back to the vent and then kneels on my back.
“You can struggle all you want brother, it only makes it more satisfying for me. You better watch whats happening out there though, I think the show is going to start soon.”
I look up and see Miranda placing the other person on the floor, holding them there with her foot as she reaches for a piece of tape. She pauses and looks at her watch.
“ALMOST MIDNIGHT. LAST CHANCE ALPHA,” she says loudly.
No.
No.
Fucking
No.
I start banging my face on the metal grate as hard as I can and scream at the top of my lungs. I’m immortal, I’ve endured more than anyone ever should, I've passed the human pain threshold, I've died and come back several times. I know I can do something. I can do anything. I have to.
“Hm. You’re louder than I thought, brother,” Derek says amidst my cacophony. “I want you to have a clear head so you can watch what goes down over there. I’m pretty sure I have some string around here- yep, here it is. Since you gotta be like this, I’ma have to gag you okay? Now keep that mouth op-aaagh fuck!”
I twist my head around and bite down on his hand as hard I can. I feel my teeth sink through flesh and hit hard bone. I feel something give, taste blood in my throat, and roll to the side as Derek wrenches himself away. I push myself through the vent, falling headfirst onto the ground. Something in my shoulder pops, and the back of my mind tells me it's dislocated, and that I can slip out of my bonds now. I twist my arm in ways I didn't know I could until my hands are free and I just run towards Miranda, run run run. Save them. I spit Derek's blood out of my mouth and I’m screaming, sprinting, crying. I blink hard, trying to focus, frantic with adrenaline.
I see him, it’s Zero, half his body protruding from under the Miranda's foot, he's looking at me in astonishment.
The foot rises. Miranda stands, and walks toward me. Looking up at her giant figure approaching I trip, my numb body tumbling onto the floor, face hitting hard with nothing to stop it. Gasping, I try to get to one knee, but she sweeps me up I'm and hurtling away from the floor. Then her great face is in front of me. Her eyes are cold, intense, emotionless, her lips forming only the slightest hint of a frown. Wrapped in her fist, I stare up at her in terror, sweat running down my face.
After several excruciating seconds, she puts me down on the table. Her thumb presses down into my spine, and I gargle out a scream.
"DON'T GO ANYWHERE. I'M GETTING MY SHOES." She pushes down and my spine crunches beneath her. A gasp breathlessly as she walks away. There's a numbness in my lower body, I can only feel blood pooling around my chest. I can't feel my legs. I try to twist my head around to look, terrified of what I'll see.
"Don't look," Beta says. "Please."
She's there in front of me, all taped down on her stomach and spread-eagled, her head turned to me.
"Beta... "
"Alpha, don't worry. Everything is going to be fine."
That should have been my line. I can hear the hidden tears in her voice, the tremors of fear.
"Yes," I rasp, "Naomi's going to... be here tomorrow. She's going to save us..."
She nods, tears welling in her eyes, and I know she doesn't believe me. "Why did you go alone, Alpha? We would have come with you..."
"I... I don't know... really. I thought it would be too dangerous..."
"Alpha," a tear breaks off and runs down her cheek, "That's why I wanted to go with you.... If anything happened, I just wanted to be there.... to help," and she breaks into sobs.
" I would be okay... whatever happened. You don't come back like I do." "We don't know that," she says. "What if you don't? What if you only have nine lives? Alpha, I've always just... wanted to be with you."
I choke on my sudden tears. We look at each other, both lost in the same sadness, the same overwhelming tragedy. What we could have been, there's no knowing now. It's all washed away. We were always there, but so far apart. We don't have to say it, we both know exactly who we are to each other.
For some reason, I say "Beta, I think I'm remembering who I was. Before the lab. I've been having these dreams. It doesn't make any sense, but I think I was..."
She gasps, and then suddenly Miranda's fingers pinch me up and Beta sinks away from me, panic and despair in her shrinking eyes.
Falling. I land on the floor and groan. In my lower peripherals I catch a glimpse of my legs sticking up a wrong angle, and I take Beta's advice and try not to look.
Miranda just stares down at me. She's naked, except for a visor and a wristwatch. Her titanic nude figure looms over me, a pair of strappy heels slung over one shoulder, and she lifts her bare foot over me. “BEG,” she orders. “P...please.”
“BEG FORGIVENESS FOR RUNNING AWAY FROM ME.” The shadowy sole lowers until it’s almost touching me.
“Please, Mistress!”
She continues, blank-faced. “KISS MY FOOT.”
I reach up, straining my neck, my arms and dislocated shoulder useless. I press my lips into the underside of her big toe.
“LICK IT.”
I run my tongue along her flesh, tasting a hint of salt and dust.
She presses down more, squashing me into the floor.
“WORSHIP THE FOOT. HUMP IT. AND KEEP BEGGING.”
"Please forgive me..." Although I am praying that Miranda forgives me, she's not the only one I'm begging forgiveness from. I do everything she says, numbly.
Then the strangest feeling permeates my mind. It feels like someone is there watching me, beside me... even though I know there isn't anyone there.
The feeling is interrupted when Miranda says “YOU’RE SO PATHETIC." She presses down, her flesh covers me and my body bursts beneath her.