Wrath and Emeralds - Chapter Nine

[draconica-nova.livejournal.com]

Title: Wrath and Emeralds – 9/12
Chapter Rating: PG-13
Overall Rating: R
Warning(s): Angst
Summary: A plan begins to unfold. Could Ryan finally be free of this virus?

Author's Notes: This marks the beginning of the end! ^^ Feedback is hugs, kisses, bunnies and sunshine sprinkled with sugar.


~~~

“Colin… come here…”

Ryan growled angrily as he approached Colin, flexing his fingers and jerking his head violently. Colin tried to back away, petrified, but his back hit a wall in protest.

“R-Ryan, please don’t do this,” he stammered, trying to shrink back.

The man’s shirt tore, allowing fur-covered muscles to bulge through. “I trusted you, Colin!” he shouted to the sky as his back arched in pain. “What have you done to me?!”

Colin could only shake his head as the wolf emerged in its entirety, snapping its jaws in anger. It glared at him with dark crimson eyes, growling and advancing slowly. There was barely enough time for Colin to scream before the monster pounced full force, teeth aimed directly at his neck…


Colin shot up in bed with all the energy he needed to get up and run, gasping out Ryan’s name in terror. The early morning vision of his plain bedroom confused him a bit at first, but it soon dawned on him, followed by a great sense of relief, that he had only had a nightmare.

He slumped slightly, trying to gather up his slightly shredded consciousness and calm his racing heart. He lowered himself back down to the mattress and sighed heavily before rolling onto to his side… and coming face to face with the peacefully sleeping form of Ryan.

He froze for a moment whilst the lingering terror of his nightmare faded, and not immediately remembering how Ryan had got there. He breathed slowly and softly, a hand curled beneath his chin innocently whilst dreams no doubt drifted past. Colin frowned – surely Ryan would wake up to regret what they’d done yesterday? And Colin had given him several opportunities to think it over and stop if he wanted.

He was suddenly hit by an overwhelming compulsion to call his wife, let her know how he was coping and update her on Ryan’s “kidnapping”. It had just hit on him that he’d cheated on her, something he never thought he’d ever do, with Ryan or anyone else.

It was hard to concentrate on much else when he also realised that Ryan, who had had a troubled few days, was now finally at a form of peace.

Swinging his legs over the edge, Colin pressed his face into the palms of his hands, trying to sort out the jumble of what was right and wrong in his head. Everything had just happened so quickly.

He stood up and, after turning to make sure the duvet was covering Ryan comfortably, moved to get dressed in sweatpants and a grey t-shirt. It wasn’t until he pulled on the shirt did he notice that it was actually one of Ryan’s, carrying a palpable scent. Because Ryan was thinner than he was, the shirt wrapped snugly around his chest and stopped about five inches above the knees.

Carefully, he pulled it off and set it to one side – he wasn’t ready to acknowledge that Ryan was slowly infiltrating his life in more intimate ways than usual. They’d both been pretty cosy last night… but the truth was that Ryan simply needed to be with someone in order to get whatever-it-was out of his system. At least, that’s what Colin tried to convince himself of.

He threw on one of his own t-shirts and took three deep breaths in and out – if Ryan really did regret yesterday, then he would be totally okay with it. He had Deb and a beautiful son to go back to…

The thought of Luke brought about a wave of sadness and longing in his heart, thinking that all he wanted to do was to see his son again – hug him, talk to him, be his father again. He loved his family too much to simply let them go, which was in no way Ryan’s fault, however Colin couldn’t help but wonder why he felt a harboured desire for him.

Suddenly, a series of loud knocks at the front door broke his musing. Pushing all thoughts aside and throwing one last look to his sleeping companion, Colin quietly left and closed the bedroom door softly behind him.

As he descended downstairs, the blurred outline of a figure could be seen through the misted glass of the front door. Colin had become increasingly weary of any visitors now, of course, but he already knew from shadow alone who this visitor was. He felt reassured but not completely to the point of absolute safety.

As soon as it had been unlocked satisfactorily, he pulled the door open but just enough to see clearly who it was. Colin was pleased to see that his initial guess had been entirely accurate – standing there, with ever-icy eyes, was Hunter.

The young man flicked his lopsided black fringe out of his way and smiled warmly. “Colin,” he greeted. “James Bryce has sent me over here to tell you something.”

Colin opened the door a little wider and looked at him incredulously. “What is it?”

Hunter held up the stainless steel case he was carrying which bared a symbol in the shape of a crescent moon. “This is a prototype antidote we’ve engineered back at the Facility. He sent me here to try it out on the subject.”

“Ryan,” Colin corrected tiredly. “His name is Ryan. Let me see this antidote, then.”

Hunter nodded and flipped the case on its side in his hands, gesturing for Colin to open it. He did so with caution and inside, held securely with black foam, was a medical syringe and a vial with a thick, clear liquid encased inside, running back and forth with the equilibrium of Hunter’s hold. It certainly looked like the real thing. “This is really gonna cure him? For good?”

Hunter closed up the case, dropping it back to his side. “That’s what I’m here to find out. This time tomorrow, this whole issue could be over and done with.”

Perhaps, within the token uncertainty and insecurity that this virus had brought him, Colin had seriously misjudged this man.

“Oh… thank you, Hunter,” Colin accepted, feeling a lot more at ease with this apparent progress. He turned, leading Hunter towards the stairs trustingly. “He’s asleep upstair-”

Something cold and hard suddenly jabbed at the back of his head and he fell with a grunt of pain, watching the floor come crashing towards him as he toppled. It was the last thing he saw before he snapped into the darkness of sleep with a thud.

Hunter stood over him, the metal case held poised after his hefty swing. The young man grinned – a very, very twisted smile that could only be described as corrupt.

“Sweet dreams.”

~~~

Colin groaned, feeling a dull throbbing pain occupy the back of his head. His cheek rested against cold hard concrete and his nose inadvertently inhaled a lot of the settled dust. He coughed against the intrusion and wearily began to regain consciousness. Climbing onto all fours and then back into a kneeling position, Colin wiped both hands over his face as he attempted to regain some self-awareness. He had a headache and felt particularly weak, but his main concern became apparent when he opened his eyes.

There was a strong sense of déjà vu as he saw that he was inside a grey room, on one of the walls hung a single silver shackle. He furrowed his brow – he’d definitely been here before…

“Welcome back.”

The sound of a voice broke that train of thought form the moment and he twisted round, finding the source of the crackled voice. It finally dawned on him then that he was inside the cell that Ryan had been caged in when the virus had first emerged. Colin had seen how small and broken he’d been as he watched on through the two-way mirror. And now he was trapped on the other side and being observed closely, and coldly, by Hunter.

“You,” Colin murmured as he shakily got to his feet, one hand rubbing back of his head in an effort to try and numb the pain. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Something I should’ve done the moment I met you, but instead I let that idiot Bryce make all the decisions and let that freak out on the loose. I’ve wasted too much time.”

Colin blinked, not believing what he was hearing. “Hunter, you let me out of here right now.” He stepped forward until he could breathe onto the glass. If not for the fact that Hunter was raised several feet higher than he was, Colin would’ve usually topped the man by at least five inches. But now he felt helpless, pressing his hands to the window desperately.

“Why would I do that?” Hunter replied, his voice raising. “I’m giving you the luxury of not seeing someone you love die. Can’t you see that?”

His head shaking, Colin asked, “What do you mean? What are you going to do to Ryan?”

“My father always saw me as a disappointment, like I wasn’t worth the time. When all I wanted was to grow up to be like him.” His eyes glazed with nostalgia, Hunter reflected. “And then he went and got infected by that virus and everything I respected about him vanished. To me, he was just a freak.”

Colin listened, nodded and hung his head – of course he’d be like this, if his own father was a victim himself. “Hunter, look, I’m sorry about your dad. I’m sorry you had to go through all that, but-“

“He killed my mother!” The young man yelled, banging his fist against the glass to which Colin flinched, stepping back a few feet. “He killed her… and he practically killed me.” And then he was crying, baring his teeth against the prospect of showing weakness. His eyes were watery but no tears fell. Yet. “You haven’t known joy until your own dad hands you a gun and literally begs for death.”

Colin was almost disgusted about what he was hearing but, too, felt an overwhelming sense of sympathy. “So you killed him,” he sighed sorrowfully.

Hunter’s head rose – his eyes were no longer tearful, but full of laughter and he chuckled to himself with a smile. “I realised that he’d finally done something for me – he’d given me my purpose. And I’m going to make him proud of me.”

“Listen,” Colin said, his eyes slipping shut and his forehead resting against the glass. “You can talk to me, Hunter. I’ll listen, I’ll sympathise. I’ll even pay for a psychiatrist or something. Just please, let me out. Ryan needs me right now.”

Hunter looked on, almost amused. “There’s a reason why none of the other cases of the virus survived.”

“They… they were hunted down,” Colin remembered, thinking back to what Bryce had told him when they’d first met. Usually, there’s a sense of happiness when a puzzle finally comes together and the last piece is slotted into place. Now though, with the price so high, Colin only felt sick when he realised what this meant.

Reaching down, the young man brought a black shotgun into view, one inscribed with two silver letters; “R.H.” Hunter’s face twisted into a wicked anticipation, his eyes dancing with mirth at Colin’s realisation of what he was about to do.

“No! Leave Ryan alone, don’t you dare go anywhere near him!”

“’Cos you and I both know, don’t we Colin?” He leaned in until his breath fogged the window. “This is for his own good.”

With that, he turned to leave, the clunking of his boots the only reminder that time was ticking away.

“No! Hunter, stay away from him! Please!” Colin thumped his fists angrily, causing the mirror glass to shake in its foundations. “Hunter!”

Hunter looked back as he opened the door that lead to the outside world and winked to the prisoner, satisfied that he wasn’t going anywhere and enjoying the panic on the man’s face as a bonus. He loved his job.

Colin crumbled, crying out to the ceiling, to God. “NO!”

~~~

Ryan paced back and forth nervously in the living room, wondering where the hell Colin had disappeared to. He’d woken up this morning, filled with warmth and contentment from the memories of yesterday and rolled over with the intention of hugging Colin close. But he’d found nothing but a cold, empty space and the soft imprint of where Colin used to be.
 
It was a dangerous idea that Colin had gone, namely because if the virus decided to manifest itself, he would have no way of stopping it.

He checked the clock – he’d only been up for two hours but who knows just how long Colin had been missing before that?

“It’s fine, he’s just fine,” he murmured as he sat down for a moment, only to stand up again and pace around the room. “He’s probably just gone to the store and he didn’t want to wake me up. Yes. That’s it. He’ll be back anytime now.”

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Ryan knew all too well that Colin didn’t go to the store for groceries himself – he always ordered in. He didn’t believe that, though. In his flustered, emotional state, he was just about ready to believe that he’d just fallen through the wardrobe and into Narnia. This was a ridiculous notion, of course, but in the last few days, the impossible had already proven itself to be very much possible.

Even so, when there had been a knock at the door, Ryan had never doubted for a moment that it was Colin coming home. How could it not be? And so he rushed off to answer it in glee and relief, ready to throw his long arms around him.

The moment the door had been pulled slightly ajar, it was pushed open from the other side and Ryan had to skip out of the way quickly in order to avoid stumping his toes on the thing.

“Lock the door, quickly,” the person said as they forced their way inside and Ryan had to double take before he realised who it was.

“Hunter?” he quizzed. “What do you mean?”

Hunter flicked the fringe from his eyes as he turned, determined. “Lock it! There are people out there looking for you! They want to kill you.”

Ryan’s eyes widened and didn’t question the situation at all, just did as he was told and pulled the locks into place swiftly. “Where’s Colin?”

“Out of the way,” he answered, looking around the hallway inquisitively. So, this is how the other half lived…

“I don’t understand…” Ryan said, a hand to his forehead as everything seemed to rush past at a hundred miles an hour. “Who’s trying to kill me?”

With steady eyes and a monotone reply, the young man turned around and seemed to produce a pistol from out of nowhere, aiming directly between the tall man’s eyes. Ryan froze instantly, his hands turning clammy and jittery with shock and confusion. Hunter’s lips twitched in an accomplished smile.

“Me.”

To be continued...