Chapter 403: The Survivor

Chapter 403: The Survivor


Anna rushed into the tunnel, but it was too late. The Firecolds had taken her daughter. She cried in despair, feeling guilty. She hadn't had the chance to spend time with her little girl and now that they were locked in the same place, where they couldn't leave or run away from a confrontation, where she hoped she could make amends with her daughter, the creature had taken her away forever. She would never see her daughter again. Whether alive or dead, Tayme was lost forever.

It hurt her to imagine how much pain that 'thing' would inflict on Tayme before killing her.

Anna went back into the Cave with her head bowed. Ian was in shock. In a single week he had lost a father, a cousin and a sister.

Anna didn't feel able to console her son. Her grief didn't allow her to think.

“I'll tell the others.” Thalia said with tears wetting her face, indicating that she too was shaken. “And I'm going to invite David, Donald and Max to join us. If we can't live with our family, then there's no point in being safe.” She said and left.

No one tried to stop her.

Thirty minutes later, a Firecold took Thalia and the scientist away. The creature warned her that her son had not survived and, without allowing her to say goodbye to her son, took her back to the Cave.

A few days later, the three siblings, Maxwell, Naya, Thalia and Anna, were sitting at an empty table, unable to look each other in the eye and unable to believe what was happening. It would be hard to tell which face was darker.

Thalia stood up resolutely.

“I'll make coffee for everyone.” She said and headed into the Lens Wing, opening all the doors in search of the kitchen.

“The kitchen is at the end of the corridor.”

Thalia was startled and looked around. The ghostly voice seemed to read her thoughts. She looked up at the rectangular window pane and saw almond-shaped eyes watching her. When he realized that she had spotted him, he ran his snake-like tongue in a vulgar way across the glass.

“Don't you want to know what we did to Tayme? Invite me in and I'll show you.”

Thalia pointed her middle finger at Firecold, who let out a hideous laugh and headed down the corridor.

She looked for the pot of coffee and then turned on the kettle, not understanding how there was power there. While she was waiting for the machine to beep, she heard a muffled noise on the other side of a door, which she only just realized existed. She walked over to it.

When she opened the door, she let out a frightened scream so loud that in less than three seconds, all the Lens in the ward were trying to make room to find out why she was screaming.

And they all had to cover their mouths with their bare hands to prevent Thalia's scream from echoing through their lips. In addition to the scream stuck in everyone's throat, there was also the emotion.

Ryan was in torn and muddy clothes, looking and smelling very bad, passed out in the kitchen's food storage.

...

Ryan opened his eyes and found three pairs of sparkling blue eyes identical to his own staring at him with suspicion and amazement and sat up.

Looking around, he recognized that he was in the Lens Wing laboratory, clean, wearing a sweater from Adam's hospital for werewolves and closed his eyes again, as if he needed to make a great effort to reorganize his thoughts.

“Are you in pain?” Thalia asked, approaching him and placing a glass of water and some aspirin in his hands.

Ryan looked at everyone around him.  The suspicion in each of their eyes was bothering him.

“No.” He said as he popped the pills into his mouth and sipped some of the water.

“I didn't think so. But probably the person you tore apart without caring that your victim's blood stained your clothes and body must have felt something.”

Ryan looked thoughtfully at Thalia and knew two things. What she suspected was the same as the feelings of everyone there and that he couldn't tell them the truth.

“I know the truth. But lie to them.”

Ian said in his mind and Ryan looked gratefully at the little Alpha.

“I don't remember all the details.” He revealed and handed the glass to Thalia, leaning back on the pillows.

“We need to hear what you know, Ryan.” Maxwell asked, revealing that mistrust was not only in his eyes, but also in his voice.

“I fought with them. I was dragged to a place where there was no light. My eyes were like beacons in the darkness and gave away my position the whole time they were chasing me. They got distracted. I heard one of them talking about being victorious and some started to rebel. It caused an endless argument between them. I gathered all my strength and crawled away from them. I found a door and went in. I couldn't open the other door and fell asleep from exhaustion. I woke up here.”

“That was... How long were you locked in the kitchen pantry?” David asked as he sat down on the bed next to Ryan.

“I don't know. Two, three days? You tell me.”

“It's been seven days since the Firecolds took you.” Donald's voice was accusing.

“He's not one of them. No one invited him in.” Naya said in Ryan's defense and all suspicious eyes fell on her.

There were a few minutes of silence.

“Go look after the children, Naya.” Donald ordered menacingly and as she was walking past him, Donald slapped her on the ass. “I want you to be clean for me today.” He said and she disappeared through the door.

“I don't want to see you treating my mother like that.” Thalia said angrily.

Donald looked longingly at Thalia's body.

“You can take her place when it's convenient for you.”

“Stop!” Ian ordered. “Thalia! I won't allow you to try to stop Naya's punishment. And Donald... You don't have to do this in front of her.”

“Where's Adam?” Ryan asked suddenly, as if oblivious to the drama.

“You didn't feel it when he... left?” Maxwell asked incredulously.

“All werewolves howl when an Alpha dies. I don't remember howling.”

Ian looked at Ryan in surprise.

“How do you know that?”

“He can't be dead.” Ryan said in a trance.

“Werewolves don't howl if the Alpha embraces death, Ryan. That only happens when they're slaughtered in battle.” Ian explained and sat down. “Did you hurt any of them when you escaped? We need to know how you did it. It could be the answer we need to make effective weapons against the Firecolds.”

“I don't know, but I don't want to see any of you out there, adventuring with those... With the Firecolds.”