After the Drift

Chapter Thirty-One: The Reckoning

Newt's eyes lazily wandered towards my face.

"It's really very...eye opening...seeing this side of things..." He panted out.

I didn't know the correct procedures to shut down this kind of drift, my hands started to shake. This needed to end. Now.

Who the hell knew what these monsters were capable of.

I looked everywhere for a main power outlet into the kaiju brain's tank and its life support.

Finally finding one under the main computer matrix, I flew under the desk to yank the huge plug out. I felt two hands reach around my neck and began squeezing the life out of me.

The smell of sweat and body odor gave me an inkling as to who it was. I pulled myself harder against the cord which didn't want to unlatch.

"Newton! What in the hell are you doing?!" Came a prim voice. "Ruby!" It came again with more urgency.

I know felt renewed tugging as the world was starting to get a little dimmer.

Pulling together everything I had left, I braced my feet against the wall and yanked. The cord finally dislodged and sent the three of us into an uncoordinated pile.

Immediately grabbing onto my throat and scooting away from my attacker, I looked around wildly.

A weird, shiny eyed look was staring back at me. Like something was wearing a Newt mask.

He leapt towards me, clawing out for my neck again. "Stupid girl! You ruined everything!" He screamed and wailed, throttling me and smashing my head onto the cement floor below.

"Newton! Stop it! Stop it!" Hermann yanked on Newt's shirt fruitlessly, then deciding a better idea was to hit him in the head with his cane.

"What the hell is goin-" A man's voice registered and I started seeing spots and feeling like my throat was on fire.

Suddenly the weight was off of me and I took a loud, shuddering gasp of fresh air.

I saw Raleigh holding Newt down with his forearm and knees pinning him to the ground while Newt still continued to struggle.

Not long after, more military police came in and restrained Newt more thoroughly. Pentecost had just entered the room with my parents in tow. The room was silent minus a growling and cursing Newt.

The medic had me opening my jaw, hoping it hadn't been dislocated. He began checking the damage to the inside and outside of my throat shortly after.

My father was red faced and kept shouting at Newt that he would kill him, soon held back by Pentecost himself. "Brad... you must find yourself. Your threats do no good for him. That isn't Newt right now." He gave Newt a pensive look.

My mother came over and held my hand. Tears shimmered in her eyes, "are you okay, baby?"

The medic spoke up about me not speaking out loud for a bit to let my vocal cords heal some.

Mom nodded and swallowed hard. I squeezed her hand and nodded slowly. Even that hurt.

A sudden commotion at the door had me quickly looking up, letting out a gasp from the pain.

Chuck stood there, much like my father. Red faced and angry. "What the hell happened?" He said in a low voice.

Raleigh pulled him outside with a last look at me from the both of them.

I watched the door like a hawk. I heard some yelling and a thud or two. I prayed the two could at least behave for a few minutes together. My head hurt too much for the drama.

After a few minutes, both returned. Chuck's jaw was clenched tight as he came closer to me. He looked to me with a question. Can I come near you, please?

I nodded, knowing he needed to make sure I was okay for himself. He got on his knees and pulled my hands to his chest. He stared at me for a few moments then slowly began kissing my hands.

"That scared the hell out of me, darlin'."

I nodded, me too.

He stretched up and ran a hand so delicately along the flaming finger marks along my throat.

My mother watched him intently from beside me.

I just kept staring at him. Right now, he felt like my rock. The thing that kept me from washing away in the storm.

I tried swallowing and winced immediately.

I saw the anger dash back into his eyes and he turned his her quickly to look at Newt, who was being hooked back up to a drift machine to hopefully untangle him from the kaiju.

"He's got a death sentence now. No one will ever trust him again." My mother murmured.

I sighed slowly, it still taking effort to not cause myself pain. I felt bad for Newt. His quest for knowledge nearly killed me but completely ruined his own chances.

Hopefully not ours too.