Product of War

Chapter Four

        Malachi awoke an hour later still in the same lab room.  However there was a significant difference than last time when he could remember nothing.  His memories and thoughts were not obstructed.  It was apparent that a scientist had already injected him with the green antidote.  The boy could also feel his wing healing, but there was still some pain. 
         The clarity in his mind did nothing to ease any of the boy's internal turmoil.  In fact, it only served to worsen it.  Malachi wished he could forget how horribly his plan had failed.  There was no way for him to get any of the answers he wanted, and that was a worse feeling than having a broken bone.
A small metallic clunking noise snapped the boy out of his thoughts.  He looked around the room to try and find the source of the noise.  The room with the metal table he was on was very small, but two walls were glass.  Behind those glass walls there was one of the younger scientists bent over one of the counters writing something on a tablet.  Her back was turned to the boy.  Next to the woman was a small 3D hologram of a human body with a tail and wings, most likely Malachi.  On the hologram there was a small dot on the left arm and dna strands showing variations patterns.  She was surrounded by glowing test tubes filled with all kinds of different mixtures.  While the tubes were luminescent, they didn't seem to be making any noise and neither was the tablet, so Malachi continued his visual search.  Another scientist, this time older, was at another counter.  His back was also turned to the boy.  All around him there were wires and gears.  The man was holding what looked to be a large cube.  The box had wires coming out of every possible place.  Glowing buttons covered everything that the wires didn't.  The cube was buzzing, but the glass wall blocked the noise from reaching the boy's ears. 
       That's weird, Malachi thought to himself, what was that noise then?  He then felt a small angled piece of metal roll next to his hand.  The boy craned his next to the best of his ability and looked to where he felt the metal touch.  The metal was a dull silver and had the appearance of playdoh.  It took a few seconds for the boy to realize what it was, but when he did his heart filled with hope once again.  It was the piece of the Matellum he had tucked in his pocket!  If he could grab it there was a possibility that Malachi could mold the metal by hand to form a makeshift lock pick to open his cuffs.  The plan was risky, but now was as good of a time as ever to take a risk.
        Malachi stuck his tongue out in concentration while trying to grab the half solid, half liquid metal.  The process was tedious, but when the boy felt something solid enter his palm he felt a surge of power.  He had his hands on a way to escape!  The boy took the playdoh-like metal and started to roll it in his hands.  He had to get it as thin as he could so he could pick the lock.  The process took only a few minutes, but the suspense stretched that time much longer.  Once the lock pick was formed, the boy laid still and tried to maneuver his hand to the small hole in the cuffs.  He soon found out that his wrist wasn't flexible enough.  However, he had another limb that was: his tail.  For some strange reason his tail had never been bound, but the boy wasn't about to question it.  Malachi shifted his body into an arch so that he could slip his tail out from under him.  The feathers originally made grabbing the metal needle difficult until he tucked them flat.  He then wrapped the end around the needle and twisted the extra limb so the end of the lock pick lined up with the lock itself.  He felt the cuff click and release his wrist.  Malachi let out a silent breath of relief he didn't know he was holding.  Using his newly freed hand he grabbed the metal pick and slowly undid the cuff on his other hand.  Then he moved down to his feet.  Once he unlocked the last two cuffs he slowly moved into a crouched position. 
         The only way to leave the smaller lab room was to go through a door near the glass wall, walk into the room where the two scientists were, then exit through a door there.  When he looked to see what he would be greeted with when he went behind the glass he saw that not much had changed from when he looked around before.  The only thing that was different was the position of the younger scientist.  She had shifted around to a counter closer to the glass room's door.  The only reason she hadn't noticed what Malachi was doing was because there were a pair of goggles on her eyes that prevented her from seeing the boy out of the corner of her eye.  Her new position brought another problem to the boy.  If there was a way to get out of the lab room he was going to have to get past the woman.  His plan was to pounce on her, pin her to the wall, and demand some answers.  There wasn't much time to prepare so Malachi leapt into action immediately.   He untucked his wings from their hidden position and flicked his tail back and forth as he moved from the table to the door that led to the other room.  Malachi opened the door as silently as he could.
           It was a miracle that the amount of noise he was making didn't alert the scientists already.  They seemed to be too focused on the tasks they were doing and for that Malachi was eternally grateful.  There was a soft click as the door shut behind him.  The female scientist began to turn her head in his direction.  He readied himself and leapt from the table onto her back.  The woman yelped with surprise and pain.  She collapsed to the floor and Malachi held her pinned to the cold floor.
"What are you doing you insubordinate freak? Get off me!"  she screamed at the boy.  Her insulting words hurt, especially the freak part, but Malachi held strong.
        "No, not until you answer my questions," he said, very firmly.  His tone shocked himself, but he was glad his words didn't express his true feelings.  The boy was terrified.
        "I have nothing to say to you, and you better know your place 5X.  You are in no position to demand anything from us!" the woman said.  She was angry, but Malachi could feel her shaking beneath him.  He could also feel the other male scientist advance on him from behind.  The boy jumped up from the woman's back and twirled to face the man.  In the scientist's hand was the same black cube from before.  He was pressing buttons on the box and Malachi could feel the small box in his arm send a shock through his body.  The boy could tell his vision was blurring, but he was so close to finally getting answers to what was going on around him.  With lightning speed he leapt forward at the man and knocked the box from his hands. It shattered in half on the floor.  Immediately Malachi felt his head clear and could now see the fear on the man's face.  But he could also feel the fear in himself.  The boy spun on his heel and fled out of the door and into the open hallway.