The Misadventure

Chapter 25

Fallout's POV

Bella dragged us roughly into a new room, jostling my leg and the other wounds she had just helped to set. Yeah, never trust your executioner.

I was suddenly thrown down in the middle of the floor, my leg exploding in a fresh wave of radiating pain and making me shudder. I watched her through my lashes as she dragged Luna over to the wall and propped her there, adding her to the collection of her old friends.

She strode back towrds me and yanked me up by my shirt. Her friends were quietly muttering amonst themselves, but listening to them would require too much attention.

Bella knelt in front of me and and placed the tip of her blade below my chin once more.

"Well, right back where we started. You shouldn't have run off, Cavet. You still owe me a scream, and now I'm going to work twice as hard to get it out of you."

Despite myself, I chuckled and flashed her a bloodstained grin. "Screw you." The punch was hard and expected, slamming against the left side of my head and toppling me over. She dragged me up once more.

"Anything else, freak?" She asked. I gathered a mix of blood and saliva in my mouth and spit it into her face. She recoiled immediately and there was a collective gasp of horror. I smiled.

"Oh, I've been wanting to do th't for a long time." I laughed. Bella was wiping the mess off her face, glaring at me. When her foot connected with my ribs, I forced myself to laugh again. Every time her foot struck me, I made myself laugh instead of whimpering.

She stopped, panting. I was lying on my side, blood flecking my lips and an unreal amount of pain piled onto my chest. I gasped and heaved, spitting blood but still managed to laugh again when we locked eyes.

"I'm finally starting to get why Evil calls you a freak," she muttered. "At first I thought it was just an insult, but no. It really fits you, doesn't it?"

I panted slightly and worked to make my good leg move, pushing myself over onto my stomach more.

"You're sitting there, laughing. I was beating you up and you're laughing. Is something funny to you?"

I groaned and spit. "D'rling, we all got 'ssues."

She sat down next to me, tapping the knife along my arm. I froze, watching her progress up and down my limb.

"Yeah, what is your issue, anyway? You keep saying you have issues, Evil says you have issues, and also calls you some interesting names. Why are you a monster? I get freak and murderer, but monster? I haven't gotten that one yet." She poked the knife a little too hard into my arm, and I hissed as blood come up.

"Come on, Cavet. What's your secret! Is it a name? Some people have different nicknames and such, but I'm not sure how a name would cause you that much trouble." She paused her tapping and frowned at me.

"Are you one of the people in here with the special powers thing? I've got that, its not that rare. It's a glitch in the coding, nothing to be ashamed of." When I didn't respond, she sighed and went back to jabbing my arm, working up towards my shoulder.

"What is Cavet's issue?" She wondered aloud. She turned around, looking at all her friends. "Anyone care to take a guess? Might save good ol' Cavet here a bit of pain if you get it right." Her friends immediately jumped at the opportunity, speaking quietly as they all stared at me. I sighed and shut my eyes, leaning my forehead against the floor.

"She seems kinda military, maybe she's served out there or something?"

"She created a glitch in the game or something."

"Maybe she is a glitch? I've heard of some people not coming in correctly and causing the hwhole system to break down."

Bella jabbed my shoulder, and I flinched. "Any of those sound right, Cavet?"

My whole chest felt heavy and seared with every movement. My leg was practically radiating with pain. The cuts on my arms were stinging like mad, and my head felt like there was rock where my brain should have been. No, I was not in the mood.

"Screw off, Bella." I muttered.

"Ouch, someone is not in a good mood. Well, looks like you all guessed incorrectly. Everyone knows what that means, right?" Her friends all started begging and pleading, but she ignored them and turned back to me.

"Here are the rules, Cavet. You reveal your issue, and I will stop. If you scream, I won't. If you beg, I won't. I just want your issue." I sighed and attempted to roll my eyes, which was difficult because they were both swollen.

It ripped suddenly into my wrist, sawing and tearing and oh my god

I lurched backwards and howled, but Bella had positioned herself on top of me. It leapt and tore and burned through my hand, and it was blinding and it hurt and it wouldn't stop make it stop

It screamed through every nerve and tendon as I writhed and tried to pull her off of me, to get away, to do anything, because it hurt

I buried my face into my other shoulder and screamed as it continued. I bit down on the fabric, quivering and trembling and

"WINGS!"

It didn't stop completely, but it did fade considerably. I brought the agonized area to my chest and clenched it closely to me.

"Sorry, did you just say you had wings?" She yanked out my arm again and it was there again, shredding and destroying and then I said something and it was gone.

"Explain, or I'll do it again."

I curled up in a ball.

"It's a mistake, and I can't get it to change." I whispered. "Some people end up getting what they want. One of your friends looks a bit like a fox because of it. It causes a mutation in the game and strays from the normal human template. If you can get it to work correctly, that is."

"So, Cavet messed up and has wings to pay for it," Bella summed up. "Let's see them, then. Where are they?"

Her friends all screamed when she kicked me, and I whimpered in pain. Curling into a tight ball, I grit my teeth and pulled my now handless arm close to my chest. It would stop, soon.