Elderquest: Book 2 (2021 Rewrite)

Chapter 2 - Shattered

I awoke to the sound of approaching footsteps on a tile floor. I opened my eyes and looked around the room. It wasn't like the room that Tre and I were held in before. This time there were leashes and collars and various tools on shelves all around me. I started to get scared just looking at the hideous things, shivering form the cold dampness on my naked skin. I saw Kay beside me on the floor.

"Hey, Kay. Kay? You alright? Hey, wake up," I said as I shook my sister. She opened her eyes and sat up quickly, frantically inspecting her surroundings. She jumped up and ran to the door, only to have it swing open and knock her to the cold stone.

"Hey!" Kay screamed. She jumped back on her feet and made another dash for the door, but a hand emerged out of the floor, grabbed her, and shoved her back into the wall. The light from the hallway cast an eerie shadow around the form of the man standing in the doorway.

"Glad to see that you two are awake and well," the voice said smoothly. I knew the wicked voice: kind words laced with poison. The figure moved, revealing the face of Dr. Mengele.

"You!" Kay said as she struggled against the magical stone hand.

"Yes, it is me. So, how are our two lovely ladies doing at this fine hour?" he asked. He smiled and released the hand he controlled. Kay fell to the floor, catching her breath.

"What did you do to us? Where's Tre and Drake?" I asked, tears starting to well up in my eyes.

"Oh, they're fine for now. Your boyfriend's a bit of a handful, so I just gave him some sleepy gas. He is quite a party when he's awake," he chuckled to himself. I stared him down with desperate eyes as he paced around the room, patiently thinking to himself about something sinister.

"What are you planning with us? We're not part of your plan, so what do you want with us?" Kay said. We were both doing our best to conceal our bodies, but with hardly anything of help in the barren room, our hands and legs became our only tools of preservation.

Mengele looked at us, as if to ponder a thought. He then looked away and said, "Well, I just wanted to ask you some questions involving Treyan and a certain someone. I caught wind of a little sister in the equation. Phoebe, I believe it is. I was just wondering if you two knew anything special about her."

We looked at him with shock, not knowing what to say.

How does he know Phoebe?

"Yeah, he has a sister, but what's it to you?" Kay said angrily. Mengele turned back towards us, his face rigid and serious.

"Because it would be a great danger to me and my work if I didn't get to know our enemy," he said sternly. He looked at us with a sly, brooding smile as an idea appeared in his mind. "You wouldn't want anything to happen to her, would you?"

"You wouldn't dare..." Kay spat at him. I knew that he would do anything to get his hands on Phoebe, even if that meant torturing or rather even killing one of us.

"I don't know, ladies. Should I or shouldn't I?" he pondered with a ferocious smile. He slowly turned away and walked towards the door. 

Leaving the room, he shut the door behind him and locked it, leaving the both of us in the dimly lit room. We got to our feet and searched the room, looking for anything to get us out or to clothe ourselves. Something caught my eye on the far wall of the room. Examining it more closely, I found that there was a loose brick in the wall.

"Kay, come here! There's a hole in the wall," I said. She came over and helped me rip the brick out, revealing a small piece of metal in the wall. I pulled it out and looked it over closely. It was a small round ball with a lens in the middle. A tiny red light was rapidly blinking on the side.

"It's some kind of camera," Kay said, puzzled. We were both thoroughly confused as to why there was a camera in the cell.

Someone's been watching us!

Suddenly, we couldn't move. We were lifted off the floor and thrown into the wall. As we were suspended in the air, we watched as a group of soldiers ran into the room, followed shortly by Mengele. Looking down, he saw the broken camera, a look of disappointment cast on his face.

"Little children, I just can't seem to leave you alone today," he cooed. He looked us in the eyes as he released his grip on us, and we fell to the floor. Whatever magic he used must have paralyzed us because we couldn't move. The guards hauled us to our feet, their guns pointed at our heads.

"Why were you watching us?" I said weakly, still feebly attempting to cover myself.

Mengele bellowed in laughter and beamed at us very curiously, ignoring my question, "You know, I've always been fascinated by rare and different things. Especially those that are different in human society."

"What?" Kay said sternly.

"What, indeed, young lady. You see, the mysteries of this world are always mind-blowing when they are placed on the doorways of innovation and science. Have you ever wondered who you are? Where you came from? Why you are here? Perhaps the answers live inside of those we seek to know more about," he said inquisitively. Then his hands glowed yellow, and two pairs of chain cuffs appeared and latched onto our wrists.

"What is this?" I cried as the cuffs raised us up to meet him.

"I've wondered about the things that lived among us here on Earth, and you two seem to be the most normal. Yet, you are so intriguing at the same time. I'd like to see what you are like inside," Mengele said.

"What are you doing, you monster?!" I screamed, moving my arms in the chains, trying my best to get away from him. He walked straight up to me, stroking my cheek with his hand. I could feel his cold flesh corrode mine.

"Darling, I'm only a curious scientist, that's all. I'm not trying to hurt you and your friends," he said amorously, letting his hand venture around my chest, "but I have an eager need to experiment. So, I'm going to slowly enjoy your bodies and see how much I can learn from them."

I looked through the tears in my eyes and into the icy, lustful gaze of his, "You are evil. Pure evil."

"Ah, but I never am. I'd simply like to...examine you," he said, removing hisgloves and tossing them aside, "now, let's begin, ladies."