Outlaw

8. Calypso

When I woke up, I was in the last place I expected to find myself on the endeavour: a hospital ward. Excuse me!? If my theory was correct and the government had captured me, why were the healing me? They wanted to kill me for God sake. So, with my incredible Sherlock Holmes skills, I deduced that this was unlikely to be the government. But if it wasn't them, then who in the name of heck was healing me. The last thing I remember was falling into an endless void of nothing and screaming like there was no tomorrow, as one does. They were coming for me, they would have caught me of it hadn't have been for the fact that a handy trapdoor opened in the floor right below me: convenient.

I suddenly heard muffled voices engaging in a conversation outside my door. I shrunk back against the pillow, afraid of who these people were and what they wanted. Two people walked into the room; a man and a woman. The man carried himself with the tightness you would only find in the military. The woman, however held herself with more relaxed posture but a face just as serious and just as much authority. It was the woman who spoke first.

"Good, Calypso. You're awake."

How did everyone know my fucking name around here? Seriously though, this was getting rather ridiculous at this point.

"Yes." I managed to stutter.

"Hurry up, we need you to follow us."

It was the man who spoke this time. His voice was rough and stern, allowing no room for sugar coating any situation. He seemed like the type of man to say anything in its bluntest form with little to no emotion.

"Come now, Colt, the poor girl's just woken up, that was quite a fall Calypso."

She flashed me a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"My name's Tori by the way."

Having names to match the faces helped me get a better understanding of the two in front of me.

Colt was a large man, finely toned muscles and all that. He wore a tight, black t-shirt that revealed his bulging biceps. The t-shirt was tucked into his leather belt adorned with a silver buckle, polished to perfection. His trousers were black, like his t-shirt, and army style baggy ones, tucked into his black combat boots. Everything he wore seemed to be black, or at least dark coloured; I couldn't imagine this man wearing any hue lighted that dark gray. He had a sharp, defined jawline in the shape of a rectangle, or there about, it was as close to one as a jaw is probably likely to get. His eyes were cold and grey as a storm cloud, staring straight into my soul. He was the type of man who I would fear if he was my enemy. To complete the tough, army veteran whole look he had going he had his dark brown hair in a buzz cut. He looked older than his years (he couldn't have been more than forty, forty five at a push, somewhere around that mark). On the whole, I wouldn't want to get on Colt's bad side.

Tori, on the other hand, could have only been in her thirties, but stress had implanted multiple grey strands into her hair, giving her the effect of looking old beyond her years. The parts of her hair that were their natural colour were dark brown, bordering on black even. The ends of her hair faded into purple so at th bottom of her hair, her ponytail faded into purpureus purple at the bottom. She was about a head shorter than Colt - who was roughly 6'2 by my calculations, just for reference - so she was still quite tall. My 5'6 self felt very short in this particular moment. She sore an black tank top and a pair of trousers of the same design as Colt's, though in a smaller size of course, with a strap of black fabric to hold the in place at the waist. She was slimmer than the man beside her, with less defined muscles; she was built for speed rather than strength. Her dark brown eyes were filled with what seemed to be a mixture of cunning, calculating observations, and something I couldn't divine. Her eyebrows naturally furrowed in the middle, giving her the constant air of either concentration, or disapproval, take it as you will.

These people were not the sort to mess with, that much was obvious. They both watched me with the intent of hawks. I wasn't about to introduce myself, if that's what they were waiting for, they already knew my name. It was Tori who broke the tense silence.

"How do you feel Calypso? Our doctors have been working tirelessly to have you healed in time for the meeting."

"How long have I been out for?"

I asked, my gaze flicking between the two faces before me, waiting for one of them to answer me.

"Only 20 hours."

Again, it was Tori who answered me. I was leaning more and more to the assumption that Colt communicated with actions more so than with words.

"What is the meeting you are so desperate for me to attend,"

My question cut through the air like a knife, silence following in its wake.

"I mean, if I'm supposed to be attending then don't you think I should know what it is about."

Tori was about to answer my question when Colt shot her a warning glare and Tori responded with one of her own. If looks could kill then I think Tori's would have hit harder. Any lesser man would either be quaking in his boots, or would have pissed himself, depending on his level of courage. I know I would have turned right around and run back the way I had come as fast as my legs could carry me! Tori continued as though Colt hadn't just tried to kill her with his eyes.

" If you want to know what the meeting is about then you should probably follow me then."

Tori then turned on her heel and exited through the only door in the room, the one directly opposite the foot of my bed, Colt following behind her. Just before she got to the door, Tori turned around to look at me.

"Well Calypso, are you going to see what the meeting is about with us or not?"

I hadn't tried to get up yet so when I did, I was not expecting the sudden pain in my ribs. I turned on Tori accusatorily.

"I thought you said you doctors had healed me!?"

Tori looked at me like I was wrong in the head.

"I said they had been working tirelessly to heal you, not that you were already healed. Only so much can be done in 20 hours you know."

Her steely gaze made me feel sheepish although I knew I had no reason to feel that way. I pushed the feeling down inside me and shuffled out the door Tori held open for me.

I followed behind Colt and Tori, earning many stares from people as we passed. I could tell here, that Colt and Tori were important people by the way others moved to let them pass. The corridors that we traversed were mainly straight lines, except for the occasional bend here and there. All the walls, ceilings and floors were maid of solid concrete with coloured lines on the floor correlating to the trail it was on and where it lead to. The tunnels were lit with rectangular, electric lights in the ceiling, casting a white glow on Tori's hair, highlighting the grey hairs hidden amongst the dark brown ones. We passed many doors on the way to our destination, some marked some unmarked, all with one way glass in them. The ones that were marked had strange words written on them, words I did not recognise. Hell, I didn't even think they were from the English language. Colt and Tori seemed to understand the alien words well enough through because they walked forward with a sense of authority that said they knew where they were going, that, or they were really good actors and faking it. You never know, the past few days experience has taught me many things, the main one being: DON'T TRUST PEOPLE!

When walking I saw a few maps in large intersections between hallways and just by glancing at them one could see that this compound was huge, like too huge. I never really got a good look at them however because I was whisked away before I got the chance by the either of my guardians. Finally we got to a door that was apparently different to the others though I could see no discernible difference between this one and all the others. Tori stopped by the door.

"After you."

She held pushed the door open for me and as I stepped inside I was met face to face with the creepy government lady...