Incursion

Chapter Eight

            I don't know how long I've been in this room for, Days? Weeks? For however long, Irina has had fun in torturing me. I get daily shocks of electricity throughout my entire body to wake me out of my sleep, I've drowned, suffocated. She'll let me die for a moment before she somehow revives me and brings me back to this eerie room with her. I need to find a way to escape, Michael needs me, Gina needs me. I need to pull myself together for them, Irina dumps a bucket of ice water on me. Might as well dump sharp glass on my head.

"Hey-o Ben! How was your little slumber?" Irina snickers, she sets a bag of tools onto a table. They must've put a table in here while I was knocked out.

"I have a surprise for you. Instead of torturing you like I was hoping to do, I've decided we do something better," she says. Three Dasher walk into the room two of them holding down one to the ground, Irina walks up the dasher and quickly breaks its neck. She crouches down to the dead Dasher and stabs tubes into it, extracting its blood. What is she doing?

"This is going to hurt a lot of Ben" she says smiling. Wait... No! A heat weave of pain enflames my back as Irina stabs the end of the tubes into my spine one by one. I feel the weight of the Dashers blood course through my veins, I gasp for air but cannot get enough. I wail in agony.

"Enjoy the rest of your night Ben and don't worry, I've been taking really good care of your brother. Cross my heart, hope he doesn't die... yet" Irina coos as she turns off the light and leaves me to the darkness of the room. My skin rises as the blood burns into my veins, my eyes adjust to the darkness. It's hopeless, I'm never getting out of here. I'll never see Gina again; I have no idea what's happened to Michael. I look over to the Dasher, lying on the floor. Dead, that's what I'll be soon. Dead and forgotten. I try to memorize Gina, how her voice is as smooth as silk, how she smells like flowers, how her eyes are the sea and land crashing together, and her lips I've never got to kiss. I love her and I didn't get to tell her, my heart starts thumping. The thought of never seeing her again enrages me. I grip onto the chains and lift my legs onto the ceiling and edge to pull away from it. The chain tightens more around my wrists, I see my blood ooze down my arms. All I feel is anger, rage. I close my eyes and pull even harder on the chains. I heard a crack in the ceiling, then suddenly I dropped to the floor. My vision twists and turns, blurring in and out rapidly. I lay on the floor, my chest heavy, my mind twirling and my wrists bleeding. Every muscle feels empowered, every bone enflamed. I feel a surge of energy. Power flows within me. I stumble to my feet and try to open the door, of course it's locked. I take a deep breath, take a few steps back and charge the door. The door bursts open and I'm outside in a hallway. I look at the broken door in shock and awe, my heart races, every muscle feels overstretched and thicker than before. I heard a scream coming from a room down the hall, I ran towards the door. I open the doors to a staircase; I hear the scream again as if it's right next to me. How am I able to hear it from so far away? I shouldn't be able to hear that from up here, I run down four flights of stairs, and open the door to another hallway. Screams echo through my skull, second door to the right. I barged in to find Gina tied up and shocked by Irina. I rush at Irina and shove her into the wall, she grunts in pain but then quickly knees me hard and through me to the ground. She tries to shock me, but I quickly roll to the side before she can hit me, I hop up onto my feet and charge at her again. She crashes into the wall and passes out.

"Gina?" I say as I rush over to her to unshackle her.

"Ben? You're alive? How did you find me?" She asks, she watches me rip the shackles from her as if they're made of plastic. \

"What did she do to you?" She questions, I help her out her chair.

"She fused my blood with a Dashers, I don't know how long it'll last or if I'm going to drop dead at any second. So, we really need to find Michael," I say as I step towards the door, Gina rushes past me into the hallway. As I try to jam the door shut to lock Irina in, Irina reaches her arm into the gap of the door and pulls me in to kiss me. Her lips are gentle and smooth, I quickly push her off me farther into the room and jam the door shut. I catch up with Gina running down the hallway.

"Which way?" Gina asks, I try to listen for Michael's voice, but I don't hear him at all.

"I don't know, I can't hear him," I reply.

"Well, I heard Irina talking to a Servant. She said that they are evacuating the ship and blowing it up tonight," Gina says. I look at her in confusion.

"Why?" I asked Gina and I ran down a few hallways looking for any trace of Michael.

"I don't know, probably a tactic of some kind," She replies.

"I'm not leaving without Michael," I say. Gina stops and looks at me, I slow to a halt next to her.

"Gina? What are you doing? We need to go" I call out.

"I'm just thinking. It's processing too fast Ben; you shouldn't have been able to hear me from upstairs. You shouldn't have been able to throw Irina across the room, whatever that Dashers blood is doing to you, its progressing faster the more you use it," She replies.

"Why does this matter all the sudden? Michael first, me later," I call out, I attempt to lead her down the hallway, but she stops me and grabs my arm.

"I think I should get you out of here first," Gina suggests.

"I'm not leaving without him. He's, my brother!" I exclaim.

"What if you try to use your powers and it doesn't work? Or what if it kills you? Your brother needs you alive. I need you alive." Gina exclaims. My stomach drops, she needs me alive. I see tears filling up her eyes, I stand in front of her and hold her face in my hands. Pulling her close.

"I can't fight Irina if I'm worrying about you getting hurt," Gina whispers.

"Gina, ill be fine. The only thing we need to focus on right now is finding him, I made a promise to our mother that I would always keep him safe," I reply.

"Ben, I love you," Gina confesses. I look into her ocean eyes, she loves me? It was real all along? I must tell her; she needs to know. I quickly lean in and kiss her, her lips warm, sweet, and soft. In this life of chaos, I found love. In this life of pain, I finally found relief. She is my light from the darkness, but I can't leave without Michael. I could never live with myself if I lost him.

"I love you too Gina, vie loved you from the moment I found you in that capsule, but I can't leave Michael behind. As much as it kills me, I will do this with or without you," I say as I turn from her and leave Gina behind. I know she is only trying to protect me, but Michael is the only person I have left of what was. When I was just a teenager enjoying a day instead of fighting to survive one. He is my family, my only link to home and I will not leave him behind.