Deep Dark Blues

Chapter 30- Family Ties

"Why did you have to take it? Can't you trust me?" he whispered, the gun trembling ever so slightly.

Something broken echoed in his voice, small and weak...

"Can't you trust what I am doing for us? For you-"

"Why did you lie-"

"Because Mel has the same right to live as you do!" he cried out, raising the pistol higher.

"I have done everything for that girl... Something no father should do! I came here to save her! Do you know how much this hurts? Seeing somebody I have grown close to conspire against my own daughter?!"

"The station is named after your niece? Why on earth? " She shut her mouth, looking Ryan in the eyes.

Ryan was a scientist.

A genius who had been admitted to the team with no prior assessment... As if he had been a default member... Somebody who was supposed to be there from the very start...

Ryan was a scientist... and a father.

Reed's eyes widened with the sudden realisation.

Project.... Project Melanie...

Underwater facility...

Consciousness melted together...

"You did this..." she muttered, looking at him with fear in her eyes.

"T-this is not an anomaly... This is a failed experiment-" but she couldn't finish, as Ryan cocked the gun.

"Not failed..." he gritted out, snaring like a feral animal.

"Ryan-"

"I did not fail... She is alive... They said she wouldn't last more than two months and look at her... She created all of this..." he looked around before continuing.

"All of those suffering souls... She saved them... She gave them a second chance... I don't understand... Why do all of you want to push her into death just after I saved her, huh?"

"D-do you understand what you have done-"

"I have saved my daughter from death... It wasn't a doctor or a surgeon, or a priest... It was me."

Her eyes met the matching set of green ones, Ryan's irises dark and hungry like those of an animal. He motioned with a gun at her, the pistol glinting in the dark.

"Get up..." he growled.

Reed remained plastered to the wall, feeling her pulse skyrocket.

Her chest rose up and down, pumping air and adrenaline.

Maybe she could make a run for it?

She froze in place as she remembered just how efficient Ryan was during their visit to the other facility.

"I am not joking... Get up..."

Slowly but surely, Reed rose to her feet trying to keep her knees from trembling. Within seconds, Ryan was next to her, pressing the cold barrel to her temple while his free hand wrapped around her elbow. She winced as he pulled her arm backwards, rendering her unable to push back.

"Let's go..." he muttered into her ear, his wet breath wafting over her bare skin.

Compliant yet involuntary, Reed began to walk down the dark corridor with her back pressed tightly against Ryan's chest.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked, trying to keep her composure.

"Somewhere you can't hurt yourself anymore..."