Waking Nightmares(Lined Bullets)- A GMD Fiction

Chapter 8: Brother Dearest

       The first thing I remembered after passing out, was a pain greater than anything I had ever felt in my entire life. I was screaming... between the pain and nightmarish flashes of all of my previous nightmares combined, I thrashed and continued to scream. I wanted this torture to stop. Suddenly, I heard a voice yell across the room.
       "Someone calm him down! At this rate, the poison will reach his heart before I can get this bullet out."
I continued my struggle against seemingly stronger hands. Then, a stray hand laid a strongly scented rag over my mouth as a syringe was plunged into my arm. Eventually, my breathing slowed ands my weak frame fell back into a light bed.
       As I became unconscious once more, I heard the same voice that had stopped Toby on the street.
       "What am I ever going to do with you," he asked in a hushed tone. The pain became intense again and I was soon covered in darkness again.
*****
       I woke up in the late morning with a headache and sore muscles all over my body. Pushing myself up from the mattress, I looked around. I clearly wasn't dead or else I wouldn't have felt any pain... but I wasn't in my own room.
       Where am I?
       I sat up and threw my legs over the side. A pain shot through my right leg and I cringed ever so slightly. I breathed in and out slowly to calm myself down as I looked at the damage to my leg. There was a brace - like contraption around the entirety of it so that I couldn't move it much. I slowly took it off for a few minutes and saw heavy bandaging centered  right beneath my knee. I then placed the brace back on and took survey of my other wounds...
       Three lines across my left ribs... stitches under my jaw line... a wound behind my ears... and miscellaneous scrapes on my arms and legs.
       I breathed in slowly. This brought back too many memories of when I woke up after the fight on Big Ben. Shivers ran down my spine as I thought of how grateful I was that Able... Able!
I shot out of the bed at the memory of that despicable rat taking away my godson... my son.
       The pain in my leg forced me back onto the bed and made me clench my teeth. I placed my head in my hands and cradled it there for a while. No, I thought, now is not the time to mope about. You have to find Able and perhaps, if your thinking is correct, you can find the other children.
       Lifting myself out of the bed slower this time, I straightened my right leg and limped to the doorway. It was when I finally looked out of the room that I remembered that I still had no idea who had taken me in and tended to my injuries. I looked to the left and right of the hallway, but not a single person seemed to have been waiting for me to awaken, so I limped out of the room silently.
       There were stairs leading down to what appeared to be the living area, much like my own home. I took several deep breaths to prepare myself for walking down those stairs. I would either make it down them somewhat in pain, or my leg would collapse painfully under pressure and I would tumble down them.   Unfortunately for me, the latter of the two scenarios would come true. With one step of my right leg, it could not hold my weight and I fell rather ungracefully to the bottom of the stairs.
       Laying there for a few minutes, I let out a soft groan. Suddenly, a shadow fell across me. Looking up I saw someone who, in my mind, was the very last person I would want to see right then. He was my height with similar features, but had slightly darker fur and storm gray eyes.
       "I say, brother of mine," said my brother, Byron. "Haven't we enough injury to last us a while."
       I glared at him for a moment. Then, I tried to get up, but my injuries were more extensive than I had previously believed. Byron's usual playful features turned to ones of concern and worry. He wrapped his arms around mine, lifted me up, and lead me to a vacant chair.
       "Going soft, are we brother dearest? What brings you to London anyways?"
       He scoffed and looked at me with mock hurt.
       "Basil... I'm hurt. Whatever happened to 'how are you,' and 'thank you for saving my life,' and small talk such as that?"
      "What happened was that one time when I was sick, you experimented on me!... I also have no time for pleasantries. Children have gone missing, Rattigan is--"
       "Rattigan? He's the one that left you to die?"
       "That, unfortunately, comes with having an arch nemesis," I stated with a bored tone. Byron looked at me harshly before continuing.
       "But he was dead. You said--"
       "I KNOW WHAT I SAID! I was wrong, clearly. I underestimated him."
       Byron sat down slowly with concern, once again, covering his normal features. He drew his chair closer to mine and whispered, "It's not really about underestimating Rattigan... is it?"
       That had done it. I placed my head in my hands again and wept. My shoulders shook with the raw amount of sadness I had felt since Able was carried away. I told Byron everything. The case, Able, Ash and Colette... everything up to that very moment. And for the first time in a long, long time, my brother embraced me. My sobbing ceased and I slowly looked up to my brother who had an understanding smile on his face and teary eyes. He then looked over to the stairs and cleared his throat.
       "Doctor," he said. "Would you care to join this conversation presently?"
       Out from the shadows of the stairs revealed Dawson! When had he come here? I tried to wrap my mind around how he had came to be there without my knowledge. Both noticing my confusion, Dawson walked over and began to explain.
       "I'm terribly sorry, Basil, but when I was scrambling to find a cork, I came upon a letter from your brother. You having never told me of Byron, I was rather curious, so I went to investigate while you were unconscious. I found him only two blocks over awaiting a visit from you. He and I conversed a bit, and I left. Then, you and Able went to his parents' funeral, so I took the liberty of visiting Byron again. It was only when the sniffing of a large nose reached our ears that we had noticed how long it had been since I had left Baker Street and when Byron went out to investigate, there Toby was, with you unconscious on his nose."
       I nodded slowly as I recalled Toby being stopped on the street.
       "When we got you inside, you were covered in blood and there was a gaping hole right below your knee.         There was actually little blood coming from to the hole, but there was something out of the ordinary. You were writhing in pain... as if something was still inflicting it upon you. The worst point was when we had figured out that the bullet was lined with the same poison that was on the other bullets. While I was in the midst of pulling it out and preparing an antidote, you seemed to have woken up. It took all our strength to keep you down, then Byron placed a rag over your mouth. After that, it was rather smooth sailing, and we got you bandaged in no time."
       I stared on, only hearing bits and pieces of what Dawson was saying. How lucky could I be for Toby to stumble upon my brother's home. Though, of course, I really wasn't very lucky at all. My son was gone... lost to Rattigan. I had to start making a plan to rescue him and the other children...
       I was suddenly snapped out of my thinking when my brother began snapping his fingers in my face and calling my name. It was odd how far away he seemed...
       "Basil... Basil?"
       "Hmm? What?"
       Byron looked worriedly towards the good doctor, but quickly turned his attention back towards me. He shifted a bit on his feet as if unsure of whether or not to tell me something.
       "Are you feeling okay, Basil?"
       "Why do you ask," I questioned.
       "Doctor Dawson told me, just now, that he couldn't get all of the poison out of your system, but enough so that your immune system could finish it off... but I'm slightly worried for you. You see... you didn't respond to me snapping until I started calling your name."
       "I'm fine," I said confidently, but with a shake in my voice nonetheless. I stood up from my chair with a bit more ease. I limped around a bit, then spread open my arms in a demonstrative manner.
       "See? I'm f... uhnn..."
       Suddenly, my head felt like it was being compressed and the world around seemed to spin out of control. I was caught by two sets of hands and laid on the floor. I squeezed my eyes shut until I lost the feeling of nausea. When I opened my eyes, I met the displeased gaze of Dawson with my brother knelt next to me smirking.
       "You just have to test your limits, don't you?"
       "This is not a limitation. I'll be up again in the next moment."
       "... and down again the next."
       I huffed my frustration as I slowly sat up. There was pang of pain in my lower abdomen and I clutched it tightly. I groaned and rocked my torso back and forth. The pain was probably from the excess poison. Great!
It soon melted away and I felt that I could finally breathe again. I was then helped to my feet, but never budged from that spot. I crossed my arms defiantly.
       "I need to find Able," I said simply. "Now."
       They both looked at me in shock, but they both similarly turned quickly from shocked to a split emotion of annoyance and stubbornness. Byron walked towards me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
       "I know he is important to you, Basil," he said in a soft tone. "He's important to me now as well. I'm an uncle now, for the Queen's sake! But you have to understand that you're going to be of no help if you're in such a condition as you are now. Do you understand?"
       My entire posture slumped in defeat as I nodded sadly. He, then led me back to the chair I was previously in. I pressed my head against the back of the chair and closed my eyes. It was at that moment that I realized just how tired I was, but it didn't seem natural. I pushed myself up in my chair and fought to stay awake, but Byron placed his hands on my shoulders and me back down.
       "Drowsiness is okay, Basil," he whispered. "It's merely exhaustion from fighting off the poison. Just fall asleep. I promise we can start searching for Able and the other children tomorrow."
       I nodded and soon fell into an exhausted slumber.