I Am Alone

Chapter 22: Discovery

With Ronan and Aphmau at home I take Obsidian and Fang with me to the swamps, Obsidian sliding gleefully into the nearest pool of water.

We're near where we found Ronan, the stream trickling past as Obsidian galloped in the water, Fang sniffing around and pawing the ground.

Obsidian's tail suddenly flattens, and she sniffs the air and clambers onto the shore, she looks at me with emerald eyes and slams her head into the cliff wall.

"What the hell! Stop!" Fang tries to block her from slamming into it again, but fails as he's slung to the side by Obsidian's tail.

The rock cracks open with the third blow, steam and a strange blue gas pours out, clouding my vision and making my head throb.

Fang and Obsidian squeeze through the gap and I stumble into the dark room, the blue gas almost overwhelming now, my vision starting to wobble.

Memories start flashing in front of me, blue lights dotting my vision, something feels like its detaching from my brain, something that should have never been opened.

The lab door opens with a swish, the room is humid, oxygenated and hot, a huge bright red egg sits in the middle on a pedestal, I grin and fix my tie, a bright red scale gripped in my hand.

"Mr. Lycan, thank you for coming, we really appreciate your time." A voice says in a deep, oddly happy tone, I pick up on it immediately, turning the scale in my hand.

"Hello Armin. Why did you call me here? I've already done my internship, you know me and my wife have been promoted." I'm not bragging, just curious on why I have been called into the lab I thought I got away from.

"I am aware. How's your son?" I grin at this, and think of little baby Ronan outside the building, just born a week ago.

"He's fine. But you still haven't answered my question." My heart starts pumping, the hairs on my neck stand on end, something isn't right.

"Of course, we wouldn't want to separate family now would we?" Armin's voice grows crazy and high, and he presses a button that opens the egg incubator.

"What?! You fool! You have no idea what this creature is capable of!" I yell, I try to run, but someone ties a red cloth around my eyes, I can't see.

"I know very well, I created it, it will serve me." I thrash, unable to see, and a hear the cracking of the egg hatching

A hard, blunt object slams into the back of my head, I pass out, and awake, tied to a metal table.

The drilling table

"Aaron!" Aphmau's voice breaks through the silence, she's next to me, she was invited, she brought Ronan with her.

"Aphmau!? I can't see, where are you?" I try to yell but my voice is so dry it's a little more than a whisper, and I hear her struggling with her own table.

"I'm fine. But they took Ronan! Where are we?! We need to get to him!" She's in a frenzy, and I listen closely to the sounds around me.

"Aaron!" Aphmau's voice trials off as I assume gets carted away somewhere, and I lay cold and alone on a metal tray.

It's dark, and cold, I can barely breath...

I awake on a cold stone floor with Fang rubbing my head with his snout and Obsidian laying on top of me protectively, hissing and snapping at some unknown creature.

I groan and feel my Implant, it's bleeding, like someone just tried to pry it out with a screwdriver, it seems to be shorting out, and it's cracked, a blue, glowing liquid, oozing out.

I slowly stand up, my head still foggy and lean on a metal table, I light my torch and it illuminates an observation room that had been buried under the rocks, blood is streaked on the walls just like the last one, but this time, an old phone lay on the desk, shattered, but I recognize it as my own.

I pocket it, maybe I can still get it to work.

The device in my pack starts to beep, a take it out and open the hatch, the Implant inside is reactivated, and glowing brightly.

My Implant drips a blue liquid, along with some of my own blood, it's still flickering, and jets of electricity jump out.

The device beeps wildly as I get closer to the wall, until it becomes so loud I have to hold my ears, Somthing is under a canopy of moss, and as I remove it, it reveals a nest of giant red eggshells, like the one in my memory.

Obsidian recoils at the sight, and Fang goes nuts, barking and growling and howling, I quiet them down with a snap of my fingers and gently pull out some more moss.

There is one, unhatched egg that is slightly smaller than the rest, I fell it, it is still warm, and something is moving inside.

I move some stuff around in my pack and place the huge egg into it, the top poking out of the pack, I hold my Implant as pain shoots up my arm. The device stops beeping, and Obsidian starts squeezing out of the hole again.

I let Fang help me walk, as we make our way back home, my Implant faintly flickering and shooting pain up my arm.

    "Hush. You will thank me later."