Long Way To Happy {The Creatures AU}

Chapter III: Meeting the Family

Sly walked me through the garden, which was surprisingly beautiful, but it still had that eerie feeling. I believe no matter where you go on this island, it'll have that effect. Fear is inescapable while you remain in these walls. That's something I suppose I'll just have to get used to.

"SPOON!" Sly abruptly yelled into a corner of the greenhouse that had been overtaken by nature.

It looked as if there was maybe a tool shed here or something of the like at one point. Now it's a cave of rust and flowers.

A man walked out from the darkness, and I took a step back out of ignorance and fright. He was very scruffy, even had the homeless look to him, but that wasn't the shocking part. Half his face looked like it had been burned... Or grilled. The other half was fine, except for that crazed smile. I'm sure his eyes were just as off putting, but at the moment they were concealed behind sunglasses.

"How can I help you, Sly?" He nicely asked.

"Just wanted to introduce you to the new meat." Sly responded, gesturing towards me. "Her name is Slayer."

Spoon turned his head at me, probably looking me up and down like they all seem to do. Suddenly his voice seemed a lot harsher as he spoke. "Such a cruel name, for such a cute little girl, don't you think?"

I shook, not knowing how to respond. Sly sighed, pushing him back to his cave type of deal. "Let's not go down this road right now. She'll have plenty of time to see both of you in the future."

Both... Oh, split personality. Got it. They're all here for different reasons, but at the end of the day, those reasons all fit under the crazy category.

"Dan lives here too, but he probably won't come out anytime soon. There's a storm cellar, but it was never finished so it's like a cave, which works well for him." Sly explained as we walked out of the greenhouse and onto the path. "We'll walk through the penitentiary, which is where pretty much everyone is. Then we'll head back to the medical wing where me and Seamus are, and now you!"

"Sounds good." I weakly smiled, keeping my head down.

We weren't outside for long before I felt the warmth of the building encase me. This was where I originally was when I was left here. We're even walking the same direction I did before.

Sly stopped in front of the crazy's room, the one that knew my name before I told him. We both kept a distance as we stayed back from the open door. The man was writing with frustration like last time. A woman sat on the bed beside him, watching him with fear.

"That's Aleks." He said. "He has this weird sixth sense about everything, but so much knowledge drove him insane. Now he writes everything down to try and get the info out of his mind. The girl in there, she's like you. Nothing wrong with her but someone left her here, so Aleks took her as a companion."

That explains why there was writing all over the walls, pretty much everywhere, but especially here. It also gave me a little insight to Nova's comment earlier about letting Sly have me.

We walked me down a few feet, then stopped at another open door. I was surprised they didn't hear us in the hall. Inside the room was a taller, thin guy with short black hair and pale skin. He aimlessly walked around his room, mumbling to himself. Something about him just made me uneasy, very uneasy.

"Dex... Stay away from him. If Nova scares you, Dex will really make you piss your pants. He has it out for women, which is why none of us let him around our girls."

I nodded, starting to understand what's going on here. People are disregarded at this place, one way or another, and these guys either keep them as toys or kill them.

He took me to an open area. It was a cellblock, but much bigger than the hall we were just in.

"Stay close to me." Sly muttered.

I wrapped my hands around his arm, standing behind him. A shadow walked out from the upper level of cells, then leaped down in front of us, snarling. Uh-oh, we just walked into the lion's den.

Nova walked up to me, seemingly even more unhappy than our last encounter. Maybe it's because he knows he can't try anything with Sly here.

"We're just passing through to see Ze and Koots." Sly spoke in a weary tone.

"Whatever!" He growled, swatting his hand at us as he turned back around. "Just keep her out of my sight. If I catch her in my space again and she's alone, I'll kill her."

A breath suddenly got trapped in my throat, mostly because I knew he wasn't lying. That was no figure of speech either. He would really kill me in cold blood if he got the chance. I squeezed Sly's arm a bit to let him know the comment rattled me.

"I'd repay the favor if you did." Sly murmured as Nova walked away.

He suddenly growled really loud and turned around with red eyes. Sly pushed me to the ground just seconds before Nova lunged at him. I screamed and backed up with no way of helping him.

"Go get Kootra!" Sly grunted as he fought Nova.

I shook like a leaf, but I knew this was more than Sly's life; it was also my own. Even though I kept tripping because I was so nervous, I ran towards the front office where Kootra was, hoping they would save Sly.