Cevic

Chapter 12

 

Captive

 

 

 

Outside was cold, merciless cold spikes and breaths blowing through my billowy hospital clothes and thin parka. The wind whistled and whispered in my ears, and the snow crunched beneath the moving wheels. It was around ten, and the sky had been covered with inky blackness, without any stars. 

  I was filled with questions I wanted to ask, but I was afraid of what he was capable of.

 We stopped not far from the hospital, in front of an illegally parked sleek black car that read BMW at the back. 

  Dr. Markus opened the car door, yanked the blanket off, and quickly wrapped it around me, concealing my upper body. “Get in.” His order was cold and brusque.

  I did, and he shut the door swiftly, before assembling the wheelchair with practiced ease, and pushing it into the car trunk. With a thud, he got into the driver’s seat. As soon as the door was shut, he turned around, pinning me with a hard look.

 “Try to do anything funny and I’ll kill you.”

Those weren’t the words of a sane man. Seeming satisfied with the terror imprinted on my face, he drove off speedily.

 This wasn’t what I had planned to do when I had arrived on Earth to save my brother. I closed my eyes, my head spinning at the smell of leather and heavy perfume. I had ruined everything.

  Memory of the movie I had watched with Isha spewed into my brain like cold water. Was that purple alien how Dr. Markus viewed me as? A threat?

  That alien had super powers. It was huge, spewed out fire when it was strong and had a knife-like tail that struck two people at a time.

  Me?

I was the son of a lowly concubine and the previous king- both who no longer breathed. I was neither a servant nor a prince. I belonged to no category. I had no superpowers, nor was I particularly smart. I could die like a human- if I was shot by a bullet or slashed by a knife, I would die.

 What did this human want from me?

Escape was utterly impossible. I was cuffed at the hands the windows were nearly black that people outside could not see me even if I waved for help. I doubted that Dr. Markus was really going to let me see Rezia. He just needed an excuse to get me out of the hospital unsuspected.

 “Can…can you tell me why you want me?”

 “I could not speak properly in the hospital,” he said coolly, “because there were ears. But I’ll cut to the chase and reveal the fact that you keep denying. You’re an alien.”

  I had known he was aware, but I felt suffocated when it was said out loud.

My identity was revealed, but that didn’t mean he had to find out about my brethren, or Rezia.

 “Where are you taking me?” I asked quietly.

 Dr. Markus smiled, showing his row of perfectly white teeth. “To my humble home. You might not believe me, but I will return you to your sister- that is, if you do cooperate with me. It would be easier for both of us, don’t you think? Hmm?”

  “I’m not dangerous.” There was an underlying tremor in my voice. “I can’t do anything to you. I’m as dangerous as a human seventeen year old is.”

  He seemed mildly amused. “Is it so?”

I frantically looked out the window. My heart sank. This was not near anywhere I was familiar with. We were nearly out of town.

  The BMW smoothly ran uphill, up a small dirt road that led up to a much-isolated hill, the car going up the bumpy trail, and the sound of stones and dirt being crunched mercilessly beneath the wheels.

 I looked down at my still-glowing pendant.

What would Rezia think when she came back home? She would have been back hours ago. She would call a cell phone that had been destroyed, look for someone long gone, and look for car keys that were missing. I knew she would blame herself that it was her duty to protect the prince and she had failed.

   Rezia might beat me and send me glares when I said or did stupid things, but she was like my second sister. I was not allowed to, nor did I dare, to call Princess Isha my sister out loud, nor was I to call King Decus my brother. I was many ranks inferior a servant.

 Rezia, however, was a commoner who had been assigned to be my bodyguard and a friend to me. She was smart, witty, seemingly cold but affectionate, and she had an awful sense of duty and responsibility. I could speak to her without worrying about offending her.

  The car pulled to a smooth stop in front of a house. It was many times grander than the dingy apartment Rezia and I lived in, three stories tall, with a triangular roof, glazed windows, luxurious lace curtains and a grand black gate.

  Dread settled in my stomach like ice splinters. This house was much isolated from town. Other houses looked like small dots from the hill.

  “Wait while I get your wheelchair.” Dr. Markus unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door, and got out.

  I knew it was slim chance, but I had to give it a try. As soon as his door shut behind him, I threw the blanket down the floor, and with my cuffed wrists, yanked open the door and jumped out, just as Dr. Markus got to his car trunk.

  “You’re not going to get away from me!” hissed the human.

Fear drowning out all noise around me, only able to hear my own heartbeats, I was only able to take a step forward when a hand clasped around my throat, constricting my airway immediately, and I was thrown down like a rag doll onto the ground with unbelievable inhumane strength.

 I was seized up by the throat. Markus R. was strong, a lot stronger than he looked with his lean frame and pianist white fingers. I raised a hand to defend myself, but his fist landed on my jaw, face and stomach. My ad hoc thirty-second plan in the car of running out of the car, and fighting him if I needed to, dissolved.

All courage and determination was ripped away from me, piece by piece. I slackened my muscles, surrendering through gritted teeth.

Dr. Markus smiled kindly, like he had not been beating me just a few moments ago, and hoisted me up to my feet with a single hand. The world was spinning, and everything I had ever eaten was churning in my intestines.

 He caressed my hair gently, insanity glowing in his dark irises. “I’m sorry I was a bit too rough.” His breath smelled like too-strong peppermint. Then the almost forgotten throbbing of my head sharpened to a pounding like that of a hammer, and I close my eyes, letting complete blackness spill over my eyes.