Ark (#Wattys2016)

Welcome To Ark

"I'm dark matter. The universe inside of me is full of something, and science can't even shine a light on it. I feel like I'm mostly made of mysteries."

-Maria Dahvana Headly

It felt like I was witnessing World War Three. Baz rose angrily to his feet and pointed at the red haired woman with a fiery glare. She kept a calm look on her face, but you could see in her eyes that she too was becoming angry. "I told you no. You are not stringing him up like live bait."

"Baz, I understand your concern, but you must understand the risk if we don't catch this woman soon." Laurel pleaded. Zane also rose from his chair, mimiking his father's defensive stance.

"So we'll find her some other way. She already almost killed him. Now you just want to serve him up to her on a silver platter? That's not how Ark works." Zane accused. I thought quietly to myself as they continued to argue. Alice was still out there and they were wasting time fighting each other when they should have been working on a way to find and stop her.

"Mr. McKinley, you know as well as I that because she has already fed from him, they are now connected. That connection could be of great use to us. We could try to track her down without his help and by the time we found her, she could have already killed several more innocent people." Laurel retorted. My head jerked up at that.

"NO! There is no way I'm going to let you-" Baz was yelling at that point. They kept continuing to cut each other off, none of them seeming to get a full thought out. I called out to them, but I couldn't be heard over the fighting.

"Mr. McKinley, I can assure you that-"

"I don't care what you can assure me! I'm telling you for the-"

"I have to think about the safety of the entire city."

"Well I'm thinking about the safety of my kid so the answer is still-"

"I'll do it." I said abruptly, my voice finally overpowering their shouts. They all silenced, looking to me as if they had forgotten I was even there. I repeated myself, "I'll do it. Its my choice"

"Pax, you don't know how dangerous this is. And you don't have any kind of training." Baz tried to reason with me. I shook my head. I had made up my mind.

"Then train me." I countered, raising myself up in the bed. "Baz, I almost died last night. But you guys, Ark, saved me. Okay? Her next victim wont be as lucky as me. So if I can help stop her, I'm going to."

Laurel looked at me with an admiration of some sort. She looked very young but had an old fashioned sense about her. She nodded slowly and smiled, "I will have one our agents train you in basic defense as soon as you are well enough."

"I feel fine. Lets start now." I assured her, throwing the covers off of my legs. I quickly stood, feeling nauseas as soon as I did. She came forward and held onto my arm, steadying me, as I stumbled on my feet.

"You are not strong enough yet to train, Mr. Hayes." her said in her cool voice. "You still need to rest."

"I've got to do something." I said, the thought of someone dying at the hands of Alice sickened me. I didn't want anyone to suffer like that. "I cant just sit here while someone else gets hurt."

"We still have hours before the sun sets. Vampires can not show themselves in daylight. All will be well until then. What we need you to do right now is rest; regain your strength." she explained, nodding to the nearly empty IV bag. "The medicine we have given you is helping you heal at a faster rate than you normally would. By tomorrow morning, you will be well enough to begin training."