CHAPTER ELEVEN - BLACKMAIL
B shivered as he tried to twist to make himself more comfortable upon the hard table, but the restricting ropes prevented him from moving much and gaining any relief. His entire body was beginning to ache and his sore muscles were violently complaining against being tied up. His arms felt so heavy and he could feel the dribbles of perspiration sliding down them. He had tried to sleep, to shut out the pain, but the agony was like a vibrant light that kept him stubbornly awake.
The pain was not the only problem. He felt too hot and his clothes were uncomfortably damp with sweat that was turning his skin clammy. He shivered, despite the fever that controlled his body. He felt sick, but he could also feel a hole inside his stomach that was grumbling to be filled. His throat was parched and dry and he had to muffle his cries whenever he swallowed. It felt like knives were rubbing against his throat.
Were they going to keep him tied up like this forever? His limbs would never work again if this strain was kept up. Everything hurt and everything was blurry hot. He shifted to try and ease some of his suffering. He was fidgeting constantly now, but nothing seemed to help. Moving was only starting to make him feel dizzy and he swore that if someone did not come soon to let him up he was going to wet himself. He squeezed his legs together as best he could and closed his eyes, trying to hide tears of shame at his haggard condition. Marlowe would no doubt be laughing when he realised what a state B was now in. He probably wanted him to soil himself.
Marlowe had been gone for what seemed like hours now, but B was smart enough to realise that his discomfort and pain seemed to make the time pass more slowly. He could not say that he liked the cruel scientist’s company, but now he was becoming afraid. He could hear the tired breathing of the rabbit in its cage as it slowly and painfully tried to die and he wanted to throw something at it. He wanted to stop it from suffering like what he was, and it clearly was suffering. It looked terrible. The fur was matted and had been scratched out in places. The ears were ragged and drooped like dead flowers. It stayed still and silent apart from the rasping breaths and shuddering movements as it trembled. He pitied it. It was only a little rabbit and unlike B, it did not have memories or thoughts to occupy it and to ease the pain. Or did rabbits think? He had no idea, but he longed for it to die. Right now, he almost wanted to die himself.
The only thoughts that seemed to keep him sane were that of his family, but they also brought tears to his eyes. He felt so guilty for abandoning Sammy and he missed him dreadfully. He had never been separated from his brother for this long since the first time the Gerai had taken B and experimented upon him. He had never gone more than a few days without receiving a smile and a tight embrace from his brother that told him that he was not alone. Even without parents he was not an orphan because he had a big brother to look out for him and love him.
And now he had a father as well, but that relationship was a little different. B had ruined everything between them by taking him for granted. He sighed in depression. He missed Brian so much, although he was not quite sure which one. Brian in 2003 had been so king and caring, but everything had been so much easier for him. The situation with his own father in his own time was different. Life was not as easy as it once had been and everyone was still tense after the Gerai war. Things were just difficult between B and Brian. Brian was too protective and too critical of him and B did not know how to react to that. Now, he would give anything to see him and have him smother again. He would never complain or object every again if he was just able to have one more chance with him.
He remembered seeing Brian in the medical centre, pale and looking like some hideous spectre that was trying vainly to defy death. Lance and Jonathan had hurt him because they knew it would hurt B. Was Brian alive? His heart gave a terrible crunch inside of him and he found himself gasping as that thought hit him. He had tried not to think about it, but now he was beginning to realise that Brian might not be able to come and rescue him this time. Even if he was still alive, and Marlowe had hinted at the fact that he was, the scientist was intending to send people to murder him.
His face was wet with tears and he could not wipe them away with his hands tied up. Brian had tried hard to take care of B and it seemed to be leading him to fatal consequences. His eyes were sore and his vision had blurred with watery blobs. He sniffed slightly and rubbed his face as best he could on his arm. He knew the tears would never stop as long as he was separated from his family. They were the only ones who had ever kept him alive and sane.
He choked back more tears and then moaned in pain as agony ripped across his throat. There was a lump inside of him and it hurt to breathe, but it hurt more to cry. He breathed deeply a few times, trying to calm himself and to stay brave.
He gulped, trying to find moisture for his dry throat. He thought of Brian and when he had been with him. He had been taken care of then and now he had been plunged back into the nightmarish world of the Gerai. His thoughts drifted from the Brian in the past to the one in his own time, the one who had tried hard to make B happy but the one he had rejected. He had tried to make him proud, but nothing had ever worked out the way he had planned. They always argued. They argued so much that he could not remember individual arguments anymore. They had all merged into one big blob of screams and shouts.
He tried to picture Brian’s face, but he could not see anything but a fuzzy, pink blob. He found it hard to see faces now. It must be his headache and the fact that his watery eyes were blurring everything.
He opened his eyes and gazed about the lab. How long had he been in here now? He was beginning to forget the outside world and how he had ended up in this hell. It was all Lance’s fault. He was the one who had dragged him from the safety of Brian’s house to this place. That seemed wrong… Wait, it hadn’t been Lance, it had been… someone else. His head hurt too much to think and he was getting confused.
“B?” a sickly voice suddenly crooned. “B?”
B shuddered slightly at the sound of Marlowe’s voice and firmly closed his eyes. He clamed his breathing and kept as still as he could as he heard Marlowe coming closer. Perhaps if the scientists thought he was asleep, he would leave him alone.
Why did B sorely doubt that?
Sure enough, Marlowe would not permit him to rest. He placed a hand gently onto B’s shoulder and shook him slightly. “Wake up, my dear.”
B refused to move, his heart beat harder inside of him and he kept his head on the board and his eyes closed. Marlowe shook him once more and once more asked for him to wake up. He pressed his face so close to B’s ear that he felt his entire body quiver fearfully as he man’s breath brushed over him.
Slowly B allowed his eyes to open, not trusting Marlowe to start using more brutal methods to ‘wake’ him if he did not respond. The scientist was unpredictable and that was what made him so frightening. He could speak calmly yet still torture B at the same time. It send something cold shooting through B now every time he thought about him.
“What?” B mumbled in annoyance.
Marlowe smiled at him in a way that made B think of a snake he had once seen outside his old home before it was all destroyed. “I have someone for you to see,2 he said silkily as he began to untie B’s restraints.
B was unable not to show his gratitude and he smiled slightly as he rubbed his sore muscles and inspected the burns where the ropes had cut into his wrists. He winced as he rubbed them and sat up. He knew that this would be an opportunity to try and run, but he knew he did not have the energy. The room had already started to spin just sitting up.
“How have you been feeling?” Marlowe asked sympathetically, though B knew that the tone of voice meant nothing.
B shrugged, but knew that he must look the worse for wear. He felt sick and his eyes still stung from tears. Then there was a strange emptiness in his head which made him feel odd. It was like everything had drained away…
Marlowe clucked slightly and pulled a syringe from the table. B instinctively jerked and backed away. It had taken him years to overcome his phobia of needles after the incident in the first Gerai base and now he could feel it swarming back upon him like a cloud of flies. Protectively he clasped his arms to his chest.
“Don’t worry, this won’t hurt. It will make you feel better,” Marlowe said easily. He reached out and grabbed B’s elbow firmly before digging the needle into his skin.
B winced as he felt something stinging him slightly, but like Marlowe had said, it did not particularly hurt. B rubbed the puncture slightly and he caught sight of the other vaccination marks that lined his arm. Even after so many years, some of them had not faded. He ran a hand over them lightly. He looked up at Marlowe and felt himself beginning to tremble from fear. Something in the way the man stared at him told him that this time would be no better than the last.
Marlowe backed away from him towards a metal door. He pressed a few buttons upon a control panel and the door whisked up into the ceiling. No doubt there was a special code to put in that would make B’s escape even more difficult.
“Bring him in,” Marlowe instructed.
Miserably he stared up at the ceiling. He would never get out. He could feel his mind melting under the heat of his fever and he would never make it out alone.
He heard footsteps as people entered the lab and he bowed his head, until a flash of blonde caught the corner of his eye. He spun around and almost sobbed.
“Sammy!”
It was a good job Marlowe had removed his restraints because B could probably have broken his leg if he’d still been tied up with the speed in which he suddenly leapt from the table and buried himself in his brother’s arms.
“B!” Sammy whispered, tears evident in his voice. “BB, thank God,” he murmured. “Oh thank God you’re okay!” His strong arms had wrapped themselves about B’s back, almost crushing him because he was holding on so tightly as if afraid that B might vanish before his eyes. He tried to say something else and then his voice broke and instead he kissed B on the head.
Tears trickled down B’s cheeks as he pressed himself into Sammy’s warm and caring arms. He rubbed his head against his shoulder, feeling it growing wet with tears. He had been so frightened ever since he arrived at this base and his experience with Marlowe had been close to torture. In a moment, Sammy could make him feel safe again. In his arms he was a tiny child again that cried in his arms.
“I missed you!” B murmured, his voice concealed in a sob. “So much!” He had not realised how much now until he could hold him again. He had been separated from Sammy for too long. Sammy had raised him and Sammy was probably the most important person in his life. He loved Brian, but Sammy was just… Sammy. Sammy had been the one who always took care of him as a child. He had not grown frustrated and dumped him on anybody else. He had kept B close to him and had never pushed him away. Nothing could compete with life long love like that.
Sammy rested his face on the top of B’s head and B could feel him smiling as he held him. He gave B another kiss on the head and he could feel tears falling down his face.
B knew that he should be saddened to see that Sammy was captured as well, but all he could feel at the moment was relief and crying joy at seeing him again, even if it wasn’t under the best of circumstances. He felt sickly guilty for thinking that way, but he couldn’t help it.
He smiled softly, all fear suddenly gone.
Sammy pulled away from him just enough so that he could look into his face. He smiled weakly, his eyes drowning in concern. “You okay?”
B nodded and smiled back. “Yeah,” he lied. “Yeah, I’m fine.” It was only a part lie, now that he was with Sammy he did feel fine. Misery and loneliness were gone and nothing else mattered except for seeing Sammy here now. He pressed back into Sammy’s arms. “I love you,” he mumbled clumsily. Tears leaked from his closed eyes as he said the words. No one ever truly expresses the emotions they feel for their families, but right now all b wanted to do was to make up for abandoning Sammy. He did not regret spending time with Brian in the past, but he had missed Sammy… “I’m sorry I ran away…”
“Shush, it’s okay,” Sammy whispered. “It’s okay.” He smiled down at him again and then pulled him close, his arms so protecting and so caring.
B had almost forgotten that they were not alone. It had seemed as if they had been taken to somewhere where they were truly safe. Then he heard the voice that sent him cold again.
“Aaww, what a cute reunion,” Marlowe said. “It brings a tear to my eye.”
B instinctively was pressing even closer to Sammy, determined to somehow hide them both from the monster of Marlowe. His heart rate was accelerating again and his hands clung onto his brother tightly, begging for them not to be separated.
“Now break it up,” Marlowe hissed.
“No!” Sammy cried. Suddenly he was pulling B to the other side of the room away from Marlowe and the female Gerai who had brought Sammy in. He backed them both to the wall and gripped onto B so hard that he could feel his skin bruising, but B did not care.
B raised his blurred, wet eyes to see Marlowe nodding understandably, but there was a hideous glint within the scientists eyes that made B want to cringe and hide away. He stared at him pleadingly, begging that he be allowed to stay with Sammy.
He knew that would not happen now though. Suddenly he knew the truth of Marlowe’s threat earlier that B would learn to cooperate. He choked back a bubbling sob and shook his head as he pressed it against Sammy’s shoulder.
“Please,” he begged. “Don’t separate us. Please.” He was trembling like an animal preparing to be pounced upon by the hunter. He did not want to go back to the nightmare again. He buried his head in Sammy’s shoulder, feeling his body heaving with sobs of fear. He could feel the stinging pain Marlowe had forced upon him when B had tried to disobey him. He did not want to go back to all of that. He did not want to be five years old again.
“What have you been doing to him!” Sammy suddenly screamed violently at the scientist. “What’s wrong with him!”
Sammy was rubbing his arms soothingly, but B refused to raise his head. Somehow in the darkness he could try and pretend that everything would be all right…
“B? B, it’ll be all right,” Sammy whispered for his ears only. “You’ll see.”
B clung to him, not wanting to ever let go. He could not believe Sammy’s words, not with the threat of Marlowe hanging above him. He did not even know if he could survive through this again.
B raised his head slightly to peer at Marlowe with one, tearful eye. He could see the scientist sighing as he watched them both, the fake concern filling his face. He looked back at the guard and then clapped his hands. Immediately she was moving forwards towards them both.
“No!” B whimpered as he felt arms pulling Sammy away from him. “No!”
The female guard had seized Sammy’s arms and was dragging him away. B’s arms were suddenly empty and he was cold and very alone again. His body was trembling as he stood where he was, his body numb from the sudden deprivation of warmth.
“B! No!” Sammy shrieked as he frantically kicked at the woman, his arms, desperately trying to free themselves. “B!” Sammy’s blue eyes were wide and rapidly turning more and more raw with tears.
B sobbed and tried to limp towards him, but Marlowe was easily restraining him as if he were nothing more than a child again. His muscles were weak and tired and there was no strength in him to fight, so he screamed instead. He screamed and sobbed as he watched them taking Sammy away from him.
“Sammy! Don’t take him!” he cried.
The female guard was clearly very strong as she kept a firm hold on Sammy’s arms, keeping them behind his back so that he could not move. He frantically struggled and B could see the expression on the woman’s face which signalled that she was having trouble holding him.
B freed one hand from Marlowe and stretched it out towards his brother. He knew Marlowe would never allow them to be kept together, bit he wanted nothing more than to stay in Sammy’s arms where he could feel safe and loved.
Sammy grunted as he managed to elbow the guard in the stomach and then she released him and he was running back to B. B tried to pull away from Marlowe, but the scientist was holding him so tight now that he was partly crying in physical as well as emotional pain.
“Stay right where you are!” the guard suddenly screamed.
B screamed as well as he saw the laser aimed at Sammy’s head. “Don’t!” he screamed, suddenly falling limp in Marlowe’s arms. “I’ll be good, I’ll be good! Please don’t hurt him!” His heart felt as if it were about to be torn apart and he choked and spluttered on his own torment.
Sammy froze as he saw the gun. His eyes flickered from the guard to his brother in Marlowe’s arms. His eyes burrowed into B’s and he could suddenly see his own pain mirrored there.
B gave another feeble son and shook his head. “Sammy, don’t,” he whispered. “Don’t.”
Sammy stared at him but docilely backed away to the guard’s side. She slipped a apir of handcuffs from her pocket and locked them over his wrists, and then she was leading him away.
B was crying desperately as Sammy kept his eyes upon him. He knew what this all meant. Sammy was Marlowe’s guarantee that B would do as he was told. He sobbed, alone and lost and helpless as Sammy was led out of the door and their eyes were torn apart. The door slid shut behind him and B found himself sliding down to the ground as Marlowe finally released him.
He fell into a pathetic heap as he broke down.
“Don’t hurt him, don’t hurt him!” he begged as he stared up at Marlowe on his hands and knees. “Please, don’t hurt my brother!”
Marlowe sighed and shook his head. “He’s a nuisance.”
A splitting and tearing pain ripped across B’s chest at those words. “NO!” he screamed. He grabbed hold of one of Marlowe’s legs and gave another ob. “Don’t! I’ll do anything! I’ll do anything you want!” Marlowe owned him now, and B could do nothing. He couldn’t lose Sammy. He would die of a broken heart if he did.
Marlowe leant down beside him and slipped his arms around B as he hauled him to his fete and back onto the experimentation table. Slowly he began to tie up the restraints and B was too busy trembling and crying to fight. His head hurt even more and he was trying to be sick, but there was no food to bring up.
“If you behave, he’ll be safe,” Marlowe said as he wiped back B’s fringe from his forehead, just like Brian liked to do to him.
B gave a sob, but did not shy away like he usually did. He felt dead after seeing Sammy and understanding the clear threat towards him. His skin burned with feverish heat, but inside he had turned cold. He nodded like some ghastly clockwork toy.
Marlowe smiled and laughed slightly. “You see, I told you we’d learn to understand one another.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Sammy’s legs were weak as he was steered out of B’s room. He fell against one of the walls, heaving as he tried to breathe and prevent his heart from stopping. He closed his eyes and turned to Heather. “How could you?” he whispered. “What the hell have you done to him!”
Something had been hideously wrong with B. He looked sick or something. His face had been worn and pale, so unlike the handsome and youthful face that belonged to him. The look in his eyes had frightened Sammy as well, a look of abject fear and terror. Something was happening to B and he was terrified.
“You’re blackmailing both of us! You’re threatening me with B’s safety and him with mine! Why? He’s a kid! Why can’t you leave him alone?” He hated not be able to protect B. he had always tried to look after him. B was his baby brother.
“Your brother is Marlowe’s concern, not mine,” Heather replied coldly. “I don’t know what the doctor is doing to him.”
“He’s torturing him,” Sammy whispered. “Just what you people did to him when he was five. You’re doing it again.” He closed his eyes, feeling so weak he thought he might fall apart in any moment. He had saw everything in B’s eyes. He was being tortured. He was so young though and still trying to grow up against everything that was stopping him.
He had missed B so deeply after he ran away. Lori was right when she had said that Sammy was too fond of him. Sammy had raised him and that made B… his. They had always stuck together and the unusual situation surrounding them had made an unusual relationship between them. B was only his brother but Sammy knew that he loved him as much as a parent did a child.
“We need people for experiments,” she said. “And he has something we want.”
“You won’t kill him?” Sammy asked softly, leaning his face upon the wall and not looking at Heather.
Heather paused for a moment, just long enough for a cold lump to form in Sammy’s stomach and begin to force its ugly way up his throat. “For now, Marlowe needs him for experiments. After he has finished, we will see. We won’t need him afterwards, but if you cooperate…” She left the clear threat hanging.
Sammy nodded. “I understand,” he replied weakly.
He could do nothing. He knew that Marlowe would make B do as he wanted by threatening Sammy. There was nothing either of them could do though. Sammy knew that Heather was telling the truth when she said that B’s life was only guaranteed for a set amount of time. After that, it would be up to Sammy’s behaviour and cooperation as to whether he lived.
But they were asking Sammy to betray his friends back at his base…
He wiped his eyes ad tried to compose himself. Heather did not rush him or say anything and Sammy felt a twinge of gratefulness for this slight consideration. He took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ll help you,” he whispered. He sighed. “You’re blackmailing us both aren’t you?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Yes,” she said simply.
Sammy’s eyes closed. He prayed that he could find a solution to this problem before long. Maybe he could do what Paul did and just pretend to help… but how could he do that when B’s life would pay the penalty if he were caught?
He nodded again at Heather and then slowly he let her lead him away.