CHAPTER FORTY TWO - MUDDLED UP
Marlowe’s chuckle was hideous as it echoed about the dim corridor. His green eyes sparkled like the glare of headlights. They had been caught. “I do think I’m lucky to have come across you both,” he murmured. “I thought I’d lost you for good.” He was no longer addressing both of them and his eyes had fixed firmly upon B who was squeezing Sammy’s arm so tightly that it hurt.
Sammy reached a hand round to grab B’s arm securely. “You have lost him,” he replied coldly. “I’m taking him home, away from this place and you.”
He eyed the gun in Marlowe’s hands. If he had it himself then he would have fired it already. He remembered the scientist well from his last encounter when he had taunted both Sammy and B before separating them. He could still recall the laughter and the sickening smile that had carved widely across Marlowe’s face.
The pleasant expression that had showed- upon Marlowe’s face now suddenly transformed into a hard gaze that could have crushed stone. Sammy could feel the air about them chilling as it froze under the scientist’s hatred.
Marlowe’s fingers tensed about the gun. “Why don’t you give your darling brother a choice?” he pointed a finger at B. “Maybe he wants to stay here with me.”
B did not say word. Sammy noticed that he was staring at Marlowe in confusion, although his hand still held Sammy’s arm. He remembered the boy’s puzzlement from earlier about mixing Brian and Mralowe up. Now that he was suddenly beginning to realise how much Marlowe did resemble Brian. Their height was the same, their hair identical… no one B had become so mixed up And Marlowe had no doubt been encouraging that confusion.
Sammy shook his head. Marlowe had practically raped B mentally and he wouldn’t let him stay here. If he had to drag B out of this place then that’s what he would do. “You’ve fucked with his head for long enough,” he spat violently. I’m not letting you do this to him anymore.”
Marlowe ignored him and rook a step closer to them, his eyes never leaving B’s face. Sammy inched them both away from his advances. “Leave us alone,” he warned.
A smile pulled at the corners of Marlowe’s mouth that seemed to be filled with infinite pleasantness and madness all at the same time. “You’re in no position to make demands,” he chuckled, tapping the gun. “I believe that I am in full control of this situation.”
Sammy’s hands were itching. He wanted to grab the man’s throat and crush his windpipe. He wanted to kill him or do anything to hurt him and to make him leave them.
Marlowe steadily aimed the gun at Sammy’s head. “Let B go,” he ordered softly. “He’s not yours anymore.”
“No chance in hell,” Sammy replied instantly. “He never has been yours and never will be. He doesn’t belong to anybody but himself.”
“I created him!” Marlowe said venomously. “You’ve seen his new abilities? He has them because of me! He is my experiment!”
“No longer!” Sammy yelled as he pulled B to him fiercely. “Let him go! I’m not givin him up to you. Ever.”
Marlowe raised an eyebrow. “I don’t see your brother protesting,” he commented.
Sammy felt as cold as the iced air around him. He looked down at B. Marlowe was right. He wasn’t struggling and he wasn’t crying anymore. He just remained still, letting Sammy hold him.
Sammy did not allow any expression to pass over his face. He did not want Marlowe to see that he had affected him. “I’m not letting him go,” he repeated, his voice low with warning. Damn it, he would throttle the man with his bare hands if Marlowe forced him to!
Marlowe looked at B’s papery face. “B, don’t you want to come with me?” His voice had turned sweet and sugary.
“I-I don’t remember who you are,” B whispered. He looked even worse than when Sammy had found him. Sweat covered his brow but he shivered at the same time.
Sammy smiled triumphantly, but Marlowe wasn’t finished yet. “You do remember,” he continued softly. “You remember that I saved you when your family abandoned you.”
“You liar!” Sammy screamed. He released B and then adrenaline forced his body forwards, arms outstretched and desperate to hit the scientist. Everything happening next seemed to be covered by a translucent blur. Marlowe raised the gun again. There was a red flash, a streaking pain tearing into his thigh and then a screeching noise followed by his own groan of pain. He hit the ground awkwardly, his knee banging hard into the floor.
Sammy heard screaming and he raised his head to see Marlwoe laughing as he held the laser. “Don’t move again or try to pull anything like that again,” he warned. “Or next time I’ll hit you somewhere far more vital than the leg.”
The blond stared down at his leg. The jeans had been torn and burnt and the fabric had fused to the blackened wound that streaked his left thigh. It throbbed with heat as fearsome as the sun in the desert and he couldn’t have moved even if he’d wanted to. He looked around to where the screaming was coming from and saw that B had covered his eyes with his hands and was screaming incessantly while rotted to the spot.
Marlowe lowered his weapon and crossed over to B. He wrapped the boy in his arms and then smiled at Sammy as he spoke to B. “There, there, it’s all right. I’ll look after you.”
Sammy opened his mouth. He had to scream at B. He couldn’t let B trust that man. The moment he did though, Marlowe had flipped the gun back up only, this time, it was pointed at B. “I’ll kill him before I let you take him away from me,” he whispered.
B was crying and trembling. If he heard Marlowe’s words he did not seem to understand them. Sammy’s eyes melted as they widened. He couldn’t stand with his bad leg and now B would die if he tried anything. He eyes were pulled almost electrically to stare into Marlowe’s, trying to see whether the scientist was serious in his threat. After seeing his behaviour before though, Sammy could see that he was unpredictable and likely to do anything.
Helplessly he watched as Marlowe held B close.
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Bri was well ahead. Brian was gasping as he tried to catch up with him. “Bri!” he cried. “Wait!”
Even though he had rested at Howie’s camp, he felt more drained than ever. His muscles were aching and filled with potent lactic acid and his mind was woozy since he had managed to awaken Bri. His heart was beating almost double the speed and with each step he feared that he might stumble and fall.
His mind was suffocating as the blackness tried to force its ugly self upon him. He couldn’t breathe and he could hardly move and yet the slower he moved, the faster Bri seemed to go. He felt almost as if his strength had been split in two and half was being used to power his inured twin. Bri had certainly recovered quickly after Brian had roused him.
There was something else that worried him as well, a constant pain in his abdomen that streaked hotly further down. There was no mark at all on his own body but he knew it was where the knife had struck Bri. He was hurt and badly yet he seemed to have moved all of his pain onto Brian.
He tried to concentrate and push himself forward. Bri would need help. What if Sammy and B were in danger from the same one who had attacked Bri? There was no telling what sate B would be in or if he would survive a brutal attack.
Ahead of him Bri rounded another corner. Brian’s heart was almost bursting and he almost tripped up as his legs suddenly seemed to fill with liquid mercury. He gulped and swallowed a fat ball of nausea. He had to continue.
‘Bri…’ he thought frantically. ‘Help…’
He felt his twin’s mind seize hold of his gently, yet firmly. That alone seemed to banish some of the weariness. He knew he wasn’t alone. There was always Bri there to help him and urge him onwards.
His legs began to move forward, desperate to catch up with his twin.
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“B, stop crying. It’s okay.”
B heard the voice and blindly clung onto the speaker, not caring who it was. Everything had happened so fast and his mind was screaming as it was pulled in a dozen different directions. Memories were exploding inside of his head but he didn’t want to listen to any of them. He was afraid of what he had done.
This couldn’t be his nemesis the scientist before him. If it was then it would mean B had killed somebody else before. He couldn’t decipher anything in the muddle and all he could do was cry and hope that someone would guide him.
The flash and the noise had frightened him and so had the fall of his brother. As much as he wanted to run to him though, he was too frightened and now he was thinking of the words the unknown man before him had said. He had looked after him when his family had abandoned him. He remembered that. He remembered fear and loneliness and the endless begging for them to come for him.
His eyes opened and then he began to pull away from the embrace so that he could look at the man’s face again properly. He knew who it was. The name was garishly streaking inside of his skull. he covered his face again. Marlowe must have recovered from the attack before, that was why he was here now. Of course he had attacked Marlowe earlier. It couldn’t have been anybody else. B would have known if it was.
Jumbled thoughts were the only sanctity he had from total insanity.
“You’re Marlowe!” he sobbed. “You’re the one who hurt me!” He was terrified. He remembered pain, but as scared as he was he was still even more frightened to move.
“B,” Marlowe said softly, gently gripping B’s arms. “You’re confused. This man here has muddled you even more. He’s been lying to you.”
B stared over at the blond on the floor. It was his brother. He had believed him when he’d spoken before because he’d been too tired of being confused. He had needed someone to force him to choose something. Sammy’s blue eyes were gazing at his. Blue eyes that said so much more than B could understand. He saw the blood trickling down his leg and a cry filled his throat.
“Sammy!” he burbled as he reached a hand out over to him.
Marlowe tightened his hold on him, refusing to release him. “I can’t let you go with him, B. He’ll hurt you and I don’t want that to happen. You must come with me. He’d only abandon you again but with me it’s different. I’ll keep you safe in a room. I’ll make you do great things. You have new abilities now and you can use them to do anything.”
Tears fell from Sammy’s eyes. “Marlowe,” he said, his voice husky with emotion. “The war is over. It’s too late. Please, let him go. Please.”
Marlowe did not acknowledge Sammy, but B could not move his eyes from him. He had memories of Sammy and he wanted to remember more of them. He remembered being abandoned but something must have gone wrong for Sammy to do that.
He remembered other things as well. He remembered a hotness in his veins that had shaken him with anger. He had wanted to destroy and main to try and make everything around him stop. That was gone now, replaced with helplessness. He felt much weaker now and his mind could not release the image of a light haired man dying on the floor because of the way B had attacked him.
“B, you will come with me won’t you?” Marlowe asked.
Pain was building up in B’s blood. He wanted to escape. He’d felt safe with Sammy but now he didn’t know what he felt anymore. He was trembling. “Sammy,” he whispered again, pointing at his brother.
Mralowe’s eyes were narrowing and B felt something hard pressing against his back. Sammy’s eyes were flashing and a cry came from his brother’s mouth. B stared at him but Marlowe just glared at Sammy and his brother fell silent.
“B, I’m going to give you a choice,” he whispered. “One final choice. Me or that.” He nodded towards Sammy.
B sobbed again. He was confused. He didn’t understand what choice. He stared at Marlowe’s eyes. “Sammy,” he repeated.
“B! Behind you!” Sammy screamed frantically.
An instinctive part of B suddenly jumped into action. In a second he knew that what he felt pressing against his back was the tip of a laser. His mind lashed out in retaliation and in an instant Marlowe was thrown back by an invisible force. The laser beam fired at the ceiling harmlessly.
B stayed motionless confused and horrified by the series of events. Marlowe had been going to kill him because he chose his brother.
Marlowe cursed and staggered back to his feet. His hand reached out for the laser. B tried to force his mind to pull it away, but he couldn’t concentrate and nothing happened.
Marlowe’s face was dark and his eyes gleamed like those of a monstrous beast that knew only evil. “I’ve had it with you little fucked up brat!” he snapped. “You’re useless anyway! You’re a wreck and you’ll never be able to return to your life again! I’m not going to let you even try… either of you.” There was a whine as the laser began to charge.
B yelped and suddenly threw himself to the ground beside his brother, his arms groping for Sammy’s hands. Sammy’s eyes were watery and he tried to move, but only groaned in pain. His fingers entwined with B’s. B closed his eyes, allowing a memory to cover his senses.
‘Mommy, when Sammy coming home? I love Sammy. Him my brother.’
He waited by the window, his mother laughing at his excitement as he waited.
Another memory.
B was splashing around in water. Sun dribbled over the surface of the pool. Sammy laughed from the shore while Brian stood knee deep in the water smiling at B. B smiled back at him. Father. Sons.
B’s eyes shot open. He stared at Sammy beside him and then at Marlowe. Everything seemed to spin back to him in this last moment.
Brian. Sammy. Family. Love.
He didn’t want this to be the end.
His eyes fixed upon the laser. He had to move it away from him. He had new abilities. He had to stop him! He tried to grab it, but he was shaking and his fear was blocking everything. He saw the laser wobble in Marlowe’s hands but the scientist merely clutched it even tighter.
“No!” another voice suddenly wailed.
B turned his tearful face. Marlowe fired. Somebody ran out between the brothers and the scientist. There was a flash and something heavy hit the floor like a bag of wet paint. Someone had blocked the shot.
B began to scream again. “Daddy!”