by Quil Carter
I pulled away, he did too, looking finally relaxed and himself, if only for this moment, until we had to become fugitives.
“A lot of things are going to change if only for a while, while Greyson and Leo sort through all of this,” I said, “but I’ll protect you. Like I said, we can go on a vacation. Just us.”
Killian’s bottom lip tensed as he bit down on it. “We do need to leave, we need to get far away from King Silas. Reaver… Greyson needs to tell you why he’s here. It isn’t to avenge Perish’s death. I… I can’t be the one to tell you though.”
My chest lurched, for more than one reason. “Killian, about Perish…”
Suddenly I heard the tank hatch squeak. I grabbed my M16 and told Killian to stay put. I waited at the bottom of the hatch with my gun drawn and pointing at whoever was coming through.
“Reaver, Reaver!” I lowered my gun as I heard Greyson. I stepped back as he slid down.
He looked horrible. He was covered in ash, sweat dripping from his body. He was breathing heavily. He turned around and called up the tunnel, “Come down.”
“Who do you have?” I said slowly, as the breath was sucked out of my chest.
“Okay,” a small, submissive voice called.
My mouth dropped open, my chest felt like it had been filled with tiny razor blades. I couldn’t believe it was him. I never thought I would hear that rapid-paced voice again.
“You can’t bring him here, you can’t fucking bring him here!” I exclaimed. I could see the countdown in my head to the moment my boyfriend would have a stroke.
I looked over at Killian and back at Greyson. Killian hadn’t heard the voice, he was looking at me in puzzlement.
I pushed past Greyson and ran over to a confused Killian. I grabbed his hand and quickly ushered him into my bedroom and closed the door.
“He doesn’t know! Greyson, you can’t bring him here.” I grabbed Greyson’s shoulder and pulled him away from the hatch.
Then Perish crawled out of the hatch. He tried to stand upright but collapsed onto the ground on his knees. His legs were weak spindles, covered in bruises in various states of healing.
The scientist didn’t look as he used to. As he looked around my basement with scared eyes, I could see his face was grey and sunken in, with several nice size bruises gracing his cheekbone and forehead. When his neurotic blue eyes finally fell on me, he spasmed and immediately shifted towards the furthest corner, making a nervous whimpering noise like a dog.
“Greyson, he can’t stay here!” I exclaimed. “He–”
“THEY HAVE LEO!” Greyson cried, his voice strangled and full of fear. He was trying to catch his breath through clenched teeth. “They have Leo… I got my call back from Anvil. He never arrived, Reaver. He’s been missing for two weeks. Silas has my husband.” I was shocked as Greyson dropped to his knees, his shoulders shaking. I could see drops appear on my wooden floor. “He has my husband.”
The outward display of emotion from Greyson caught me off-guard, but it gave me the kick in the ass to drop the issue of Perish being here.
My eyes found the ghost of Perish. He was wringing skeleton-thin hands, his knees brought up to his chest. His face was blanched, a stark contrast to the black circles under his sunken eyes. I felt a twinge of empathy for him. I hated him, deeply and passionately but… fuck, Greyson and Leo had been tormenting him.
What a life…
“We need to trade him,” I said, eyeing the door to make sure Killian hadn’t opened it. “Him for Leo. That’s what Silas is here for, isn’t it? He has something we want, and we have something he wants.”
“Where is Leo?” Greyson suddenly exploded. I watched as he kicked Perish in the side. “Where does he have him?”
Perish screamed like a wounded animal, and backed away from Greyson’s blow. He crawled backwards until his back hit the kitchen counter, before putting his hands over his face.
“TELL ME!” Greyson roared. He raised his leg again to kick him.
“I don’t know, I don’t know. We have a house in the south, he might be there. I don’t know!” Perish screamed, and put his arms over his face. I could see scabbed burn marks on them. Fuck, they hadn’t just been tormenting him – they had been torturing him.
“Perish!” Killian suddenly screamed. I saw a blur as Killian jumped in front of him. He turned to Greyson and to my surprise he had brought his Magnum. His belt must’ve been in the bedroom.
“Get out. GET OUT!” Killian shrieked. He held up the gun; it shook back and forth in his trembling grasp. “Get away from him! You did this, fucking Leo did this! Perish didn’t do anything and neither did we! Get the fuck out of here.”
“Listen to him, Greyson,” I said, my voice dangerous.
Greyson’s shoulders were trembling hard, every breath a crackling rasp inside his chest. He reached down to grab Perish’s lab coat collar when I heard the gun cock.
“Perish stays.” I had never heard Killian sound so authoritative, so dominant. “He’s a human with free will, he is not yours to abuse anymore.” Killian looked down at Perish, who was shivering in the corner like a half-drowned kitten. “Perish, do you want to stay with me? We won’t hurt you. I’ll take you back to Donnely.”
Perish whimpered. He wiped his nose. “Reaver will kill me as soon as your back is turned.”
“No, I won’t,” I said, and oddly I meant it too. He was so pathetic and weak, being mean to him was like kicking a stray, starving dog. It didn’t make you tougher, it just made you a dick. “We’re going to return you to your master; we’ll trade you for Leo.”
“Lycos,” Perish said under his breath.
“Perish, shut the fuck up.”
“No!” Perish got a hint of balls and looked up at Greyson. I think Killian pointing a gun at Greyson’s face had given Perish some confidence. Did he still trust his little boyfriend after he had cut his damn head off?
“His name is Lycos, it’s not Leo. It’s Lycos and Greyson knows why. Greyson knows why because he knows why my master is really here.” His blue eyes glared up at Greyson, but they deflected as soon as he made eye contact.
“I will rip out your tongue and when you grow another one I will rip that one out as well,” Greyson suddenly bellowed. He took a step towards Perish. “So watch your–”
There was a gunshot.
Before the ricochet could bounce off the ceiling and walls, I had my M16 in my hand. I saw Greyson stumble back and slam against the tank hatch, his eyes shocked.
Killian was holding the smoking Magnum, his hands shaking.
My eyes found the bullet hole lodged in the tank hatch. He had missed Greyson, but barely.
“Get out of this basement, or next time I’ll aim for the tank hatch and hit you,” Killian stammered. He looked like he was trying to hide the shock on his face that he had actually pulled the trigger.
“Reaver, take his gun away.” Greyson put his hands up and took a slow step towards the tank hatch.
“I’m not his master. If he wants to point a gun at you he can,” I said acidly. “You need to leave now.”
Greyson’s cheeks puffed up as he let out a breath. He nodded and turned around. He looked shaken and I knew he was worried about Leo, but I had no more sympathy to spare him.
“Arrange the trade. Perish will be down here,” I said. I was still holding the M16. Perish was whimpering in the corner murmuring things to himself. “I’ll be patrolling West Aras. I–”
“No.” Greyson held up a hand. “Reaver, whatever you do, don’t leave. Reno can patrol; Silas has nothing on him. If you love Killian, do not leave the basement.”
The last part bothered me. He had never pulled that card on me before. It made me think twice about going out.
I gave him a nod, and he turned and started up the tunnel hatch. “Keep… keep your radio on. Don’t leave the basement.”
When the hatch closed, everything was quiet. I turned around and faced Killian.
His hands were holdin
g the Magnum, pointed at the hatch. The gun was shaking back and forth so hard it was no wonder he missed Greyson. I gently took it away and set it down.
“Congratulations, baby.” I rubbed his arm. “You’re officially not crazy!”
Killian didn’t breakdown into tears like I thought he might. His blue, washed-out eyes stared at me like I was an alien. At the same time, we both turned around to Perish.
The ghost of Perish was wringing his hands, looking around the room in bewilderment. His own blue eyes, lighter than Killian’s, were flicking back and forth, trying to take in his new surroundings.
They had done a number on him. I couldn’t believe how stick-thin he was. He was almost as frail as Killian normally looked. When I had seen him before he was slender, with a nice build and a handsome face. Now he was a shadow of his former self. He looked like a prisoner of war; his arms and chest were covered in half-healed lighter and cigarette burns, and black bruises.
I couldn’t believe I was doing this, but I think in the months since we had escaped from Donnely, I had come to see just what being Perish entailed. He was a mentally ill guy who kept getting tangled in shit he didn’t start.
Now he was out of the comfort of his own secure little bunker. He was out of his old environment and in mine. I was top dog and he knew it. I was in control now. The only thing Perish had once had to make himself feel in control was his secure bunker and his splices. The scientist had nothing now. He was a prisoner in the hands of an enemy.
I didn’t quite feel bad for him, but I decided then I wouldn’t mistreat him. Greyson and Leo had been torturing him to get information but I knew Perish better than that. Perish would give up information a lot more easily if you were friendly towards him, most likely without even realizing it. If I could be cordial, not only would it be easier for Killian to swallow this new development without having to worry about me torturing Perish too, but it would give me some answers.
And I had quite a few questions.
Anyway, he was no threat, that was obvious.
“Hey, Perish.” I leaned down in front of him. He shrank away from me, his eyes jutting around nervously. “I won’t hurt you. I know I have every reason to, but I won’t.”
Perish looked at me. “Lycos said the same thing.”
“Why does he keep calling him that?” I said as Killian knelt down beside me.
“Perish, did you know Lycos in Skyfall?” Killian asked kindly.
Perish’s eyes softened when he saw Killian. He looked at him sadly before he scrunched himself up smaller beside the kitchen cabinets. I don’t think he wanted to talk to him. Well, he did kill him.
“Perry, did I see you with your master? Does he know how to take you out of the bunker?”
Good point, that hadn’t even occurred to me. Killian had said he had seen both Perish and Asher.
Perish shook his head. “No, you’re still half-crazy. I never left the bunker.”
My heart jumped. Then Silas didn’t know where Perish was, we had that on him. We had a good trade.
“He’ll be happy to see that you’re okay I bet,” Killian said quietly. He reached out and tried to put a hand on Perish’s but Perish stiffened so Killian withdrew it.
Perish wrung his hands and nodded to himself. “Master came for me? You think? He’s never come for me before.”
Well, congratulations on feeling important…
I got up and reached a hand down for Perish’s. The scientist looked up at me, hesitated, then let me help him up. His feet buckled, and I found myself supporting him.
I looked over and saw fresh tears in Killian’s eyes. When I helped Perish over to the couch, Killian started to cry.
“Thank you, Reaver,” Killian sobbed as I helped Perish gently sit down. “Thank you for being nice to him.”
Perish looked at him confused. “I thought you hated me?”
Well, that just made my boyfriend cry harder. He turned away from Perish and left the living room. I could hear him sit down on my bed to be alone while he composed himself.
“He doesn’t hate you,” I said, putting my M16 right beside me on the couch. I mentally scanned everything in grabbing distance, trying to figure out if he had anything he could make into a weapon. “You know how some of your splices grow up fucked in the head? You feel bad that they’re retarded and their lives are shit, so you killed them, right?”
Perish nodded.
“That’s what Killian did to you. He felt badly you would be left alone to suffer; he couldn’t bear the thought because he liked you. So he killed you.”
“Oh…” Perish looked towards the bedroom. “It’s not that easy to kill me though. Maybe I should have told him that beforehand.”
The chimera was looking around like he was still in a daze. I guess being locked up for the last several months and then being grabbed and brought here might’ve knocked a few more screws loose. I got up and gave him some chocolate bars and canned spaghetti to eat, then I did the only thing I could think of: I offered him drugs.
“Silas used to shoot me up with drugs and watch me stumble around.” Perish watched as I crushed up the drugs between a couple of spoons. He wasn’t getting my heroin. “I think he killed me a lot of times that way.”
I banged my plastic card against the mirror and gave him a look. “How old are you?”
“I’m seventy-one, but I stopped growing older when I was twenty-four. Same with my master.”
“And Silas is…?”
“Two hundred and fifty-five.”
I had to give an impressed whistle at that. “So what, did he get bored and fuck a broad or something?”
Perish stared at me, he looked confused.
“You are his son, right?”
He shook his head. “No.”
I handed him the mirror and gave him a sniffer. “So why are you immortal then?”
Perish took the sniffer and jerked his eyes away from mine. “I’m sorry, I can’t talk about this.” He squinted and flinched, as if scared I would beat him for saying that.
This would be a good time to flaunt my friendliness, though I did feel like hitting him. Just because he was Perish, the fuck who beat and taunted me in Donnely. “That’s alright. We can talk about whatever you want.”
The scientist looked at me and cautiously bent over the drugs. “Why are you being nice to me, Reaver? I was very mean to you.”
“You’re not a threat to me right now. I know it and you know it,” I said. I watched as his eyes watered from the sting of the pills. “I have a lot on my mind, with all this and Silas tormenting my boyfriend. I have more important things to worry about than beating my chest in front of you.”
He sniffed and looked at the mirror, poking the white lines with his finger. “I had hoped Greyson had lied when he said you and Killian were dating and having sex. I guess I was silly to think you weren’t.”
“I said what I had to say to keep him safe,” I said honestly. No need to lie about that. Nothing he could do about it now. “I love him and I will kill anyone who tries to take him away from me.”
Perish sighed. “I was stupid to think someone would love me.”
Oh jeez… he really laid it on thick.
“Killian can be your friend, that’s, you know… something, right?” I tried to say something supportive but that was all I had. “Killian could use a friend right now. Did you know Silas raped him? He drugged him with ressin and tormented him.” I felt the anger rise inside me. I shifted the drug mirror back to me to try and extinguish it. I couldn’t blow this, if I freaked out on Perish, Killian would be affected, and Perish too. I didn’t want to screw up this transfer of hostages. Soon the crazy fuck would be back in Skyfall and out of our lives. I just hoped Silas would be happy with him and leave. Maybe I could avoid having to run with Killian.
Perish’s lower lip trembled. “Why didn’t you protect him?”
That nicked my armour. “Silas befriended me, told me his name was Asher. I didn’t know who
he was.”
Perish nodded and sighed sadly. “What Silas wants he gets. You would never be able to protect Killian.”
About a quarter hour later, I heard the door open. We both looked up as Killian walked back into the living room. He paused when he saw Perish.
“Hi, Killian,” Perish said with a small smile.
Killian went to run back into the bedroom. I got up and grabbed his arm. “He understands, just sit down and take some drugs.” I had just gotten him lucid again, I didn’t want Perish’s re-emergence to further shatter his mind. “He’s not mad at you, he’s just… worn out. I gave him some oxy, and we’re just hanging out. Right?” I looked at Perish.
Perish nodded. He shifted to the end of the couch to make a spot for Killian. I did another check to make sure he wasn’t shifting near anything dangerous but I had crammed most of my weapons into the bag I had found. If need be, I was ready to leave at a second’s notice. Though it was quiet and calm in the basement, it was a rather false calm. I was half-expecting Greyson to burst in telling us we all had to scram.
Killian sat down on the chair by the desk which I think offended Perish. I couldn’t blame my little boyfriend though; he was pretty much looking at a ghost right now. I wondered if this made him think he was more crazy or less crazy.
“Are we still leaving Aras?” Killian asked, looking down at his hands.
“I don’t really know what’s happening anymore,” I said. I turned to Perish. “Do you think Silas is going to take you and exchange you for Lycos or is he going to fuck with us some more?”
“Take me and go,” Perish whispered. “I hope.”
Killian visibly relaxed. “He’ll give us back Leo and go?”
Perish nodded, then his face darkened. “He’ll beat him bloody first, I hope.” He looked up and suddenly paled. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m wishing the same thing,” Killian muttered.
Then under his breath I heard him murmur, “Fucking Skylander prick.”
I wasn’t going to let that go. I looked at Killian. “Spit it out.”
My boyfriend had that caught look to him. He busied himself by bringing out the materials to make quils, ignoring me completely.
