The Dark Protector

Chapter 3: Merethyl

I scream as the pain of whatever they are injecting me with slices through my body. It feels like they’ve put razor blades into my blood stream and it’s killing me slowly.

“Note that patient number 34654 seems to be feeling pain with the injection. Time will tell if this compilation of drugs will incapacitate or kill it.”

It. I’m the “it”. Not her. Not Merethyl. Not the elf. It.

I’ve lost track of how long I’ve been in here. There are no days or nights here. There are no windows, so you know what time of day or even what time of year it is. There is only pain and in-between pain.

It’s a testament to how terrible my life is when I’m happy to hear my brother’s screams. It means he’s still alive. I hope my screams bring him the same peace, knowing I’m alive.

Ours aren’t the only screams here. They are a constant in this hellish place. I’m not sure which is worse, the screams or the begging. Begging for life, begging for death, it doesn’t matter, they never give you what you want. They don’t care.

The Chief got his name, I think, because he is the Chief scientist here. Everyone calls him Chief, except those of us he tortures. No one uses names. I guess, in the unlikely event that one of us escapes, they wouldn’t want a supernatural to know who they are. We’d hunt them down and kill them. I will anyway, if I ever find a way out of here.

After my injection, I’m left alone while whatever they put in my body makes its painful way through my system. I focus on anything that I can other than my pain. I try to identify the screams of others.

There, that girl, I heard her scream two days ago. She’s still alive.

And there, that guy begging for death, I heard him three days ago, begging for the same. I was beginning to think that they finally gave him what he was asking for, but none of us are that lucky.

And there … my heart relaxes just a little. That is my brother’s cry of pain. He’s still alive. I listen to him, silently telling him that I’m here. I don’t know if it helps at all, him knowing that I can hear him, that I’m here with him in spirit, but I try anyway.

When the screaming ends and I hear the doors close as the scientists leave, I take a chance. I haven’t spoken to my brother since that fateful night. The night of our parents’ death.

“Yhendorn.” My voice barely gets the word out. I cough, my body convulsing as I practically choke from trying to talk.

I swallow what little saliva I have in my mouth before trying again. “Yhendorn,” I say a bit louder.

It’s quiet a moment and I’m getting ready to call again when I hear him.

“Mere?” His voice is as rough and raspy as mine feels. I think it’s from screaming so often and so long.

“It’s me,” I reply, wanting him to know that I’m here.

“I thought that was you,” he says before he begins coughing uncontrollably.

When he’s done, I ask the question that’s been bothering me. “How are you alive, Yhendorn? I saw them shoot you.”

I hear him snort. “They healed me enough to experiment on me. Isn’t that nice? I was healed so they could kill me more slowly.”

“Are you werewolves?” A voice I don’t recognize asks. I would question if this was a trick, but the voice is just as raspy as ours and it sounds vaguely familiar.

“No, elves. Are you a werewolf?”

“Yes. Do you know what they want with us?”

“They want to kill us,” another voice says.

“No, they want to learn how to kill us. They don’t know how yet,” Yhendorn says.

“I don’t know how much longer I can do this?” The woman says, and I hear her begin to cry. The sounds of her crying blend in with the sounds of countless others that are crying here.

“You can, because the only other alternative is that they win," Yhendorn tells her. “You are stronger than you know. Do not let them beat you.” And this is why he was meant to be a King. He is a leader, and he inspires others to be better than they are.

“Does anyone know how many supernaturals they have here?” I ask. No one does. I’m not surprised, but it was worth a try.

“Mere, how are you strapped down?” Yhendorn asks.

I look up and down at the restraints that are around my wrists and ankles. “Iron, I think.”

“Can you break free?” he asks, and I hear him pulling against his restraints.

“I don’t know.” I begin pulling against them as well, yanking hard.

“Try, Mere. We need to take advantage of this time and get out of here.”

“Don’t leave me.” the crying girl says.

“We still have to get free, but if we do, we’ll help you, too.”

“And me?” The guy who has been begging for death asks.

“Yes, but all of us should try to get free.” Yhendorn says, grunting, and just as he says it, I hear what sounds like his restraints break. “Mere! I got one, you must try.”

I begin pulling harder and I feel one start to give. I hear another snap and I know Yhendorn got another restraint free.

“Help us!” the girl calls out loudly.

“Shhhh,” I hiss at her. “They’ll hear you and then none of us will escape.”

I tug harder, worried that the scientists will start coming to see what the shouting is about, and I feel the restraint on my left arm give.

“Yehn, I got one,” I whisper yell, just as I hear another one of his shackles release.

I reach my left hand over and grab my right, pulling with all my strength, ignoring the pain in my wrists that is almost as bad as the pain that is still shooting through my body because of the injection. I feel it give and hear Yhendorn's last restraint give.

“Mere, where are you?” he asks as I hear his door creak open.

“I’m here,” I reply, sitting up, ignoring the pain shooting through my stomach and chest at the motion. I lean forward as my door opens just a crack and I see Yhendorn peek in.

When he sees it’s me, he rushes in, grabbing my ankle restraints. He pulls on one while I pull on the other one. Together, we rip them out. I now have a restraint cuff hanging from each of my wrists and my ankles, but I’m free. Yhendorn has the same.

We rush to the door, and he has me stand behind him as he checks the hallway. “You help the woman and I’ll help the man. Be quick, be careful. We’ll meet back out in the hallway in a moment.”

I nod and rush to where I heard the woman crying. When I open the door, her eyes go wide.

“Shh,” I tell her and begin removing her restraints. They are no problem for me, wolfsbane doesn’t affect the fae. “Come on and stay quiet,” I whisper to her.

She stumbles off her bed, following me to the door. I open it a crack and see the hallway is still empty. I open it further and hurriedly walk through, looking both ways trying to find an exit. There is no sign indicating where an exit might be. I lift my nose in the air and can’t smell anything but the scent of chemicals and fear.

I turn to look at the girl behind me. “Can you smell the outdoors? Do you know where the exit is?” I ask her. She lifts her nose in the air just as the door across from us opens and Yhendorn walks out, holding the man up, helping him walk.

I rush over, taking the man’s arm and wrapping it around my shoulders, helping Yhendorn. “Which way?” I ask.

He stops, sniffing the air. “I can’t smell anything.”

“Me neither.”

“This way,” he says, tilting his head to the left. We turn, beginning to walk but the she-wolf is still standing there.

“I’m sorry. I’m going this way. We’ll be safer if we split up,” she says before hurrying in the opposite direction.

“No, wait,” Yhendorn says, but it’s too late. She’s already moved through the doorway at the other end of the hall.

“Hurry, we don’t know how much time we have,” he says, moving toward the other end of the hallway.

We’ve just reached the door when we hear shots ring out and a woman’s scream. Yhendorn and I look at each other. They found the she-wolf.

We begin running, as fast as we can while holding the man who is barely able to stand. Normally, this would be no problem, being fae royalty and strong even by supernatural standards, but Yhen and I are both still suffering the effects of whatever they injected us with.

We run to the end of this hallway and see that it goes in two different directions, one left, and one right. We go left again, rushing to get to the end of the hall. When we do, we open the door, only to see that it is a laboratory. I pull away from the man, rushing to check the other doors. None of them is an exit.

I look at Yhendorn. “We have to go back and take the other hallway.”

We begin rushing and just make it to the point where we turned left when the door at the end of the hallway bursts open.

“They’re here! Get them!” The scientists shout and hunters come in right behind them, carrying their guns and aiming them at us.

We rush past them, running to the end of the hallway. When we get there, I push open the door and the fresh scent of the forest hits my nose. I turn to Yhendorn, just as the shots ring out. The body of the man we were carrying jerks as he takes the hits of the bullets.

“Finally,” he says, as his body crumples to the ground in a dead heap.

Yhendorn pushes me outside and slams the door closed. We begin running, hearing the door behind us swing open. We are in a small clearing, rushing to get to the forest when shots ring out again.

I hear Yhendorn huff, and I turn, seeing him holding his side, blood seeping through his fingers. He looks at me. “Run, Mere. I need you to run and get away. When you can, come back and get me.”

“No! I’m not leaving you!” I tell him, slowing down as he stumbles.

“I order you, as your King. RUN!”

“Yhendorn, please, we can make it.”

“RUN, MERE!” he orders, and I feel the command wash over me. I have no choice but to turn and run, leaving my brother behind to be recaptured by the hunters.