Arcanum Hominem (#1)

Chapter 64

I wasn't sure how I did it, but I did. I walked the entire two hours to the warehouse, and at this point, I could barely keep my eyes open. The door was right there. I was so close. So close to getting help. Fatigue had me stumbling toward the door, and sheer will was the only thing keeping me on my feet. As I stumbled, I held my good arm up, ready to knock on the door. When I reached the front door, I hit my hand on the door and slid down to the ground, my feet no longer able to hold up my broken body. My eyes were also no longer able to stay open, and I succumbed to the darkness. 

How many times was I going to pass out in one day? That was the first question to pop up in my head when I regained consciousness. Why? I had no idea. The throbbing in my head was still there, but it was muted, no longer pounding as if it was trying to shatter my skull. 

Too bright.

"Too bright," I croaked, speaking my thoughts, surprised I was able to even open up my mouth. The light that was shining in my eyes dimmed, and I let out a sigh, blinking the dark spots away. 

"Hey, welcome back to the land of the living." Someone whispered, and I groaned as the voice made my ears ring. I guess they were still sensitive to some sounds. "Oh, sorry. Welcome back." The voice was lowered, which I was grateful for. I slowly turned my head to the speaker of the voice and made eye contact with Row. His eyes were filled with worry, and he stood up from the chair he was sitting in.

"Hey." I greeted him, thinking about his words. I would laugh, but I had no energy. I also wasn't in the mood for jokes, especially not after what happened to me. I wanted blood to spill. I wanted Archer's head. 

"Your voice sounds much better than it did when you first arrived," he told me and handed me a glass of water. I tried to reach for it, but something stopped me. I looked down to see that my left arm was in a sling. I was shirtless, but my entire chest and torso were completely wrapped with gauze. I scrunched my brows.

"Who fixed me?" I asked, slowly sitting up, wincing as I did. I didn't see anyone else in the room, which I now identified as a small infirmary. Row was the only one here. 

"Cleo did. I helped some, but she did most of the work since she has more experience in that field than any of us. You really scared us, just showing up all bloodied at the front door like that. What happened?" he asked me as I stared straight ahead at the mirror across the room. My face wasn't bloody anymore like it was, but the bruising was still there. Large purple circles were under my eyes, deep and sunken. There was deep purple on my lids that wrapped around the light purple circles. My eyes were lifeless. Staring at myself in the mirror was like seeing a different person. My cheeks were swollen and bruised, just like my eyes, except worse. The swelling almost wiped out all of my features, leaving me unrecognizable. 

I didn't know who was staring in the mirror, but it wasn't me. I sucked in a breath as I turned, swinging my legs to the side of the infirmary bed. I couldn't stare at myself for any longer, or I would break down. I thought about Row's question. 

"I was with Killian. He wanted to capture Chase so badly after the video chat, and I tried my best to get him to change his mind, help him see what the better option was, but he was stubborn. He wouldn't see it any other way, so I told him that he can go but that I was going with him." I paused, trying to control my breathing. I didn't want to blame Killian for what happened to me, but if he wasn't so hellbent on going after Chase, I wouldn't be in this situation. "I was supposed to keep watch in the parking lot while Killian went in the building to look for Chase, and I did stay in the car for a while, but he was taking too long. So I left the car and was heading toward the building, and that's when I was knocked out from behind." I shuddered involuntarily as the details of what happened played in my head over and over again. Each blow from the guard's fist made me flinch, and I blinked rapidly to come back to reality. 

I wasn't there anymore. I didn't need to worry about that. I looked up to see Row staring at me, pity in his eyes. That pissed me off. 

"Don't pity me." I hissed, making him raise his brows in surprise. 

"I'm sorry. It's just, this is your first time going through something like this, so I'm not sure how you're feeling right now. You look like you really went through it." he explained to me, and I gritted my teeth.

"I did," I grunted as I got off the small bed and stretched my arm in the air. "Where is everyone else?" I asked, looking around. I didn't want the focus to be on me anymore. I needed a distraction. I wanted to punch something, but my body wasn't equipped for that at the moment. 

"They're meeting up with Killian. He informed us that you were missing, and he went looking for you, so Levi and Cleo did as well. They separated though and the others came back to get more equipment and that's when you came. We told Killian or tried to at least, but his phone is showing that it's off, so they're going to look for him in the last location his phone pinged."

I walked through the room randomly, just staring at everything I passed by as I digested his words. "Hunter kidnapped me, but on the orders of Archer Cutler." My voice was low as I finally told him who took me. I stared at the ground, trying to control my anger.

"Archer Cutler? Did you see what he looked like? None of us have been able to get a good picture of him before or even see him in person." Row sounded excited, which at first irritated me, but I had to control it because it wasn't his fault what happened to me. This was a breakthrough that they needed, and I was going to help, even if it did piss me off.

"I did. I can describe him to you if you want." I suggested and he nodded quickly. He told me to follow him and I did, leaving the infirmary. He led me straight to the warehouse where he went to a computer, typing in the password. I sat down next to him as he pulled out a sketchbook and I began to describe what Archer looked like. Row was enjoying himself, and as I spoke, in the back of my head, I was just thinking about what my next move would be. I would have them track Chase down so that he could lead me to Archer. I wouldn't say that outright because I know that the others would definitely put two and two together and know what I planned to do. They would want to interrogate him and Chase for information. I didn't care about information. They could always find another way to get the information they needed. There were plenty of people on Archer's level who probably knew more than him. I don't know. I just know that I wasn't backing down for anyone.

I finished describing what Archer looked like to Row and he began to do something on the computer that would generate an even better image than the one he drew. As he did that, I thought about Killian and what he would think about my decision to go after Archer. He wouldn't like it, but honestly, it wasn't for him to decide. I was done playing by his rules. The last time I did that, I was kidnapped. That wasn't happening again. I know he wanted to be the one to kill Archer, but now he had competition. 

If I saw Archer first, I was going to kill him with my bare hands.