The Phantom's Curse

Chapter Eight

Midnight crawled across the windows in the basement, though Clark had been tied up to long, to even notice, if it was day or night. Lex had been down there with him a few times, that day, but seemed to leave him in the middle of the night. His head throbbed and the headache he felt forming, only caused small whimpers and groans, mixed with painful coughs, escaped his dry, burning throat. His back was sore, his spine twisted from sitting so long, and his legs felt like they were cramping from being still for so long. The meteor rock burned and cooked his flesh, the whole area seeming to burn, though there wasn't any true mark left behind. At least none he human eye could make out. Clark opened then shifted his gaze, his eyes were barely opened, but the light from the basement's ceiling was just about all the light he could bare, which didn't seem to be to much, though to him, shone like the sun itself. The back of his skull throbbed, causing him to curse under his breath. How he wished to inspect the damage, expect there was still the problem at hand, he couldn't move. He was still tied to the rusted, water pipe. He was still immobilized. The violent hum of electricity streaking through the air, caused his ears to burn. Resulting in what appeared to be a small ringing sound. Then as he opened his eyes up the rest of the way, his face flashed, allowing light blue, electric sparks to loom across his eyes.

''Lex!'' he started shouting. ''Lex, stop this!'' The electric blue vanished, and the leftover rays of colour remained, blinding him for a short while, till the humming around him disappeared with it. Replacing the humming sounds, was a grimace of agony. A steady dripping echo of liquid dripping from a leak in the ceiling, caused him to look up and over, it was in the same exact corner Sarah had been. She wasn't there, so it had to be coming from a different source. He tried to wrench his arms free, but felt to much pain, forcing him to hault. He smelled dried blood, and metal in the air, then smoke and ash. His lips parted, and his eyes softened. his cheeks were rosy, and sweat beamed from both sides of his face. He was soaked, but he only cared about the sudden new source of smells. The first smelled of smoke, the second, smelled of burnt hair, and flesh. Then rotting bones.

He snapped his head back, but stopped at the sudden impact of dizziness, then the nasua hit. His eyes spotted Lex, standing there, in the corner, his back turned to Clark, and his arms busy at work. He was tending to something, someone, or so it seemed. The smoke, the ashy smell, the smell of bones, and burnt hair? He'd been electrocuting someone. Clark's blood began to boil violently, as he gritted his teeth. Pulling on the ropes above his head, he pulled and pulled, ripping and ripping, though nothing seemed to come from it, which caused him disappointment, but failure wasn't an option now. He tried again, and again. yanking on the pipe, till he heard the sound of something busting. Then came the booming and banging of cool metal, hitting the cement floor under him.

He gasped and groaned, eyes rolling back into his head, as he let his head fall to one side. Nudging, so his face was pressed against his shoulder, he felt a new source of liquid, rolling down his wrists, more blood. His wrists were re-opened, and bleeding freely. He heard the soft sigh of someone, then following up with light footsteps. Hands were pressed all over him, pulling him up, and back against what he felt to be the wall of the basement. Before the ropes were forced back upon him, he took his chance, going for the jaw with the tip and edge of his elbow. He didn't have his kryptionan strength, but he had some strength alone, from simply being human. He took another chance, punching with his fist, connecting with the side of Lex's head. Lex groaned and cursed, biting his teeth, as he went to punch him back, one knock out would send Clark to sleep, Clark realized this, and sent another punch flying, quicker and aimed smoothly towards his target. He managed to get past Lex's best attempt to block him, and sent another punch to the other side of his head. He was down, as Clark tried to get himself to stand. His knees felt like jelly, and he bobbled around a little, before bending his knees.