Dust in the Wind

Chapter 5 - Options

....White ceiling.... beeping.... A face covered with a surgical mask.... pain as a needle was inserted in her arm.... armed guards standing at attention....

The blackness slowly cleared away, pushed back as Felicia gained consciousness. She groaned, every thought sluggish as she rolled her head to one side. She was laying on something hard, the surface crackling with every movement she made. The heart monitor sat before her eyes,  the constant and rhythmic beeping reassuring her that she was alive. Her head slowly rolled back to its original position only to have her freeze, staring up at the furious face of Talbot, his teeth grinding against each other as he turned to someone outside of Felicia's field of vision.

      'Why did it take so long! I asked you keep her alive, not patch her up!'

The woman with the surgical mask stepped forth, wringing her hands nervously, 'She was in horrible condition, we had to do something....'

      'But not without my permission! If it weren't for the questions I had I would be more than happy to see her dead!'

      The woman ducked her head, fear sparking in her eyes as she sat back. Talbot cursed, the sound of his knuckles cracking making Felicia flinch and notice for the first time the plaster that covered her broken arm and the bandages that made her look like a Mummy that had been hit by a car on her way out of a museum. He turned his attention back to his captive, arms crossing over his chest. His back straightened, his posture seeming to radiate his ego.

Talbot's eyes narrowed, 'Who hired you to spy on us?'

      Felicia stared at him, blinking slowly as the words turned around in her head, her mind working too slowly to comprehend their meaning. His jaw tensed as Felicia frowned, head cocked to one side in her confusion. Pinching the bridge of his nose Talbot forced himself to take a series of calming breaths before repeating his questions, slower, as if speaking to an imbecile.

      Her frown deepened, trying to mouth the words in order to let them sink in. Talbot snarled in frustration, yelling at the doctor who cringed from his cutting words as Felicia's vision swam in blackness everything went dark, every sensation blurring out into oblivion.

Her head pounded as she came to, the metal under her leaching the warmth from her skin, forcing her abused body to shudder. Forcing her eyes open she cringed from the glare, raising her hand to cover her eyes as she tried to adjust, the pain slowly dimming to a dull throb. Her hand dropped, revealing a pair of highly polished black shoes. She knew, even without looking up that they had to belong to Talbot. With an audible gulp her eyes travelled up to his blank face, she swore a rock would have more expression if prompted. His hands were clasped behind his back, his breathing seeming to be forcefully steady, betraying the calmness that held his face.

      'Now, Felicia... Felicia Armida Thorn isn't it?'

Felicia nodded, her mouth going dry, his voice was too calm, like the calm before the storm hits, ripping apart all that stands in its way.

      'Alright, who are you working for? Hmm? Who sent you here?'

Liking her lips she forced herself to answer, her voice cracked and hoarse, 'Nobody, I was just trying to escape...'

      'Escape from what?'

'The Hunters...'

      Talbot's eyes narrowed, flicking towards the Guardian emblem on her tattered jacket as a quick reminder of what his assistant had found out about the woman, 'If no one sent you, how did you get into this facility?'

      Felicia sighed, quickly recounting what had happened since Phoenix. She sat up, flinching as the pressure was released from her fractured shoulder. She leaned against the wall, her breathing already slightly laboured from the slight movement. She rubbed her forehead, muttering under her breath before looking up at Talbot once more, 'There was a dolphin... A real dolphin... Where did you get it?'

      'There was no dolphin Felicia.'

She frowned, 'Yes there was.'

      'No. And you heard nothing about my plans either. Did you?' His hands come to rest before him, a gun glinting in the bright light of the cell.

'I have some options for you Felicia. They are simple, should be simple for you to choose which one to go with. You will either go back to Arion and work for me, and I may give you the privilege of knowing, or I will be forced to let you die in the way Guardians do best: At the claws of a Hunter.'

      She stared at him, slowly forcing herself to her feet, legs shaking from the sheer effort as dull pain raced along her limbs. 'You can't be serious! You actually think that I would work for you and that I fear death? I will not help you wipe out everything because you think you know better!'

      She was leaning forth by the end of her mini-rant, her lips pulled back from her teeth, 'You are insane! A murderer! And you think you can just intimidate everyone to do as you please? No! I won't let you! And even if I did say I would help you, how do you know that I won't just go back and tell everyone what I know? Hmm?'

      Talbot smirked, 'Clever... but to no avail.' He pulls out a small device, a microchip, a small red light blinking periodically. 'If you were to leave here, you would never be able to as much as think about exposing the things you believe you have learnt without being punished for it. So, what do you choose: Life, or death?'

Felicia glared at him, the pain resurfacing as her muscles clenched, every fiber of her being wanting to lash out, to pummel some sense into this manic man. 'I won't help you kill everything we've fought for!'

      Talbot shrugged, 'Then you choose death. Such a shame, you could have been quite the addition to this team. But I guess you are just blinded by what you call morals. Maybe you'll have a change of heart after a few days in this cell.' He chuckled, as if he had just told a witty joke and turned, leaving the cell. An audible click informed Felicia that the door had locked.

      She took the moment as she sunk back to the floor to look about the room. It was tiny, not a single piece of furniture, not even a bench bolted to the wall. Air was fed in through the grate in the ceiling and the light bulb kept safe with metal mesh. It flickered for a moment, the light bouncing off the dome in the corner of the room, a small, red light pointing it out as the camera.

      She glared at it, 'I'm not afraid of you!'

As time passed it slowly dawned on her that she'd just escaped from being killed by Hunters only to be put back in that situation, but weighed down with casts and bandages... and not mention an enclosed space with nowhere to hide. She ground her teeth against each other and tried to cross her arms together, cursing as the cast on her broken arm got in the way.

      She started to nod off, her chin dropping to her chest....

Hunters ran towards her, jaws snapping as blood dripped from their gnashing teeth. Snarls echoed through the landscape as Felicia tried to run, weighed down by chains bolted into the rock beneath her. She screamed, lashing out against the bonds that stopped her from escaping. She turned to see a Hunter lunge at her, claws glinting in the dim light as twilight descended. She raised her arms, trying to fend off the attack only to feel those claws tearing into her arm, a scream of pain wrenching itself from her lips.