Heroes

Chapter 6. The deal

Ever since I'd discovered Nate's secret, I'd been thinking about it all the time, day and night. I still wasn't sure whether I should confront him about it or not, but I decided to leave it for the time being. I'd only been here for 2 nights, I didn't wanna get myself in trouble too early.
"Mark? Are you okay?"
I looked up and saw Jack looking down at me, eyebrows lowered in a concerned way. I didn't realise that I'd been staring at the table the whole time I'd been thinking.
"Oh yeah, sorry Jack."
"You don't have to apologise. Just try not to act like a statue again please. It's kinda creepy."
I saw that his initial concern had faded away and he was smiling his usual joyful smile.
"Noted," I nodded, and smiled too. I noticed that we were the only two in the main room.
"Where's everyone else?" I asked.
"Still sleeping."
"Isn't it almost noon?"
Jack just looked at me.
"It's like 7am dude."
I only just realised how long I'd been awake. For it to be 7, I'd have had to have noticed Nate's padlock at about 5am. That explained why I was tired.
"I thought it was later than that," I said, then rested my head on my arms and closed my eyes.
"What time were you up, dude?"
"I don't know, pretty early."
After that, Jack didn't say anything else and it wasn't long before I felt myself sliding into an alternate reality: sleep. When I opened my eyes, the clock on the wall read '3', and people were gathered around the table.
"He's finally up," I heard Mat say on my left.
Blinking, I lifted off my arms and rubbed my eyes with my knuckles. I almost forgot what I was even doing here. Turns out that sleep had affected me more than I thought. It took a lot of brain power before I remembered what I'd been thinking about before I slept. My eyes widening, I hurried off the bench, much to the surprise of the others, and went over to Nate. I noticed that the padlock was still unlocked. Taking a deep breath, I looked through the slit and said, "Hey Nate."
It took a few seconds before I get a reply. But it did come.
"How you doing, Mark?" He sounded exasperated, like he was battling through something, or something had just drained him.
"I'm alright thanks, Nate. How you doing?" I hoped that I'd be able to engage him in conversation long enough to slip in my question about the lock.
I heard a sigh from within.
"I'm alright, I guess. Thanks."
"That's good." I said, trying to stall for a bit while I thought up the best way of saying it.
"Mark, what are you thinking?"
This question took me by surprise.
"What do you mean? I'm not thinking anything," I replied, a little too quickly.
"I get the sense that you're thinking about something. Something to do with me."
I don't know how he thought that, but he was onto me. Maybe he had telepathy or something.
"It's nothing about you, Nate. I..." I started, but didn't know how to continue.
"Mark? What did you wanna talk to me about?" He came up to the door and looked out. This is the first time I'd seen him today and I saw his eyes were slightly red.
"Ok, I don't know how to say this Nate," I began, deciding to just come out with it now that he'd asked.
"Ok..."
"I saw you last night."
Silence.
"Now, I wasn't looking for you, but I happened to see you." My speech was was becoming slower as I watched Nate. His eyes were reducing to slits as he looked at me.
"I only saw the back of you though, so it's all good, right?" I added hopefully. I don't think Nate considered it all good.
"I noticed that the lock on your door doesn't actually lock too." I was fairly sure I was being too quiet for the guys back there to hear me, but I was still scared about what Nate might do. He just continued glaring at me.
"If you dare..." He began, and he sounded so angry that I physically stepped back a bit.
"...tell anyone...they'll be the last words you ever say. And trust me, I will know." I could tell he wasn't joking. His voice was made of pure hatred and loathing.
"I won't Nate, I promise."
"You better not. I've gone 3 years, and I don't want some newbie coming in here and messing me up." He was so mad it wouldn't have surprised me if something had suddenly lit on fire in there with him.
"So..." I continued, determined to get as much information out of him now as I could.
"Do you come out often?"
He stared back at me, then said, "every night. When those guys are none the wiser."
"But why though? Why hide yourself?"
"I don't want you to see what I've become. It's easier this way."
"Well, Nate, now that that's off my chest, I have something to ask you."
"Is this about another one of the guys?"
"No. It's about an escape plan that I have."
"Whoa, whoa, slow down there, Mark." He held up a hand, and I saw that it was covered in scales.
"You're thinking of escape already?" His anger was ebbing away, so that he was almost back to normal. Whatever normal was for him.
"Yes. The sooner we can get out of here, the better. And you too."
He lowered his hand and looked me dead in the eyes.
"I don't know how I can help you. I'm sorry," He said, and he turned away and went back to lie down on the bed.
"Put it this way. If you help me, they'll never hear about this. But if you don't help, I might just spill everything." I was hoping to intimidate him, and I certainly got a reaction. He turned his head sharply to stare at me.
"Would you though? Would you really?"
I shrugged. "Try me."
"Fine," He said, begrudgingly. "What can I help you with?"
"I'll let you know when I need you. You can rest assured, I won't tell anyone in the meantime. It's only if you decide not to help us that I'll tell."
Nate continued looking at me with the kind of look you'd give a weed in a garden.
"Well, Mark. If you stick to your end of the deal, I'll stick to mine. Whenever you need me, give me a shout and I'll do my best to help you."
"Thank you," I said, happy to finally have him on my side. He just kept looking at me, but I saw him flash me a smile: a kind smile, one that the other guys would give each other. It was only small and brief, but it was definitely there. I gave him one back, then walked away. As I headed back to the others, I thought over that exchange. It went a lot smoother than I expected it too. Nate caved so much quicker than I thought too. The only thing that was troubling me now was his weird, scaly hand. I don't know how that happened or why it happened. It might not have even been there; it could have been my eyes playing tricks on me. Whatever it is, I was hoping to discover that too. In due time, of course.