Son of Lazarus

Chapter 20: The Time is Now

   Tristan woke first to the sound of his feet dragging across stone floor. His arms were suspended in the air on either side of him, though he could distinctly feel the grasp of two men dragging him along. Tristan gave a soft, groggy groan, unable to lift his head. "I think he's starting to wake, Charles." The voice was muffled at first, but his hearing was slowly beginning to come back.
   "We're almost to the cell block." Said the other. Tristan assumed that this one was Charles. "Besides, it seems that the chloroform knocked him out good. He won't wake up fully until we're long gone."
   "I hope you're right."

   Tristan tried opening his eyes to get a look at his surroundings, but they refused to budge more than an inch. He barely heard an iron door swing open, nor did he feel it when they simply dropped him onto the floor in the middle of the room. "Okay, he's been contained. Let's get out of here."
   "Not so fast, Davis." Charles said. Tristan could feel the man kneel down by his head and felt fingers dig into his skin as his chin was grabbed forcefully. "The Boss wants a sample of his blood for....testing."
   "Well, I'm going to be outside...as far away from him as possible. He killed Jason and the other doctors last year, for God's sake!" He let off another groggy groan, hearing feet shuffling backwards as though the other man was afraid.

   "Oh, Davis, stop overreacting. He's harmless! Here, I'll show you." Tristan listened as Charles stood to his feet. A sharp, jabbing pain stabbed him in the ribs as a boot came in contact with his side. Tristan curled up quickly, his face twisting in pain while a noise escaped his lips. "See? Harmless." He heard Davis gulp before a nervous chuckle left the man's throat.
   "Well, better safe than sorry." He said. "Just get your blood sample and let's get out of here." Tristan heard Charles chuckle along with the shifting of armor as the man knelt down again.
   "This will only hurt...a lot." Tristan felt a biting pain in his left shoulder, recognizing the sting of a needle entering his skin. He cried in pain. The needle was bigger than any that had entered his skin before. He could feel his blood get drawn up into the needle's tip. No matter how bad he wanted to fight back, he couldn't. His body simply would not move.

   "Got it." Charles said as he straightened back up. "Now we can go." Tristan listened as the footsteps faded and the heavy door to his room closed shut with a loud cur-chunk. He lay there for a time, attempting to regain his senses. After a while, Tristan sat up, pushing a hand to his forehead. His eyesight soon returned and his hearing cleared. Cold air touched his skin. He lifted his head and was met with a door, iron in make. It looked heavy to move, though he had heard those men close it without an issue. He looked down at his arm as the pain returned. He saw a thin line of crimson liquid dripping down his arm where the needle had punctured. What did they need his blood for? Tristan shivered as a list of possible reasons came into his head. He didn't remember much, except that he had been locked in mortal combat with a large man with matted blonde hair.

   He shivered again. There was just something not right with that man he'd faced. First of all, no one can regenerate their limbs once they've been severed from the human body. It just wasn't possible! Or maybe it was and that man was an Advanced, like him. Tristan shook his head. Now that was definitely pushing it. There was no way that man was an Advanced. He had acted too much like a wild animal. An experiment, maybe? That was always a possibility. There was no telling how far these men were willing to go in order to get what they wanted. Tristan looked around the room, noticing a bed in the left corner by the wall near the door. The only source of light seemed to be from a single lamp sitting on a lonely table against the other wall. Other than that, the room was dark. Almost as dark as his nightmares had been, before the Incident. Tristan shivered and rose to his feet. He crossed the floor and sat on the edge of the bed that was there. Maybe he should try sleeping. It might help him think.

   Tristan laid down on the bed with a soft sigh, staring at the ceiling for what felt like an eternity before he finally sat back up. Sleep wasn't going to come. Not in this place, at least. He took a breath to try and calm himself down. He just needed to think of a way out of this mess. Tristan looked around the room to the shadows, hoping to see that familiar warp that was always the warning sign that a nightmarish creature was passing through the portal. Nothing happened. The shadows remained still and unmoving. "Damn it." He cursed with a sigh, his eyes finding the door again. A thought occurred to him. If he could just get into contact with Amiel, he just might be able to get out of here.