Darkness Comes This Way Part 6

"You can't be fearless all the time."

Realization dawned on her. In the recent months since she had been back working as a Guardian, she had done exactly that. Acted fearless. Acted reckless. He was simply there pointing out the obvious-her recent discovery of being afraid was perfectly normal. She maintained a hard edge of control since her return. But she'd lost it to that Rogue, which was still unexplainable. Maybe it was just an act of rage-another emotion that can take over and control any species when it gets out of hand. She'd have to watch out in the future.

"You are," she accused.

"What?" he asked, obviously puzzled.

"You're fearless."

Draven laughed loudly and shook his head. Zarah frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.

"No, I'm not. Trust me. I'm scared all the time. You scare the living h.e.l.l out of me."

Her jaw dropped.

"I scare you?"

"Anyone who isn't scared of you is insane." He continued laughing.

Zarah couldn't help but smile. His laugh tumbled around her. She didn't think she had ever seen him in such a light before, and it was one that she certainly wanted to remember for a long time.

When his laughter finally died down, he looked down at her with a grin.

"Want to go grab a drink in The Lounge before you go off to bed?"

She nodded slowly in agreement and began following him. It was a bit awkward when they entered The Lounge together and a few other Guardians in there looked up in surprise at the two of them. On normal terms, the only time Zarah was there was to get Draven before going to work. Other than that, she rarely socialized. No one had ever invited her for a drink, either, so the offer had shocked her.

He motioned toward two empty, plush chairs far enough away from the few people that were there, and she took a seat while he went over to the bar to get their drinks. The room was large, almost as big as the gym, filled with couches and chairs, pool tables, dart boards, a bar, and several large televisions that hung on the walls. Draven walked back over to her a few minutes later with two silver chalices in hand, handing her one, and took a seat in the chair next to hers.

"Thanks," she muttered quietly before taking a long drink from the cup. He nodded at her.

"Hey, Draven! You gonna come play a game with us?" one of the Guardians shouted across the room from a pool table. Zarah looked over to see it was James, one of the younger ones, but like everyone, he still knew all about her. And like everyone, he avoided her like the Plague as much as possible.

At that time of morning, most of them were in bed already. So, there were only a few in The Lounge with Draven and Zarah then.

"No, man, not this time. Rain check," Draven called back at James with a friendly smile. The other Guardian returned with a grin and nodded in understanding before getting back to his game.

"You could have went over and played a game. I don't care."

He turned and looked at her, shaking his head.

"No, this time is for you. Besides, I always beat James, and it gets a little boring."

She laughed a little that time and looked down at her empty cup.

"Want another drink?" he asked.

She looked up to meet his eyes and shook her head. She glanced around briefly, seeing James and another resident whispering to each other at the pool table. They were staring at her, watching her with the empty cup. James laughed at something she couldn't hear. An uneasy feeling came over her. She shouldn't have come there.

"No, thank you. I shouldn't anyway. I think I'm just going to go to bed now."

When she stood, setting her empty cup down on a nearby table, Draven quickly downed the rest of his and stood with her. He hadn't noticed that she was uncomfortable, or the stares and whispers.

"Alright, I think I'm headed that way myself. I'll walk you." They began to head out of The Lounge and into the hallway toward their rooms. Laughter rang in her ears in the background as they exited the room and it caused her to cringe.

"Uh, thanks again, Draven."

"For what?"

"For the talk and everything."

Zarah stopped in front of her door and stared at him with a forced smile.

"No problem," he replied, leaning casually against the wall.

"I'll still kick your a.s.s, though, if you ever try to bite me."

She laughed, and she laughed loudly, knowing that like always he had loop-holed his way into putting a joke in somewhere. He turned and looked at her with a big grin, his fangs glinting in the light.

"I like the sound of your laugh. You should do it more often." His comment caused her laughter to soften as she started to blush. No red cheeks like she'd seen on humans, but she still felt the sensation of b.u.t.terflies and flattery. An odd flutter struck her. He was making her blush...

No, she couldn't like him!

"Well, good-" she started, reaching for her door.

Before she could finish, a scream pierced the corridor, coming from the hospital wing, capturing Draven and Zarah's attention. At once, they were both rus.h.i.+ng in that direction with their guns drawn.

"What the h.e.l.l is going on?" Draven shouted at the nurse with a frown when they reached the wing. They saw her struggling against the metal door of Mitch.e.l.l's room to hold it shut.

She turned and faced them with fear flas.h.i.+ng in her eyes. Suddenly a loud bang came from inside the room and reverberated around them. They jumped in alarm and watched the nurse struggle to hold the door.

"Mitch.e.l.l's awake. He's Rogue!"

"What?" Zarah and Draven asked in disbelief at the same time.

The nurse turned to them panic-stricken. It was then that they saw the blood on her uniform. Her small hands held the door tightly as possible as another rumble came from within the room, getting their attention and breaking the shock. Mitch.e.l.l was trying break free, and they could hear his deep growl of frustration when he couldn't get past the steel door's lock, or the nurse that held the door on the other side.

"That can't be right." Zarah frowned.

"He didn't have any bite marks when he came in."

The nurse looked at her and shook her head.

"No, he didn't. He was injected. We didn't notice the puncture wound until this morning when we went in for the sponge bath. And that was when he woke up. The doctor...oh heaven...the doctor was in there. I barely got out..." she stuttered through tears.

Draven walked over and gently moved her aside with a rea.s.suring smile.

"It's okay. Nothing is your fault. Why don't you go clean yourself up, and then go get Nathanial? We'll take care of this problem."

After the nurse wiped her tears away and nodded, she left the area in a hurry. Zarah looked at Draven warily before staring at the closed door that currently held Mitch.e.l.l captive.

He was beating on it again, pounding his fists and yelling. A string of m.u.f.fled curse words came through. Dents protruded the metal. Draven remained silent as he checked his gun to make sure it was loaded with enough ammunition before pulling the hammer back and switching the safety off.

She did the same with her gun, stepping up beside him.

"I don't want you to shoot unless I say. He's fresh, so he should be relatively quick to take down," Draven instructed. She nodded in agreement, backing up a few steps behind him to be prepared to help him if he needed it.

Draven slowly reached forward to spring the lock, his hand on the gun's trigger. Zarah watched on intently.

As the door came open, Mitch.e.l.l, the newly turned Rogue, ran forward with a snarl. His eyes glowed a deep crimson-red, and his fangs were elongated. Blood dripped from his mouth and chin, and a loud hiss escaped his throat. But before he could make it fully from the room, Draven's quick draw already had him.

With a single, fast shot to the head, Draven killed their old colleague.

Eleven.

"What the h.e.l.l just happened?" Zarah heard Nathanial shout from the end of the hallway as he approached them. When she turned her head, she could see he wasn't alone. Other Guardians were beginning to file out of their rooms, having awoken to the commotion, and followed him toward the medical area where Draven had killed Mitch.e.l.l.

"Sir, Mitch.e.l.l was Rogue," Draven began trying to explain, placing his gun back in the holster at his hip.

"That can't be. He came in clean. The staff checked him and didn't find any bite marks on his body." Nathanial argued with a low growl, now standing beside Zarah and Draven. His eyes darted down to Mitch.e.l.l.

"It's true," Zarah interrupted, capturing Nathanial's attention once again. "The Rogues injected him with their poison or blood, instead of infecting him with a bite, so we couldn't see the small puncture wound of the needle."

Once Zarah said that, a few startled gasps went out through the crowd that had begun to surround them. Nathanial's eyes widened in horror as he shook his head in disbelief, and she looked grim. This was no joking matter.

Something happened then that shocked everyone.

Mitch.e.l.l's body began to writhe. At their feet, it jerked and twisted while his eyes popped open and foam began to flow from his lips. The nurse that had been there earlier to help Draven hold the door against him screamed in revulsion, while the others began to back away in fear and surprise. Draven had shot him in the head; he should have died. A faint gurgling and m.u.f.fled wail escaped from Mitch.e.l.l while he continued to twist maniacally on the floor. His feet kicked at the linoleum. Something was horribly wrong.

Zarah yanked her pistol from her holster and fired. She couldn't stand to watch any longer. Firing three more rounds into Mitch.e.l.l's head, he fell still at last and bled out. They knew then that he was really dead.

"What the h.e.l.l was that?" Draven shouted, pointing at the corpse, and staring at Nathanial with wide eyes.

"That," Nathanial began, "was something I've never seen before. I think the Rogues are experimenting to even further advance themselves...and Mitch.e.l.l might have been one of those experiments."

"It looks like we have an all-out war on our hands now," he added, looking up and making eye contact with both Zarah and Draven. The atmosphere in the Compound became heavy and tense. It was unnerving. They all became aware of the dangers they were now facing.

Zarah stalked away as a couple of Guardians stayed to help the nurse clean up the Hospital Wing, and others crowded Nathanial to question him. She didn't notice Draven following her until she was away from the noise and in the comfort of one of the quiet hallways.

"I think I'd rather be alone right now, Draven," she said when she heard him behind her.

"Do you think the Rogues are trying to find a 'super gene'? Something like what you've got...maybe more than just a cure?" Draven asked, ignoring her request. She spun around so quickly that they nearly plowed into each other. Her eyes were fierce and angry.

"I'm not a freak, Draven. I don't know how I cured, or what they're doing. They're probably experimenting to build a higher race I'm guessing from what we just saw back there." She snapped. She was on edge.

"Now, goodnight."

With that, she turned and headed back into her room, slamming the door. Draven clenched his teeth in thought as he stood there for a moment longer before walking away to his room.

The next night, Zarah woke to thoughts still racing through her mind of the previous events. She couldn't shake the images of Mitch.e.l.l. Fears welled up inside of her as questions rose through her mind. What kind of experiments would they perform on her if they captured her? Would she go through what Mitch.e.l.l had because something was wrong with their formula?

With a low growl, she climbed out of bed and shook the thoughts away. No, they wouldn't capture her. She wouldn't let them. She would terminate herself before going Rogue again.

As she dressed, she began thinking of Thomas. If he was serious about helping them, she needed to inform him about what had happened with Mitch.e.l.l. He had known him, too. Except she wasn't going to wait for Draven this time. She decided to go alone as she placed an extra gun in her holster at her waist, and a large silver dagger inside a black, leather strap wrapped around her thigh.

The hallway was empty when she stepped out and looked around cautiously. Secretly breathing a sigh of relief when she didn't see Draven waiting for her, she made her way out of the Compound and into the garage to begin heading to her brother's apartment. Zarah didn't have a car, and she wasn't about to be mean enough to steal Draven's, so she set out on foot, taking back alleyways through the city and keeping her senses on alert for any trouble.

The night air was warm and sticky, and a soft breeze carried many scents around her: flowers, wood, concrete, and coffee from a nearby late-night cafe. The moon was a thin sliver of eerie yellow and cast very little light as she strode along in the back alleys toward Thomas', but it didn't matter for her sensitive eyes. She still saw everything with great clarity. She kept her hand on the b.u.t.t of her gun, ready to grab it at a moment's notice if needed.

Her walk was peaceful and quiet with the exception of her cell phone ringing once as she approached the apartment building where Thomas lived. Looking down at the screen, she saw it was Draven before she pocketed the phone again without answering. Some seconds later, it beeped to notify her of a voicemail message. She could only imagine him on the line, swearing, wondering where she had disappeared. It made her smirk in amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Zarah? What are you doing here? Alone, too? Are you okay?" Thomas started questioning her as soon as he opened the door and saw it was her.

"We need to talk," she said, pus.h.i.+ng past him and into the apartment. Her hand was instinctively still on one of her guns, ready to pull it out and fire if needed at any second.

When she found that he had been alone in his place, she turned back and faced him quite a bit more relaxed.

"Where's Alyssa?"

"Out," he answered. He shut and locked his door before walking past her and taking a seat in one of the chairs in the living room. He motioned for her to have a seat across from him on the couch.

"What's going on?"

"Mitch.e.l.l. He went Rogue. And not just Rogue...but something even stranger than that..." she began, taking a seat and then recounted every detail of what had happened the previous night. Thomas froze and went wide-eyed in shock as he listened.

"Mitch.e.l.l was the tortured Guardian that you told me about being left in front of the Compound building?" he finally asked when she stopped speaking. Zarah nodded silently. Thinking back, she was relieved that whoever had left him still hadn't figured out how to get into their base at least.

"He had been a friend of mine at one time." Thomas whispered, turning his head away from her and looking out the window.

"I know," she replied. "It's why I came to tell you."

He turned back to her with a mischievous smirk and a glint in his red eyes.

"No, you're here for something else, too. I know you too well, little sister."

Before she could open her mouth to speak, there was a loud knock that quickly turned into persistent pounding, catching both of their attention. Thomas stood and crossed the room to open it. Zarah quickly reached out and grabbed his arm and motioned for him to be quiet as she slipped into a dark corner. Her gun was in hand in case it was another Rogue visiting her brother. He nodded at her, understanding her need to keep hidden and silently told her with his eyes that he would keep her secret. Seconds later, he unlocked the door and swung it open.

"I know she's here, d.a.m.n it," Zarah heard Draven growl from the doorway.