DARK RED

CHAPTER THREE: FLOATING

THE one thing Vera had found unbelievably annoying on her trip to retrieve Mitch- and surprisingly his little brother as well- was how much they struggled once they did wake.

She had seen prisoners of war struggle less, and yet, the two boys fought as if they were about to be skinned alive.

Which was not true in the slightest, they were simply being taken to a facility in which they would each serve a purpose of their own in ending the war they had managed to get themselves into.

It was a war on science and the mind, one that would not easily be won without the help and cooperation of its citizens.

She let out a sigh, it seemed to be a war they were losing, and by a landslide.

The virus was taking over the more southern regions in which they had control and soon enough it would be upon their country as any other plague known to man.

And soon, man would know no plagues. Because man would be extinct.

The virus worked fast, much faster than Vera liked to think about, and if given the time, it could wipe out an entire city in a night.

Which made her wonder what it would be able to do in the span of a week in the states.

It wasn't until two hours into the car ride that the two boys in the back woke, and much to her dismay, they made it known.

Thomas was the first, releasing a groan and cracking his eyes open to see where he was, he quickly learned they were nowhere he knew.

And then his eyes grew wide as he moved to try and pull his hands forward. Which didn't work for obvious reasons, glancing down at his feet he stared at the strip of sheet binding his two legs together.

Shit.

He had no clue how he was going to get out of his current predicament, but then Mitch woke from his noises and a small bit of hope flooded through Thomas, his brother was smart, he'd find a way to get them out of this mess.

But alas, that didn't seem to help either. Mitch was bound the same as Thomas- if not more tightly- and he found himself unable to break free of his restraints. So he did the only thing he could think of, he thrashed around in the backseat.

It only took twenty minutes for Vera to get annoyed with the man's antics, once she was finally at the end of her rope she pulled the car off onto the side of the road and climbed out.

At first, she considered just giving him a good scare and threatening to shoot Thomas, but, a new idea swarmed to her mind, something that Mitch wouldn't be able to see or experience but would leave him with a bigger wound than shooting Thomas in front of him.

Blowing up the house, with his brother- and quite possibly his father- inside.

So when she popped Mitch's door open and pulled him forward by the hair, she was not the least bit surprised by the glare she was met with as she pulled her phone out.

"All it takes, is one call on this, for me to end your brother and father's lives, so I'd suggest you stop struggling and act your age, sound good?"

Mitch- too high on his horse to reply- simply continued to glare at her as she shoved him away from the door and back to his place in the backseat, Thomas didn't bother to even squeak as Vera slipped back into her seat the only words leaving her mouth being "good."

She was satisfied, to say the least. Now that she's gotten that out of the way it seemed getting them to the airport would be much easier than before, but dosing them, would not be.

That was going to be a hell of its own, one she would thankfully have help on.

Glancing into the rearview mirror as she drove, Vera couldn't help but stare at Thomas for a moment, she felt bad to be putting him through all this, she knew he didn't deserve it.

But he'd proved himself to be a threat to their security, and sadly, she'd had to stop that from happening.

She wondered what his fate would be once they arrived at the facility, would he become another worker, or would he become a prisoner of war?

Shaking her head, she returned her gaze to the road and tried her best not to think about it, if she continued to try to reestablish her bond with the boy it would only make his demise more painful. And they all knew that was the type of pain that scarred someone for the rest of their life.

Time in the car seemed to pass far slower than it should have and by the time they reached the airstrip Vera was sure it was almost five in the morning, but no, it was only two.

She let a sigh slip past her lips, when they got back to the base she was going to take a nice piping hot shower, and then a long nap.

She deserved as much.

As soon as she found a spot close to the jet to stop the car she pulled the keys from the ignition and began to look for the person that had claimed they'd be there to help her secure the two boys.

It was then that she turned towards the jet and saw Michael hanging around at the back, she couldn't help but roll her eyes. He was the least professional of the bunch and yet Irene had authorized him to help with the transport.

Climbing out of the car, Vera exchanged a look with the boy as he moved away from the jet and began to approach her, it wasn't until he was standing in front of her that smiles grazed upon both their faces and they reached their hands out to bump their knuckles together.

"It's been a while stick."

Vera scoffed, "I could say the same for you roach."

Michael's right hand flew to his chest and his jaw dropped open, pretending to have been shot straight through the heart. "Damn Bartosz, that hurt."

And that was the end of their entertaining encounter, after that, it was all business.

Once they'd figured out how to approach the situation they approached the car in which Vera had left their prisoners, and boy, the two boys were dead silent in the backseat, undoubtedly because of her threat from earlier.

It wasn't until she popped the door open that Mitch's feet launched out in a blur of motion and collided with her stomach, Michael- stuck amidst the current chaos- watched on unsure of what to do as Vera fell back onto the cement.

Struggling to get out, Mitch found a gun to his forehead within seconds as Vera scrambled from her spot her cheeks a boiling red, her finger hovered over the trigger for a few seconds and she felt as if she could actually kill the man. And then she remembered they needed him alive.

So she lowered her gun, and then brought it across the top of his head with a loud thump.

That solved one problem, now they wouldn't have to dose him, but Vera wasn't going to leave that to chance after what Mitch had just done, she was going to take every precaution she could.

"Go get the doses for the two of them, I'll deal with the other one," nodding his head, Michael took off in the direction of the jet to retrieve the items while she attempted to get Thomas out of the car.

"Come on, get out," she spoke taking a step back from the door to give him room to slip out, when he didn't move- not even the slightest- Vera glanced down at his brother for a moment, "if you don't get out on your own you'll end up like him."

Carefully watching her, Thomas glanced down at his brother's limp form, he could see that he was softly breathing, his eyes unmoving behind his lids.

Without arguing, he climbed out of the car and stood in front of Vera as they waited for Michael to return.

When he did, he carried a small locked case in one hand while he shoved his phone into his pocket with the other, she didn't doubt that the syringes were in the box; waiting to be used.

She could see the hesitance in his eyes as he approached, how reluctant he was to get anywhere near Mitch after his attempted attack on Vera, but he also knew better, he knew that given the chance he could easily overpower the man.

And that gave him a small surge of relief.

Kneeling beside the man's head, he quickly unlocked the box in his hands and popped it open to reveal the contents inside, two syringes filled with green liquid ready for immediate use.

He picked one up.

Staring at it for a few moments, he pushed the end just the slightest watching as a small bit of green spilled from the needle, perfect.

Leaning forward, he glanced over Mitch's neck before finding a decent vein to inject the liquid into.

Pushing the end down until it met the bottom of the syringe, Michael watched as Vera leaned over her eyes watching Mitch's form as the liquid was forced into his system.

She wondered what that felt like.

To be asleep and have something unknown be forced into your bloodstream.

Could he feel it?

Did he know?

She'd never get the answers to her questions, and she knew that much.

Once he'd finished with Mitch, he moved onto Thomas.

Or tried to.

The boy struggled far more than he should've, and it was mostly just him protesting that he didn't want anything unknown in his body and that he didn't need it because he would behave.

But neither of the two agents could take that risk.

So, Michael held him down and Vera injected him.

She was at his side while Michael was behind him with one hand holding his head against his chest and his other hand holding down both his arms at his sides.

She watched as the fear crept into his eyes and he trembled beneath her touch, she did feel bad for him, bad for what she was doing to him.

But it was necessary, it was what they had to do to ensure the survival of the human race.

Otherwise, they would all fail to exist.

And it was her job to make sure that didn't happen.

So as the needle pierced Thomas' skin and his eyes shone with what seemed to be fresh tears, she couldn't help but let the guilt clutching at her heart fall away.

She was doing the right thing.

And even as Thomas' stare went blank and his eyes shut before his body went limp, she held onto the fact that she was doing the right thing.

She held onto it like a buoy.

Once they were sure that Thomas was completely unconscious they divvied up the work of getting them onto the plane, Vera obviously chose to tote Thomas while Michael basically dragged Mitch by his arms.

She wondered what all would happen once they arrived to base, she had the understanding that depending on how Mitch acted he would be locked in a cell, but, other than that, she hadn't the slightest clue.

Was Thomas going to be locked up too?

She would have to assume so, it seemed to be the only logical answer, he was a risk to their security, one they wouldn't take lightly.

She sighed, she wished he'd just kept his mouth shut, for both their sakes.

Because now, he had become a prisoner of war.

A war they couldn't risk losing.

DARK RED

CHAPTER THREE: FLOATING