Chap. 5

Ryan had been running from the creature for at least ten minutes. He didn’t want to fight. What he had done against Dr. Evans was done with anger and adrenaline. Before that, it was for escape. But, just fighting for the scientists to get a show, he didn’t want to do that. He was running, not fighting, but he was starting to get tired, he would have to do something soon. The claws of the creature never seemed to slow their slashing movements through the air. Each slice through the air came closer to Ryan’s body.

Ryan looked everywhere in the arena as he ran, looking for anything he could use against the creature. He was running out of energy, when he saw Dr. Phull, holding the pistol. Taking a burst of adrenaline, he did something totally spontaneous. He ran over, kicked Dr. Phull in the stomach, and grabbed the pistol; all while shouting, “I’m sorry!” Dr. Phull lying prone on the ground, Ryan turned to the creature, and fired off a shot without bothering to use the sites. The needle dug deep into the monster’s right arm, but it didn’t slow down its onslaught against Ryan. He fired again and again, hitting the monster in both arms, a leg and the head.

The creature was slowing, but it was still coming, faster than Ryan thought something that size could move. He kept firing until the trigger clicked uselessly, showing the clip was empty. The monster looked like a porcupine, but it kept coming. In a last desperate attempt, he threw the gun itself. It hit the monster in the forehead, stunning it.

Ryan looked up at he scientists, hoping the battle would be over. Dr. Baker shook his head, than started laughing, so loud that Ryan could hear it from where he was.

What’s he laughing at? Ryan asked himself. Then he heard it. Deep breathing, right behind his head. Before he could turn around, a sharp pain slashed into his side. Ryan fell to the floor, clutching the wound. Without looking he felt something warm and sticky oozing out.

“Alright. Now you deserve it.” Ryan shouted, jumping to his feet. Immediately he slammed his left hand into the monster’s head. It felt like hitting a cement wall. His left hand hurting, and his right clutching his injured flank, Ryan sank his foot into the creature’s belly. It gave a mighty roar, than swung its arm around to slice at Ryan’s head. Ryan ducked, more nimble than he thought he could, and swung his left hand, still soar from the contact with the creature’s head, and swung at the neck that was easily a foot above his head.

He hit his target, and the pain in his hand was accompanied by a sickening snap from the creature’s neck. Without warning, the huge body fell over, on top of Ryan. Now that the burst of adrenaline was over, the pain in Ryan’s side was almost unbearable.

Barely awake, Ryan heard doors open, and the heavy body was slowly lifted off of him.

“We gotta throw this un in the incinerator. That other un is still breathin’.” Ryan heard a gruff voice say. Ryan couldn’t be sure what happened next, but he was sure he had blacked out, for how long, he would never know. When he woke up, Dr. Phull was leaning over him, shining a flashlight into his eyes.

“Pupils are dilated…Wound is healing nicely…He is ready for the next test. Prep the next experiment…I believe it is Iota Single Oh.” Ryan heard feet scamper, and a door slam, “Ah, I see you’re awake Ryan. You will want to eat something.” The doctor handed him an apple.

Ryan sat up slowly, wincing as a stinging came from his side. He looked down to see he was missing his shirt, but there were linen bandages wrapped around his abdomen, with a red stain on the right side, “What happened?”

“You had some internal damages, but they are patched up, and you are in good shape for the next test.”

“Next test? What’s next, an actual tiger?”

“No, but close. This is a Trans Lupin Hybrid. In layman’s terms, you’re fighting a werewolf.”

“Great. Know where I can find some silver bullets?”

“Nope. The fact you had a weapon last time infuriated Ragnarök. This time no one is allowed in the arena, besides the competitors, of course.” Dr. Phull gently pushed on Ryan’s shoulder to get him to stand up, off of the examination table. Ryan took a last bite of his apple, and followed Dr. Phull out of the door. Before he went into the room, Dr. Phull gave him one last bit of advice.

“Last time you were a bit hesitant before getting into the fight. You can’t do that now. It’s either him or you, remember that.” Then he pushed Ryan through the door. The light was a lot dimmer than it had been during the first day. It’s dark because werewolves only come out at night. Ryan thought to himself.

There was a buzzing noise, and the door at the other end opened up, revealing an inky darkness. Even with the twilight of the bigger room, Ryan could still see, but he couldn’t see anything in the gloom behind the doors, no light escaped.

From inside the black square a deep, guttural growl echoed. It was the kind of noise that made blood turn to ice. Ryan was thinking whether or not he should try to fly, when a dark, furry shape exploded out of the darkness. It looked like a giant wolf, with longer limbs. These limbs ended with five appendages, each one fuzzy, and tipped with a claw that scared him more than the claws of the giant had. It wasn’t just the claws he had to worry about. The monster also had a mouth full of dagger-like teeth.

The werewolf let out a piercing howl, and charged at Ryan, sinewy limbs working in unison to charge across the room like a furry locomotive. Ryan didn’t know where he’d heard it, but suddenly a phrase burst into his head, Werewolves don’t show mercy. Werewolves don’t hunt for fun, or go easy. Werewolves hunt to kill. At the last moment, when the werewolf was about to hit him, Ryan stepped out of the line of fire. It slammed into the wall behind him with a harsh grunt, making Ryan smile.

His small victory was short lived, though. The werewolf stepped back from the wall, shook itself, and turned back towards Ryan. The wolf’s lips pulled back in a snarl, and charged again. Ryan dived again, but the wolf turned quickly and charged him again, before Ryan could prepare himself. The wolf’s head slammed into Ryan’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him, and dropping him to the floor. The wolf couldn’t stop right away, but instead slid to a halt, and turned around, barring its teeth at Ryan.

Ryan stood up, his legs threatening to give out beneath him, “Please let this work…” Ryan said to the empty air, coming to the only conclusion that seemed logical to him.

Still a little unsteady, Ryan started running towards the other end of the room. For a split second as Ryan passed him, there was a confused look on the werewolf’s face. Without much contemplation, and still with a look of confusion, it started to chase Ryan. About halfway between the walls, Ryan snapped out his wings. Everything he remembered about gravity from the physics book Dr. Sara had taught from was against what Ryan was about to do, but for some reason that made Ryan feel better.

A human with wings, that’s impossible. A human able to fly, that’s impossible. The flying human with wings fighting a werewolf, that’s off the charts impossible. So this should be easy… When Ryan reached the wall, he didn’t stop running, but tried to run up the wall. He got up about four feet, when he pushed off the wall. Ryan tried to go as vertically as possible, but ended up somewhere in the middle.

For a second, Ryan floated in the air, just like he had when he jumped out the window, but this time he didn’t feel free. This time he felt afraid, but still, he pushed down with his wings, and silently prayed. The feathers caught the air, and pushed Ryan up.

“Ha ha!” Ryan laughed out loud, forgetting for a second to flap again, and fell a few feet, before rising up again. He flapped as hard as he could, until he was almost at eye level with the scientists.

“Bet you didn’t expect this, did you?” He called, acknowledging the stunned gleam in their eyes. The only one not surprised seemed to be Dr. Phull.

“I told you that the feathers seemed abnormally large for when they were cut. Haven’t you ever worked with birds, Dr. Evans?”

Ryan didn’t hear the response, if there was one. He had pulled in his wings, and was dropping like a stone. The fall seemed to take ages to Ryan, but in reality, it took about three and a half seconds, to go from point A, the ceiling, to point B. Point B happened to be directly on top of the werewolf. Ryan hit him hard enough to shatter the spinal cord. The werewolf suffered no pain, Ryan did. The fall would have shattered normal bones, and Ryan’s were a special type of plastic, but he felt something crack. Ryan’s face contorted in pain, but instead of crying out, Ryan called up loud enough for the scientists to hear, “Whoever knows how to mend plastic bones better get down here. I made it up there once, I can do it again.”

Before he finished, though, the doors flew open, and two people walked in. They were the two burly people who had helped Bob carry him to the operating room. One of them was carrying something that looked like the nozzle of a hair dryer, only the size of a tree limb. The pair walked over to Ryan.

The thug that had their hands free pushed Ryan to the ground, and held him down, one hand over his neck, one hand holding down both legs, as far as he could from the break. He smiled down at Ryan, “Hey, kid. This is really going to burn.” The second thug hoisted the tube up so it was resting on his shoulder, than pointed one end at Ryan.

“Ready?” The man holding Ryan down nodded. The other flicked a small switch on the tube. Within seconds it started to emit a humming noise. The noise started to rise, and as it did, the temperature around Ryan’s legs started to get hotter. First it was almost pleasant, the darkness had made the room feel cold, but the pleasantness only lasted a few seconds. The air started to get hotter, almost broiling.

They’re melting the plastic back together. Ryan thought to himself, than a worrying question exploded in his mind: What temperature does the plastic melt at? As Ryan had thought that, the temperature had risen. It felt like it had to be at least two hundred degrees, and Ryan could feel his legs burning. He tried to struggle away from the hands that held him, but that only made the man grip his legs tighter. The temperature kept rising, and Ryan felt his skin being scorched. Without looking, Ryan could tell that there was almost nothing left of the skin, and that what was left was either burned black, or was a bright, scarlet red.

“Three…two…one.” The man flipped the switch off, and the humming died, and so did the heat, but not the pain. The doors opened again, and Dr. Phull walked over.

“Good job. You’ve managed to burn off all the skin, and evaporate most of the moisture in the muscles, leaving them shriveled and useless, but you did manage to melt the bone back together, so bravo. You saved your employers on plastic, but cost them in repairs. We’ll have to put in mechanical muscles, but they probably won’t need skin. Take him to the OR, and make sure you don’t break anything else.”

“Good job, doc…” Ryan managed to mutter, “At least you can command…someone.”

The two gigantic men picked Ryan up and carried him down the hallways and around corners. Though he was conscious for most of the journey, he didn’t remember any of it later. As his legs cooled, the pain started to increase, making Ryan scream out. The men pushed through a pair of double doors, and deposited Ryan, none to gently, on an operating table, and left. For a few minutes he was alone in the room, with nothing but his pain to tell him he was alive.

“Okay, Ryan. We’re doing a routine procedure, replacing your old, shriveled muscles in your legs with new, mechanical ones. They will make you a little stronger, but they are highly experimental. But, I promise, being the only person here who is actually close to being on your side, that I will not touch your wings, and neither will anyone else. Now, out you go.” Dr. Phull said, walking into the room, and giving Ryan a zap from a mini-cattle prod. Ryan was unconscious at immediately.

When he awoke, Ryan was sure he had been beaten with a bat. Every single part of his body hurt, but mostly his side, his shoulder blades, and his legs. Ryan sat up, sucking in a hiss of breath as pain exploded from his abdomen. Ryan looked around the room he now found himself in. The first and most obvious feature, everything was white. The walls, the ceiling, the floor, the furniture and especially the light, were all a blinding white. Ryan only saw the furniture by the shadows that the lights cast on them. There was a desk, a wardrobe and a bed, upon which he was seated.

“Maybe I finally died. The injuries were too much, and I died, and the lunatics from Ragnarök are dissecting my body as I speak, or I’ve gone completely insane.” Ryan said just to break the silence of the white room.

“Actually, neither. I put you in the one room they have that was actually designed to make people crazy.” A voice said from somewhere behind Ryan. He wheeled around, only to come face to face with an exact copy of the other half of the room.

“Yeah, it’s really disorienting, isn’t it? No matter where you look, it will always be the same, the bed under you, the desk in front of you, and the wardrobe beside that. It will never change.”

“Who are you, and where are you?” Ryan asked, coming to a shaky standing position.

“I’m not in the room, if that’s what your wondering. I’m speaking through the intercom. As to who I am, you’ll have to be more specific. I call myself Michael, of the Bible.”

“Michael? Where am I?”

“You are still in the Ragnarök facility, though the Creators do not know where you are.”

“How can they not know?”

“I was the one who moved you, while they were busy preparing the final test.”

“But I can’t fight anymore, if they don’t know where I am…”

“In a few minutes, they will. I jammed the security cameras when we escaped, but they are almost fixed. It took them four days to fix them…” There was a pause, and in the background of the intercom, Ryan could hear a banging noise, “I must leave…”

“Wait, Michael! What is the final test?”

“It depends. You have to start being more specific. If you win, it’s your ticket back here.”

“And if I lose?”

“It’s your stairway to Heaven.” Then Ryan heard a clicking noise, and Michael spoke no more. Ryan walked over to the furniture. He slowly touched where he thought the surface of the desk was, and his hand went down through air. Ryan tried again, moving up from the shadow. Again, his hand didn’t make contact with anything.

“It must be a shadow cast by something on the lights…” Ryan looked up, and almost fell. He was staring at another exact copy of the room! The world seemed to spin around him, and Ryan fell to the bed, disoriented. After a few moments, the dizziness subsided. Ryan swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and rested them on the floor. Ryan held his head in his hands, and looked down at the floor. The view didn’t do much towards Ryan’s psyche. What he saw was another copy of the room.

Ryan’s other senses were arguing with what he was seeing. His foot was placed on a hard surface, where Ryan’s sight said there was an almost empty room.

That’s it…my sight…my eyes are telling me there is something there, which is impossible… Ryan stood up and closed his eyes. Taking a few, tentative steps forwards, Ryan found that he did not fall into the room that his eyes had told him were below. He turned back to where he thought the bed was. Supposedly there was another room on the other side. He blindly climbed over the bed, feeling for the edge, but instead his hand felt something hard and cold.

“It’s a mirror…” Ryan thought to himself. He turned away from the mirror, and stumbled over to the other side of the room. He felt the wall, and slid his hand along the wall, feeling for the wardrobe. Instead, he found a door, flush with the wall. Ryan threw all of his weight against the door, and it gave way, opening a portal that was an alien flash of color in the white room.

“That’s just great…my stairway to Heaven. Why can’t I just take an elevator?”

Next Chapter: Chapter 6