"Now, if you want to keep the air flowing through your lungs, you have to be quiet..." Corvin slowly walked back to Ren's bed.
"I'll keep you hidden, treated, fed. All you need to do is allow me free access to your body -"
"My body?" Ren asked, wincing as his headache shut him up.
"Yes. Your blood, skin, hair. Anything I'll need for my experiment? You're an exceptional case Renault; the only unaffected human in the virus-ravaged Earth. I'd be a fool to let you die," Corvin said, his eyes roaming across Ren's helpless body.
Ren was quiet, breathing heavily as he considered which one was better.
To be dead or to be a lab rat? Death would have been better.
But Corvin had his selfish reasons for keeping him alive. Now, he had no freewill, not like he ever did, but back at Base7, he wasn't immediately under someone's conscious watch and free exploitation.
He preferred death to this kind of life. Why did Corvin choose to save him?
"Now, do not make any sound. This infirmary is only entered by a few trusted people. I will let you rest for a while, and I shall return with food later. Try escaping at your own risk," Corvin said, and then, he walked away, his footsteps fading into the distance once more.
Ren was alone again, left with his racing thoughts, his throbbing wounds, and a chilling uncertainty about his fate.
It wasn't a full minute yet when he heard the footsteps returning. He wondered if Corvin had forgotten to list one more vile information regarding how he plans to use him for his own selfish reasons.
However, the voice he heard from the entrance made anger boil within him.
"Ren Caspian. You have failed your commander," Cypher's condescending voice rang out in the quiet space.
Ren turned his face to the entrance, frowning as much as his hurting facial muscles would let him.
"Cypher... I came here for you," He coughed.
"You're a fool," Cypher scoffed, walking over to Ren's bed, "And so is your commander for sending you here. What was he expecting? When he didn't bother to inform me about his change of plans." He stopped right beside Ren's bed, staring down at him with a furrowed brow.
"I'm a practical man, Ren. Your commander knows that. I do anything to survive, and now, I'm taking you to the captain, and you better keep my name out of your mouth -"
"I don't say this often, but... fuck you, Cypher. If you ever think I'm going to let you off the hook then you're wrong. I'm telling the captain everything you've done, let's see how that works out for you," Ren gritted out, his anger threatening to overwhelm his pain.
Cypher laughed sinisterly, "You can try, Ren. Let's see who he will believe. A spy, who was disguised as a girl to infiltrate his Faction, or, a loyal soldier who has stood by him for so many years." He said in a lowered voice, and stepped away from Ren, drawing out his infusion as he did.
"Argh!" Ren screamed as the needle slipped out from under his skin with a sharp pain, the plasters roughly waxing his hair off his skin, causing that area to turn red as blood trickled out from where the needle had been pulled out.
"W-what are you doing?!" Ren asked, clenching his jaws and covering the bleeding spot on his arm with his thumb.
"Come in here and take him to the captain!" Cypher barked, glaring at the entrance.
Immediately, multiple footsteps stomped inside the infirmary, giving Ren little to no time to react.
Before he registered what was happening, he was roughly pulled out of bed, regardless of his wounds and pains. His legs dragged along the sterile floor as he was quickly dragged out of the room.
Ren groaned, feeling too weak to struggle. He's been unconscious for two days, adding the whole day he had travelled through the desert with no food or water, then it's been three whole days without feeding.
The infusion was serving as his temporary source of strength, now that it was disconnected from him, he instantly felt drained, hunger catching up on him as his vision turned hazy.
They dragged Ren along the clean hospital passageway, not caring about his bruises. Soon, they dragged him down a staircase and along a busy passageway.
Ren might not have been able to see their faces clearly, but he could tell that every person they passed gave him a scornful look, a look that would have sent him six feet below if looks could kill.
"Oh, look, it's the spy. Let's see how he lives after meeting the captain this time," Ren heard a whisper as they passed a group of men in a corner.
"He'll die this time. I'm sure." Another voice added.
"Dr. Corvin is in trouble. He shouldn't have..." The third voice faded as they pulled Ren inside an elevator.
"Ouch!" Ren gasped as he was roughly dumped on the floor of the elevator, his gunshot wound throbbing so painfully.
"Don't die yet, Ren. I need the captain to see you alive and realise that I wasn't lying when I told him that Dr. Corvin betrayed him by saving your stupid life," Cypher and his accomplices chuckled as the elevator moved downward.
Ren's heart was beating twice the usual rhythm, and cold sweat broke out all over his body.
'God... no, no, I don't want to meet that devil again. Am I going to die for real this time?' He pondered heavily.
He knew Corvin wouldn't be able to help him this time, he already heard from someone that Corvin got himself into big trouble by helping the spy, so, he could no longer rely on the doctor to risk his life and come to his rescue a second time.
The elevator stopped doors sliding open to reveal a dimly lit passageway.
Ren felt the cold chill seep inside the elevator from the passaway, seeping into his bones, too, and leaving that eerie feeling within him.
He knew without saying that this was the floor where the beast waited.
As they dragged his limp body across the floor, he shut his eyes and tried to calm himself, telling himself that he wasn't just about to meet his death.
Those cold, disturbing silver eyes appeared in his mind, his breath hitching in his throat. Those eyes were like those of a monster, dark, intense and malicious.
Axton was a monster, a heartless one whose hobby was to destroy the lives he didn't create.
Badum. Badum. Badum.
Ren's heart raced as the soldiers dragging him paused in front of an opaque glass door.
"Captain, I've brought the hostage," Cypher spoke quietly into a small communication phone, and then, silence reigned.
Ren was held before the door, his reflection a pale ghost in the opaque glass. He could sense movement on the other side, a shifting shadow that hinted at a person, but the details were completely lost. He knew there was something on the other side... someone, some truth or consequence waiting for him, but the glass offered no clues.
It was a wall of pure threat, a sudden promise to his impending pain. He found himself staring at the distorted blurs of colour and shape, his mind working to fill in the blanks, to guess at the objects hidden from view. The door wasn't just a barrier; it was a mystery, and it made the simple act of opening it feel like a leap into the unknown... a world full of danger, danger in the form of a tall, cold, handsome devil: Axton Conan.
Slowly, someone pulled the door open from the inside, "Only one can follow him in." A man's voice said.
"I'll take him," Cypher immediately snatched Ren's hand away from that soldier's hand, wrapping his hand tightly around Ren's.
Ren groaned, it was the same spot the needle was pulled out from.
"Proceed. You only have five minutes with the captain," The man informed, stepping out of the way.
Ren's body once more was dragged into the room, the cold seeping into his bones, chilling them before Axton's aura did.