Page 48 of The Alpha

Pari couldn’t believe it. Was he going to open the door?!

She looked at Bondrah again. His eyes were just as intense as before as he watched the men before him. One of Oswald’s hands shook as it dipped into his pocket and pulled out his key card. He too, started toward the cells, and it looked like it was against his will. “No…” Oswald squeaked.

The man closest to Bondrah’s door raised his key card, his entire arm shaking. “I… I c-c-can’t st-stop.”

Oswald trembled as he slowly headed for her door! “N-neither… c-c-can I.”

“Bondrah Miah!” she blurted with excitement. He was making them open their doors! She didn’t know how he was doing it; she was just glad he was.

The other men in the room were on the floor, unable to move. Some were reaching for what she surmised was a weapons cabinet. There were rifles in there loaded with those dreadful darts.

Dr. Charles waltzed into the room from the hallway. “Oswald, I want…” his eyes went wide and he almost stumbled. “What…?”

Bondrah was not happy to see him. He frowned and the doctor reeled backward toward the door.

“No…” Pari breathed. He was going to escape the room. And did. She watched him stumble out the door into the hall and disappear from sight. She didn’t know if he was subdued in the hall or…

“OW!” a man shouted.

Some of the others looked his way, including Oswald. “Wh-what…”

The man that yelled “ow” gave him an agonized look, then fell flat on his face.

Pari’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Ouch!” another cried. “Something bit me!”

Pari watched in fascination as another man cried out, then another. Within seconds, they were on the floor.

Oswald yelped as he looked at Pari, then the lock to her door. He ran his key card through it, and just as he entered, she knew what was happening. He was going to grab her, not free her.

She ran to the back of the cell and pinned herself against the wall. Fear gripped her, and she looked to see how many of the men outside her cell were still conscious. At least three. Great.

Oswald looked at her and went into a slight crouch. “Be nice. I’m not gonna hurt you, okay?”

“Yes, you are,” she pushed out. “Bondrah!”

Bondrah’s head snapped to hers, and Oswald sank to his knees. He grimaced, his eyes going wide. “Ow! What was that?” He managed to look at his leg. So did Pari. She screamed when she saw a black tarantula like creature race over Oswald’s leg and scurry out of the cell. Pari screamed again at the sight of it. She hated spiders!

Bondrah ran at the wall and banged on it with one hand.

She looked at him, noticed his cell was filling with white smoke, and tried to call out. “Oh… no…”

The smoke was filtering into her cell from his. Pari blanched. Gas.

Bondrah slowly slid down the wall of his cell as he succumbed to whatever it was Dr. Charles was pumping into it from the air vents.

She sank to the floor, unsure if breathing in the gas would paralyze her, knock her out, or kill her. Her eyes were still open, but she couldn’t blink. What was happening?

Before she knew it, Dr. Charles was leaning over her, wearing a gas mask. “Lucky for me, I always have a plan B.” He smiled and started to reach for her when an alarm went off. “Blast it! What now? Oswald…” he looked at his assistant lying on the floor. “Never mind, you’re out of commission.” He left the cell, ran his key card through the outer lock and the door slid shut, locking her inside with Oswald. That done he went into the windowed office and disappeared. Air blew through the cell, making the smoke dissipate, then the air changed directions, and she wondered if it was sucking the gas out of the cells now. Not that it mattered. She and Bondrah were once again at the mercy of Dr. Charles. It was her last thought before blackness took her.

Tylahs scurrieddown the hall to Lany who was waiting around the next bend. As soon as he reached him, Tylahs jumped onto his leg, climbed up the length of his body and jumped into the backpack.

“Mission accomplished, little buddy?”

“Yes! But Tylahs no bite the man with the mask. He got awaysssk.”

“Mask?”

---