Page 73 of Wicked Little Nightmare

The doctor let out a wheezing laugh. "Oh, there are more questions than answers, my boy. But the only question you need to ask is the one you haven't figured out yet. The one you already know the answer to."

I felt sick. What did he mean? What had they done to Cam? To me? To our daughter?

Cam's jaw clenched, his eyes hardening. "Stop speaking in circles, you piece of shit. Tell us what we want to know."

But the doctor just kept laughing, a manic gleam in his eyes. "You two... you're perfect. Better than we could have ever imagined. The ultimate subjects."

My mind reeled. Subjects. Riddles, puzzles, speaking in circles. I was fucking done with it.

A cold fury washed over me, crystallizing my resolve.Fuck this. Fuck this place. Fuck this doctor. Fuck it all.Hatred burned through me, taking away whatever spark of humanity had started to build in the wake of discovering I had a child.

"Where is she?" I snarled, shaking him viciously. "Where's my baby?"

The doctor's laughter died, replaced by a smug smile. "Safe. Protected. Becoming what she was always meant to be."

I dropped the knife and lunged forward, my hands wrapping around his throat. "Tell me where she is, you bastard!"

His eyes bulged as I squeezed, but that infuriating smile remained. I loosened my grip just enough for him to rasp out, "You'll never find her. The Vessel is beyond your reach now."

Something inside me snapped. My vision went red, and I felt a savage joy surge through me. I reached for the scalpel on the nearby tray, its edge glinting in the harsh fluorescent light. My knife was too beautiful to be stained with the likes of his soul any further. No, my knife was reserved for the deserving.

"Oh, Doc," I cooed, "you have no idea what I'm capable of."

I traced the scalpel along his cheek, drawing a thin line of blood. "Now, let's try this again. Where. Is. My. Daughter?"

The doctor's eyes widened in genuine fear, and I felt a thrill of satisfaction. “You truly are amazing, Lakey. A pure weapon of rage. You were one of my finest projects.”

I dug the blade in deeper, flicking it upward and slicing off a piece of his cheek.

He bit back a scream, “Talking by two, reading by three, doing full blown mathematics. You were… marvelous. It’s a shame you don’t remember. You can come home you know. The key lives inside of you.”

Pulling the knife away, I paused. He was telling me things, things I had no access to. I wanted to know more. Until he followed it up with:

“Chimera will welcome you home, little lamb.”

A scream resounded in the room as I drove the scalpel through his eye.

"Lakey," Cam's voice cut through my rage-fueled haze as he grabbed my hand, preventing me from taking the doctor’s other eye. "We need him alive."

I turned to look at Cam, my grip on the scalpel never wavering. Blood dripped down my hand, splashing on the obnoxiously white tiles. "No, we don't. This stupid fuck won’t tell us anything else."

I didn’t want to know anything else. I was done. I’d track down my daughter, alone if I had to, and the rest will be left to fate. I was through with this little mission. Cam sighed and released my wrist and with a savage grin I swung the blade down, down through his eye, before twisting, forcing it into his brain.

The doctor died a death that was too easy for the pain he inflicted. This asshole no longer held secrets that could destroy me. He was... empty. I stood over his body, probing it with my foot before stomping on his leg for fun, grinning as it snapped under the force. My breath came in slow, measured inhales and exhales. The rage that had consumed me moments ago ebbed away, leaving a cold, detached clarity in its wake.

I wiped the blood onto my pants, admiring what a pretty pink it stained my hands.

As much as I tried to shove it all out of my head, my mind raced, piecing together the fragments of information we'd extracted. The Vessel. My daughter. Patient X and Y. It was all connected, a twisted web of secrets and lies that I was determined to unravel — without the help of the likes of him.No, these animals deserved death, not redemption. Certainly not salvation.

"Well," I said, my voice unnervingly cheerful, "that was certainly informative."

Cam grunted, already rifling through the doctor's files. "You could say that. Though I think we might've gotten more if you hadn't, you know, eviscerated him. Maybe I wanted some answers, Lakes. Did you think of that?"

I shrugged, a small smile playing on my lips. "Details, details. Besides, dead men tell no tales... but their paperwork might."

As Cam stuffed files into his backpack, I turned my attention to the filing cabinets lining the wall. My fingers trailed over the labels, searching. Then, I saw it. Two folders, side by side, marked simply 'X' and 'Y'.

"Bingo," I murmured, snatching them up.

---