Page 9 of Monster

Chapter Two

A prison made of flesh and bone…

He opened his eyes. The light hurt.

Sunlight.

How long had it been since he’d seen the sun? It must be a dream.

A beautiful dream of a time before.

The sky was pink and orange as the sun began its ascent. The colors swirled as if the sky was one gigantic watercolor canvas, the soft hues washed on with broad strokes. The shades bled into one another, unsure where one ended and the other began.

Birds flew past, their tiny bodies black against the coming light. Their songs made tears sting the backs of his eyes. So sweet.

A dream.

It couldn’t be real…

The roars sounded in his mind. Their volume grew higher and higher until he no longer stared at the rising sun. He no longer cared about the beauty of it all, not when he was in torment.

He screamed, adding his own voice to the mad stridency of his mind.

If he screamed the loudest… perhaps they would quiet.

So he screamed…

And he screamed…

* * * *

Lost and found…

“You should’ve saved a little of your shirt and shoved it in his mouth,” Jaeger said as they hiked up the hill.

Drake looked over one shoulder. Both Jaeger and a weakened Deacon were behind him, pushing the bottom forward as Drake led them to the gods knew where. Days had passed, and Deacon had only grown more delirious. At this stage, Drake wasn’t even sure they were going in the right direction. “You could always sacrifice your own shirt for that endeavor.”

“And show the world the beautiful artwork the general made of me? No thanks.”

“It’s not like there’s anyone out here to see it,” Drake said as he climbed the steady incline.

At least they seemed to be going up in elevation.They were heading for a valley, supposedly.Valley meant mountains.He saw them in the distance.

“The sun glinting off your back is enough of a signal for the helicopters.We don’t need another.”

Shit. Hadn’t thought about that. Drake winced, pissed off he’d been so stupid.

As if on cue, he heard helicopter blades above.

They rushed into a copse of trees, dragging the cage with them.

“It’s that damned Chinook again,” Drake said to Jaeger.“That thing takes its fucking time.” He was more than ready to be wherever it was they were going.After nearly a week and little to no sleep, he just wanted to fall into a bed somewhere and sleep for a few days.

“What did… you say?” Deacon asked.

“They take their fucking time,” Drake parroted.

“No… before that.”

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