Fear the Night

Chapter 2: The Examination

Maverick sighed as he looked around the alley, kneeling at the edge of a building. He dusted away some dirt from a small latch at the ground and curled a finger around it to pull up on it. He stepped slightly to the side as he opened up a door from the ground to reveal a staircase. Looking around again he quickly jumped through the door, slamming it shut behind him.

“Honey, I’m home!” he called, heading down a spiral staircase lit by candles on the wall. It was cooler as he headed farther underground and smirked when he reached the end of the stairs.

“You look beautiful tonight, baby,” he smiled.

His compliment was answered with a snarl as he approached a row of bars separating him from the creature behind them.

“Finish your dinner, sweetie?” he asked, kneeling to face the Drone at its level. “Sorry it took me so long to get back. Some of your friends tried to make me dinner.”

The Drone hissed and licked its teeth with its forked tongue. Maverick only chuckled and glanced at a huge dish chained to a bar. He pulled at the chain and dragged the empty dish toward him, pulling it from the bars at the chains full length.

“You’re eating good, aren’t you?” he smirked and the Drone only thrust its arm through the bars to try and grab at the dish…or Maverick. He swiftly moved back, out of the Drone’s reach and stood.

“Not tonight, babe,” he smirked sarcastically. “I’m not in the mood.”

He headed to another door next to the cell in the stone wall and opened it. Cold air spilled as his feet as he reached in to pull out a small, dead animal then shut the door again.

“Dinner is…frozen,” he said, placing the small animal on the dish with a clang. “Let it thaw out—”

Maverick cut himself off when the caged Drone pulled at the chain and dragged the dish into the cell. He smirked and headed closer to the bars.

“Well, aren’t we smart?” he complimented, crossing his arms over his chest.

He watched as the Drone pulled the dish closer then picked up the animal on it. It gave a howl, dropping its soon-to-be food to the ground and backing away from it as if it were diseased. Maverick’s interest peaked and he squatted down in front of the bars as the Drone licked its fingers. He watched it carefully as the creature huddled in the corner, still licking its fingers.

“Don’t like the cold, do we?” he asked rhetorically.

He stood and headed to the right and a small safe-like box in the stone next to the cell. He reached in and pulled out a notebook then shoved it back in but didn’t shut the small door completely. He turned to the cell and leaned on the last bar before the stone started.

The Drone glanced at its dinner and crawled toward it. It touched it then yanked its hand back as if burned and Maverick only continued watching silently. He’d never thought to give frozen food to the thing. Then again, it had always waited for him to put the dish in the cell. It must have been hungry.

The Drone looked around its cell and stared continuously at the light hanging from the ceiling. Maverick gazed at the light as well, following the wire that was attached to the wall and headed out of the cell from the floor. The Drone shuffled on the floor toward the corner where bars met stone and gripped the wire.

Maverick frowned as he stepped aside slightly and the Drone played with it before taking hold of the wire. It used all its strength to yank it from the wall. The attachments on the wall snapped off and Maverick shielded his face when a few of them flew toward him. The light fell to the ground but didn’t shatter and Maverick looked back into the cell to observe further. The Drone took the light and shuffled toward the frozen animal then set the light next to it.

Maverick scoffed, impressed then nodding, smirking, “Impressive. Learning to adapt. This is a breakthrough, my love.”

He reached into the box again, pulling out the notebook and shutting the door when he did.

“Enjoy watching the ice melt on your dinner,” he called, walking back toward the freezer. “I’m gonna be up a bit before heading to bed. Sweet dreams.”

Maverick walked past the freezer, turned a corner past the staircase and walked to a bed against the stone wall, a nightstand with a candle on it and sat on the bed. Sighing, he tapped the pencil on the notebook before writing.

Forty days until Lock-Dah

She showed signs of development today. She...‘stole’ a piece of frozen meat. She’s never done that before. After apparently hurting herself from the cold, she pulled the light from the ceiling and is currently using it to thaw out the meat. This is good. Any other Drone would probably just go crazy over it, but she’s actually trying to solve the problem. Perhaps there’s some hope that these creatures can return to their former state? Maybe they can become human again?

He stopped for a moment and thought of Yukio and Isabella, but wrote nothing. This notebook wasn’t a diary. It was a record of his Drone’s progress. He closed the notebook and placed it on the stand, then lifted his left arm to examine the wounds on his forearm and shook his head at it.

“Damn nightcrawler,” he grumbled, touching his fingers to the gouges in his arm where blood still hadn’t seeped through. “Don’t those things know how much effort it takes to get these marks to disappear?”

He leaned toward the night stand and opened the small drawer on it to pull out a tiny harpoon-like instrument. He faced the point at a hole in his arm and stabbed it into it, piercing the dented skin. He pulled it back out, slowly until his skin was smooth then maneuvered it back out.

He continued doing this until every tooth mark was gone then threw the utensil into the drawer and shut it. Sighing, Maverick leaned over and pulled his pant leg up to examine the bandage Isabella had wrapped around his ankle. He tried rolling his ankle but when pain flared up in it he winced and froze.

“Damn!” he growled then sighed as he pulled off his shirt, throwing it on the floor before carefully lying back on his bed. He pulled the candle from the stand and blew it out before rolling onto his side to face the opening.

He couldn’t keep his mind from wandered to Isabella. Those glowing, golden eyes, her soft, brown hair…at least, it looked soft. He suddenly had an urge to touch it next time he saw her, just to see if it was as soft as he thought it was.

Next time?! he asked himself. No way, Mave! You can’t let a pretty thing like that get mixed up in your business! That nice guy either. Better if you stayed away from them.

Maverick couldn’t help the smile that crept to his lips as he closed his eyes and saw Isabella, then sighed, “She was beautiful, though. Never forget a face like that.”