Fallocaust (The Fallocaust Series) (120 page)

“I’ve been making an effort to cry less,” Killian said flatly.

“So you’re just going to start beating me instead?” I said still rubbing.

Killian nodded, I could see he was hiding a smile.

“Get your face over here and kiss me.” I reached my arm behind his head and pulled him to me.

I hadn’t felt those soft lips against mine for weeks. I took him in, and pulled him close to me. My mouth sucking on his bottom lip. The heroin had made the kiss even better. I would do that stuff again, that I knew.

I pulled away, he did too, looking finally relaxed and himself, if only for this moment, until we had to become fugitives.

“A lot of things are going to change, if only for awhile while Greyson and Leo sorted through all of this...” I said. “But I’ll protect you. Like I said, we can go on a vacation. Just us.”

Killian’s bottom lip tensed as he bit down on it. “We do need to leave, we need to get far away from King Silas. Reaver... Greyson needs to tell you why he’s here. It isn’t to avenge Perish’s death. I... I can’t be the one to tell you though.”

My chest lurched, for more than one reason. “Killian, about Perish...”

Suddenly I heard the tank hatch squeak, I grabbed my M16 and told Killian to stay put. I waited at the bottom of the hatch with my gun drawn and pointing at whoever was coming through.

“Reaver, Reaver!” I lowered my gun as I heard Greyson. I stepped back as he slid down.

He looked horrible, he was covered in ash, discoloured by the sweat dripping from his body. He was breathing heavily. He turned around and called up the tunnel. “Come down.”

“Who do you have?” I said slowly, I felt the breath get sucked out of my chest.

“Okay,” a small submissive voice called from the entrance to my tunnel.

My mouth dropped open, my chest felt like it had been filled with tiny razor blades. I couldn’t believe it was him. I never thought I would hear that rapid paced voice again.

“You can’t bring him here, you can’t fucking bring him here!” I exclaimed, I could see the count down in my head to the moment my boyfriend would have a stroke.

I looked over at Killian and back at Greyson. Killian hadn’t heard the voice, he was looking at me with puzzlement.

I pushed past Greyson and ran over to a very confused Killian. I grabbed his hand and quickly ushered him into my bedroom and closed the door.

“He doesn’t know! Greyson you can’t bring him here.” I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away from the hatch.

Then Perish crawled out of the hatch. He tried to stand up right but collapsed onto the ground on his knees. His legs were weak spindles, covered in bruises in various states of healing.

The scientist didn’t look as he used to. As he looked around my basement scared I could see his face was grey and sunken in, with several nice sized bruises gracing his cheek bone and forehead. When his neurotic blue eyes finally fell on me he did a small spasm like flail and immediately shifted towards the nearest corner of my basement making a nervous whimpering noise like a dog.

“Greyson, he can’t stay here!” I exclaimed. “He-”

“THEY HAVE LEO!” Greyson cried, his voice strangled and full of fear. He was trying to catch his breath through clenched teeth. “They have Leo... I got my call back from Anvil. He never arrived, Reaver. He’s been missing for two weeks. Silas has my husband.” I was shocked as Greyson dropped to his knees, his shoulders were shaking. I could see drops appear on my wooden floor. “He has my husband.”

The outward display of emotion from Greyson caught me off guard, but it gave me the kick in the ass to drop the issue of Perish being here.

My eyes found the ghost of Perish on the floor. He was wringing skeleton thin hands, his knees brought up to his chest. The chimera scientist’s face was blanched, a stark contrast to the black circles under his sunken eyes. I felt a twinge of empathy for him. I hated him, deeply and passionately but... fuck, Greyson and Leo had been tormenting him.

What a life...

“We need to trade him,” I said, eyeing the door to make sure Killian hadn’t opened it. “Him for Leo. That’s what Silas is here for, isn’t it? He has something we want, and we have something he wants.”

“Where is Leo?” Greyson suddenly exploded, I watched as he kicked Perish in the side. “Where does he have him?”
Perish screamed like a wounded animal, and backed away from Greyson’s blow. He crawled backwards until his back hit my kitchen counter, before putting his hands over his face.

“TELL ME!” Greyson roared, he raised his leg again to kick him.

“I don’t know, I don’t know. We have a house in the south, he might be there. I don’t know!” Perish screamed, he put his arms over his face. I could see scabbed burn marks on them. Fuck, they hadn’t just been tormenting him. They had been torturing him.

“Perish!” Killian suddenly screamed. I saw a blur and Killian jumped in front of him. He turned to Greyson and to my surprise he had brought his Magnum. His belt must’ve been in the bedroom.

“Get out. GET OUT!” Killian shrieked, he held up the gun, shaking back and forth in his trembling grasp. “Get away from him! You did this, fucking Leo did this! Perish didn’t do anything and neither did we! Get the fuck out of here.”

“Listen to him, Greyson,” I said, my voice on a dangerous level. “I will let him shoot you.”

Greyson’s shoulders were trembling hard, every breath he tried to breathe was a crackling rasp inside his chest. He reached down to grab Perish’s lab coat collar when I heard the gun cock.

“Perish stays.” I had never heard Killian sound so authoritative, so well, dominant. “He’s a human with free will, he is not yours to abuse anymore.” Killian looked down at Perish, who was shivering in the corner like a half drowned kitten. “Perish, do you want to stay with me? We wont hurt you. I’ll bring you back to Donnely.”

Perish whimpered, he wiped his nose. “Reaver will kill me as soon as your back is turned.”

“No, I wont,” I said, and oddly I meant it too. He was so pathetic and weak, being mean to him was like kicking a stray, starving dog. It didn’t make you tougher, it just made you kind of a dick. “We’re going to return you to your master, we’ll trade you for Leo.”
“Lycos,” Perish said under his breath.

“Perish, shut the fuck up.”
“No!” Perish got a hint of balls and looked up at Greyson. I think Killian pointing a gun at the mayor’s face had given him some confidence. Did he still trust his little boyfriend after he had cut his damn head off

“His name is Lycos, it’s not Leo. It’s Lycos and Greyson knows why. Greyson knows why because he knows why my master is really here.” His blue eyes glared up at Greyson, but they deflected as soon as he made eye contact.

“I will rip out your tongue and when you grow another one I will rip that one out as well,” Greyson suddenly bellowed, he took a step towards Perish. “So watch your-”

There was a gun shot.

Before the ricocheted could bounce off of my ceiling walls I had my M16 in my hand. I saw Greyson stumble back and slam against the tank hatch, his eyes shocked.

Killian was holding the smoking magnum, his hands shaking.

My eyes found the bullet hole lodged in my tank hatch, he had missed Greyson, but barely.

“Get out of this basement, or next time I’ll aim for the tank hatch and hit you.” Killian stammered, he looked like he was trying to hide the shock on his face that he had actually pulled the trigger.

“Reaver, take his gun away.” Greyson put his hands up and took a slow step towards the tank hatch.

“I’m not his master, if he wants to point a gun at you he can,” I said acidly. “You heard him, get out.”

Greyson’s cheeks puffed up as he let out a breath, he nodded and turned around. He looked shaken and I knew he was worried about his husband, but I had no more sympathies to spare him.

“Arrange the trade, Perish will be down here,” I said, I was still holding my M16. Perish was whimpering in the corner murmuring things to himself. “I’ll be patrolling my old West Aras. I-”

“No,” Greyson held up a hand. “Reaver, whatever you do, don’t leave. Reno can patrol, Silas has nothing on him. If you love Killian. Do not leave the basement.”

The last part bothered me, he had never pulled that card on me before. It made me think twice about going out anyways.

I gave him a nod, and he turned and started up the tunnel hatch to my shed. “Keep... keep your radio on. Don’t leave the basement.”

When the hatch closed, everything was quiet. I turned around and faced my boyfriend.

His hands were both holding the Magnum, pointed at the hatch, it was shaking back and forth so hard it was no wonder he missed Greyson. I gently took the gun away and set it down.

“Congratulations, baby.” I rubbed his arm. “You’re officially not crazy!”

Killian didn’t break down into tears like I thought he might, his blue, washed out eyes stared at me like I was an alien. At the same time, we both turned around to Perish.

The ghost of Perish was wringing his hands, looking around the room in bewilderment. His own blue eyes, lighter than Killian’s, were flicking back and forth, trying to take in his new surroundings.

They had done a number on him. I couldn’t believe how stick thin he was, he was almost as frail as Killian normally looked. When I had seen him before he was slender, with a nice build and a good looking face. Now he was a shadow of his former self. He looked like a prisoner of war, his arms and chest were covered in half healed lighter and cigarette burns and black bruises.

I couldn’t believe I was doing this, but I think in the months since we had escaped from Donnely, I had come to see just what being Perish entailed. He was a mentally ill guy who kept getting tangled in shit he didn’t start.

Now he was out of the comfort of his own secure little bunker. He was out of his old environment and in mine. I was top dog and he knew it. I was in control now. The only thing Perish had had to make himself feel in control was his secure bunker and his splices. The scientist had nothing now, he was a prisoner in the hands of an enemy.

I didn’t quite feel bad for him, but I decided then I wouldn’t mistreat him. Greyson and Leo had been torturing him to get information but I knew Perish better than that. Perish would give up information a lot easier if you were friendly towards him. Most likely without even realizing it. If I could be cordial not only would it be easier for Killian to swallow this new development, without having to worry about me torturing him too; but it would give me some answers.

And I had quite a few questions.

Anyways, he was no threat, that was obvious. Perish was never really a threat, he had just gotten the best of me at a bad time and after that I had been in chains with a slave collar around my neck. He basically had my balls and my heart under his control; now I had his.

“Hey, Perish.” I leaned down in front of him. He shrinked away from me, his eyes jutted around nervously. “I wont hurt you. I know I have every reason to, but I wont.”

Perish looked at me. “Lycos said the same thing.”

“Why does he keep calling him that?” I said as Killian knelt down beside me.

“Perish, did you know Lycos in Skyfall?” Killian asked kindly.

Perish’s eyes softened when he saw Killian, he looked at him sadly before he scrunched himself up smaller beside my kitchen cabinets. I don’t think he wanted to talk to him. Well he
did
kill him.

“Perry, did I see you with your master? Does he know how to take you out of the bunker?”
Good point, that hadn’t even occurred to me.
Perish shook his head. “No, you’re still half crazy. I never left.”

My heart jumped. Then Silas didn’t know where he was, we had that on him. We had a good trade.

“He’ll be happy to see that you’re okay, I bet,” Killian said quietly, he reached out and tried to put a hand on Perish’s but Perish stiffened so he withdrew it.
Perish wrung his hands, he nodded to himself. “Master came for me? You think? He’s never come for me before.”

Well, congratulations on feeling important...

I got up and I reached a hand down for Perish’s, the scientist looked up at me, hesitated, then let me help him up. His feet buckled, and I found myself supporting him.

I looked over and saw fresh tears in Killian’s eyes, when I started helping him to the couch he started to cry.

“Thank you, Reaver,” Killian sobbed as I helped him gently sit down. “Thank you for being nice to him.”

Perish looked at him confused. “I thought you hated me?”
Well that just made my boyfriend cry harder, he turned away from Perish and I and left the living room. I could hear him sit down on my bed to be alone while he composed himself.

“He doesn’t hate you,” I said, putting my M16 right beside me on the couch. I mentally scanned everything in grabbing distance, trying to figure out if he had anything he could make into a weapon. “You know how some of your splices grow up fucked in the head? You feel bad that they’re retarded and their lives are shit, so you killed them right?”

Perish nodded.

“That’s what Killian did to you. He felt badly you would be left alone to suffer, he couldn’t bare the thought because he liked you. So he killed you.”

“Oh...” Perish looked towards the bedroom. “It’s not that easy to kill me though. Maybe I should have told him that before hand.”

The chimera boy was looking around like he was still in a daze. I guess being locked up for the last several months and then being grabbed and brought here might’ve knocked a few more screws loose. I got up and gave him some chocolate bars and canned spaghetti for him to eat, then I did the only thing I could think of. I offered him drugs.

“Silas used to shoot me up with drugs and watch me stumble around.” Perish watched as I crushed up the drugs between a couple of spoons. He wasn’t getting my heroin. “I think he killed me a lot of times that way.”

I banged my plastic card against the mirror and gave him a look. “How old are you?”

“I’m seventy one, but I stopped growing older when I was twenty two, same with my master.”
“And Silas is...?”
“Two hundred and fifty five.”
I had to give an impressed whistle at that. “So what did he get bored and fuck a broad or something?”
Perish stared at me, he looked confused.