Ardring - Chapter 6
#6 of Ardring
The testing didn't end there. No, that was simply the beginning. In fact, all those needles were only a precursor to the things that were going to happen to him. At first, the injected spots started to turn darker, the fur dying to a dark brown-- almost as dark as his hair. Then they got more sensitive to heat, cold, touch, and pain. It escalated to the point where he was bed-ridden because it felt like he was on fire one minute, and freezing the next.
Bed-ridden from walking around, anyway. His physical state didn't seem to stop the testing any. He was still dragged off, had more things injected him, found himself hooked up to various machines-- all with the same restuls. Inconclusive. Needs more testing. Put him back, take him again in a week-- let his body rest, and adjust to the new chemicals that were put in. Get him again.
He could tell they were growing restless at not finding anything conclusive. There was talk about axing him-- he didn't really know what that meant until Guile had explained it. "I told ya that if you don't meet their expectations, they aren't gonna waste more resources on you, and kill ya. You're no use to them if they can't use you for what they need. And to use you, they gotta know what you do." He said. The ferret just sat horrified at that explanation.
[Death?] He thought to himself. _He curled up into a ball on his brick of a mattress, and whimpered. He felt a paw on his left shoulder, and yelped. The paw suddenly retracted, and he felt the presence of the cheetah near him again.
"I'm sorry, mate! I didn't mean to-- I forgot--" He started to apologize, and Zerrif just shook his head. "... Listen. I swear to you, as long as I breathe, I'm not going to let them just cut you off." He took the curled up ferret into his arms, and he heard pounding on the door. For the first time, Zerrif heard something he hadn't thought Guile would do. A roar shook his body-- he could feel the reverberations that came from the cheetah's chest. He whimpered a little in instinctively fear, and then there was a hushing by his hear. He could feel Guile nuzzle, and he whimpered again, shaking his head.
"This is last chance." A voice said from the door. Another roar. "I don't care, Guile-- if you want to come along, you can. He's coming period."
Silence. They were waiting. Zerrif turned to stare at the cheetah-- tears streaming in his eyes. Guile just smiled, and shook his head, rubbing the ferret's tears away. "It's okay. Come on. Let's show them what you've got, huh?" Guile asked. Zerrif shivered, and when the cheetah stood up and offered a paw, he hesitated. But... he had to go. He took the paw, standing hunched up and curled up-- and the cheetah just stood behind him and ushered him along, but at his pace._
They led him down different hallways this time. Guile didn't seem pleased-- but he had assured him. This was his last chance. He had to do something. The cheetah had faith in him. Faith. That was something he hadn't heard of in a long, long time. He just shook his head, and kept going, heavy step after heavy step. He had to. He had to face whatever they would bring upon him.
He found himself going through a corridor of darkness, with only a smidge of light at the end. It was disorienting-- he didn't know when his paws would hit the ground. He nearly tripped over himself a few times, but Guile was there to catch him all the time. He was silently thankful for it, and found himself getting closer and closer to the apparent exit.
It was an arena of sorts. Or it seemed like what he'd read about in the books at school, anyway. A Colosseum, was it? A large ring with various broken pillars and distended obstacles, but instead of the rows of seats around the side, there were just walls-- viewing windows. Reflections of computer screens on the windows. He turned to see Guile-- who was struggling with a guard. Apparently, he was to go on alone.
"Zer! Don't you die on me!" Guile shouted, as he was carried away. The ferret's ears dropped. Die? He didn't want to die-- no, he wasn't going to die. But... what on earth did Guile mean?
He heard some beeps, and his gaze was drawn across the arena. A sort of door was sliding open over there, and he shivered. Even from all the way across the large arena, which had to be wide enough as one of the fields back on the farm, he could smell something rank. It disgusted him, felt rancid... reminded him of death. He shut out that sensation, trying to focus on the thoughts that he just remembered about the farm.
The farm. He could barely picture it now. The rolling green fields, the rows upon rows of dirt, that would grow into crops. The family, the brothers and sisters, the life that he once had, and now, seemed like he had lost so long ago. Running through the fields with Craig and Ellie, going to school with his friends--
His thoughts were abruptly ended as he found himself flying through the air. His side swelled with pain-- he'd been hit. And hard. And now he was going flying. He landed on the ground with a thud, that side of his body realizing just how rough and ragged the ground was. He looked up weakly, trying to see who the hell was hitting him.
It was a large, black mass. Furred mass. Wolf? It seemed to large to be a wolf-- this thing was massive. Like a bodybuilder on steroids. It just emanated all that raw power. That's where he smelled the rank, death-like stench. It came from this... monstrosity. He understood all too quickly. Last test, to see if he died or lived, was to survive against this... thing.
Sure, he'd been in fights at school. He'd stood up for his younger brother and sister's on the playground. But this wasn't some fight with someone else his size and ability. Before he could get to his knees, he felt one driving into his chest. He was sure he heard a crack of some bone. He flew through the air again, and landed on the ground, his mouth and throat suddenly full of a liquid. He knew that taste. Blood. He turned his head and spat it out, and started to cry.
He didn't want to die. He couldn't die. He wanted to go back home. Go back and live the life he had. Why, why did this have to happen to him?
He started to cough, something clamping around his throat. He was being picked off the ground, easily-- his breath escaping him as two fingers started to tighten like a wrench around his neck. No. He couldn't-- he wouldn't-- He tried to kick out, but this thing's arms were so long that he couldn't reach. That only made it clamp tighter, trying to end this faster.
[NO!!] He shouted inside his mind, and suddenly took his paws, and dug his claws into the wrist that was only inches from his face. The... wolf-thing didn't even budge. Didn't make any sort of movement to even notice it was being torn into. He clawed, digging frantically. He paws became covered in the thing's blood, and it was all he could do to go deeper. Claw further. Make an escape.
The scent of blood and death assaulted his nose, now that he was so close to the thing. And then, he heard his heart beat so loud in his body, he thought he'd explode. He sniffed again, drawing almost a high off of that smell, and yelled. "KAAAAA~!!" He began to tear into the arm. Claws moved like knives, his movements so fluid and frenzied that he began to wonder where he was getting all this adrenaline from. But that started to make the creature whimper lightly.
[Die. Die. DIE!] He screamed mentally. The scent of blood only began to heighten that feeling. He didn't even need air now-- even though the monster's grip was weakening on him. He tore through the arm, and the creature released him, having felt pain as the ferret jutted a finger as far as it could into the bloody wound. He began to tear and rip at muscle and tendons as he fell, nearly to the point where he would paralyze that thing's arms in place. He fell to hands and knees, grasping at his throat for air. He looked up, his eyes focused only on that beast that had attacked him.
He'd just messed with the wrong ferret.
"... I see."
"Is that enough? Call this off!" Guile yelled, being held back. He was in one of the rooms that were around the arena, held back by two burly guards as they could only watch what was transpiring below. At first he'd feared for Zerrif's life, and then...
One of the researchers started to laugh. This made the others start. Guile shook his head, and started to cry.
"Good... good... ooooh... so very good..."