Memories-Part TWO
Tom waited until he was sure that Sloan was asleep before he left for his own bungalow, he was cold now, he hadn't felt it before, when they'd been out on the peer, but he felt it now. His tired body ached as he leaned wearily against the cold, hard tree trunk, which had given him cover, as he waited for sleep to claim Sloan.
She felt so much pain, even her sleep was restless, he couldn't tell what it was that she dreamt of but, he could feel her pain, her isolation, he was to blame for that, he'd killed her trust and her soul along with it
The next morning Attwood ordered a meeting, to re-evaluate the position of the Lab now that he was in control of the self- defense programme.
Attwood, Sloan and Ed were already in the conference room along with three other men that Tom had never met before.
As he entered the room all eyes turned to him, their emotions screamed at him with one voice, fear, they all feared him, Tom Daniels, the killer, how could he tell them, let them know why he had done it, even if he told them, would they understand?
Ed dropped his head unable to look Tom in the eye, the things that their government had done to Tom and his family made him sick, the hours after they got him back had been the worst, washing and bandaging his wounds Ed felt sick thinking about it.
They hadn't just beaten him they had systematically tortured him, no wonder he'd snapped like that killing everyone in the place, although why he would kill his family they still had no idea.
Ed's thought's raced back to when they'd found him, he had been severely dehydrated and in excruciating pain, when Sloan had reached forward and gently taken the gun from his hand he had flinched back, as if he was afraid she would hurt him.
Ed could still remember the look on his face when he had turned to face his rescuers, it was sort of blank and lost at the same time, almost like a child who was afraid of being punished by an adult.
His arm had hung limply by his side the blood dripping, from what later turned out to be one of three fractures, his arm broken in five places, by one of his torturer's overzealous attentions with a steel baton.
For weeks afterwards it had hurt him simply to move, his broken ribs bringing the once powerful dominant to his knees, as helpless as a child. God only knew what else they'd done to him, he had refused to talk about it, or even see a councillor, asking for some time to himself.
Attwood was the first to break the awkward silence. "How are you feeling Tom?
"Better, thank you"
Sloan eyed Tom, cautiously, afraid that he would resent her scrutiny, that he would react badly to it. She was worried, he looked tired, as if he wasn't sleeping. He was probably having nightmares, if only he would let her in, she wanted to be there for him, to understand, to hold him close till he was better.
Tom took the seat next to Sloan and was surprised that he felt no fear coming from her, only concern, concern for him. She was looking at him with a thoughtful expression on her face, almost as if she wanted to say something but had decided against it.
Attwood talked, but Tom was only half-listening, it didn't matter anymore, nothing mattered anymore, except Sloan.
The memories that had come flooding back when he had been confronted by his brother and father had changed the way Tom saw things, now he knew. He knew who he was, what he was and what his past had held. Now all that mattered was the future, a future which without Sloan, Tom did not want to face.
"It's good to finally meet you Mr Daniels."
Tom looked into the man's eyes, he felt dislike, hatred, fear. Tom merely nodded, his gaze turning to the other two new faces, they were to be the Defense Council.
Attwood would head the council, Ed would head the research department, the three new faces would represent the Army, Navy and Air force. Sloan was to assist Ed and help decipher the social structure of the dominants, whilst he, Tom, would represent the view and inside knowledge of his people.
As the meeting dispersed, the military leaders were quick to leave, Ed turned to Tom and shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
"How the arm feeling Tom? I think I'd better give it a check over today, unless you would rather someone else looked at it?"
Tom moved his fingers tentatively lifting his arm and viewing it as if it was alien to his body. He was not used to being weak, and to his displeasure there was no denying that his arm weakened his physical ability. His ribs had healed but the damage that they had done to his arm was proving difficult to heal, even for his dominant genes. After three surgeries he was finally getting some strength back, but if challenged he was unsure how he would cope against a fellow dominant.
"It's still sore, but it feels stronger now, I'm trying to use it more."
Tom could tell that this was not the reason that Ed was delaying his departure, he watched as Attwood closed the door after the Military members had left.
Attwood stood in front of the door, his arms folded in front of him, a look of steely determination on his face.
"It's been three months Tom, we need to know what happened."
Tom looked at Attwood steadily, a glint in his eye, which Sloan could not remember seeing before, what had happened, would he finally tell them? Sloan did not think she wanted to know anymore, what could be so terrible as to drive a man to kill so many, people including his family. She new he had been badly tortured and she wanted to kill those responsible for his pain herself, but not one man had survived that day.
" I will tell you what I can, but not all of my memories are clear, I was in a lot of pain and I think I passed out a few times."
Sloan flinched at this and Tom could feel her empathy and pain as though it was his own. Tom decided that it was time to tell Attwood some of what had happened, although he knew that doing this would only cause Sloan more pain.
"They beat me with steel batons and belts or whatever came to hand, I was in a lot of pain and with Ed's serum still in my blood I cloud not contain my emotions, I became………. Angry."
Sloan wiped a tear from her eye as Tom began to describe some of the tortures he had been forced to endure. With Ed's serum in his blood he would have been unable to control the rage and pain that had flooded his senses
"One of the guards tried to take some of my blood, I'm not sure what for, but it was a big needle, it was easy to wrestle the needle from him as I had pretended to be unconscious, he was not expecting my attack."
Attwood nodded. "Go on, and we need details."
"I used the needle to kill him by…." Tom paused he did not want Sloan to hear this.
"…..Stabbing him through the ear and straight through his brain. I then took his gun and shot as many of them as I could. When I ran out of bullets I used my hands. My training as a chameleon has made me proficient in all methods of killing, it was not difficult once I was free from the cage."
Sloan looked at Tom through tear stained eyes. "But your family Tom, why were they there?"
"I think they had tried to use your government to get to me, but it had backfired somehow, they ended up prisoners along with me."
"Tom, why did you kill them?"
Tom looked at Sloan, he could sense her fear and anguish, as she waited for his answer, and he answered as truthfully as he could under the circumstances.
"When I was reunited with them, I began to regain some of my memories, of my father, brother and of my sister. They did evil things Sloan, to me, to my sister, to others. When all the memories came flooding back at once I could not control my hatred of them, my loathing of what they stood for, what they had done. The reason for their deaths is simple, revenge."
To be continued