Gray Blood

David's POV
Everything inside of me was screaming and I thought I was going crazy. Izzy and the baby should be in the safe house in Africa! What are they doing here at the camp? With me?
The guards pulled me through the maze, their faces filled with anticipation. They were just waiting to see how I would react for where we were heading. For the first of my life-at least, the first time I could remember-I was afraid. Scared out of mind.
The two men who were holding Sacha and whats-his-face Marshall were trailing behind us. We finally reached our destination and the guard that was holding me pulled out a huge chain with keys and unlocked the door.
The door slid open and we walked into what looked like a laboratory There was a huge computer screen at the end of the room and loads of tech. weapons and devices everywhere.
It was obvious that I knew all about this stuff-the recognition was spread across my face-and I could remember seeing all of this tech from my dad's military base. Massive powerful weapons of destruction. I remember that he had been a leading general in some powerful group, one of the strongest and most brilliant men of all and I tried to learn as much as I could from him, even if he didn't want me too.
I looked behind to me see Sacha and Sean's shocked faces and couldn't help but feel even more nervous. They can't know about me, no one can. I'm supposed to be unknown goddamn it!
The two of them were dragged into chairs at the back of the room while I was carried to the front of the room and sat on a chair in front of the computer screen.
I watched silently as several people entered and left, while the guards all typed in codes and passwords to activate the computer before one left and returned with a video. Before they slipped and entered it into the super computer, I watched with horror as I saw whose name was scribbled on the white tab. For David. Written in her handwriting. She's trapped in the camp with me. And the baby.
The video was getting ready to play and one of the female captains of the camp came up to me and smiled. Her hand grabbed my shoulder and she squeezed, digging her sharp nails into me. It was obvious that she was a torturer-immortal servants of the emperor; she was wearing the Emperor's Assassination necklace and that meant she knew how to work her way into someone's heart and break it. From what I learned, I had to resist it, all of the temptation that she would posses me with.
"Is that supposed to hurt or are you just trying to look tough?" Her grip tightened, and even through the clothes, I could feel her nails ripping my skin open.
"Darling your strength interests me. But I'm afraid your little self-vall that your protecting yourself vith vill have to be broken immediately." She had a very russian accent that sent chills down my spine.
"Well I love a good fight. Bring it on."
"I vill bring everything my dear. That's vut I'm here for." She turned away from me and snapped her fingers at the man at the computer. "Play the video!" She turned back to me.
"Before I begin, David Benjamin Stone, I vanted to let you know that I vill enjoy breaking you. Your father and I have faced off one to many times and I'm surprised he never set you up for battle. You just might've escaped from here, you know? Ven you see this video, I'll enjoy the look on your face." Her other hand grabbed my face and she squeezed my cheeks hard. "Ven I ask you for the information, you’ll give it to me. And hoo knows, maybe one day you'll be lucky enough to let me or one of the other Deva Leaders train you to become one of us, the Emperor's LOYAL assassin. Your father vould be so proud, don't you think?"
I couldn't resist the live bait she was throwing at me. There was no way I would ever join the Emperor's side, let alone work for him. Out of all the people working in his armies, his assassin's were the top fighters and the best of the best. They were his favorite fighters-top of the chain-and he made that known with what work he put them all through. My body tensed and I tried to pull my face away. I shut my eyes tight and then I heard a voice.
"David." Izzy? I opened my eyes and saw that the video was playing. The date on the top was July 15, 2020. Just last month. The baby had to be eight months by now. I watched her red lips spread into a smile and her pink cheeks filled with color. I wanted to reach out as if I could actually talk to her, as if she was right there in front of me. The video continued.
"David. I don't know where you are right now. I-I hope you managed to run away from the army. I couldn't imagine what would happen if they got you...." Her voice broke and she tried to continue. "I don’t even know if you'll get this message you know? But it just feels...right recording this 'cause I have a feeling that you'll get it somehow. Even if its years from now, I just know. Any ways, I wanted to tell you about the baby. Its a girl. I didn't want them to check because I know you wanted it to be a surprise but the doctors checked for me just the same. I'm so excited and heart broken at the same time because I'm going to be a mother but I won't have you with me."
Everything inside of me went numb and I felt tears at the back of my eyes. The assassin smiled.
"I just hope you'll come back to us so you can see her grow, nice and talented and beautiful. David, I-I love our baby so much already and I ha-haven't even see her face. I don't know how I'm gonna stand doing this alone because I need you here with me. I miss you so much, baby I love you." She was crying and I felt tears falling down my face. She brought her hand up to her mouth before continuing. "One day though, I'll see you again and I can kiss you and love you and feel you again. I just want you here, home with me." She cried a little bit longer and then she forced herself to stop.
"I'll never stop loving you, never for the rest of my life. I-I need to go now, there’s something going on now but I’ll be back to tell you, to talk to you again. I love you so much.” My vision blurred and I watched the video end there. As soon as the screen went black, my shoulders hunched and I began full out sobbing. The space where my heart was supposed to be was gone and I didn’t know how I was supposed to get it back.
The assassin moved my chin up slightly and tsked. “Vut happened to the strong little soldier?” I tried to catch my breath but found it unbelievably impossible. My voice was shaking as I spoke, my brain a soft mush.
“Where is she? What have you done with her?”
“Are you sure you vant to find out? I don’t think your little heart can take this much heartache?” She was teasing me.
“Tell me what you’ve done with her. Where is she?” She snapped her fingers and the guards replaced the first video with a second, slipping it into the machine. A few noises went off before the video went black and then I saw her face. Her eyes were streamed with the tears and she was sniffling uncontrollably. The shot of her was more clearer and the shot was also bigger, so now I could also see her enormous belly. The date showed July 16 2020. 2:00 a.m.
“I don’t know how much time I have left to say good bye.” She began crying harder, her entire frame shaking. “They found us David. You remember Ryan? Hunh..he was working for them all this time. He wuh-was sending the Devas all of our plans and now he’s gone. They’re gonna come f-for us and I'm so scared. I don’t understand what went wrong but they’ll be here for us allll.” She covered her face and she blew her nose.
“We’re leaving for good and I don’t where we’re going. I can’t eve-en say where we’re going because I can’t let them f-find us. This is it-t then. I uh don’t kn-know what i’m gonna do without you b-but I have to say good bye. We don’t have a lot of time to get away because they’re already in the country.”
“They’re gonna try and take her away. From you, from me. I pray to god the He’ll let us be together but I don’t know if we’re gonna ma-make it.”
“Ryan cut the tanks and we’ve only got half a tank filled up so we won’t be able to go far for long. Some people are going to stay behind but...David, I don’t know w-what to do! I don’t care about anyone anymore, I only want you! Why did you have to be a hero? Why did you have to leave me? Why can’t I say your alive right now? I....I don’t know what I’m even doing anymore. I just, I can’t make these videos anymore for you like I planned. I...I have said this so many times but I love you so much. Just come back to me before this is all over. I need to kiss you just one more time before its all over. Thats all I ask. I love you.” The video ended.
Sacha’s POV
There is absolutely no feeling to describe what I am seeing. Horror? Despair? Shock? Fear? Pain? Much more than all of those combined together. I couldn’t see David’s face but I could only imagine what he could be feeling. Sean had looked pretty much confused during the entire thing, but until he saw the second video, he started to understand.
David’s wife Izzy. I finally got to see her. I have to say, she was unbelievably beautiful, even when she was crying. Whenever she would cry, even just a little, I would hear David either whimper or freak out completely by crying.
My mind was buzzing with madness and I wanted to pull him away from the screen. The lady eventually turned away from the screen and left the room, bringing a key with her.
She returned with a boy, no older than Sean but near David’s age. He smiled, when he saw David’s hunching figure, and he was ready to move towards him, but the lady stopped him. She whispered something in his ear, he nodded and followed a guard into a room connecting with this one. He came back shortly, and I noticed he was holding something in his hand. The video went black and I could here David’s cries completely now. More than anything, I wanted to leave, go to sleep, and wake up and think that this was just a very bad dream.
David’s POV
Someone grabbed my hair and yanked my head back painfully. I kept my eyes closed, not trusting anyone or anything around me. Instead, I felt her cold lips against my ear, her venom voice whispering softly, “Had enough?”
I nodded.
“Are you ready to tell me vut I vant to know?”
I hesitated. Her hand slapped my face and my cheek began to burn despite the cold tears falling down my cheeks.
“I do not tolerate the veak my dear, but you are making this much to easy. If you tell me a few things that I want to know, and that’s all, then I vill happily tell you vhere Isabel and your child...are.” Her voice made me want to throw up, I felt so sick but despite everything and everyone I trusted, I nodded. I heard a gasp far behind me and I remembered that Sacha was still hear. Watching me hep the enemy. Seeing me at my weakest.
“Did your father ever find the Gehna Files?”
“I-I don’t really know. I remember he said something about finding some file thing from you guys but I was never sure what.” Now, tell me about Izzy! Please!
“Did he ever talk about any battle plans or travel routes?”
“He never wanted me around when everyone talked about the war. The travel routes...ugh, well we were always told where we were going as soon as we left but I don’t know where they were going to go after.” My crying had finally stopped but I felt more weak than ever and more importantly, tired.
“Did he ever train you and a few others?”
“He put me in his self-defense class but I can hardly remember what we did. He usually put adults in the battle class but a couple of teenagers were allowed to take it.”
“Vut veapons did you have?” Something inside of me snapped. I was helping the enemy. What would my dad think? Being a man doesn’t mean fighting. Being a man means doing what's best for your loved ones. That's what dad told me to do. I’m trying to find Izzy and I need her to be safe but am I really protecting Sacha by letting her hear all this? Do what's best for your loved ones. I can’t decide. Should I tell her the truth. No, I can’t....maybe.
“He had all this stuff here and I think a little bit more.” I’m a horrible person. I’m a traitor. My dad must hate me right now.
“Can you tell me where my wife is? Please, let me see them!” She looked at me for a second, trying to see through my mask. A familiar voice spoke behind me.
“David, how fucking stupid can you be?” I turned. Ryan King was standing right behind me, his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. He was wearing a dark leather uniform and had no tracking device around his neck like I did. He had betrayed us and now he was one of them. I tried to get up but the cuffs were holding me down and for some unknown reason, the assassin undid my cuffs. I stood up and faced Ryan, showing him my best glare.
“You little asspunk. How could you betray us all like that? You fucking traitor! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT!” My voice shocked me slightly, since it had gone raw from crying so much.
Sacha’s POV
I watched the lady walk over to where we were sitting and she leaned against the wall. I saw how angry David looked and he looked like he was about to kick Ryan’s ass. Why would the lady just let him go like that? Wait...is that what they want? Do...do they want David to fight? God please don’t let him fight.
David’s POV
“She’s dead, you idiot. Are you that stupid?” Everything burned inside of me. I grabbed the chair and threw it in his direction. He caught the chair before it did any real damage. But it knocked him over. That was all I needed. I ran and leaped on top of him, pushing the chair off of him. I wrapped my fingers around his neck and began pounding his head up and down on the floor as hard as I could. I could hear screaming in the background but very slowly, everything disappeared. There was only fury.
“YOU BASTARD! DON’T YOU EVER SAY THAT! I’M GONNA FUCK YOU UP SO BADLY YOU’LL WISH YOU WERE DEAD! SHE’S NOT DEAD YOU HEAR ME? SHE’S FUCKING ALIVE YOU TRAITOR! YOU REALLY EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE YOU? YOU STUPID PIECE OF BULLSHIT! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOUR GUTS! YOU MAKE ME FUCKING SICK YOU ASSHOLE!” I saw blood coming from the back of his head.
I let go of his neck and I punched him and I screamed over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.......................................................................................
............I felt myself being lifted off of him and I screamed again. My eyes opened. I could see Sacha, her mouth moving but I couldn’t hear her, tears streaming down her face. Her brother was looking at her and then at me.
And the assassin was just smiling.
The guards held me until I calmed down. I was panting and shaking and my hands were covered in blood. I shook with fear, pain, and then I cried. The guards let me go and I fell on the ground, sobbing and banging on the floor.
“So you vanted to know vut happened to Izzy? Vell, now you know.” I looked up slightly, not able to see her as clearly because my eyesight was gone.
“You killed her?”
“She vas dying anyway. Ve ran some tests and found out that as soon as the baby vould be born, that vould kill her, and since she vas an escapee, she was put to death.” B-but they could've saved her!
“NOOO!!!!!” I tried standing up but that cold weary feeling kept pulling me down. I couldn’t breathe right, I was panicking so much.
“W-what did you do to my baby?” I heard the woman laugh at me.
“She just got out of the hospital. Born a premature baby but she’s now perfectly healthy.”
“I wa-wanna see h-h-her.”
“Sorry, but she’s property of the emperor now. Both parents are, vell vere eighteen and now, you’ll love this, she’s being sent straight to the emperor. He just becomes busier and busier and he needs more servants. She von't ever know about you. She’ll make a fine part of his new lifestyle.” Everything was gone from me and I let myself surrender to the darkness, still unable to shake the numb and cold away. Izzy is dead, Izzy is dead, the love of my life is gone forever and I never got give her that last kiss she desired and wanted and needed from me so bad.