Chapter Thirty

Daniela

“Um, Gary?” Daniela called. “I need your help.”

Gary, who was sitting at his computer, jumped up. 

“What’s going on?” 

His eyes went from Daniela to the man that was leaning on her. She saw them widen when he saw all the blood. 

“Bring him over here.”

 

Daniela did as she was told and placed him on the bed. 

“What happened?” He asked. 

“I went out to that garden place and they were fighting.” Daniela explained, leaning back and wiping the sweat off her face. “He’s not the one that I need help with though.”

The man gave a grunt of disapproval. “I need medical attention!” He said.

“Shut up.” Daniela snapped. “You’re fine.” She turned to Gary. “I couldn’t carry the other one. He’s still in there, unconscious.”

“Gemma!” Gary called. 

A woman poked her head through a curtain. “Yeah?”

“Can you clear this guy up please? I have to go and get a patient.”

Gemma cast a glance look at this other guy, one of his eyes was swollen shut.

“What the hell happened here?”

“The guy was crazy! He put his cigarette out on me.”

He lifted his arm to show a small deep circular burn. Daniela tried not to smile. This guy had been annoying the hell out of her ever since she started dragging him here. 

“Take me to the other one.” Gary said. 

Daniela led the way, practically running through the lobby to get back to Jason. They reached the garden to find him where she had left him, lying on the floor, his head propped up by a rock. Daniela winced again when she saw his face. It was barely recognisable, both eyes swollen shut and his whole face twice the normal size. There was blood everywhere. He wasn’t moving. 

“He passed out just as I got here.” Daniela explained as Gary started checking his vitals.

“What’s his name?” 

“Jason.” Daniela said. “He’s the head barman here.”

“Jason!” Gary called to him. “Can you hear me?”

Jason let out a small grunt and seemed to try and swat Gary away. Gary helped him into a sitting position and tried to lift his head, however as soon as he let go, it lolled back down.

“Jason! I need you to focus okay?” Gary said. “Can you answer me?”

Jason grunted again. 

“That’s good enough for me.” Gary said and wrapped Jason’s arm around his shoulder. “I’m going to need your help Daniela.”

Daniela rushed to Jason’s free side and grabbed his other arm, mirroring Gary’s actions. They both straightened up and Daniela almost fell again under the strain. How the hell was he this heavy? He was so skinny. Gary adjusted his footing so that the majority of Jason’s weight fell onto him and they started to walk. Going through the lobby, people stopped and stared but no one said anything and quickly went back to their own business. When they reached the clinic, they placed him on the bed next to his attacker and Gary immediately shut the curtains. 

“Is he going to be okay?” Daniela asked. 

“He’s in pretty bad shape, but I won’t know more until I’ve done a few tests. Do you want to stay?” 

Daniela shook her head, “I think I’m going to go to my lab. Can you call me when he wakes?”

Gary nodded and Daniela left him to it. She was so knackered but she was also too wired to sleep now. She made her way back to the lab and sat in her favourite chair. She flipped open her lap top and turned it on. It boosted to life straight away and Daniela opened her Stylo 1 software. She linked the lap top to the pod in the centre of the room. Next to it lay a small portion of Danel. Grabbing her hand held device she hooked herself up to the pod and set the machine onto auto-pilot. It worked perfectly, just as she programmed it to. She hit the activate button and everything fell into darkness. 

The darkness lasted for the briefest of seconds however, and soon she saw her lab through the crystallised eyes of Danel. She loved this view. All colours seemed to brighten and become more vibrant. She brushed her hand against the table in front of her. Although she couldn’t exactly feel in the normal convention of the term, she was able to sense that she was touching something. Small electric currents hit her fingertips. It was a weird feeling and definitely the one thing that took the most getting used to when a person first starts using the Danel. But it was easy to overcome once you knew what you were doing. It was all about training the brain to understand that the sensation wasn’t a part of the body but a part of the Danel. 

She looked to her left and saw her body, hooked up to the pod, her eyes glazed and vacant. She took the handheld from her body’s hand and checked to see that her vitals were fine. When she was happy, she went back to her chair. As she sat down this time, she closed her eyes and soaked in the slight high that came with being linked to Danel. It was harder to access emotions when in this state and Daniela welcomed the sudden peace she felt. It was her favourite place to be. She often came home and spent her evenings as a Walker. She found it gave her mind the clarity to be able to process her thoughts. And right now the clarity was beautiful. 

All of her fatigue had disappeared, that belonged her body, not her mind. She opened her eyes and took a walk around her lab, checking in more detail that everything was in it’s place. She was impressed, the only difference she found was that things were a little more organised than usual, but she could get used to that. As she reached her bookshelf again she heard a small beep and a part of the wall slid open to reveal a doorway. That was new. She took a step inside, careful to ensure that she had her hand held with her in case she needed to sever the connection. The door shut behind her and florescent lights flickered on to reveal a large warehouse full of glass prisons. Inside each of these prisons was a person, asleep on a bed. 

What the hell? She thought. She reached the closest prison and saw an entrance panel. It required a handprint to open it. She tentatively placed her silver hand over the panel, convinced that it wouldn’t work given that Danel didn’t have a fingerprint mark. The panel seemed to glow red and Daniela felt the slightest bit of warmth on her hand. That was definitely new. Danel couldn’t ordinarily feel heat, not unless you were out in the sun that Duncan had been. 

Daniela was so shocked by this new sensation, she almost missed the fact that a door had opened. It led to a small airlock within the first glass prison. Without thinking, she walked inside. The door behind her locked and a thin mist filled the airlock. Once it had dissipated another door opened and she walked into the main body of the prison. 

It wasn’t until the second door shut behind her that Daniela realised just how stupid she had just been. What had been the point of doing that? She had no idea who the person was in this prison or why they were locked in there in the first place but she was pretty sure that it was for a good reason. She swore under her breath, it was harder to access reason when she was a Walker, she had to concentrate a lot harder to even factor it in at all. This is something that she usually is very good at, why the hell did she choose right now to forget?

A small beeping noise from the bed brought Daniela’s attention back to the room. She eyed the body suspiciously. It belonged to a man, he must have been in his late 60’s. Keeping her hand held device firmly in her hand as her get out clause should anything get weird, she edged closer to the sleeping man. Once she reached his bed, she noticed that he seemed pale, his skin almost translucent. She saw that he was hooked up to a machine which was the source for the bleeping, indicating that he was still alive. Beside the machine was a table with a series of needles and a box containing several vials. She checked the label of one of them, it was a strong sedative, the type people used for inducing comas. She glanced back at the sleeping man and saw the wires he was hooked up to, keeping him asleep. 

She don’t know what made her do it, it could possibly have been the fact that she was in Danel form and so her inhibitions were not as strong, but before she knew it, she had pulled the drip out of his hand, letting it fall to the floor. She backed away immediately in case he suddenly jumped up at her. She needn’t have bothered however because it was a few minutes before he made any movement. When he did, it started with a twitch of the hand, then a stirring of the head. Finally his eyes opened and the man gingerly lifted his head. 

“Hello?” He croaked. 

Daniela wondered if she should stay where she was, but he didn’t appear to be very dangerous, and even if he was, he wouldn’t be stronger than she was right now. As such, she moved forward. 

“I’m here.” She said quietly.

She moved so that she was in his line of sight.

“Ms Davids?” He said, taking her by surprise. 

“Er...”

He nodded and tears were suddenly at his eyes. 

“So, it’s time then.” He said. “I’m ready.”

“Time?” Daniela asked. “For what?”

“You’ve come to kill me.” He said.

Daniela completely lost her nerve and hit the de-activate button. The room around her disappeared and she woke up back in her lab.