The bed provided to them by the doctor and his surly intern was in a carved-out corner of the lab, devoid of any equipment or workstations. Dust and cobwebs had accrued over the years of neglect, making the dark, abandoned corner rather dreary.


    The duo wasn’t sure if it was the intern or Dr. Lewis himself who crafted the makeshift bed that now rested in this gloomy section of the lab, composed of old chair cushions and spare bits of cloth and coat thrown on the floor, but after showing them to their temporary resting spot the intern had recused himself without another word to the pair. Sinking into the dusty plush of their ramshackle bed, Jake glanced over toward Alice concern burning in his eyes.


    “Sure you’re feeling ok?” He asked again. The relief that the latest Crumbling was less severe was fading. Now concern again bubbled up as he remembered the blood still staining her clothes, the screams escaping her as she lay trapped in the shower. The Crumbling may have been easier to bear, but still, it must have taken its toll.


    “I’m fine…” she replied, her voice tired and almost hollow, “I don’t want to talk about it right now. Please…”


    Jake didn’t respond. In truth, he had more questions, more concerns regarding her health but he wasn’t going to force the issue upon her. He could understand how she felt. All that really drove him to speak was his concern for her, heavy in his chest. His mind, still racing, was otherwise occupied. Left alone now, the two felt their thoughts begin to turn over the events of the day as their guilt settled like sediment throughout their body. No matter how hard they tried their minds wouldn’t let them stop reliving their destructive crash through the city.


    “Do you… do you think we really killed someone?” Alice asked in a whisper, already mentally disregarding the story fed to them by Dr. Lewis. Jake stayed silent, not wanting to face the answer. Closing her eyes tight in response to his silence, her mind forced her thoughts back toward their time spent in the corridor. A whole planet destroyed, condemned to suffering and death at the whims of a monster. Forced to suffer for its amusement…


    “Are we… are we monsters?” She asked in a barely audible whisper. She feared the answer, almost grateful for the continued silence Jake offered in response to her question. She’d have thought him asleep if she couldn’t hear his shaky breaths, feel his quivering across from her buried in the makeshift bed.


    It wasn’t meant to be like this. Just a quick bit of fun. It was an accident. AN ACCIDENT! Yet no matter how hard she screamed this truth in her mind, a larger truth stood out like a beacon in the fog of her consciousness. Destruction and suffering… maybe death. That’s what they’d caused. Accident or not, it didn’t matter. People still suffered… all for their amusement.


    Eyes shut tight, tears leaking to the ancient bit of cloth pulled up close to her chin, she doubted she’d ever manage to fall asleep as these continued thoughts ran rampant in her mind torturing her psyche.


    <hr>


    Neither was sure who woke up first, perhaps they managed to jerk awake simultaneously, but upon awaking they found the restless sleep they’d manage to fall into had done little to calm them. The guilt still gnawed heavy at their psyche, unconfronted and vicious in its internal torture upon the two. Pulling themselves up from the bed they saw Simon sat across the lab, reclined in comfort his feet propped up on one of many metallic worktables around the spacious room.


    “Oh good you’re finally awake? You two''ve been out forever! Was getting bored, I already sorted all your crap. It’s over there by the way…” He said, gesturing sharply with his hand to his right before he said, “Anyway, let’s resume on you two, huh? We need to collect more samples before we send you off.”


    Kicking off from the workstation, his chair slid back a bit as Simon leaned forward and jumped to his feet with a slight grunt before gesturing vaguely toward Jake.


    “Let''s start with you, huh?”


    “What do you mean ‘start with me?’”


    “Need some more blood work from you to start with. I’ll start with you while she digs through your guy’s crap. It’s almost sunup so… if we could get a move on?” Jake looked the intern over, eyes full of suspicion before with a sigh he trudged forward. He wasn’t particularly eager to be separated from Alice, at least not while they were still locked within the lab. But sun-up should be coming soon and it wasn’t like she was going far. Besides, neither of them was in any mood to talk right now.


    “Perfect!” The intern said, ignoring the aura of gloom and suspicion that hung off Jake. Glancing toward Alice, who began to slowly trudge toward where he’d vaguely pointed without any real enthusiasm, a small smirk forced its way across Simon’s face as he forced Jake into the chair he’d been reclined in moments ago. Sliding a rubber tube up his arm, Simon positioned a small closed valve over Jake’s vein before muttering,


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    “You’ll feel a pinch,” Then, without any further warning Jake felt the long needle of the device extend outward and dig itself into his arm. He winced slightly, yet otherwise gave no indication of the pain he felt from the needle. He’d experienced this just a short while ago, so wasn’t surprised this time by the sudden shock of the needle. Still, the overlengthened needle did not rest comfortably within his arm.


    “Should only need two or three vials from you…” Simon said as he snapped an empty collection vial to the closed valve on the tube. As it twisted into place, the valve opened, and crimson red began to flow pooling in the vial.


    “You don’t know how much you need?” Jake asked, a small note of concern clear in his voice.


    “Oh well, depends on how much you bleed really, how well the vials fill. Probably will go with three, just to be safe.” Simon replied, leaning back he gave an exaggerated yawn and glanced toward Alice. She was a ways away from them now, bent over and not paying them any attention. What she was thinking about Simon could guess at, but he didn’t really care. It wasn’t important.


    “Say,” The intern said, leaning back forward towards Jake, “You’re the one who breaches right, falls into new worlds?”


    “Yes?”


    “What about her then?” Simon asked, jerking his head toward Alice.


    “We already explained it to…” Jake began to say before the intern interrupted him.


    “That’s right, that’s right. My bad. You accidentally took her with you right? Must be tough, huh, having to keep lugging her around like that.”


    “I wouldn’t say…”


    “You don’t need to explain!” Simon said, doing his best impression of a friendly smile, “I understand. Must be worrying, not knowing if you’ll find a way to get her back home. How about this…” Simon began, leaning in closer towards Jake to hide the wicked grin forcing itself onto his face.


    “Go on alone, leave her here with us! We’ll be the ones finding a way home for you guys, so it only makes sense if you think about it. You have to keep going, no choice in the matter, but her? Do you really want to keep risking her life? Keep having to deal with her? Not like you asked to have her with you, am I right? Just…” Simon began another point before suddenly he found himself shoved backward. Skidding across the ground a bit from the sudden shove he found Jake glaring at him hatred clear in his gaze.


    “The hell are you talking about?” Jake said voice dropping low into a clear growl, “Leave her here? What sense does that make, leave her somewhere, she’s public enemy number one. I don’t know what you’re playing at but…”


    “Just trying to help!” Simon said, raising his hands in mock surprise at Jake’s outrage. Moving forward again he clicked the current vial locked into the valve free, long since filled, and replaced it with an empty one. Jake’s blood again began to spill.


    “Just thought it might help you both if you didn’t have to worry about her anymore! Thought she might enjoy it here is all! Might enjoy it better than traveling aimlessly, at least.”


    “The last place…” Jake said, voice low escaping more as a growl “Either of us wants to be right now is here. Ask her yourself!” Nothing else followed this, and as soon as the current vial was filled Jake practically ripped the rubber tube free from his arm. A wince of pain escaped him as the needle came free and a trickle of blood escaped leaking down his arm to the ground below. Jake didn’t seem to care, pushing the tube towards Simon he stormed away without another word.


    Simon stood still and silent a moment, before a low sigh escaped him. He knew it would be a long shot, in his heart he hadn’t expected it to work, but still it was disappointing. If he''d been able to convince the first subject to ditch his partner, it would been a piece of cake ensnaring the second. Turning toward Alice, he called her over away from the plastic bin overflowing with their junk and directed her to sit, directed her to wait as he grabbed a new extractor.


    “Sorry, we’ll need a significant amount of blood from you…” He said, voice sounding something akin to apologetic as he forced the rubber tube up her arm and over the veins. The needle stopped just above one of the cracked scars that traced along her body. He marveled internally a moment at her skin, smooth and hardened like ceramic, till he heard her speaking to him.


    “What do you mean? Didn’t you guys do enough of this earlier? I’m getting sick of this crap…” He could hear the annoyance in her voice, here her slowly getting more and more frustrated.


    “Please calm down…” Simon said with some urgency, glancing over toward Jake out of the corner of his eye. To Simon’s great relief, the other test subject seemed distracted, lost in thought as he paced in small circles annoyance and distress carved on his face.


    “Unfortunately, your initial batch of blood was damaged while you slept. What we did manage to test revealed some… abnormalities…” Simon lied, not yet having time to study her blood in detail.


    “We’ll need a significant amount to confirm this after you''re gone. Perhaps a small skin biopsy as well… just to be safe of course.”


    He could see her calm down, see some of the annoyance replaced with concern at the mention of possible abnormality in her blood. Good. That would make the collection that much easier. With a smirk, he engaged the collector and watched the needle dig into the scar carved across the girl''s body. She screamed out in pain. A much more violent reaction than the other one gave!


    “Please don’t be alarmed!” Simon called out fast, loud enough he hoped for Jake to hear, “The pain will hopefully pass, the needle must have hit a sore spot. Unfortunately, we must keep going. We’ll need a minimum of say… ten vials from you. Maybe more. Truly I am sorry.”


    All he got from Alice in response was a scream, but he didn’t particularly care. She wasn’t objecting and Jake wasn’t rushing to stop him. Slotting the first vial into place his thoughts fell into calculating just how much blood he could safely draw from the girl. He didn’t want to attract suspicion from Dr. Lewis after all, but he needed a decent amount now he couldn’t keep the source to himself.


    … fifteen. A maximum of fifteen, combined with the original five. That should be enough to start with, he thought to himself as he slotted the next vial into place, Alice still giving out shrieks of pain.