The Five Horsemen Book 1: Death Warmed Over

Chapter 2

Yes, yes, yes, yes! I was so happy! This gift basket and the one next to it had some things I was most excited about. The one I reached for first had snacks and treats and food in it. The one next to it has toiletries and the like. Body wash, shampoo and conditioner, a face rag with a body loofa in there too. Along with a toothbrush and paste, thank Goddess for that, and some cocoa butter lotion. I think I see some hair oils too! Yay! I'm smiling like a loon and I am pulling the food basket closer and start to dig in. I rip open a zip-lock bag of brownies that look home-made and start to, for lack of a better term and manners, stuff my face like pig. I don't care. My teeth feel weird but I don't want to pay attention to them right now because, food. Then I see them. I freeze. Cake pops. In the confetti and champagne flavors that I love most of all. I drop the brownies, swallow what's in my mouth and rip open the bag for the pops and place a whole one in my mouth in one go.

"You might want to slow down a little, no need to get a stomach ache or even get sick from eating too much, too fast." I turn my head to Doctor Stephens who is watching me with a look of amusement and horror, most likely from my eating habits at the current moment.

"There are 5 things in this life that no one f***s with me on. Kids, animals, family, food and money. f**k with those and that person will regret it. To their dying breath. Don't. f**k. With. My. Food. Now, where are my sibl-" I state, then stop and listen to the squealing and giggles of several people running down the hall. I know those laughs, it's my family. I smile, "Never mind, here they come." I am beaming when they all come crashing into my room. My smile falls. They look different, they don't look how they used to and it scares me. Do I look different too? I start to panick, I didn't expect this to happen. I didn't know my deal with the God of the Dead would have outward, physical changes. But I couldn't think of that right now. I notice them staring at me, not in anger or disgust. But in awe, shock and happiness. "What?" I ask, self-conciously. Feeling a bit worried that I don't look good with the new look I'm apparently sporting.

"Wow, we haven't been allowed to come see you because you've been in a coma for a week longer than us and they have you behind a reinforced door in a hallway that leads nowhere. Literally, we looked in the other rooms. All empty of everything. Basically it's a decoy wing to try and keep you contained." Artemis explains, "Your hair is white. Like an old lady. And your eyes are...."

"What?! What color are my eyes?!" I ask in a panic. Momentarily pushing aside what she said about the corridor outside my room. My eyes start to dart around the room looking for a mirror.

"They're, like, 2 different colors." Zephirah says with so much non-chalant it made me stop panicking. "Your left eye is a really dark purple, like an eggplant, and the right is such a light purple it's almost a silver-y color. Kinda like those neon demon contacts you can get online." My jaw drops open. "Oh. And apparently you have these cute little fangs on your upper canines. Though they look like they could still do some damage." My fingers go to my mouth as I start to feel my teeth to see what she is talking about. Huh, that's why my teeth felt funny while I was eating. Explains a lot. Also explains why I no longer needed my glasses to see. I was legally blind without them or contacts my vision is so bad. Or was, in this case.

"Anything else I should know about?" I ask hesitently. I must have a cringy look on my face because they start to giggle again. Except Void. He has just been staring at me this whole time. I blank my face and look directly at him. "What's wrong?' The girls stop giggling. They look bewtween the 2 of us and then look anywhere but at us.

"Yeah," Void says without any emotion, "We aren't allowed to leave, even when they 'discharge' us. Apparently we are in a military hospital and are being detained while being treated from the crash." Oh. f**k. No. Void was in the Army and they f****d him over good for a long while, both while he was active, and after he was discharged while trying to seek help from the VA for both his benefits and PTSD treatments. I turn my head and look at the doctor that has remained still and silent to the side during this whole exchange.

"What do you know? And don't even think of lying, evading, or omitting anything. What is going on? We were no where near a military base when we crashed and only my brother has been in the military but is no longer so I can not fathom why we would be here. Other than being held against our will for something not even legal. So which is it? Is the military holding us, US citizens, against our will illegally, or did we crash into a black site military base and that's why we are here?" I ask coldly, while looking him in the eyes. He looks back with a blank expresson. Says nothing.

Artemis speaks in my mind, "He's trying to figure out a way to tell you something without giving any secrets away and also not get into trouble with the General that gave the orders to keep us here. They want to run more tests on us. They want to see if they can use us. We were seen that night. What I've gathered so far is that a sergeant off duty found us. Saw that we were dead and then saw us come back to life after a flash of light put us back together, since some of us had been in a few pieces." My eyes wanted to go wide and stare at her but If what she said was true then I didn't want to give her or any of us away. They already knew we were different, and most likely figured out we weren't human, at least not anymore. No need to make our stay here even more unpleasant. "He recorded it all on his phone. From the time he got out of his car up until the raid team came and got us with medical help. What do you want us to do?"

I gaze at my siblings, all but Void looking worried. He just looks empty, like he is a shell of the vibrant and fun guy I know he struggled to find after his stint in the Army. My eyes shift back to the doctor, a flash of something gone too quick for me to catch in his eyes before he goes back to a blank face and empty eyes. The nice and protective doctor gone, and in his place stood someone who would do what he was told by the big bosses. Whoever they were.

"He suspects we can communicate without speaking. He watched the videos. Oh, gross, oh f**k. We really need to get out of here Hemy! There's a team getting ready to sedate us and we will be experimented on like lab rats! Oh, Goddess." Her face pales as she stares at the doctor. "He wants to know how much we can withstand in terms of regenerating limbs... with no anesthesia. After they're done with us they want to start a breeding program!" The chaos in my head with all the voices chiming in with 'hell no's' to 'I'd rather die' meant it was an open chanel and not just Artemis and I. Well now, looks like we've overstayed our welcome and everyone involved has over-lived their own welcomes. Time to see what we can do. I smile and it's not a nice smile.