Chapter 7: Warm Welcome

Alexis finds that he has allies in his new prison.

After fifteen minutes, the lead guard entered the room again, but this time, the doctor stood by her. They looked at the winged nonhuman, whispered something to one another, and then stepped towards him, followed closely by the two male guards and the young man from earlier.

“Hello, Alexis,” the doctor said solemnly as she stood off to the side. “We will need to perform more tests on you, but first, Officer Gomez will show you to your quarters. I think it would be best to allow you some rest and a chance to regain your strength before we go any further.” She stepped aside and allowed the guard"presumably Officer Gomez"to pass her and pull out Alexis’s seat. “I do hope you don’t cause any more problems, as I would hate for you to get damaged.”

“Come on,” Officer Gomez said as she undid the belts around Alexis’s wrists. The other two guards hovered just behind her, prepared for any further resistance. 

Alexis’s eyes met the woman’s as she wrapped a strong hand under one of his arms and pulled him up from the seat. She told him to follow her, gave him a warning regarding any misbehavior, and walked away from him, towards the door. Looking around and yet seeing no other options but to do as they told him, Alexis sighed and went in step behind the officer. The two male guards edged to either of his sides, and the doctor and assistant came behind them.

They passed through a half dozen doors and walked across even more hallways, and during their short journey, other, uniformed people passed the procession by. The only lights came from fluorescent bulbs in the ceiling, as windows seemed to not exist in the place. The unnatural lighting made Alexis uncomfortable, and his arms crossed and head stay low as he and his captors took him deeper inside the facility.

When the officer stopped, Alexis nearly ran into her, as he’d focused solely on her feet and little else. The uniformity of the building had inspired little hope of finding an exit, as its maze-like construction and carbon-copy doors and hallways left little to the imagination. 

“This is your room,” said Officer Gomez as she used a card key to open the door directly in front of her. “You have an hour to get settled, then you’re required to follow the same schedule as the others.”

“There’s an introductory package in your bed, as well as a second uniform,” the doctor said, looking at a clipboard attached to the side of the door as the officer opened it and stepped inside. “I will send for you later today for your first tests, so rest up and eat.”

The doctor and her assistant left the group just as one of the male guards pushed Alexis inside the room.

When Alexis tiredly looked around the room, his eyes widened and mouth gaped as a familiar face watched him from a small, metal-framed bed. The eyes instantly looked away from him, however, and Jasper turned around to face the wall on his cot.

“Jasmine Williams; Alexis Pecora; you two should know each other.” Officer Gomez stepped away from Alexis after he’d cleared the doorway, and she turned away from the two and exited the room with her companions.

At the name, Jasper flinched but continued to face the wall and said nothing. Alexis, on the other hand, rounded and glared at the woman, who paid no mind as she shut the door. The lock set into place, and the room went silent as the winged nonhuman turned to look at his friend.

“That’s not the worst they do,” Jasper said in almost a whisper; his voice unusually hollow.

“I’m sorry,” Alexis said, moving a hand towards Jasper’s shoulder but pulling it back slowly. He sighed and looked around the room again once before stopping in front of his cot to stare at the papers and uniform.

“Funny,” Jasper turned his head halfway to glance over his shoulder, “that’s what I was gonna say.”

Alexis turned his head and smiled sadly.

“You don’t need to apologize for that,” he said sincerely.

“No, I totally do, you don’t understand. I ratted you out. Those guys… they shouldn’t even have known about you. I…I broke so easy as soon as I saw Dante in there,” Jasper pulled his large, bird feet in close to his body and held his lightly-feathered arms around them. “Now he’s gone somewhere else, and…it’s… it’s so messed up, Alexis. I’ve heard so many stories, and even being in here a day has driven me nuts.  So much routine and so much hate. It’s not like I didn’t get enough of that when everyone thought I was human.”

Jasper buried his face in his hands and shuddered. Alexis stood off to the side and watched him, processing everything he said. 

“It’s okay,” he said, stepping over to his friend’s cot and sitting down beside him. “We’ll get through this…we’ll get out.”

“Shh,” Jasper hissed, pulling away from the fetal position he’d assumed and putting his palms up towards Alexis’s face. “We don’t talk about that stuff here, Alexis. This isn’t just some humane holding facility like they say it is on the news. This is a f*****g prison, and if you even make word of leaving, they will lock you up for good… or in the case of some of us… much, much worse.”

Jasper turned around to face the wall again and put his head in his hands, shaking it. The two sat quietly for a few minutes, and Alexis stared at his feet for a while, then broke the silence.

“What happened, Jasper? How did they find you? Where’s Aisling?” he asked slowly, the spirit in his voice low as he considered he may not want to know the answers.

The harpy tilted his head slightly in Alexis’s direction. His yellow eyes looked somber as they stared blankly at the pillow on his cot.

“We…we were gonna meet like we’d planned. I went to Aisling’s apartment, but I had to stop by my house first. I’d forgotten my papers, like an idiot. I… I guess they’d been watching ever since Dante got taken…” Jasper blinked hard. “Stupid mistake.”

Alexis’s hand touched Jasper’s back and his brows creased. “It’s okay. Can’t blame you… we can’t go anywhere legally without our IDs"fake as they may be. You didn’t know"”

“No!” Jasper shouted, shaking the hand off. “Aisling blames me…I… blame me.” His face flushed, and his eyes watered as his lips tightened. “You should blame me, too.” 

Jasper crossed his arms and held himself tightly. He’d almost turned into a different person overnight, and Alexis had no idea how to stop that transformation. 

“They followed me"such an idiot"to Aisling’s place. They were all around us before we even noticed we’d been surrounded… before we could escape.” Jasper’s grip on his arms tightened. “I can’t run with these feet, so they had me in a second. Aisling tried to get out by transforming, but they had an easy time catching her, either way, once they brought out some weird dart guns. She was down like that.”

“Yeah, I know that feeling.” Alexis rubbed his neck where one of the agents had hit him with that same paralytic and frowned. “Where is she now?”

“Dunno, but I guess they put her in the lady’s wing. They tried putting her over here"and me over there"but she wouldn’t let them without a fight,” Jasper loosened his grip on his arms and smiled a bit. “When that general guy who’s in charge of this place came in, he told the goons trying to put us in the wrong place to sort us right and not make any extra trouble out of it. He said he didn’t want to deal with more problems than he had to.”

Alexis rose a brow and cocked his head to the side. Jasper saw this and let out a small laugh.

“Yeah, my thoughts, too. He’s just as big an a*****e as most of the humans in here, but I guess if he’s not gonna force us to go where we shouldn’t, then he’s not all bad.”

Author's Note

Pacing is my enemy; happy for tips with it!