26. Twenty-Six Lakey
Twenty-Six: Lakey
T he memories flooded me as we sped down the deserted highway. Flashes of a swollen belly, aching breasts, tiny kicks from within. Then searing pain, blood-soaked sheets, hands ripping my baby away. My baby girl.
Doctors. So many men in white coats, stained with my blood. A nun. Anne? No, not Anne… someone else. God, why can’t I see her face…
I gripped the steering tighter, knuckles white. Who was the father? I searched the foggy recesses of my mind but came up empty. Fucking blank. My body wasn’t recoiling, it wasn’t reacting. I wasn’t raped… something else. It’s right there, why can’t I reach it?
"You okay, doll?" Cam's deep voice cut through my headphones, interrupting my spiraling thoughts.
I grimaced underneath my helmet. "Oh, I’m great. Thinking about all the fun we're gonna have."
He slowed to match my bike’s pace and turned his head. "That's my girl."
The dilapidated orphanage loomed before us, a decrepit monstrosity of crumbling brick and shattered windows. As I killed the engine, a chill ran down my spine. This place... I knew it somehow.
We approached the building, gravel crunching under our boots. The stench of decay and mildew made me wrinkle my nose in disgust. A rusted sign creaked in the wind: "St. Mary's Orphanage." God, why are all these places named so pretentiously? Who the fuck were all these saints, because so far, I’ve not met a single one.
My gaze was drawn to the cracked concrete steps. For a split second, I saw a little girl with pigtails sitting there, knees pulled to her chest. She looked up at me with familiar blue eyes. My eyes.
What the fuck? I shook my head, trying to dislodge the unsettling image.
Cam's large hand enveloped mine, squeezing gently. "Ready, babe?"
I grinned up at him, pushing away the gnawing unease. "You know it, handsome. Let's go find some answers."
As we ascended the steps, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was walking into my own personal nightmare. That somehow this place was my origin story. Why couldn’t I access the memories? Why was so much of my life just a large black hole?
Sure, the ‘experts’ say childhood trauma causes you to black out memories, but… considering I hardly had a soul, why would mine be empty? It was as if I didn’t exist before I got thrust into foster homes.
We stepped into the orphanage, the floorboards groaning beneath our weight. The air inside was thick and musty making me sneeze. Cam chuckled and said, “bless you” and I rolled my eyes at him. Yeah. Bless me indeed. My eyes darted around, taking in every detail of the dimly lit interior. Fuck, why did this place feel so goddamn familiar?
Cam's voice was low and husky, "Basement?"
I nodded, my throat suddenly dry. "Yeah. That's where the real fun always happens."
As we moved down the hallway, more flashes played across my field of vision. Children's laughter echoing off peeling walls. The acrid smell of bleach. A nun's stern face looming over me. I stumbled, my heart racing. Shaking my head, I forced myself to calm. I’d definitely been here before, but when? How?
Cam steadied me, concern flickering in his dark eyes. "You okay, baby?"
I forced a smile. "Mhmm. Let's keep moving."
We found the spiral staircase leading to the basement. With each step down, my sense of dread grew. There were so many things that could be waiting for us down there. Seeing more torture rooms, or jars with body parts might send me into a tailspin, but this was what I signed up for when I said yes, so I had to grow a pair and deal.
At the bottom, a heavy wooden door stood slightly ajar. I pushed it open, the hinges shrieking in protest. The smell hit me first — blood and fear and pain.
"Holy shit," I whispered, taking in the scene before us.
The room was a nightmare come to life. Rusty chains hung from the ceiling. Stained surgical tools were scattered across a filthy metal table. And there, in the corner, a woman was tied to a chair, her head lolling to one side.
For a moment, I froze. This felt familiar. The white of her gown, to the positioning of the chair in the room, the way she was tied. I knew this. I knew what they were going to do to her.
"Lakey," Cam's voice cut through my panic. "What do you want to do?"
I took a deep breath, steeling myself. "We untie her. Now."
As I moved towards the woman, the thoughts kept bombarding me. She must be important to be here. Especially since it looks like this place was practically abandoned. Why do I feel like I am looking at a twisted reflection of myself?
I watched as Cam cut the ties to her hands, effortlessly lifting the unconscious woman, and cradling her against his broad chest. His face was a mask of calm efficiency, but I knew him well enough to see the tension in his jaw, the slight narrowing of his eyes.
"I'll get her to safety," he said, his voice low and controlled. "You keep searching. Be careful, baby."
I nodded, swallowing hard. "Always am, aren't I?"
He flashed me that crooked grin I loved so much, then disappeared up the stairs with his burden.
Left alone, I felt the weight of the deeds done here pressing down on me. My skin crawled with memories I couldn't quite grasp, like wisps of smoke slipping through my fingers.
"Fucking nightmare of a place. Okay, let’s get this show on the road," I muttered to myself, gripping my knife tighter.
I moved deeper into the basement, my footsteps echoing in the eerie silence. Each door I passed sent a chill down my spine. What horrors lay behind them? What answers? I never opened them to find out, opting to look in through the window in the top half of the door. These were observation windows, and each one held a different type of room set up. One was empty, with a bloodied pillow in the corner. One had blocks, kid’s toys. It was painted warmly, almost welcoming. The next made my stomach turn. Old, dried blood splattered across the walls, a shattered plate, smears that looked like a body had been dragged around.
Fucking hell.
As I turned a corner, something tugged at me. Not physically, but... a feeling. A pull. Like a string tied around my heart, leading me forward.
"What the fuck is going on?" I whispered, my voice trembling slightly.
But I kept moving, driven by a need I couldn't explain. The corridors seemed to stretch endlessly, a labyrinth of shadows and secrets.
We needed to find out who the fuck was doing this. To put an end to all of it, because as much as my heart sang when I drove my knife through someone, this was too much. Too far. It seemed no one else gave a fuck, so it all rested on us… we needed answers. We needed to know why it felt so goddamn familiar.
I paused, leaning against a wall, trying to catch my breath. The weight of it all — the missing memories, the tortured woman, the inexplicable pull — threatened to overwhelm me.
But then I thought of Cam. Of his strength, his unwavering loyalty. And I straightened up, gripping my knife tighter. He’d be down here kicking down doors and figuring it out. I needed to put my big girl panties on and just fucking figure my shit out.
Around the next corner, my heart stopped. A room. The memory slammed into me, causing me to take a step back. No, no, no. I don’t want to know. I don’t want to remember. Please, make it stop. God, please. Make it stop.
But I couldn’t. My feet led me further inside, forcing me to look. Forcing me to see what had been walled out for so long. Giving me answers I didn’t need. Didn’t want. Not anymore. Not now.
I blinked back tears, taking in every detail. The familiar smell of antiseptic and someone’s cologne thrust me further into the flashback. A table in the middle of the room held toys - ones I remembered playing with as a little girl. And there she was...
My breath caught in my throat as I saw her: a four-year-old version of myself, sitting at that same table, surrounded by doctors with clipboards and cameras. They watched me intently as I recited a creed from heart while drawing a picture of death. It felt surreal, like stepping into a nightmare within a nightmare.
I am born from the unseen,A vessel of purpose, a shadow among the light.I belong to the Order, the chosen few,And my will is not my own, but the will of Chimera.
I am a thread in the web,Invisible to the eye, indispensable to the whole.I stand in service, I act in silence,For I am the Hand that shapes the future.
I speak not of doubt, nor of weakness,For the path of the lost is the path of oblivion.To question is to fall; to falter is to fail.I do not stray; I do not hesitate.
My heart beats for the cause,My blood is the blood of Chimera.Every breath I take is for the Order,Every thought I have belongs to them.
Those who wander will return,For no other path is true.Chimera is the light,And those who stray from its glow will be swallowed by darkness.I shall lead them back, for I am the way.
My soul is bound to Chimera,Its mission is my mission,Its silence is my voice,Its truth is my truth.
I am not lost, for I belong,And those who stray, I shall find.The Order is eternal,And I shall never stray again.
I stumbled over something as I tried to escape, the words pinging around in my brain, causing a loud ringing to break out inside my head. Looking down, it was the head of a stuffed rabbit. One the little girl had on the table right now. I could see, as if I was an outsider, hear, as if I was an observer. But the truth was slamming into my chest, forcing me to relive this moment as if it was a movie.
"Lakey?" The girl's voice startled me. "Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be doing something else?" She tilted her head curiously, those big blue eyes wide with wonder and fear. “Father Christopher will be so angry with you. Oh, Lakey, they had such big plans for you.”
Her question hung in the air between us, suspended by invisible threads. I couldn't answer her; I couldn't even process what was happening. Suddenly, everything rushed back to me in a torrent of images: My time at the fucking nunnery, this orphanage, the pregnancy, the foster homes who would bring me here for ‘reprogramming’.
Cam. Oh God, was he part of this too?
Suddenly, I was the one falling to my knees on that cold concrete floor, screaming into my hands until there were no more tears left to shed.
"It shouldn't have been like this," I whispered brokenly through sobs that racked my body. "I was never supposed to remember any of this."
But you did, you asked to remember... and now you'll pay for the gift of knowledge. Her voice echoed in my ear as her mouth opened in a piercing scream. It’s not too late to come home… find Chimera. Come home. She’s waiting for you. Come home. The Order is eternal, and I shall never stray again.
I sensed him before he spoke. Cam approached me from behind, wrapping an arm around my waist as he sat down, pulling me into his lap, soothing my hair with his hand. “Lakey... You alright?” His voice was soft, comforting. I didn’t answer, unable to tear my eyes away from the image of myself as a child.
We sat there in silence for what felt like hours, Cam just allowing me to come back to myself. To find the piece of my soul that had broken off from the rest. The stillness was broken only by the heavy breathing that took me a minute to realize was mine. Looking down at the table, I saw the picture I’d drawn, covered in dust and grime. Me, killing another little girl. Cam took it from me, rubbing my shoulder as he shoved it in his backpack. Underneath it was a photo. I swallowed hard, forcing myself to look at it. A memory flashed — holding hands with a nun… Sister Agatha, was her name, outside these very walls — and anger bubbled up inside me.
But it wasn't just anger; it was a deep, visceral rage fueled by the pain and loss of my child. Of me. My hand tightened around the knife strapped to my thigh, steadying my trembling fingers.
Quietly, Cam picked me up and put me on my feet, leading me out of the room and into another hallway lined with empty cells where we found something else entirely: a black monitor. Cam hit the power button, and it choked to life, a grainy picture coming into focus. The footage showed a lab beyond description — experiments gone wrong all over the walls, while people were hooked up haphazardly to machines meant to keep them alive longer than they should have been. Doctors walked around, cutting into them, pouring liquid into their injuries, eyes or mouth. Tutting as they studied their reactions under different circumstances... more anger filled my veins as I recognized Chimera's symbol scrawled across test tubes on a table, one doctor holding a tube in his hands with a smile.
"Let's go find whatever information this place has left," I spat out between clenched teeth, already heading towards yet another open door leading further down into madness. Cam smiled darkly at my side before following suit without question or hesitation—our shared hatred for Chimera feeding each other's determination.
“Should we try this one?” He asked, bowing low as a hysterical giggle bubbled up in my chest.
“Yes, yes, lead the way! It’s like coming home.”
“Babe, you go do that, there’s something I need to see down here. I dunno, feels like I need to check it out. It’s like… pulling me over there. I don’t want to leave you though, so are you okay to check this one out? I’ll be right there if you need me.”
I understood that feeling having just been through it, so I just nodded and turned back to the room, leaving Cam to do what he needed. He’d come running if I screamed.
The smell hit me first – bleach and something coppery. Blood. My nose wrinkled as I pushed open the heavy metal door, revealing a surprisingly pristine lab. Stainless steel gleamed under harsh fluorescent lights, a stark contrast to the decrepit hallways I'd just navigated.
Much to my surprise there was a man — a man in a white coat, hunched over a microscope. My breath caught in my throat. This is it.
He must've heard the door, because he spun around, eyes wide with panic. "Who—" he started, but I was already moving.
He bolted for another exit, but I was faster. My knife found his leg with practiced ease, and he went down with a shriek.
"Fuck!" he gasped, clutching at the wound. "What do you want?"
I crouched beside him, rage blurring my vision. "Oh, honey. I want for one of you fucking assholes to give me some Goddamn answers for once!"
His eyes darted around, searching for an escape. I pressed the tip of my blade against his throat, just hard enough to draw a bead of blood.
"Let's start simple," I cooed. "What the fuck are you doing to young women down here?"
He swallowed hard. "It's... it's a reproductive program. Highly classified."
I tilted my head, feeling a cold rage building inside me. "Reproductive program? That's a fancy way of saying you're torturing girls."
His eyes widened in recognition. "Wait... Patient X? Lakey?"
What? What the fuck. How did he know me?
"What did you just call me?" I hissed, pressing the knife harder.
"You're Patient X," he stammered. "But you shouldn't be here. How did you—"
I cut him off, grabbing his coat and yanking him close. "Tell me everything. Now."
But he clamped his mouth shut, his hands trembling as his eyes welled with tears.
My mind raced. Patient X? What the fuck did that mean? Searching my mind, nothing came up. I’d filled in a blank, but so many more remained.
"Listen, asshole," I growled, my facade of sweetness cracking. "You're going to tell me exactly what's going on here or I swear to God, I'll carve the answers out of you piece by fucking piece."
The doctor whimpered, but still said nothing.
I felt myself slipping, the rage and desperation threatening to consume me. I needed answers. I needed to understand why this place felt so familiar, why my memories were so fragmented. Why the fuck they had me in that room, drawing pictures and memorizing some fucked up poem.
"Please," I whispered, surprising myself with the vulnerability in my voice. "I need to know."
The doctor's eyes darted around wildly, like a cornered animal. "The Vessel," he blurted out suddenly. "She's the key to everything."
My heart stopped. "What vessel?"
"The little girl," he babbled, words spilling out in a rush. "She'll change everything. She's special, unique. The culmination of years of work."
A jolt of recognition shot through me. My daughter. He had to be talking about my daughter. The anger I'd been barely containing erupted like a volcano.
"Where is she?" I snarled, pressing my face close to his. "What have you done with her?"
Before he could answer, heavy footsteps approached. Cam's imposing figure filled the doorway, his dark eyes taking in the scene.
"I remember you… you fuck! We should take him with us," Cam said, his voice low and menacing. "Get more information."
I shook my head, not taking my eyes off the doctor. "No. We finish this here."
The doctor's gaze shifted to Cam, and his expression changed to one of awe. "Patient Y?" he breathed. "My God, look how you've grown. So intimidating, so... detached. Just as we hoped." He clapped, “And the two of you together? Magnificent.”
Cam's brow furrowed in confusion. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
The doctor let out a wheezing laugh. "Oh, there are more questions than answers, my boy. But the only question you need to ask is the one you haven't figured out yet. The one you already know the answer to."
I felt sick. What did he mean? What had they done to Cam? To me? To our daughter?
Cam's jaw clenched, his eyes hardening. "Stop speaking in circles, you piece of shit. Tell us what we want to know."
But the doctor just kept laughing, a manic gleam in his eyes. "You two... you're perfect. Better than we could have ever imagined. The ultimate subjects."
My mind reeled. Subjects. Riddles, puzzles, speaking in circles. I was fucking done with it.
A cold fury washed over me, crystallizing my resolve. Fuck this. Fuck this place. Fuck this doctor. Fuck it all. Hatred burned through me, taking away whatever spark of humanity had started to build in the wake of discovering I had a child.
"Where is she?" I snarled, shaking him viciously. "Where's my baby?"
The doctor's laughter died, replaced by a smug smile. "Safe. Protected. Becoming what she was always meant to be."
I dropped the knife and lunged forward, my hands wrapping around his throat. "Tell me where she is, you bastard!"
His eyes bulged as I squeezed, but that infuriating smile remained. I loosened my grip just enough for him to rasp out, "You'll never find her. The Vessel is beyond your reach now."
Something inside me snapped. My vision went red, and I felt a savage joy surge through me. I reached for the scalpel on the nearby tray, its edge glinting in the harsh fluorescent light. My knife was too beautiful to be stained with the likes of his soul any further. No, my knife was reserved for the deserving.
"Oh, Doc," I cooed, "you have no idea what I'm capable of."
I traced the scalpel along his cheek, drawing a thin line of blood. "Now, let's try this again. Where. Is. My. Daughter?"
The doctor's eyes widened in genuine fear, and I felt a thrill of satisfaction. “You truly are amazing, Lakey. A pure weapon of rage. You were one of my finest projects.”
I dug the blade in deeper, flicking it upward and slicing off a piece of his cheek.
He bit back a scream, “Talking by two, reading by three, doing full blown mathematics. You were… marvelous. It’s a shame you don’t remember. You can come home you know. The key lives inside of you.”
Pulling the knife away, I paused. He was telling me things, things I had no access to. I wanted to know more. Until he followed it up with:
“Chimera will welcome you home, little lamb.”
A scream resounded in the room as I drove the scalpel through his eye.
"Lakey," Cam's voice cut through my rage-fueled haze as he grabbed my hand, preventing me from taking the doctor’s other eye. "We need him alive."
I turned to look at Cam, my grip on the scalpel never wavering. Blood dripped down my hand, splashing on the obnoxiously white tiles. "No, we don't. This stupid fuck won’t tell us anything else."
I didn’t want to know anything else. I was done. I’d track down my daughter, alone if I had to, and the rest will be left to fate. I was through with this little mission. Cam sighed and released my wrist and with a savage grin I swung the blade down, down through his eye, before twisting, forcing it into his brain.
The doctor died a death that was too easy for the pain he inflicted. This asshole no longer held secrets that could destroy me. He was... empty. I stood over his body, probing it with my foot before stomping on his leg for fun, grinning as it snapped under the force. My breath came in slow, measured inhales and exhales. The rage that had consumed me moments ago ebbed away, leaving a cold, detached clarity in its wake.
I wiped the blood onto my pants, admiring what a pretty pink it stained my hands.
As much as I tried to shove it all out of my head, my mind raced, piecing together the fragments of information we'd extracted. The Vessel. My daughter. Patient X and Y. It was all connected, a twisted web of secrets and lies that I was determined to unravel — without the help of the likes of him. No, these animals deserved death, not redemption. Certainly not salvation.
"Well," I said, my voice unnervingly cheerful, "that was certainly informative."
Cam grunted, already rifling through the doctor's files. "You could say that. Though I think we might've gotten more if you hadn't, you know, eviscerated him. Maybe I wanted some answers, Lakes. Did you think of that?"
I shrugged, a small smile playing on my lips. "Details, details. Besides, dead men tell no tales... but their paperwork might."
As Cam stuffed files into his backpack, I turned my attention to the filing cabinets lining the wall. My fingers trailed over the labels, searching. Then, I saw it. Two folders, side by side, marked simply 'X' and 'Y'.
"Bingo," I murmured, snatching them up.
My heart raced as I flipped open the 'X' file. Inside here was everything about me, I hoped it did, in any case. The truth about my past, about the child that had been ripped from my arms.
But as I scanned the pages, it hit me. This wasn't just about me. It was about us . Cam and me. Patient X and Patient Y.
"Cam," I called out, my voice tight. "I think you need to see this."
I watched Cam's expression darken as he skimmed the files. His jaw clenched, a muscle twitching beneath his skin. I'd seen that look before – it was the calm before the storm, the moment just before he unleashed hell.
"Well, isn't this just fucking great," he growled, slamming the folder shut. "Looks like we've been lab rats our whole lives, Lakey. And here I thought our childhood couldn't get any more fucked up."
I laughed, but it was a hollow sound. "At least we're together, right? No matter what they did, we ended up together." I reached out, intertwining my fingers with his. The familiar touch grounded me, even as my world tilted on its axis.
We stood there for a moment, processing. Then, almost in sync, we snapped back into action mode. There'd be time to unpack all this later. Right now, we had a job to finish.
"Let's get our sleeping beauty and blow this hellhole. We can comb through all this shit later.”
Cam nodded, his eyes glinting with that dangerous spark I loved so much. He grabbed a laptop that had been sitting on the desk, stuffing it in the front pocket of his backpack before zipping it shut and affixing it to his chest.
I did one last sweep of the room. My gaze fell on a small teddy bear, tucked away in a corner. It was worn, one eye missing, stuffing poking out of a torn seam. Without really knowing why, I grabbed it, shoving it into my jacket pocket.
We didn’t talk as we went back up the stairs and exited the orphanage. Grabbing the girl off the grass, I helped Cam strap her onto his back using strap downs he had in his tail bag.
"Ready?" Cam asked, adjusting his weight as he started his bike.
I nodded, my mind already racing ahead. "Yeah. Let's go home and see what other skeletons we can drag out of Chimera's closet."
As we made our way out of the driveway, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were walking into something much bigger than we'd anticipated. The answers we'd found only led to more questions, and I had a sinking feeling that uncovering the truth might just destroy us both.
But then again, destruction had always been our forte.