Reunion

Everything came rushing into my mind all at once. I saw where Nightmare and the others came from. Excruciating pain traveled from my head to the rest of my body. Falling to the floor I was unable to move an inch. I could barely even breathe.

~

Anya stood behind the wall watching Z fall to the floor. As their body began to writhe in pain the wall of shadow fell. She ran to their side fearing the worst. Before touching them Anya felt an immense amount of electricity coming from their head. In fear she shouted, "Help! Somebody! I need help!" The only sound to be heard was that of Z grunting from the pain. Anya yelled, "Can anyone hear me?!"

A portal began to form right in front of her. Alexia came through followed by Nurse Ratchet. "No, no, no! Not her! Anyone but her!", Anya demanded. "She's the only one that can help", Alexia replied. Anya stood in the way with arms stretched to keep both of them away from Z. "If you hurt them I'll fry every neuron in your brain", Anya threatened glaring at Nurse Ratchet. "I'm the only one who can help them. Now move I need some room," she said moving to Z's side.

Anya asked, "What's wrong with them?"

"As of right now I don't know. What happened?"

"They were dealing with the mini Nightmares..."

"Mini Nightmares? What the hell are those?"

"It looked like the thing from the pit only smaller and there were two of them. Z merged with the one in our location, they call it Nightmare. When we got here Z was trying to merge with the other ones."

"What happened then?"

"Z froze and fell to the floor."

"From the looks of it Z is in shock, we need to take them back to our location."

"How? Is it safe to touch them?"

"I can carry them, just make sure no one else tries to stop us."

"Alexia go through the portal first, make sure everyone knows we're coming and ask if anyone else can help."

"I am a Registered Nurse. I became one before getting infected, I am the help. Right now their body is spreading the pain to make it bearable. We need to act fast or they'll die."

Anya looked down at Z's shivering body. Having no other choice she agreed to let Nurse Ratchet help. Z wheezed as Nurse Ratchet lifted them off the floor. It made Anya shake with rage. "Go through and I'll follow", she told Nurse Ratchet. Watching them leave Anya turned to still see no one in the halls before entering the portal.

Back on the other side Anya looked around not seeing Z or Nurse Ratchet. All the monitors were still on with 'No Signal' written across the screen. Only Dean was left behind to close the portal. Anya asked, "Where is Z?" Dean said, "I don't know."

Furiously walking down the hall Anya heard voices coming from the Server Room. Opening the door to see Nurse Ratchet, Alexia, and someone else crouching over Z's body. The unknown man said to Nurse Ratchet, "I don't see any damage to their organs." Anya came into the room to see everyone who was trying to help bring back Z. She could see and feel the electricity in their body going haywire. All at once Z stopped moving. "Their heart just stopped", the man said panicked. "Move! I'm going to do CPR", Nurse Ratchet said about to do chest compressions.

Before she could start Anya yelled, "Don't touch them!" Everyone looked up at her, "We all need to leave now. Their body is producing too much electricity. They're about to blow up." All of them saw the truth in her eyes before scrambling to their feet.

Anya being the last one to leave closed the door behind her. The others ran outside while she stayed behind to see what would happen. After a few seconds passed the door was pushed to the other side of the wall. Something that looked like Z's shadow form came out of the threshold. Facing her it said only one word, "Armstrong." Anya couldn't move let alone think at the sight of this thing. When her back hit the wall she pointed to the monitor room. Watching in sheer shock as that thing slithered it's way to the monitor room unable to breathe.

Anya fell to floor trying to catch her breathe when it was out of sight.

~

Taking in a sharp gasp I opened my eyes in a panic. My body moved on its own into a crouching position. Looking around I noticed that I was back in the Server Room. When my eyes finally found what was left of the threshold I went into the entrance to see if anyone was around. Seeing only Anya in the hall I focused solely on her. The look on her face was branded into my brain. Unable to reassure her I meant no harm. I spoke one word, "Armstrong."

She just pointed to the monitor room I gave her as much room as possible while slithering my way there. Entering the room to see no one in sight, all the monitors had 'No Signal' written across the screen. Placing my hand on the screen where I last saw Armstrong I searched the data bases to find his exact location. Within a second I knew where that coward was hiding.

Creating a portal above my head I took a quick peak to see Armstrong arguing with a short, balding, portly man I knew had to be one of the investors. Slowly rising from the shadows I wrapped a hand around Armstrong's thick neck. Being at his side in a mere second I whispered into his ear, "Got you now." Bounding the rest of him with my shadows I saw him struggle in vain. Carefully tightening my grip around his throat I avoided the hyoid bone. Leaning into to say, "There are far worse things than death." Turning him around to look me in the eyes I finished with, "It's going to be a pleasure making you feel all of them."

His body went limp with my last word. Aiming my attention to the investor who was currently having trouble breathing. I pointed my other hand at him to say, "You! Don't move." Slowly making my way towards the investor his body began to shake uncontrollably. Lifting what should have been a chin to make eye contact with me I said, "You and the others will pay horribly for imprisoning us." Hearing the quiet noise of his bladder failing him I continued with, "From now on you will suffer from sleep paralysis. No more sweet dreams for the rest of your life. From now on you'll see something in the corner of your eye that'll disappear when you try to get a full view of it. You'll begin to hear things and people who are no longer there or even alive calling your name. We are slowly going to drive you mad. Do to all these things we are going to leave a piece of ourselves inside you. In your brain to exact, we will be watching and listening to everything you do. We'll even be able to hear your thoughts." All this little man could muster to say was, "Oh god."

With a finale warning I said, "If you or any other investor try to retaliate in any form we will come to devour all of you at once. Say yes or make a noise if you understand?" The investor could barely even whimper at my request. Revealing a grin filled with inhumanly sharp teeth I said, "Have a nice life." Noticing the monitor had been on the entire time I looked at the other investors. All of them had a look of terror across their faces. Pointing my free hand at them I growled, "All of you are next."

Created a special portal with my shadows to hold Armstrong in for the time being. I made multiple portals for my new tentacled limbs to enter to hold all the investors. Quickly planting a part of myself into each of them I made sure to delete all the research each of them had about us.

Once my limbs returned to me I created one last portal. Crossing through to enter the monitor room the first thing I saw was everyone staring at me in fear. Looking down at myself I noticed my new shadow from. My body in this form was originally black to stay hidden in this world, now it's paper white. Taking in a deep breathe with closed my eyes I focused on my human form.

Feeling my body return to normal I opened my eyes to see some of my shadows covering my private areas to keep me from being completely naked. Before looking at everyone I thought Thanks Nightmare. They replied Well I couldn't have everyone goggling us. Noticing the only thing out of the ordinary was that my hands had the look corruption. My nails now have a sharp edge, fingers grew an inch, and they stayed black. It stopped just above my wrist.

Lifting my eyes to the others I saw something odd with my vision. My eyes weren't burning from the lights in the room. I could also see different colors aside from black, white, grey, and the occasional red. Hearing Nightmare speak Say something idiota. "Is everyone ok?", was the first thing out of my mouth. Ashe answered, "We're all fine."

He stepped forward in the process of taking off his shirt. With an outstretched arm Ashe said, "Don't want you getting cold." Reaching my hand out to touch a corner of the shirt he immediately let go. Taking a second to cover myself I said, "Thanks man." "Anytime", Ashe replied. Keeping myself from staring at him I looked to the others to still see fear in their eyes.

"Where is he?", Hannah asked. Meeting her eyes I saw that she really was the blonde blue eyed cheerleader I assumed her to be. "Oh he's here", I said lifting Armstrong out of our shadows. Seeing that he was still unconscious I continued to keep him bound. Hannah tried coming closer when Armstrong's eyes began to flutter open. Lifting a hand I told her, "Don't." She immediately froze in place.

Forcing Armstrong to his knees I looked him in the eye to say, "If it were up to me I would have devoured you whole in that room." A low murmur could be heard by everyone in the room. "Until we all make a decision on what to do with you, you will be one of our prisoners'. As of right now you will spend the remainder of your days here with us. That's only if we decide to let you die of old age." Placing the palm of my hand on Armstrong's eyes I forced my shadows to enter his brain. Doing the same thing to him as I did to the investors. Taking my time I made sure to cause as much pain as possible without bringing him an early demise.

I didn't hear the others leaving the room to block out the anguished screams. By the time I took my hand away from his eyes Armstrong had lost consciousness again. There were tear stains on his cheeks and even snot coming out from his nostrils. The only two people left behind were Ashe and Nurse Ratchet. "Either one of you want to take this sad excuse of a father to a Maximum security room?", I asked. Ashe took a step forward to say, "This bastard can have mine." Feeling myself smile I said, "I'll follow you to make sure he knows who put him there."

Moving my shadows to drag Armstrong by the ankles I followed Ashe while Nurse Ratchet stayed behind me. Looking over my shoulder I said to her through thought If you ever betray any of us I'll make sure you feel all the pain we went through before devouring you. She paused mid stride to nod her head in agreement. Reaching the stairs I lifted Armstrong just enough for the back of his head to hit every step.

Once we left Anderson's room Ashe and I made our way to the Maximum area. Nurse Ratchet left us to join the others outside. At the entrance I asked, "Which one is yours?" After taking a look around I thought Non of these rooms seem good enough. Ashe said, "Why not put him in Nightmare's old room." Hearing Nightmare's comment I like this guy. I chuckled before saying, "Good idea." Opening the door with Armstrong's black keycard Ashe and I stripped him of every piece of clothing minus his underwear. He woke up by the time we closed the door behind us. Seeing the realization sink in made his bafflement all the more satisfying. Leaving him there alone and basically naked I asked Ashe, "How many times did they feed you and the others here throughout the day?" He responded, "It depended on dietary needs and on behavior." Remembering that it would take 3 weeks for the average person to starve to death I thought That's something else we'll have to decide as a whole later.

Back in the hallway I said, "I need some air." Taking the lead to go outside Ashe followed behind. With the first step outside I stood in amazement. I could actually see the trees; the vibrant green of the leaves, the golden brown bark, and the yellow sand under my feet. I was so distracted I didn't hear Ashe trying to get my attention. Feeling a hand touch my shoulder I turned with my hands up in defense. Ashe took a step back with raised open hands. Putting my hands down I said, "Sorry, I didn't hear you." "I was asking if you were ok. You froze all of a sudden", he told me.

"I'm ok."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it's just been a long time since I've been able to see colors. Plus I don't like being touched."

"You're colorblind?"

"I was."

"Is that the reason you were wearing the sunglasses?"

"I also had a sever light sensitivity."

"And now?"

"Ever since I came back I've been able to see colors and my light sensitivity has gone down drastically."

"What do you mean came back?"

"I'll go into the details later."

"Alright."

"Let's go see the others. I know they are going to want some answers."

"Yup."

Walking through the trees I looked up ahead to see everyone we saved talking with one another. As Ashe and I made our way to them everyone turned their attention to us. Ashe joined the group, leaving me alone for everyone to stare at.

I asked the obvious question, "Can everyone understand me?" They all nodded, even the ones from different countries. I continued, "I'm sure you all have questions that need answers. Who wants to start first?" Hannah stepped forward to ask in a shaky voice, "What did you do to him?"

"I implanted a part of myself into his brain to be a kind of spyware; from now on I'll know everything he says, hears, and thinks."

"Why did he scream?"

"Because I wanted him to."

"Was it really necessary?"

"That was only a fraction of what he deserves."

"Is he still alive?"

"Yes, he's currently in Nightmare's room."

Hannah sniffled, Ben came to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. She turned to him with tears in her eyes. He opened his arms for Hannah to burry her face against his chest. Looking away from them embracing I asked, "Any other questions?"

"How are you still alive?", a tall man in his early 20s asked.

"The long answer is going to have to wait for another time. Short answer is Nightmare is now whole, my heart had to stop for that to happen."

One of our new members raised their hand before stepping forward to ask, "What is your power?"

"It was originally controlling and becoming shadows, I even learned to astral project. Now it's so much more."

"What did you do when you left the island?", Alexia asked.

"I went into the monitor room to find Armstrong. When I did I saw him with an investor. I took disabled Armstrong and moved to the investors to plant my spyware inside them. Then I came back."

A silence fell over everyone. I asked, "Any other questions?"

"Are there any rules here? Do we have free will?", another new comers asked.

Seeing that question in everyone's eyes I answered, "Yes, there will be rules made. We will all decide either later today or tomorrow on what they will be. As of right now ask for consent before touching anyone else and don't go into the main building. We are currently holding our prisoners who were once our captors there. From now on all of us will live here where it's safe. If that's all, I'm going to the cafeteria to eat my weight in food. If any of you new comers need anything ask the people who helped bring you here."