Two Page Shorts - Nick Venom (big ebook reader txt) 📗

did you get here? Are you happy?” Cat asked him before he could turn away from them. The man’s eyes went up as he glanced at Beverly and Helen. They shrugged their shoulders, confusing the man more.

“Uh… It’s Eagle Mansion. I… I was sent here after the police were called on me.” He muttered. “I don’t know about the last question.”

Cat nodded. “Good.” She turned away, running after a bird that had entered the courtyard. Eagle and the others watched her, even more, puzzled by her sporadic actions. 

“Is she always like this?” He asked.

Beverly nodded. “More so recently.” 

Eagle nodded before turning around. He walked off aimlessly in search of something to fill his mind. It was filled with nonsense. Chilling nonsense. 

The guards, some time later, stormed the courtyard and escorted the prisoners to their cells. Every two or three prisoners had one or two fully armed guards escorting them. Every weapon was loaded and prepped. 

The guards escorting Helen and her cellmates back to their cell poked them in the back with the barrels of their guns. “Move!” One of them barked loudly. Beverly looked over her shoulder, shooting them a disgusted look. They ignored her look, continuing to push them towards their cell.

As they neared the cell, Steven appeared seemingly out of nowhere. He licked his lips as his eyes zeroed onto Helen. He approached her, stepping in her way. She looked up at him, furrowing her brows. 

“What’s your name?” He asked her with a gentlemanly tone. Helen glanced at Beverly who shook her head softly. However, Steven easily noticed her action, his eyebrows slanting downward. “What’s wrong with you? You got a problem?” He aggressively asked.

Beverly shook her head, not cringing like Helen. “No… sir.”

Steven smirked. “Good.” He then turned his head to face Helen. “What’s your name?” He asked more forcefully. 

“H-Helen.”

“Ooh, Helen? What a beautiful name. How about you, uh,  join me in my private room and I upgrade your living conditions? What do you say?”

Helen furrowed her brows. “Uh… I’m underage.”

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “So?”

“It’s illegal!”

Steven chuckled. He leaned in close to her face. “My father owns this prison and not many know about its existence. Who would say if something happened to people that the public doesn’t know about? In simpler terms, I can’t be charged for crimes against people who don’t exist.”

Helen shivered at his words, taking a step back. “... N-No.” She told him. “I won’t go with you.”

Steven’s smile became deranged as he took a step towards her, grabbing her lower face and scrunching it in his palm. “What did you say? Repeat it!”

“I…”

“I dare you to repeat your words, you hellish woman!” He exclaimed, frightening even the guards. They glanced at each other, unsure if they should step in or not.

“No!” She cried out, a tear falling down her cheek. It landed on Steven’s hand. He took his hand off her face, wiping the tear onto his jeans. 

“Damn you,” He muttered, turning away. “What a foolish woman to be crying about something like this!” He remarked as he took several steps away from them before stopping in his tracks. “I’ll be back for you. I’ll make sure you regret rejecting me.” He said before stomping off. The guards watched him leave, both of them puzzled about what happened. 

“Should we…?” One guard asked. 

The other guard nodded. “Yeah, let’s get this done.” He said before turning to face the prisoners in front of him. “Move into your cell.” He ordered. Helen and the others responded by heading into their cell, the door locked behind them. The guards double-checked the lock before walking away.

As they left the cell block, they brought up the topic of Steven in their conversation. “Disgusting… I can't believe that I’m stuck here with him!” The first guard whisper-shouted.

“Remember, this is the only job where criminal records don’t matter. We can’t afford to make a mistake and get fired. Otherwise, it’ll be the two of us shoveling snow and mowing lawns for a lousy twenty. Let’s keep our heads down and our ears deaf.” The second guard told him.

The first guard nodded. “I feel bad for her, though. She’s been marked. Steven will go after her and fulfill any lust he has.”

“Shut up! We’re blind, deaf, and mute. We never bring up this again, especially in Steven’s presence. Leave the girl. It’ll only be the next target on his long list. Let’s not get ourselves onto the separate list.”

“The kill list?”

The second guard nodded. “The kill list.”

Both men shivered.

***

“What is he going to do to me?” Helen asked.

Beverly bit her lip before speaking. “I… I think you’ve been marked.”

“Marked? What does that mean?”

“It means that you’re going to be Steven’s target of sexual attraction for the next few weeks. He will do anything he can, even using his entire arsenal to get you. His father is the Warden, so he has almost full control to do whatever he wants to. Plus, as he said, we don’t exist in regards to normal society. Nobody here truly exists except for the Warden. Fortunately, Steven won’t act without his father. It gives us some time to… devise a plan.”

Helen nodded, soaking in the new information. She was going to be targeted and raped by Steven. She trembled at the thoughts. 

A single tear escaped her eye, treading down her cheek and falling on the floor of the cell. Beverly rushed to her side, reassuring her to the best of her abilities. 

“Why? What did I do to deserve this life?” She sobbed into her hands, being consoled by Beverly as well as she could. “Why?”

Meanwhile, Cat stared at them with slanted eyebrows. Mixed. Death. Fear. She thought to herself as she stared intensely at Helen, in particular. Mixed. Death. Fear.

 

***

“A recruit entered the Vault, brought by the security. She’s been lumped with a Blue and a Yellow.” Milly said into a cell phone. She stood outside the female cell blocks, whispering into the phone. 

“What are you classifying her as?” A grim voice asked from the other side.

“A Blue. She isn’t much of a threat like the Yellow one. She’s been marked by Steven, so she may become a White.”

“A White? Steven’s killed several Red women already? I’ll have champagne brought to him.”

“Anyways, regarding any potential Reds or Blacks, there are none. I am in full control over the Vault’s hierarchy except for the Warden.”

“Good, make sure to stay low. Do not have your identity revealed to anybody, no matter how trusting they may look. Is that clear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Milly said before ending the call. She looked around but didn’t see anybody close enough to eavesdrop. She then took several steps forward, passing by Eagle who was around the corner. He was staring at the ground, bouncing the ball. The sound of the ball smacking into the concrete echoed loudly, convincing Milly that he had barely started bouncing it. “Why are you here?” She asked him.

“Bouncing my ball.” He responded without hesitation. “What about you? Why were you…”

“Why was I what? Care to tell me what you were about to say?” She asked, her eyes threatening him.

Eagle shook his head. “I have nothing to say and I’ve heard nothing.”

Milly nodded, turning away from him and beginning her walk to her cell. “I would hate to find out you’ve been listening to me. I would also hate to see your body mangled on the fence.” It was a threat that Eagle could feel piercing his skin.

“I see,” He muttered. Milly nodded before walking away, disappearing around the next corner. Eagle waited until he was sure she was gone before rising to his feet. I was almost killed. I have to be more careful. It’s just… that conversation and how she has access to the phone is strange. Something’s going on and I’m not being informed about it. Now, how should I deal with her? I can’t kill her, but… there has to be something better to deal with this spy. I can’t leave her alone.

He walked away but in a different direction. He headed to the male dorms, on the other side of the prison. As he walked, he felt something tingling at the back of his neck. He touched his nape, feeling an intense heat on a small sliver of his neck. He looked over his shoulder at where Milly disappeared, seeing an eye disappearing around a corner. Eagle assumed it was Milly who was watching him from afar and causing the heat somehow.

Wait… it can’t be her power, right? Everybody should be stripped of their powers when they enter the Vault. But… she has a cellphone, which is illegal. She has contraband on her, for God knows how long, so why should a faulty collar be out of the cards. Damn, this is too much for me. I need to get more solid evidence against Milly and make her out herself as a spy looking to recruit metahumans and mutants

Eagle continued walking, arriving at his cellblock. A guard noticed him, yelling at him for being late. He kicked Eagle into his cell before locking it behind him.

Now in his cell, Eagle looked around. There was nothing out of place. He smiled at the thought that everything remained the same. He enjoyed familiarity.

Now tired, he turned to his bed and approached it. He jumped into his bed, draping the blankets over him. Once his head was on his brick pillow, he fell asleep not able to think about anything else. His thoughts disappeared as his heartbeats steadied. He was peacefully sleeping.

Milly didn’t like that. 

***

The rest of Helen’s first day was a blur to her as thoughts of Steven circled throughout her mind. It filled her with fear, more than any police officer or scientist could. She couldn’t shake the thoughts away like a physical object as they would follow her to the ends of the world if they wanted to. And she was sure they would.

Fortunately, Helen awoke the next morning, feeling much better. The fear lingered, but it wasn’t as powerful and frightening that it was a day ago; it wasn’t as fresh in her mind. She yawned loudly as she sat up. She glanced at her side at where Cat was sleeping. She slept crazily, her body sprawled over her bunk. The end of the bed and the beginning of the floor was a blurred line. 

Above her was Beverly who slept traditionally, straightened and her limbs within the confines of the bed. The line was straight and known. 

Helen, now satisfied with her amount of sleep, stood out of bed and began stretching. She released the tension in her joints before approaching the cell door. She peered out of the space between the bars, but couldn’t see anything amidst the dim lighting. 

“You okay?” Beverly asked. Helen jerked her head backward and turned to face Beverly. “Have you seen a ghost? Because you look like it.”

She shook her head. “No… just nervous.”

Beverly bit her inner cheek before she slowly escaped her blankets and bunk. She was dressed in the same jumpsuit she fell asleep in. 

“Sit down and relax.” She ordered.

  Helen complied instantly. She sat down on the lone chair in their cell. She looked up at Beverly with frightful eyes. “Why am I here? Why was I brought here?”

Beverly bit her lip before answering Helen. “Because we’re special. We’re not like the others. And I’m not just talking about Cat.”

“That’s why?” She asked. “I lost everything because of these powers.” She looked down at her palms. “For what? I haven’t saved anybody like the heroes in the comic books I’ve read.”

Beverly nodded. “We’re not like the comic books. This is reality and… as you can see, it is harsher than the ink in those books.”

Helen nodded. “So what is our purpose here? To die or be raped?”

Beverly shook her head but stopped midway. “I… would hope not. Still, as long as we stick together like glue, we’ll be fine.”

Helen tilted her head as she looked deep into Beverly’s eyes. “Why-? Why are you helping