“I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that you are full of shit Scrivens, because we both already know it. The Company doesn’t let people just walk away,“ Sheri gave a harsh laugh, feeling a dull, throbbing sensation at the back of her head slowly beginning to grow. “And you claim to know all about what type of man Deadblood is and you condemn him, yet you sit here and make me the same fucking offer that he did.”
“Oh?” Scrivens replied, leaning forwards slightly in his chair. “Maybe so, but this time I’m confident you’ll make the right choice. The Company can offer you so much more than CW ever dreamed of, and certainly more than Deadblood ever did. In fact, we already have! Who paid your medical bills and made it possible for you to get out of that podunk county hospital and into an nationally recognized medical center? Without us, you’d have never taken another step, let alone ever set foot into a ring. Who spent countless amount of time and money into further developing your talents? Again, us. To Deadblood and CW you’re nothing special. But without The Company you would be literally nothing.”
Sheri winced, feeling that dull pain slowly creeping further up the back of her skull. Every bit of what he was saying was all true, no matter how much she’d like to deny it.
“So what will it be, Ms. Stull?” Scrivens asked tauntingly, steepling his fingers. “Take your time if you really need to. I know it must be very difficult for you to choose between the organization that saved your life and made you what you are today, and the man who did nothing but leech off your talents and kick you to the side when he was done with you.”
“Shut... up. Shut up, Scrivens.” Sheri spoke through gritted teeth, the pain in her head beginning to hum and burn, her face growing flushed. In fact, everything felt uncomfortably warm right now, hot even and only growing more so by the moment.
“What’s wrong? Does the truth sting a bit too much? Speaking of truth, I meant everything I said earlier about CR-0006 tailing Deadblood. There was some other woman in your house with him. Looked like she might be associated with CW as well. I guess they look out for him, anyway. They’ve already got him set up with a new valet! Although what his new valet would be doing in your bedroom, I’m not really sure. Maybe I’ll show you the feed so you can see for...”
His words were unbearable. The heat was unbearable. Scrivens was still talking, his lips were moving anyway, but she couldn’t make any of it out now. The air felt like a blast oven to her, and she felt like she could kill for even a sip of water... it was all just too much and
so
fucking
HOT
right now...
She felt something snap deep within her brain like a rubberband stretched too far. Or maybe it was something more like a pilot light clicking on... a flint sparking...or a match striking.
Scrivens cursed and suddenly stood, slapping at the flames that had appeared on his left pant leg, knocking the chair he’d been sitting in over. She could hear a fire alarm wailing to life, as the door burst open to reveal two technicians both armed with fire extinguishers who immediately began to douse the several small fires that had sprung up in the trash can and supply closet.
The overhead sprinklers were going off now, and more technicians were rushing into the room. One produced a syringe and jabbed it into her neck, and again Sheri found herself back in that familiar darkness.
“Get her out of here. Take her down the hall, room 5. Keep her sedated.” Scriven fired off commands rapidly as the few remaining flames were sputtering out. No one dared ask what was going on, all of these technicians knew better than to risk the wrath of Scrivens. They wheeled Sheri off quickly, leaving Scrivens alone to look down at his scorched pant leg and contemplate what the hell had just happened here.
