Crackle. Pop.
The resin torch sputtered in the night wind. A mutant scout walked along the slate roof of the servant's quarters and held the flame high. Below him, near the stone well, another guard leaned on his rifle and kicked at the dirt.
"Any sign of him?" the roof guard called down.
"Nothing," the ground guard spat. "Not a whiff. Not a track. Where the heck could a cripple and a brat be hiding?"
The guard on the roof stopped and scanned the horizon. "Are you certain he hasn't escaped the border? That explosion at the lab was loud. Maybe he blew a hole in the outer wall."
"Impossible," the ground guard insisted. "The outer walls are secure. We have dogs stationed every fifty yards. Nothing gets by without them barking their heads off. Besides, we know this estate like the back of our hands. The old man is still here. He's trapped."
"If you know this place so well, why the hell can't we find him?" The roof guard grumbled as he resumed his patrol.
They continued their patrol and moved away from the central courtyard. They did not notice the shadow that dashed past the well the moment their backs turned.
Whish.
Zareth slid behind a thick stone column in a darkened alcove. Above him, a faulty electric bulb flickered once and died.
'Too close.'
Zareth pressed his back against the cold stone and observed his situation. The courtyard was crawling with activity. Men ran along the rooftops. He saw the silhouettes of archers stationed atop the high perimeter walls.
'They really locked this place down.'
He closed his eyes for a second and recalled the crude map Wenamor had drawn. He needed to find the Preservation Wing. The landmark was a gargoyle with a broken wing.
Zareth peeked out. He was in a dense cluster of service buildings. The architecture was a confusing maze of gothic spires and brick annexes. From his current position on the ground, he couldn't see the rooflines clearly.
'I need a better vantage point.'
He crept forward. He hugged the wall and moved with a grace that belied his grotesque appearance. He stepped over loose gravel to avoid making a sound.
As he approached a corner, a voice drifted toward him.
"Find them! Tear the floorboards up if you have to!"
Zareth froze. He recognized that voice. It was Beltrom.
Sniff. Sniff.
The sound of wet, animalistic inhalation followed. The Dog-Man was with him.
'Damn. If that mutt catches my scent, the game is over.'
Zareth looked around frantically. The patrol was seconds away from rounding the corner. To his left, a ground-floor window stood slightly ajar.
Creak.
He gripped the sill with his human hand and vaulted inside. He pulled his heavy, mutated arm through just as the heavy footsteps of the patrol crunched on the gravel outside.
Zareth crouched behind a stack of wooden crates filled with wine bottles. He held his breath.
"Anything?" Beltrom asked from right outside the window.
Whine.
"Useless mutt," Beltrom cursed. "Keep moving."
The footsteps faded.
Zareth exhaled slowly. "Good grief. I'm not used to this stealth bullshit. I prefer kicking down the front door."
He shifted his weight. His left arm dragged on the floor like a lead anchor.
"At this rate, it's going to take forever to find that specific building. And this damn arm is slowing me down."
He wiped sweat from his forehead. It was exhausting. He had to move like a ghost while he maintained a constant, intense internal rhythm to keep the mutagen from consuming his mind.
'Focus. Breathe. Burn the poison.'
Zareth crawled to another window on the opposite side of the room. He peered through the dirty glass. Outside, more men with torches dashed about like angry fireflies.
Suddenly, a sharp, piercing pain shot through his left arm.
"Guh!"
Zareth looked down at his mutated palm.
Squish. Swivel.
The blue eye embedded in his black mass was moving on its own. It darted left, then right, then dilated rapidly.
'Hmm. This…?'
Before he could comprehend it, a jolt of electricity seemed to spike directly into his brain.
ZZZT!
Images flooded his mind. They were disjointed, blurry, and overlaid with a red tint.
He saw a hand, his hand? rummaging through a medicine drawer. But the hand was pale and held a syringe.
'This isn't me,' Zareth realized. 'I'm hiding behind crates.'
The perspective shifted. He looked down at a chest wound that bubbled and smoked. He felt a phantom pain in his own chest.
'Vanderznak… That madman isn't dead. I'm seeing what he sees.'
He looked at the eye in his palm. 'This thing… it's still connected to the golden eye in his head. We are linked.'
Paranoia struck him. 'If I can see him, can he see me?'
Zareth quickly clenched his left fist. He squeezed the eye shut within his armoured fingers to blind the connection.
But the images didn't stop. They intensified.
Flash. Flash. Flash.
His mind became a bank of monitors. He wasn't just seeing Vanderznak's view; he was tapping into the entire organic surveillance network of the estate.
He saw the kitchen. He saw the main gate. He saw Beltrom yelling at a subordinate near the stables.
And then, he saw it.
A grey stone building with a slate roof. Perched on the corner was a grotesque stone demon. Its left wing had crumbled away, leaving a jagged stump.
'The broken gargoyle!'
Zareth focused on that image. He expanded the view in his mind. He saw the path leading to it. He saw the patrol patterns of the guards surrounding it.
'It's close. Just two buildings east of here.'
He shook his head violently to sever the connection. The images faded into static and then vanished.
"Useful. But disturbing." Zareth muttered, rubbing his throbbing temples.
Armed with the location and the enemy positions, Zareth exited the storeroom. He moved with renewed purpose. He slipped through the gaps in the patrols he had seen in his vision.
Minutes later, he stood in the shadow of the Preservation Wing.
'Odd,' Zareth noted. 'There are barely any guards here.'
It seemed Vanderznak had pulled all security to the perimeter and the woods, never expecting the escapee to return to the heart of the complex.
Zareth tested the side door. It was unlocked.
Click.
He pushed it open and slipped inside.
The smell hit him first; a mix of stale porridge and unwashed bodies. The room was cavernous. It resembled a kennel more than a nursery.
Rows of cages stacked three high lined the walls. Behind the bars and reinforced glass, hundreds of children huddled on thin mats. Some had extra limbs. Others had fur. Many looked human but stared with vacant, traumatized eyes.
Zareth walked forward slowly.
A boy in the nearest cage looked up. He saw Zareth's mutated arm and the bulging veins on his face. The child whimpered and scrambled to the back of his cell.
"Monster…" a girl whispered from the cage above.
Zareth stopped. He looked around at the sea of frightened faces.
"Baffling. Simply baffling."
He had expected a dozen, maybe twenty kids. But this? This was industrial-scale trafficking.
"It's going to be impossible to get all these children out of here without causing a scene. There are hundreds of them. And that's not even counting the pregnant women in the pods underground."
He clenched his human fist.
"If I open these cages now, they will panic. They will run into the courtyard and get slaughtered by the guards."
He faced a dilemma. He could try to be a hero and lead a clumsy exodus, or he could be a strategist.
'Those Priests will eventually arrive to clean up the mess? But I won't wait around to be detained. I must find another solution.'
'I should get my hands on the antidote first. That madman is alive. He injected himself with something to survive. If anyone knows how to fix this arm, it's him. I will squeeze what I need from him.'
He looked back at the cowering children.
'For now, they are safe in these cages. Safer than they would be running in the crossfire. And I doubt Vanderznak will be experimenting on them tonight. Not when he wants my head.'
Zareth turned away from the cages. His expression hardened.
'Then it's settled. I'm going to bring the fight to him.'
He adjusted his cloak over his mutated shoulder and headed back toward the door. The stealth mission was over. It was time to finish the job he started in the lab.