“That’s all for today.” River smiled and went to the showers. They had finally stopped watching him at all hours of the day and let him have a little bit of freedom, but no where as much as he had been used to back at home.
His peers at school were learning about the economy and calculus while River was here learning the most efficient way to break someone’s neck. They were going to dances and football games while River was learning about the government and who was against whom. They were dating and partying while River longed for Tahk and couldn’t sleep a full night because of the nightmares that assailed his subconscious.
It had been almost a full year now. He still hadn’t been outside of the facility. He was constantly surrounded by stainless steel walls and people dressed in either white or military garb. It felt like everything here was metal or white. River just wanted to see the sun again. They hadn’t even let him out on Christmas. He’d been put in some sort of tank for the whole week where the atmospheric pressure and oxygen in the air was doubled. He’d never felt so healthy in his life after sleeping in that for a week.
His body was a finely tuned machine. Each of his muscles was toned and exercised as needed and he was told he moved faster than anyone the training facility had ever trained before. He understood every part of the human anatomy from which parts bled the fastest to all of the pressure points. In all respects, he was a killing machine, albeit a finely tuned one.
Cossack had returned and explained that the first to men that had visited him were from Russia. Somehow the Russians had learned of Tahk and his condition through a leak in the system. That leak had been ‘taken care of.’ The Russians feared Tahk and had planned on kidnapping River and using him as a bargaining tool to get Tahk to join them or killing River so Tahk would not work for the U.S. River thought that was a stupid plan because Tahk might’ve just gone and killed all of the Russians, but maybe he was wrong.
He wouldn’t know. He still hadn’t seen Tahk.
“Go shower and change,” Col. Sanderson ordered. River stopped running on the treadmill and followed his orders, wondering why he’d been stopped in the middle of his training regiment, but questioning led to punishment. He’d learned that in the first week.
He showered quickly and dressed in his usual black t-shirt and camouflage pants. He returned to the Col. and stood at attention. He knew so much about a military he was never even officially joined.
Agent Cossack was coming down the stairs and he was followed by another person.
River stared. There was something so familiar… The person had a small frame, but that was covered in tight, lithe muscle. His hair was a dark, dark blue, almost black. He wore a tight back long-sleeved shirt, black jeans, and dark sunglasses that covered all of his eyes. River couldn’t stop staring and frowning.
“There you are boys,” Cossack said loudly and obnoxiously, “You’ve been whining about this for a year. You’re finally together now.”
The man pushed up his black sunglasses, revealing wide, deep green cat eyes. A smile lit up his face.
“River?” He said softly, hurrying over to him. River just gaped. When Tahk was closer, he ran his fingers through the dark, formerly white-blue hair. Where it had been in a long ponytail before, it was now short in the back and long in the front. “It changed,” he said softly, “During the… process.”
Suddenly, Tahk was yanked into River’s arms and held tighter than he had ever been held before. He smiled softly and wrapped his arms around River’s neck.
“I missed you so much,” River whispered in to his hair where he’d buried his face, “No one looked at me the way you did and I let them take you when you begged me not to, I promised not to. I tried, but they took you anyway and you must have been so disappointed in me. I wanted to bring you back, but you were no where and then all of this shit started happening and I just couldn’t’ handle it anymore. I’ve waited for so long…”
“Shh,” Tahk whispered, “its ok. Everything will be okay now, right? We’re together now.”
River nodded, but didn’t let him move away. River held on tightly, refusing to let him go and Tahk was content in letting his self be held. River wasn’t crying, but he felt like he should have been. It was so odd. He and Tahk had never been very close until they had been separated. Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but this situation was insane… and he didn’t care.
Cossack cleared his throat loudly, but River wasn’t letting Tahk go. He turned his head toward the agent and purposely shifted his hold to a tighter one.
“The two of you will be trained together for a while before you will be sent on any missions to ensure that you can work together in synchronization. River, you will need to gather your belongings. We are moving you to a different facility.”
River nodded and pulled away from Tahk who grabbed his hand and allowed him self to be led to River’s sleeping area.
“You certainly kept them apart for a long time,” Col. Sanderson muttered to Agent Cossack, watching the two boys walk away.
“They weren’t ready. We can’t have two bumbling teenagers running off to kill the bad guys. We need killers and they needed to be killers before we put them together or they’d be too wrapped up in each other to learn anything.
“Do you think they’ll be too wrapped up in each other to work together?”
“No,” he replied, “I believe they won’t realize what they have until they know what they are doing here.”
Meanwhile, River had started checking Tahk over as soon as they were alone.
“Are you alright?’ he asked, worry coating his words, “Cossack started talking about hybrids or something and I was so afraid they turned you into some kind of monster…”
“I’m fine,” Tahk said with a smile, “I just became what I was supposed to be. You’ll get to see everything when we go back to the other training facility and get to work together. I’m sorry they forced you into this, but… I just wanted to be with you.”
River smiled and started grabbing his clothes and personal effects and shoving them into a faded army green duffel. “Well, I needed to get out of there anyway and I’m glad I get to be with you.” They smiled at each other and Tahk handed River things to shove into his bag.
“What’s the new place like? Do we get to go outside?” asked River. Tahk frowned.
“You don’t get to go outside?”
River frowned, “I haven’t left here since I arrived.”
Tahk whimpered, “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe they did that to you. All of this is my fault…”
“Stop,” River cut off, “I chose to come here. Yeah, they made threats, but I probably would have said yes anyway. So this is my choice and my fault. Don’t take it all on yourself.”
Tahk smiled and leaped into a hug, tightly holding around River’s neck and inhaling the scent of his hair. “We get to be together now.” He pulled back and looked directly into River’s eyes.
River licked his lips and smiled. Tahk smiled to, a small smile. He was about to say something when Cossack entered the room, “Hurry up, boys, we need to be going.”
Frowning, River grabbed the last of his things and hurried after Cossack. River shook hands with Col. Sanderson before saluting him and walking up the stairs, following Cossack and Tahk.
His inside fluttered as he was led into a large garage, full of military vehicles. One hand held his duffel on one shoulder while the other slid smoothly into Tahk’s. They followed Cossack to a black sedan with darkly tinted windows. There was a man in the driver’s seat waiting for them. He started the engine as Cossack got in the passenger’s seat and Tahk and River crawled in the back. They held hands quietly, not speaking as the car pulled to an exit and they left the facility. River smiled and stared out the window.
Everything was turning up so quickly. With real human contact, fresh air, and glimpses of sunlight evading his senses, River felt like a real human being again, not the angry monster he’d been becoming when he was living at home or the withdrawn sociopath he had been on the road to being at the training facility. He was with Tahk. Everything would be better now, no matter what. As long as he was with Tahk, he would be alright.