Chapter 94: Haunted
"Mgghh! Mgghh!" Adam pants as his insides feel like sharp metal poles are moving inside him, his eyes covered in his tears as he stands in pain, hunched over, his arms held back by two pairs of strong hands. He looks with begging eyes, one of them bruised horribly as he sees the two other attackers, with the other two holding him from fighting back.
"NNH!" One of the attackers punched Adam's other eye hard, before clocking his jaw, and sinking into his stomach.
"MMMFFFF!" Adam doubles over, his eyes clenching while feeling the wet paint on his face and clothing, his many cuts stinging like fucking hell, as well as the horrible taste trapped in his mouth by the duct tape.
"Hah shit, he's crying. Fuckin crying, be a fuckin man for ONCE!" The attack says as the crowbar flies and cracks into Adam's knee joint.
"MNNGH! M-hnnhh!"
'Help me! Somebody fucking help me!' Adam thinks desperately, every inch of him wracked with mind-numbing agony, his worst fear of his whole life is now taking place. 'Merrick! Help me, Merrick, where are you?!' His metal-struck mind reeling. They've hit him in the head a lot... All he can think of is where Merrick is, he could fight these men. As if he's forgotten Merrick went to the sea. 'MERRICK!'
-KKKHH!-
"MMhmhmhmh!" Adam clashes onto his knees, one of them feeling like it's exploding from the inside, cringing onto his side on the concrete floor of the parking lot, before he's forced back on his feet, and his head is struck again, and then his hand. "HFFFFF!" Sprits of pink paint and saliva jump from his duct tape as more of him breaks apart inside him.
"Fuckin gross, man." One of the men jeered as they see the fluid moving down Adam's chin and neck, dribbling all over downward.
"Merrrkkkk!" Adam spat out, "Mrrrkkk!" One of the masked attackers forces the tape back onto Adam's mouth as his stubble dribbles with the fluid mixture.
"Oh shit! ... Thin someone's coming"
He hears a distant voice. Adam struggles as he takes a step with his barely good leg, his blurring eyes looking desperately for any help. Adam finally yanks himself partially free to swing at the guy with the paint bucket, only to have his right ribcage burn with pain. He then feels the penalty of a fist's blow to the side of his head, before his arm is pulled back away.
"Hey! What's goin on?!" Comes a familiar dark voice.
"PNNFFF!" Adam gets struck into the stomach again, trying to see the incoming newcomer, but everything is so blur, it's all noise and pain right now, and blaring lights.
"HEY!!" Comes the voice again. It's Jamal!
"Shit, man!" Says one of the men behind him. Adam's eyes flood with tears as he tries to yank his arm again, but is again immediately crippled by searing agony.
He looks to the two men in front of them, one of them holding the paint bucket, and the other one brandishing the crowbar. Before moving it back, and swinging it at top speed at Adam's-
KUNG!!
()()()
"AH! HOHhhhh! Aahhhoohh!" Adam yelps as he jumps up in his bed. He pants, heart pounding, covered in sweat as his hands grab his head, panicking as he feels, trying to feel some sort of excess liquid. He keeps looking as his fingers after investigating his hair, trying to see any blood from his scalp. There's no such crimson substance anywhere on him.
Adam shakes violently as he sits there, the images of the nightmare still fresh inside his mind... What was that? A few hours ago, he was having one heck of a wet dream, wild and sexy. Now he suddenly has this night terror?
None of his dreams or nightmares have ever felt like this one... They were thorough and detailed and fanciful, but this one...
This one feels real...
"Thhhrreer." Came the purring mew from Skyler. Adam huffs as he turns, chuckling as his kitten scrambled behind him.
"Hey there, kitty..." Adam takes the small cat and puts him on his blanket-covered lap, "Hey fluffy boy." He says lowly, stroking the purring critter. He pets the kitten as he stares drearily at the blanket, before he hears a soft knock on his door, "Y-Yeah?"
The door opens, and a large silhouette, with the weak blue early morning light showing large pectoral muscles and a few curves of muscles. "Hey, man, you ok, Adam?" Jamal asks.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine..." Adam answered back, "I had a bad dream... I'm ok though."
"You sure?"
"Nhh, what's up?" Yuri asked while groaning sleepily from behind Jamal.
"I just... I had a freakish nightmare... I-I'm ok..."
"Alright... I'm down the hall if ya need anything."
"Night..." Yuri turns away and creeps lazily into her room. Jamal moves the door to almost close it, before he walks back into his own door.
Adam takes a deep, shaky breath, and exhales slowly. "I wish Merrick was here..." Adam mumbles, "I wonder if he'd be willing to stay here for a while, sleep on the couch..."
For some reason, he feels like Merrick would make situations like these better... Just hearing his voice or something, being near him... Like he'd be the only one who might understand.
~~~
"HHH... HHH... Hhh... Hhh..." Merrick pants in his small reef dwelling, his gills twitching madly as his whole body shakes. He unfurls, and swims out between the ice spires of Savarna's Sea Spot, into more open water, holding his head softly.
"What was that..." Merrick asked himself, "What was that." He paces around in the water, his tail gliding around behind him, "What was I..." He rubs one of his arms, remembering here the crowbar hit him in the dream. "By the Sea Mother, what did I just see?"
He remembers several masked people. They where beating the hell out of him and pelting him with pink paint. "And I think I heard Jamal's voice before I woke up... Damn..." Merrick puts a hand on the left side of his head, where he was last struck, "I can still feel it..."
"Brother?" Savarna says. He turns to see the Adra Noita come to him from nearby, "What has happened? I sensed a powerful source of darkness and fear from here. Now it's just vanished."
"That may have been me, Sister. I have just awoken from a painful nightmare." Merrick swims to her, "Look into my eyes. I think I have memories that don't belong to me."
"..." Savarna peers into Merrick's soul though his eyes, instilling her inner sight into his mind. She can see wavering bits and pieces of the intense pain of lingering horror, and a few vague shapes of human hands, brushes, a metal rod with a hook at the end, strange colors blotching and smearing here and there, "This is confusing. There is not a lot I can see. Only fragments of a dream. I don't know how they are supposed to piece together."
"What was going on then?" Merrick ponders as he crosses his arms and turns his gaze down. "See, I dreamt that four humans have attacked me, as if they were trying to kill me. And it felt like they did, or at least almost by a near miss. But something like that has never happened to me, not since years ago when I was captured, and this was nothing like that."
"Four humans assaulting you? I don't know just how skilled you are with your legs, Brother. But I don't think they could kill you that easily, given your time on the land..."
"If four humans attacked me, I wouldn't have any trouble dealing with them at all." He replies to her.
'I am an elite when it comes to aquatic combat, and even Yuri says I'm a good fighter when we spar in the yard. I can easily just use my voice alone to disengage them and get the upper hand; heck, I could kill them or knock them unconscious if I hit the right sound... So why was I so helpless in that nightmare? They just... Came out of nowhere, and started breaking me. Like I wasn't even given a chance to fight...'
"Brother, maybe I should bring Mother. She can see better into auras than I can." Savarna suggested.
"No, I'd rather not wake her on my account... By the time she gets here, there won't be much for her to see anyhow."
"I see..." Savarna nods, "Do you... Wish me to stay with you until the sun rises?"
"Yes, please..." He nods.
Merrick huffs as he turns, and swims back to the rocks and coral. He whimpers silently as he returns to the reef, putting his forehead onto his arm, "I wish I can be with Adam right now..." His shimmering, graceful fish tail curves closer to him.
~~~
Adam woke up several hours later, groaning as he turns and gets up. He looks to his computer, thinking of writing in his diary, but yesterday was completely uneventful - it's only been a whole night since he moved back into this house. Today though...
He huffs as he gets up, and got dressed before coming into the living room, where he can smell a delightfully sweet aroma. He peers in, and raises his eyebrows up as he sees Merrick working at the sizzling oven.
"Merrick?"
"Ah, good morning, Adam." Merrick greeted with a smile. Adam blushes as he notices Merrick isn't wearing a shirt under his apron. He walks around, looking, and ending the momentary suspense upon seeing the beige cargo shorts he's wearing.
"Um, what are ya doing here?" Adam asked.
"I was in the area, thought I'd cook breakfast." Merrick smiled, "I have a key to the house, and I had no where else to be. Jamal and Yuri don't mind if I come here and cook."
"O-Oh, really." Adam says, as he looks at the food on the pans, what looks like thick, roasted bread. "Had a rough night..." He said, "Had a couple of weird dreams, and I had a hard time getting back to sleep."
"I know how you feel. My night was like that too." Merrick says as he seasons the food with cinnamon and a dash of butter around the pan.
Adam looks about in the kitchen, his mind recalling the vision he had yesterday when they had noodle soup and chicken for lunch. He remembers... Something...
Adam walked closer to Merrick, moving close behind him.
