Chapter Seven

Derek was gone for longer than he expected. His dad wouldn't let him leave. Finally, he called up the president and she sent a car for him in the middle of the night. Soon he was back at the base in his room. No one was awake when he came back, which is what he wanted. He didn't want to have to explain to them why he'd been gone for weeks. He was only supposed to be gone for a few days. One week at most, but his dad had kept him there longer. At least he'd gotten a bit more sleep than usual while at home. The only rest he'd gotten in the base was when he'd passed out. His heart hurt every time he thought of that morning. Jake hadn't been very talkative the past weeks, but for some reason Derek barely noticed. He couldn't stop thinking about Jax. There had to of been something he could have done to stop it. The thought of the unknown kept gnawing at him.

He scoured every nook and cranny of the web trying to find better ways to hack into cameras and maybe even into wireless bombs. From the brief look he got of the bomb in the feed it seemed to be wireless, but he could be wrong. He didn't sleep, he couldn't. He was on a roll. He was hacking into random far away cameras. His fingers were cramping, but he needed to get better. If he'd hacked into the looped feed sooner and had time to analyze it he could've told Jax and then he'd be alive right now.

Derek heard people up and about so he finished his hacking and went out. They all seemed surprised to see him. "Derek, we thought you'd left for good." Mattie was looking at him with big eyes. Derek smiled weakly and told them he just had to take a break and that it lasted a bit longer than he had expected. Mattie got up and hugged him, "well, I'm still glad you're back." Derek hugged her back and smiled. They had all been worried about him. The thought of that made him want to cry and hug them all. When he'd first gotten there he thought each and every one of them hated his guts, but now he knew how they really felt. He was a part of their team, and no matter what they would care for him.

Zeek soon emerged and stopped when he saw Derek. His face was emotionless, but Derek swears he saw a shimmer of happiness in his eyes. Zeek had taken his hand casts off, but his hands seemed to be healed well enough to not need them. His shoulders were still in casts, but he'd chipped them a bit trying to get them off. Zeek went to say something when the front door opened. Everyone gathered around ready to kill, but none of them were prepared for who came through the door. "Jax?"

Jax was leaning in the doorway, his clothes were disheveled and he had a tired expression plastered on his face. Everyone told him they thought he was dead. "I'm too damn stubborn to die." Derek ran over to him and hugged him. "I'm not a hugger." Derek tapped that he didn't care. He was alive and that all that matters. Zeek clapped Jax on his shoulder and told him Derek had blamed himself for what seemed like Jax's death. "Oh. I'm-" Jax started to sniff and gagged. "Bloody hell you have an infection!" Jax tried to push Derek away. Then he realized where the infection was coming from. "The comlink. When the bomb went off. Oh Lord Derek I am so sorry." Derek tried to tell him he had nothing to feel sorry for, but Zeek cut him off.

"You were supposed to be taking care of that!" Zeek grabbed Derek's head and looked at his right ear. "God damn it you haven't cleaned it since you left have you?" Zeek was pissed. Derek felt embarrassed and didn't feel like talking about himself when Jax pretty much came back from the dead. He told Zeek that could discuss it later. "No, we are talking about this now come on!" Zeek started to drag Derek to an empty room and Jax followed very intrigued. Zeek sat Derek down told him to tell him what he'd been doing these past weeks. Derek sat there not really wanting to talk about his time at home, but Jax and Zeek weren't going to let him get off easy.

"Fine. I went home to my dad's house. He's a bit extreme, to say the least. He didn't see anything wrong with my ear so he wouldn't let me clean it. All I did at home was eat, sleep, and chat with my dad. I tried to come back sooner, but my dad told me he needed me to do some things for him so I did. Then he needed more things done and more and more and more. Finally last night I called the president and she sent a car for me. That's all." Zeek didn't seem pleased with the answer. Jax was the one who spoke though. He wanted Derek to tell them how he'd become mute. Jax had already put the pieces together, but he needed to hear it, and Zeek needed to know. Derek's confident hands turned limp and shaky as he tried to deny knowing what Jax was talking about, but Zeek also wanted to know. "Okay. It's not that big of a deal, but if you two really want to know. Just promise not to tell anyone else." They both promised and Derek hesitantly began to tell them.

"My dad worked most of the time so I rarely saw him. I had an interesting childhood, but it wasn't bad. My dad was just well like I said before he's extreme. There wasn't really anything wrong until he started to work out of home when I was in high school. I loved being in the choir, and I had wanted to be a singer. My dad never told me much about my mother except that she had a beautiful singing voice." Derek stopped for a moment to breathe. Hed never told anyone about his home life. "He never came to my concerts, he said I sounded like my mom when I sang, and it upset him. I got used to it, but during my sophomore year, I was auditioning for some singing competitions. I had to practice at home, which my dad really didn't like." He took his scarf from around his neck. Zeek and Jax could see a long white scar that stretched across his neck. "One night he took me from my bed and removed my vocal cords." Derek could feel his tears coming and flowing. "In his rage, he'd forgotten to numb my neck so I felt everything.

"When it was all over I couldn't sleep it hurt so much. I had to learn sign language. He even pulled me out of school and homeschooled me. I think the saddest thing that happened though was that I got in every single last one of those singing competitions I'd auditioned for, and I couldn't sing anymore. The one thing that made me feel close to my mother, the one thing that made me happy had been taken from me by the one person who was supposed to love and protect me. " Derek took a moment to regain his composure. "Ever since then he's been really protective and doesn't like to let me leave his sight. Hacking was a way to get away from him. This," he gestured around," has actually been the best thing to ever happen to me." Derek smiled at Zeek and Jax who were both staring at him with empathetic looks on their tear-streaked faces.

They both tried to say something, but they couldn't find the words. After an awkward silence went on for too long Derek told them to change the subject. "If you say so. I had already assumed your dad had done something to you, but not like that." Zeek elbowed him and Jax cleared his throat. "Well, I guess it's my turn to say where I've been.

"After the explosion, I was severely injured, but I was able to find my way to a town." Jax looked down at his hands, "I needed blood or I'd die, so the first person I found I drained. I feel horrible about it, but I couldn't stop myself. I think a coconut water diet will do me good." Jax shook his head. "Anyway, it took me a few days to get to my full strength. Once I'd gotten my strength back I went back to the building and to the room, and I found a tape untouched by the explosion. I haven't listened to it yet, but we can together. Once I got the tape I made my slow journey back here. Not really exciting." Jax dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a tape with read me written on it.

Zeek went and got a tape player and he played the tape. "Hello, Section 666." It was a man's voice with no determinable accent to identify a region. "I'm so sorry we missed you, but if you're hearing this your little hacker monkey must have been able to stop you from setting off our bomb. Or maybe you survived the blast being what you are. Zombie. Vampire. Werewolf. Demon. Whatever monster you sent. Know that this is only a fraction of what we are capable of. I look forward to seeing the look on all of you faces when we burn you freaks to the ground, starting with your dear president and staff then one by one you freaks, and finally the hacker. So he can watch as the monsters he's made bedfellows with die." The recording stopped leaving static silence hanging in the heavy air above them. Since they knew about Derek that meant they were dealing with new threats. And they clearly meant business.

The three of them sat there in stunned silence for what seemed like an eternity. Derek finally broke the silence by slamming his fists on the table and signing angrily, "we can't let them get away with this! They could've killed Jax! We all thought he was dead!" Hot tears were flooding Derek's vision. He was so angry that someone would try to kill them and then taunt them through a tape. Zeek put a hand on Derek's shoulder and calmed him down. "Sorry," he said weakly. Jax and Zeek both chuckled and told Derek he was fine.

"Although you and I need to head to the nurse now. You need your ear looked at and my shoulder casts are finally coming off. So let's get going while Jax fills in the rest of the base about his miraculous return to the undead." Zeek smirked at Jax and nodded to him about something that was unspoken. Derek felt a bit uneasy about whatever it was. He followed them out of the room then followed Zeek to the nurse.

The nurse wasn't pleased about Derek's infection and reprimanded him for neglecting his health. Neither him nor Zeek said anything about why his ear has gotten that bad. Derek was grateful for his discretion. She cleaned his ear and gave him some antibiotics to take until the bottle was empty then to come back. He also had to keep cleaning his ear. Zeek was going to make sure he did. After Derek was looked over it was Zeek's turn. As the nurse took off his shoulder casts she told him to be more careful when he's stiff, and to not get into any fights. Zeek told her he couldn't make any promises, which he said with a devilish grin that made Derek's heartbeat a bit faster. Once Zeek was free he rolled his shoulders and popped them a few times. Every pop made Derek fear that Zeek's shoulders broke again. Zeek reassured Derek that his shoulders wouldn't break easily. It took all his strength last time to do so.

Jax was done retelling his tale of how he wasn't dead when Zeek and Derek came back. Everyone was in high spirits since Jax was back and alive, well as alive as a vampire can be. When Jax noticed they were back he gave a small nod to them. Derek just like everyone else was happy that Jax was back. "Are you seriously going to drink only coconut water?" Cerberus asked Jax slapping him on the back.

"I do yes. At least for a while," his face was sullen and Derek could see that draining someone of their blood took about enormous till of Jax's mental well being. Derek had wanted to get to know everyone better so he decided to start with Jax. After the crowd had left Derek went and talked with Jax. He asked him how he'd became a vampire. "I guess you assume I was bitten correct?" Derek nodded a bit afraid that Jax would yell at him, but he just laughed, "how about I tell you later? I've got some business to attend to." Derek nodded and could've sworn he saw Jax smile.

Jax left Derek and met up with Zeek, Cerberus, and Mattie. "So what are we supposed to do about Derek's dad? We can't kill him?" While Zeek and Derek were with the nurse Jax had informed Cerberus and Mattie about Derek's situation. Mattie wanted to kill him, but they weren't allowed to.

"We can't kill him correct," Zeek said with an edge of annoyance in his voice, "but we can scare him so bad that he'd wish we had killed him." Jax was slightly frightened of Zeek at that moment. He'd only ever seen him like this when the traitor had been found out. Mattie seemed all on board with Zeek's plan, but Jax and Cerberus were a bit hesitant. They'd be putting the section in danger, and Derek didn't even want anyone else to know. Jax shook his head and agreed to the plan. Derek would forgive them. Once Cerberus caved they went to Derek's house.

Dr. Fisher was working in his study as he usually did at night. His son had gone missing yet again, and the cops weren't doing a damn thing. He sighed and took a swig of his bourbon. "I should've killed the kid when I had the chance," he mumbled to himself. If only his son had died that day instead of his beloved wife. He took another swig and went back to his paperwork. He hadn't even made a dent in the stack when he heard a loud thudding at his door. "Finally," he sighed, "you came to your senses and came home did ya?" He opened the door, but four strangers, three men, and one woman stood there not his good for nothing kid. "What do you want its the dead of night?" The doctor wasn't in any mood to deal with these strangers. Suddenly two of the men took hold of the other man's arms and ripped them off at the elbow. Dr. Fisher was horrified, then the one missing his arms spoke.

"How about the legs next? Or maybe my head? What say you doc?" He gave a grin as the two other men went to tear his legs off. Dr. Fisher slammed the door and locked it up tight. Did he really just see someone's arms ripped off? No, it couldn't be. He shook his head and straightened himself. It was a prank. It had to be. There wasn't even any blood.

Dr. Fisher polished off his glass of bourbon and poured himself another as he went back to work. It was almost morning when he heard noises from upstairs. That had to be his son finally home, but he wondered if it could be those strangers from earlier. He grabbed a knife and made his way up to the noises. When he swung open the door there was no one. He laughed to himself. He was going crazy. He turned to leave and there was someone now right in front of him. Dr. Fisher's blood ran cold and he stabbed the knife right into the intruder's shoulder. They didn't even flinch. "I'm a demon you dumb ass. Your puny little metal toothpick isn't going to hurt me." Dr. Fisher went onto his knees and prayed wanting to know what he could do to avoid the demon's wrath. "An eye for an eye isn't that the saying?" The demon hummed to themselves then plunged two of their fingers into Dr. Fisher's eye socket and ripped out his eye. He screamed in agony, but could hear the demon say one final thing before they left, "looks like karma came early for ya doc."

Enoch brought the eye back to the base and gave it to Zeek. "Where'd you get this?" Zeek gave Enoch a suspicious look. They just shrugged and told Zeek it was an early Christmas present. They then chuckled to themselves and went to their room. Zeek removed his bleeding eye and popped the new one into place. It was chocolate brown, and Zeek thought he'd seen it before.