A nightmare, a striking pain, humiliation, laughter followed by anger. These were the emotions that were rolling all through Stinger's head while he was facing the strange wolf-type Altered that had recently joined the prison.
Darkness had filled his eyes, with a pain that was coursing through his entire body. However, that pain subsided; it was disappearing, and he could feel his body working in other ways.
Then finally, his eyes started to open bit by bit, and he could see a face staring directly back at him. A man with a short gray beard and white hair. He had wrinkles behind the eyes but broad shoulders and a deep look in them.
"Calvin Muller!" Stinger said, his voice shaky.
He was wondering right now, why, why could he see the North group leader of all things. Wasn't he just facing the green-haired boy moments ago?
Calvin slowly pulled away his head and went back to sitting on the ground. When Stinger looked around, he noticed that he was on the north side of the prison. The north and south sides being run by the two largest groups in the prison, no one ventured to either side unless there was a reason for them to.
That included Stinger as well. It had been a long time since he was here. He could see several men standing by the side, just outside the multiple hallways that would lead to the cells.
They were standing there almost like guards. Then, right where Calvin, the leader, was sitting, there were all different-shaped and sized men who were looking right at Stinger. When looking around at the floor though, Stinger noticed that his men, who had also been attacked, were on the floor as well.
Only they looked better compared to before. The wounds on their bodies were pretty much healed. They hadn't come to yet, but they were fine, apart from the blood that was on their clothes.
"You might be a little confused, but I saved you," Calvin stated, lifting up his hand and shaking it slightly.
"Right," Stinger mumbled. "You're Calvin the Miracle Worker; you must have used your Altered powers to heal us."
"Exactly," Calvin smiled. "But I have to say that this time was a lot harder than my usual jobs. All of you were close to death, especially you, Stinger. If you were left there on the ground, then you would have bled out to death."
Flashes of the fight reappeared in Stinger's mind. He couldn't remember much of it, other than panicking, but he did remember one thing, a stinging pain between his shoulder and neck.
He lifted his hand to touch it, and once again, a large stinging pain returned, and it was throbbing this time.
"Ah, be careful; I didn't get to finish explaining," Calvin added. "You see, this is a first for me. I can usually heal someone back to their peak condition, or nothing at all. If you were dead, well, that would have been the end of it.”
"Yet for some reason, the wound by your neck won't heal, and it's not just you. But the other one that Gary Dem bit from your gang, the same wound is unable to heal on him as well."
Altered heal quicker than regular people, so Stinger didn't think much of it, just that it was a wound that would take more time. Calvin must have just been overconfident in his abilities, which many Altered in here were.
"So… why save me? We're not part of the same group, and you know I remain neutral between both groups. If you left me, then that would be one less problem to deal with."
The group members started to laugh, including Calvin himself.
"You don't honestly believe that, do you? You know that neither of our groups has ever seen you as a problem. If anything, you are a good obstacle for both of us and a way to weed out the useless ones.
"But you see, it seems that a useful one has joined. Another person that is able to turn the tide in this place. However, as we have found out with you. This person is quite dangerous, in fact, they are very dangerous.”
"What I want to know is why such a dangerous person is in here, find out why they are here."
Now Stinger found out the reason why he and his group were saved. They were using his group to gather information. That way, his group didn't weaken if there were any accidents while trying to find out about Gary.
Even if they were confident they could beat Gary, after his display, it was clear that he could make a big dent in the entire group if he were to fight against them.
"Information, you're going to try to use the outside information as a way to bring him to your side," Stinger replied.
"And here I thought you had no brain on you. If you know what I want, take your men and get to it."
After being called by the guard, Gary followed him carefully, his body shaking slightly. He had used quite a bit of energy, and worst of all, because he hadn't eaten, it meant that his energy hadn't recovered.
The good news was that he hadn't completely transformed in the fight, so he still had a lot of energy, but who knew what was going to happen when he got back.
Eventually, Gary was led to a door, and it was opened for him. Inside, he could see an area full of seats and dividers. In between reinforced glass, with a small speaker on either side of the room.
This was where visitors would come. The guard led Gary to his seat, and when he reached his divider, he could see who was here to visit him.
"Elijah!" Gary's eyebrows raised.
"It's been a long time." Elijah, the White Rose Agent from the Tier 4 city that Gary had become acquainted with, was here, and ever since then, Elijah had stayed in contact with the Howlers gang.
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