Enter the Hound: The Origin of Inu

Chapter 10: Jail Break

 

            “What the hell are you doing here?”

            Inu looked up and, much to her relief, came face to face with none other than Dr. Pembroke.

            “Don’t scare me like that,” she hissed.  Dr. Pembroke rolled his eyes and yanked Inu into the room.

            “‘Don’t scare you,’ huh?” he exclaimed.  “‘Don’t scare you.’ That’s rich!  Have I not made it clear to you what kind of trouble we’ll all be in if you-know-who finds out you exist?  ‘Don’t scare you.’  Don’t friggin’ scare me!”

            He led Inu to a corner behind a privacy curtain that separated the test subjects from the double doors.  “I suppose you came for your friends, then, after I specifically told you to stay away.”

            Inu fixed Dr. Pembroke with a look of such fierce determination that he found it difficult to maintain eye contact.  “You know I can’t just abandon them like that,” she said.  “They’re family.”

            Dr. Pembroke gazed at Inu in silent thought.  After a long pause, he just sighed and shook his head.

            “You are just like your mother,” he said.

            Behind the curtain, Austin and Nadine suddenly tensed in their beds.  They knew that voice, and they were filled with both hope and dread.  Ashley’s presence in the hellish little room meant escape might be possible, and yet they were afraid for their friend’s safety.  They listened as she spoke with Dr. Pembroke, each wondering why the doctor hadn’t hauled her away to be dissected or some other such horrible thing.

            “Maybe they’ve met before,” Nadine whispered.  “Maybe he’ll help us.”

            Austin shrugged and continued to listen.

            “Come on, we don’t have much time,” Dr. Pembroke said.  He led Inu around the curtain and into the room.  “I haven’t done a full-scale evacuation in a longtime.  We’ll have to move quickly.”

            Inu summoned all six of her clone and set about releasing the participants from their restraints.  Austin and Nadine stared and gaped as the clones worked.  Inu undid their straps herself and assured them that they weren’t hallucinating.

            “You can make clones?” Nadine asked.  “Why didn’t you tell me you could do that?!”

            “Um…surprise?” Inu said.

            Nadine frowned.  “You got some serious ‘spaining to do when we get out of here.”

            “Stop hounding her, Nadine,” said Austin, belatedly recognizing the pun.  “Um…sorry, Ash.”

            “Watashi wa Ashuri dewa arimasen.  Watashi wa Inu desu.  Now hurry!  We have to get out of here before—“

            “They took Cori-O!” Nadine interrupted.  “We can’t leave without him.”

            Inu nodded, and went to Dr. Pembroke’s side.  Together with the help of the clones, Inu and Dr. Pembroke herded the liberated participants through the facility.  Inu had no idea where Dr. Pembroke was taking them, but the look on his face was hard and determined, and she had no choice but to trust him.  Along the way, Dr. Pembroke told her that the last time he had done this was back before the explosion in the original facility.

            “On that occasion,” he said, “your mother and I planned to make our escape with a small group of test subjects that Moreau had plucked off the streets: homeless, prostitutes, illegals, Moreau didn’t care, and neither did the police.”

            “But the explosion kept you from succeeding, didn’t it?” Inu asked.

            “Are you kidding?” Dr. Pembroke laughed.  “We planned that explosion.  We didn’t want anyone else to suffer what we had been through.  And it worked, too.  Our group escaped.”

            Inu frowned.  “I’m confused.  I thought Dr. Akita was dead.  And if it was such a successful escape, then why are you still here?”

            The group descended down a narrow flight of stairs and into a subbasement.  An old, rusty water heater stood in the far corner.  Pushing it aside, Dr. Pembroke revealed a large hole in the wall, and a sewage pipe just beyond.

            “Kaede is not dead,” Dr. Pembroke said, motioning for the others to rest a few minutes before continuing on.  “She and the others made it out of here fled to a secluded location where they could recuperate before scattering to parts unknown.  I don’t know where precisely she is now, but I know she’s alive.  Once every six or eight months, I receive a letter telling me when and where to meet her.  We have one night together, and then that’s it until the next letter comes.

            “And the reason I’m still here, well…” Dr. Pembroke turned and scanned the faces of all the participants in the subbasement.  “We knew Dr. Moreau wouldn’t stop his experiments.  We hoped he would, but we knew better.  Someone had to stay behind in case he started again.”

            The sound of an alarm split the air.  Inu covered her ears and dismissed her clones, needing to acclimate to the sound in order to concentrate.  Cursing, Dr. Pembroke hustled the participants through the hole and had Austin lead them into the sewers.

            “They won’t think to look down here just let,” Dr. Pembroke said as he helped the transformed blonde into the sewer pipe.  “Still, better to move now than risk them catching up.”  He crawled into the pipe and extended a hand to help Inu in.  Inu ignored it and began to push the water heater back into place.

            “What are you doing?” he cried.  “They’ll find you!”

            “I have to go back for Cori-O!” she yelled.  Before Dr. Pembroke could protest further, Inu slammed the water heater home with a thud.  Pausing only a moment to catch her breath, Inu tore up the stairs and down the halls in search of Cori-O