"Dah?" Kevin heard Raya say.
He opened his eyes and she looked at him with worry. He smiled softly to her and she touched his face.
"Dah hah?" she asked.
Another two years had gone by and as per the stipulations Amy had set for him, Kevin took whatever the two gave him and stayed their guinea pig. As of right now though, he wished they would just let him have a small mattress. He wasn't asking for much in that regard and a blow up mattress would have been suffice, but the cold stone floor of the basement and lack of blankets added to his fourth bout of sickness.
Although Raya was only three, she had seen what the people she thought were kind people did to her father. It didn't take a genius or someone with a lot of mental knowledge to understand what abuse was.
Kevin motioned for paper and wrote on it.
Use good words.
Raya looked at it and pouted. In teaching Raya the basic fundamentals of speech, reading, and writing, Kevin had to admit that his daughter was a genius. By the latter part of her first year, she was already writing basic sentences to Kevin for communication and could read words. By two she was able to make tiny sentences and ask questions. At three, she was discovering the world around her in the basement they were kept in and she was also discovering the cruelties of it. Her daddy couldn't talk, the two people who came down the stairs hurt him sometimes, and they weren't exactly the nicest to her. They had never touched her, but Kevin was always getting hit from protecting her.
Kevin hated that his smart and lovely daughter only understood pain and suffering. She didn't need to be here...
"Daddy hot?" she said again, following his direction on the note.
In teaching Raya, Kevin had learned to try and broaden his vocals a little. He could never get a good sentence out but it was broken gurgle. He knew he'd never be able to carry on a normal conversation but Raya could. The problem was that his broken gurgle sometimes crossed over to Raya's speech so he had to correct her sometimes, but only in his presence.
He would never let Amy and Mike know that she was fluent in speech.
Kevin nodded at her as she touched his face again, frowning at the fever he was developing. The door opened from above and Raya gasped, running away into a tiny cage on the other side of the room. She closed the door as the footsteps echoed in the basement. Mike held a bottle in his hand and pointed at Kevin.
"You! What are you doing laying down at the time like –hic- this? You need to sit up and get ready for this next batch of the form-hic-ula we made. I think we got it right this time..."
Kevin didn't do anything and Mike growled, putting the bottle on the table and walking over to Kevin. He grabbed him by the shirt and shook him a little.
"Answer me! I know you can you little piece of shit!"
Kevin coughed in his face (by accident and on purpose) and Mike dropped him, causing Kevin to cough some more. He wiped his nose as Mike clenched his fist.
"I've had about enough of you."
He pulled his leg back to kick him but he stopped when a tiny squeak caught his attention. He looked over at Raya and then back at Kevin. Mike walked over to the cage and pulled on the door, where a lock should have been. He snarled and reached in, grabbing Raya. She cried out and Kevin growled from the floor like a feral animal.
"Dah!" she yelled in fright as Mike practically held her from the floor with only her hair.
"Do you think I keep this little brat around so that I can feel fatherly every once in a while? HUH?!" Kevin looked up at him with low eyes from the floor. "Do you think I'm an idiot?! I know you've been teaching her how to escape from here! You've been showing her movies about escaping for the past year and a half! All those prison movies and spy movies... Amy thinks it's just variety but I know what you're trying to do." He practically shook Raya by her hair and she cried out in pain. Kevin watched him. "If you don't quit your rebellious attitude and secret teachings of escape, I promise you that Raya will be our next guinea pig."
Kevin snarled and launched at Mike, making him trip over the bottom stairs. Kevin grabbed his daughter and held her close as he scrunched himself as far as his body would let him to the corner of the room. One of the experimental concoctions they had given him had actually made him pretty strong. He had a lot of dexterity, strength, and even though he couldn't talk, he had managed to master snarling and growling like an animal. Whether it was a natural instinct he had given himself or part of the formula, he didn't know. All he cared about was keeping Raya safe.
He knew he could escape at any time but he was afraid that doing so would cause problems. So he suffered.
Mike stood back up and clenched his fists.
"You will pay for that."
He left and Raya looked up at Kevin.
"Daddy?" He looked down at her. "Cheeks..."
She reached up to his flushed face and touched them. Kevin relaxed and practically dropped Raya from untensing. He reached up and touched her head.
"Hut?" he asked softly.
She nodded and he clenched his fist. Raya climbed into his lap and laid her head on his chest. She grabbed one of his hands and put it on top of her head.
"Better?" she asked.
He began to do little massages with his fingers as she snuggled into Kevin's chest.
"I luh ooh, Daddy."
"Mmm." He replied but Raya knew he meant the same thing.
Soon, his hand slipped from her head and she looked up, seeing him fall asleep against the wall. She knew she shouldn't do it, but her Daddy was cold and he was sick. She got out of Kevin's arms and crawled slowly up the stairwell to the door that was at the top. She reached up and turned the doorknob, the door opening slightly. She didn't remember being up there before but all she wanted was a blanket for her father.

******************

Mike opened the bedroom door as Amy looked up and frowned at Mike's disheveled appearance.
"What the hell happened to you?"
"That piece of shit downstairs happened. He's planning something with that kid, I know it. You think he's just asking for variety in movies when you give him those spy movies and stuff but he's teaching her how to escape. And she's not as dumb as she seems. I can tell."
Amy made a face when she saw Raya tiptoe behind Mike into the living room. She watched her as inconspicuously as she could as she looked at Mike as well.
"That last batch didn't even come close to what we were wanting to do. It made him more like a feral animal than it did anything close to what the research we are trying to gather is for."
"Well, remember, we were just making sure that he was still compatible with everything. It really wasn't part of the initial experimentation."
Amy lifted an eyebrow at Raya grabbing a large comforter and walking slowly back towards the basement. Once out of sight, Amy focused her full attention on Mike.
"I'm just saying we seem to be procrastinating. The kid is already three years old and the more we allow them to be together, the smarter she's going to become. They'll escape one way or another. We have to buckle down and at least get that serum in him before it's too late."
"Do you plan on letting yourself get caught then?" she asked with a sardonic smile.
"No, you twit. I just don't want to get caught like the other guy did. I want to see the experiment all the way through to the end. If it worked once it can work again."
"Maybe we're missing a factor. I think we need to delve more into the notes about the setting up of the experiment more than the ingredients. We have that, but sometimes his experiments were all about the mood."
"True... God I'm so tired of this." He growled, getting into bed. "I'm going to bed. Don't wake me until I wake up myself."
Amy nodded and waited until he was fast asleep. She then slipped out of bed and went to the basement.

**********************

Raya covered her and Kevin up with the comforter that she had taken from above and snuggled in her father's arms. She didn't like the way his face looked and his skin was cold to the touch. She knew from the movies she and Kevin watched that this was a bad thing. The door opened from above and Raya tried to practically merge with her father. A few moments later, the cover lifted up and Raya looked out, seeing Amy.
"I thought I saw you take this... You're going to get yourself into trouble, Raya."
Raya stuck her tongue out at Amy and the older woman sighed.
"I'm not playing around, Raya. Pull a stunt like that again and I'll make sure to make you are our next guinea pig."
"No." she said.
"Then I suggest you keep yourself in check, young lady." Amy looked at Kevin and frowned. "I'll bring him something for the fever."
She left and Raya sat up, waiting for Amy to come back. A few minutes later, Amy came back with a small cup filled with red liquid.
"Wake your father up."
Raya shook Kevin until he opened his eyes a little and she pointed to Amy. He looked up and heavily sat himself up on his side.
"I'll talk to Mike about the accommodations down here. This is the fourth time you've taken sick. I'll let you keep the comforter for now."
Kevin didn't really understand what she was saying, since he was half asleep, but he swallowed the medicine and made a face at the taste. Raya grabbed her little notebook and wrote Amy a note about maybe getting some sort of bed down there and Amy thought for a moment.
"I'll see what Mike has to say. Letting you be too comfortable could make things difficult."
Raya pouted but Kevin pulled her to him as he started to fall back asleep. Amy went back upstairs to sleep as well.

*******************

Raya woke up drenched in sweat and looked over at Kevin, who was shaking in his sleep. He was wet with sweat as well and didn't look well at all. Raya shook him awake and he opened his eyes blearily at her.
"You're hot, Daddy." She said with a worried look.
He smiled a little but he looked like opening his eyes was about all he could handle for the day. She touched his face and found him clammy as well as very warm. She tried to think of things that people did on the movies to help the ones who were sick but everything involved stuff she didn't already have. She heard the door open and squeaked, hiding under the covers with Kevin.
"You keep babying him and the runt. I think you're going soft, Amy."
"I'm just trying to make it easier to get this experiment done. So far, we can't get him to hold and he keeps getting sick because of the environment down there. I'm not saying it because I want him to be comfortable, I'm saying it because he's the only specimen we have that could make this work. Besides, maybe getting him in a more hospitable environment will help the serum hold. So far when things have been favorable things have gone well."
Mike and Amy appeared at the bottom of the stairwell and Raya peeked out from the covers. Mike pulled them back and grabbed Raya by the hair again. She cried out and Kevin woke up, his eyes red from sickness, but he sat up quickly. Mike grinned.
"Good, got your attention. It has come to my attention that in order for things to go a little more smoothly, we will have to make your accommodations a little more hospitable. Did the doctor have a room like this?" Kevin shook his head no. "Did it look like a normal bedroom?" Kevin nodded. "Fine. We'll bring a small mattress down here and some blankets. There's a price, though, for my generosity." Kevin rolled his eyes but nodded in comprehension. "Raya gets to watch."
Kevin turned his head in confusion at what he meant by that.
"Raya has to sit and watch all the experiments we conduct on you. Doesn't matter what they are or what they do to you. She has to watch and can't try to run away. You understand that you little mouse?" he growled, yanking Raya's hair.
Kevin growled at him in warning of hurting his daughter and Mike glared at him.
"And none of that nonsense. You're a human being, not some animal. You two belong to us and we can do whatever we fucking want to with you both. We choose not to use Raya but don't think we won't if push comes to shove. She's not immune from us."
Kevin stared intently at him, daring him to try something with his daughter.
They ended up in a staring contest but Mike couldn't win. He scoffed and threw Raya towards Kevin. She slipped and fell hard to the floor, hitting her head. Everything was in slow motion for Kevin. Reaching out for his daughter, missing her by a breath, his body falling away from him, her head hitting the hard floor. He lost his ability to breathe for one second as he stared at his daughter for a moment, lost in confusion. He then snapped to reality and quickly picked her up, assessing the damage. She was still breathing but there was a bruise forming on her forehead.
"Cheh, serves her right-"
Kevin put Raya down gently and then turned to Mike. For once, Mike had the decency to look scared and Kevin was suddenly on him, suffocating him against the wall where his hand was sinking deeper into his trachea.
"You. Hurt. Raya!" Kevin snarled, talking hurting his throat so much he thought he felt it bleeding. "I. WILL. KILL YOU."
"Let me go! Amy!" Mike yelled, trying to get Amy's attention.
His eyesight was going black around the edges as unconsciousness began to fall in.
"Dah?"
Kevin turned as Raya blinked at him. He let Mike go and ran to her, falling to his knees. He touched her face and hugged her tight, so happy she was alright. He looked at her bump and a pained look came over his face as he rubbed it with his thumb.
"Hur?" he asked, barely a whisper.
She nodded and pointed to it. "Ki' it."
He smiled and kissed it gently but began to cough into his hand. He pulled back and found that yes, his throat was bleeding. Raya gasped and pulled his shirt in desperation.
"Bah, bah!" she said, fear in her eyes.
Kevin was about to comfort her when he felt something looming over him. He turned but was hit in the face. Raya screamed as Kevin flew back, stars dancing in his sight.
"You've royally pissed me off, Kevin. Say goodbye to your precious little girl."
Kevin could only watch as Mike tore Raya away from him as she desperately tried to hold onto her father. All Kevin could do was stretch out his hand towards her as he watched Mike haul her up the stairs.
Tears filled Kevin's eyes as the door slammed closed. He knew he'd never see his daughter again... his baby girl. His life.
Unconsciousness overtook him and he wished so many times that it was death instead.