Weekend Getaway Part 3

"Gyahaahaahaaaa!!" Came the maniacal laughter that pierced through Juni's soul, it was a maniacal laugh she knew all to well as she looked around. It was as though she had been sent back in time, to the days of her childhood, as a cold steel floor lay below, and a cold steel roof above her, surrounded by frigid bars that held no comfort for her, and a door that had been shut and locked by a rather heavy looking padlock that had seen better days. She reached her tiny hands to the bars, and realized just how young she was again, no more than a furling of five, maybe six, as she shook the bars desperately, trying to scream out, but it being drowned out by 16 similar screams of torment, "Dr. Eckelheim STTTOOOOOPPPP!!" she screamed.

Juni tossed and turned, groaning and talking in her sleep, it had been so loud that it had alerted Vikki, who had just finished bringing in the rest of their luggage. She turned over to Aya, who had met them there and had known about this getaway and the fact that she was going to knock Juni out way ahead of time. "I told you you shouldn't have knocked her out Vikk, didn't you read in her dossier that she's sometimes prone to nightmares?"

"I couldn't take a chance, you know I trust Juni, but I really wanted to make this a big surprise for her, and I thought that would be the best way. Now I feel kinda guilty about it." Vikki said, hanging her head low and folding down her ears, staring at her feet.

"Just go check on her, make sure she's okay." Aya retorted, heaving the last of Juni's gear with their own into the storage closet for now, they could always unpack later, "I'll start on supper, I hope you both like chicken!"

With that, Vikki bounded up the stairs hurriedly down the upstairs hall and to the second door on the left, the guest bedroom where Aya had helped Vikki carry Junitea. Juni was drenched in cold sweat as Vikki layed her hand on Juni's shoulder and started to gently shake her, while she mumbled, "No... wrong.... Eckel......" "Juni, wake up," Vikki said, hopefully loud enough to cut through the dream and reach her, "You're having a nightmare, it's not real, Juni."

Juni's eyes fluttered open at the sound of Vikki's voice, and instantly without hesitation, she grabbed her, shaking, on the verge of tears. "It was.... horrible.... Vikki, I was so scared."

"Shhhhh, shhhhhhh, calm down honey, tell me what you saw..." Vikki whispered into Juni's ear, holding the terrified neo-feline close to her own body and stroking her fur gently.

"My past.. I saw part of my past, unfolding all before me, the doctor he was... torturing one of my sisters, and I was locked in a cage, cold steel all around me, I screamed and screamed, but there was nothing I could do!" and with that Juni, still terrified beyond her wits, but happy to be Vikki's arms, began to weep, at the memory of all of her sisters who never got a second chance like she did.

Vikki's arms embraced Juni tightly, "Hun, tell me about your sisters, how many did you have? Were they older, younger, same age as you?"

Juni sniffed, and began to recount, "I had sixteen sisters, all genetically similar to me, I guess you could say we were all twins, but clones is a more accurate word for it. I was the last made out of seventeen, making me the youngest when they all died.

"I'm sorry Juni," Vikki whispered quietly, "That "Eckel" fellow you mentioned sounds like an even more deranged version of Doctor X."

Juni pulled back a little to look at Vikki, "How did you know his name?" she asked shakily.

"I overheard you mumble it in your sleep darling." Vikki held Juni, stroking her fur lightly, "I should have never put that sleeping medicine in your drink Juni, I saw in your dossiere that you were nightmare prone, I'm so sorry, I wanted to surprise you."

"Surprise me?" Juni mumbled, and then she remembered all of a sudden, "Are we here?" she asked, her tone changing to one of a more excited nature, forgetting (for now) all about her nightmare.

"Mmmhmmm, take a look around, take a good smell." Vikki suggested, and, after blowing her nose, Juni did just that.

"Cedar, pine! Fresh spring lake! Is that chicken cooking downstairs? I didn't know you could cook Vik?!" Juni asked excitedly.

"That's not me," she laughed, "Aya is here too, I had her meet us up here. She needed a little respite. Come on, let's go downstairs, this is the guest room by the way, and while you are here, consider it yours. It has everything you'll need."

Juni looked around and, truly it did have everything she needed, her own spacious half washroom, complete with shower, no tub unfortunately, a beautiful vanity sink with polished brass tap handles, American Standards she guessed, and what looked to be a single piece toliet with soft close seat. "No spacious bathtub?" Juni asked quizzically.

"Main bathroom," came Vikki's giggled response, "But each of the two rooms has it's own half bathroom plus the main, Aya and I can share a room, but strangely enough not a bathroom, she's too much of a mirror hog, yet she complained the same about me when we got sent out together on missions."

Juni got up, as Vikki followed suit and Juni squeezed her in a big hug. "This really does look like a paradise." as the two girls left Juni's room, seeing the room just across the hall from her, but in not much detail as the door was partly closed, the sign read Aya and Vikk. From what she could make out there appeared to be two beds. They turned left and went passed the bathroom, and down the stairs to the foyer area, once again all those wonderful smells greeted Juni's nostrils, as Aya, with her long black hair pulled back into a ponytail, was busy tossing some shredded chicken in a skillet frying pan with some mushrooms and what smelled to be a garlic butter, and a few cheeses on the side, romano, parmesano, and mozzarella, along with a large bottle of cream and some butter, beside it all. Aya looked up from the pan, "Juni, good to see you're awake, I thought I'd get some supper started, I hope you like-"

"Chicken?" Juni cut in, stopping Aya mid sentence.

Aya just laughed, "I forgot about that powerful schnozz of yours, you could prolly smell it all the way upstairs." Aya laughed again when Vikki reached over and honked Juni's nose, "Meep meep."

Juni giggled, "Hey, come on knock that off!!" she smiled as she strode over to hug Aya, "I missed you hun, it's so good to have you along on this trip."

Aya smiled, "It's so good to be here hon, I just hope I can keep up with the hijinx of you two clever neos, I dunno what Vikki's planned for us, but I know it's gonna be fun."

"You have no idea." came Vikki's response as she poured herself a margarita from the premade pitcher in the fridge, "It's probably not a good idea for you have alcohol just coming down off of those sleeping meds Juni, but we made some non alcoholic lime margarita, do you want one?"

"Yes, please" came Juni's response as Vikki wetted and salted the rim of the goblet expertly, then did another one for herself, and wedged a lime slice on the sides before pouring the green slush like mixture into both glasses, looking over to Aya and seeing she already had a nearly full one, she topped up Aya's drink, and hand delivered Juni's drink to her, which she accepted in her left hand, a prompt nod of her head and a "Thank you." to show she indeed had manners.

The two drank and set the table with cutlery and plates while Aya busily chopped away at some green onion, bringing some fuscilli to a boil and adding oil to the water, all the while stirring the sauce, the scent of those three cheeses making Juni purrrrr deeply with anticipation, and made Vikki's ears perk in her direction.

"Kinda sounds like a Harley Davidson dear." she joked.

"I'm sorry, was I purring too loudly? It's just that the sauce smells sooooooooo gooooooooooooooood." Juni purrrrrred again happily, causing Vikki to giggle, trying to approximate her best purr, but it was more like a high pitched yiff of a fox.

"That's okay," Vikki laughed, "Neo-felines do that when they are happy, and I for one am proud that you are happy right now."

"Ditto here!" piped Aya from the kitchen.

As the three of them sat down for dinner, three even length white candles were lit, the words "Live free Neos" carved into each one of them. Juni's eyes watched the flames as they danced upon the tips, until her eyes were distracted by the beautifully presented plate of pasta and sauce that was set down before her, the dim lights of the candles accentuated by the ambience of low lighting and classical music.

"Bach, one of my favourite composers, so you truly did read all of my dossiere?" she asked, worried about whether or not the part about her hidden tattoo was in there.

"All of the important things," was Aya's reply, "Now how's about we say Grace, Juni, wanna do the honours?"

Juni nodded her head, and as the three girls held hands and Juni spoke to thank the lord, she knews she was truly in for an amazing weekend.