The door clinked open, sounding like thunder in the quiet room. My head snapped around to see an overweight guard stride in. The belt around his girth was straining, threatening to give up at any stage. He groaned under his breath as he sat opposite me. Up close I could see his badge said Warden Green.
“Well?” He started. So I guess there was going to be no small talk. I should have expected as much. After all, I was the enemy. According to the police I was one of the most dangerous creatures to ever stalk the earth.
“My name is Amery Jones and I am a federal employee,” I started, crossing my fingers and hoping it would work. “I work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation as an official liaison to Special Agent Robert Bower.”
Green stared at me. “Congratulations,” he said deadpan. Clearly he wasn’t going to be easy to impress.
“The Department is going to be angry when they find out I’ve been locked up in here like a common criminal.” I tried to play it haughtily but doubted I was actually pulling it off. The unaffected look on Warden Green’s face confirmed it.
“We are acting with the full cooperation of the Department,” he replied.
I needed to say something or he was going to send me back to my cell without hesitation. I grappled for anything I could use to make him listen to me. “I have a job to do. When I don’t turn up for work tomorrow, there is going to be hell to pay.”
“And I have a job to do too.” He used the edge of the table to help him stand. “Keeping the citizens of this country safe is my job and you are a threat to them. Unless you have information about the disease, then we are done here.”
“I know we’re not responsible for the disease.”
He chuckled under his breath. “Everyone in every jail cell in the country isn’t guilty, according to them.”
“Just think about it. We’re integrating, what good would it be to us to infect all the humans?” Perhaps I shouldn’t have been using logic but it was all I had by that point.
“Gee, I don’t know,” Green said sarcastically. “Killing off everyone so you can have the place to yourselves? It’s not like poisoning the water takes much effort.”
“The water was poisoned? That’s how the disease is spreading?” I had an overwhelming sense of dread coursing through my body. If the water was infected, that meant no human was safe. It also explained how Lochie, Lola, and my parents had managed to get sick so quickly.
Green must have realized he said something he shouldn’t have because he crossed his arms and buttoned up. His entire demeanor changed in an instant. “You tell me.”
“I don’t know anything. All I can say for sure is that you’re looking at the wrong people. It has to be someone else.”
He headed for the door and I knew I’d lost his attention. He didn’t say another word to me before letting the door slam behind him.
I hit the table with my free hand in complete frustration. I wanted to turn back time so I could do things differently. I needed to be free so I could prove we weren’t behind it all. But above all, I needed someone to listen and take me seriously.
A guard opened the door. “Stand up.”
I didn’t. “You need to hear me out. We are not behind this. You have no right-”
“Stand up.”
“No.” I hit the table again. All the rage inside of me was burning hotter than a million fires. I hated having no control over the situation and be diminished to nothing.
“Stand up,” the guard repeated for a third time. His tone warned me he was losing patience. He wasn’t the only one.
“You cannot hold us here. We have done nothing wrong.”
“Stand up,” he growled.
I stared at the table. If I stood, he would take me back to my cell and I couldn’t go back there. It was all over if that happened, I would have no shot of making it back out again.
The guard suddenly yanked my arm, pulling me to my feet. My shoulder screamed in pain as it was violently tugged from its socket. Thankfully it didn’t pop out but it came close. Searing pain shot down my arm.
Before I could say or do anything, the guard’s hand was in a fist. He punched me across the face, my jaw taking the impact as my head shot to the side with the force. If my arm had been painful, this was excruciating.
My hand instantly shot up to cradle my jaw. The guard thought I was about to strike back and sent a sharp blow to my back. I sprawled forward over the table, the wind knocked out of my lungs.
I lay there, gasping for air and trying not to black out from the sudden bursts of pain. I knew I needed to stand up or I was vulnerable to more attacks in that position. Placing both my palms on the table, I tried to ignore the waves of nausea as they rolled through me.
“Have anything else to say, alien?” The guard asked, taunting me. I was nothing more than amusement to him.
I shook my head in response, fearing I would start to cry if I said anything out loud. I wanted to say exactly what I thought of him but that would only lead to more pain. I needed to be smarter than provoking a nothing guard.
“Good,” he grunted before grabbing my arm again. He yanked me out of the room and back to my cell. He pushed me inside with much more force than warranted.
My entire body ached, my jaw stung and my arm sent out shockwaves of pain when it moved even an inch. I laid on the hard bed and stared up at the ceiling, trying to ignore the pain.
The four walls were still closing in on me but I wasn’t panicking this time. Instead of beating me down, the guard only made my resolve stronger.
I needed a plan and I needed to work out how I could convince the entire world that the Truconians were not behind the disease. If nothing else, it distracted me.
Lacing the water system, that had to be the worst possible crime imaginable. They were killing indiscriminately. Children, babies, the elderly. They were all being infected without even realizing it. Our water was supposed to be safe, that’s what everyone believed. We had no reason to think otherwise. Which is what made it the perfect delivery system.
My mind was a jumble of confusion as I gave in to exhaustion. It had been a long night hiding with Lochie and my time with the guard took the last traces of my energy.
I fell into a restless sleep with faceless people taking turns punching and kicking me. They were all laughing the entire time, adding to my humiliation.
I was pulled from my nightmare by a noise. It took a moment to realize the clinking of the door to my cell opening was what had awoken me. Two guards stood in the cramped confine of my cell, both staring down at me with no compassion in their eyes.
When I moved to sit up, pain from my shoulder shot down my body. I tried not to show any signs, lest I show them weakness, but it was largely involuntary.
“Get up,” one of them barked the order at me. I think they were their favorite two words.
This time, I didn’t hesitate to move. As much as my body protested, I pushed myself to my feet. I waited for their next instructions.
The guard on my right stepped forward and cuffed my wrists together. They pulled me along between them. Every tiny jolt set my shoulder on fire and my jaw was stiff. Talking was going to be painful.
They took me down a different corridor to the one from the previous day. It was long and windy, crossing at least one other wing entirely. My anxiety grew with every step. I doubted they were taking me for a leisurely stroll for my constitution.
“Where are we going?” Yep, talking was definitely painful. My injured jaw felt twice as big as it should be. Some pain killers would have been wonderfully welcome.
The guards didn’t answer me. I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything more. I was the lowest of the low after all. The cockroaches in the place probably had more rights than I did. They didn’t kill thousands of humans over the last four weeks.
We made it to a door marked ‘Do Not Enter’ and went inside. Every inch of my body and soul went cold when I saw what it held. There was a stainless steel bed, a pletho
ra of medical equipment, and two men dressed in white coats.
“Why? Why are you doing this?” I asked frantically.
The guard on my right smirked. “Squeaky wheels are not welcome here.”
Panic was an understatement. Especially when the guards picked me up and placed me on the bed. Even as I struggled, they managed to get my cuffs off and strapped me down. My arms were stretched outwards, my wrists buckled with heavy leather straps. My legs were next to follow, held down with strong hands until the leather was secured and took over.
I was completely immobile and at their mercy.
CHAPTER 12
“What are you going to do to me?” I asked, unable to keep the panicked high pitch out of my voice.
The two men in white coats got straight to work without answering me. One of them slid a needle into my arm, drawing blood, from what I could tell. It hurt to hold my head up to watch them but I couldn’t just lay back and relax. To make it worse, they were using my sorest arm.
The other guy attached a bunch of electrodes to my chest. Having his arm down my top was the least of my problems. The sticky dots were cold but it barely registered. Pure fear was making my heart thunder in my chest.
“What are you doing?” I repeated. If they would tell me, if I could understand, then maybe I could handle it. The fact I knew nothing about what was happening to me had to be the worst of all.
The one that had drawn my blood looked down at me. He was older than I expected, probably in his fifties. His bushy grey eyebrows twitched when he spoke. “We’re studying you.”
“Why? What for?”
“Your kind is immune to the disease,” he replied calmly. “We need to work out why. We need to find a cure and this is going to be the best way to do that.”
I took a few breaths. If they needed to poke and prod at me, then I could handle that. If it meant they could find a cure and save the humans, then I would gladly submit. If they could work out the antidote that would make Lochie, Lola, and my parents better, then I would do anything for them.
While it wasn’t pleasant, and at times it was painful, I let the men work without protesting. Not that it would have mattered anyway. It wasn’t like I had a choice in the matter.
After a few hours of being strapped down, everything hurt worse than it had previously. I wanted to move and stretch so badly but my limbs were being held too tightly.
“Can you please untie me? I promise I won’t stop your work,” I said. They both paused to look at me before exchanging a glance between themselves. Clearly, they needed more convincing. “Look, I want to save the humans just as much as you do. Everyone I love is sick and I would do anything for them. I want to help.”
“We are under orders that you are to remain secured,” the one on my right replied.
“I won’t tell if you don’t.”
He shook his head and returned to work. It was worth a shot, I didn’t really expect them to do it anyway. I was quickly learning that nobody was going to care what I thought about things.
Time passed so slowly while I lay there. There was no clock in the room and my watch had been taken when I first arrived at the prison. I could have been there for an hour or several. It certainly felt like several.
“Take a few deep breaths,” the doctor ordered me as he placed an oxygen mask over my mouth and nose. But there wasn’t oxygen coming through, whatever it was made me very sleepy fast. The thought of being asleep and at their mercy was terrifying but I didn’t have long to think about it. I fell into darkness, into the abyss where it seemed I might not return.
I didn’t dream, which was probably a good thing considering all my nightmares. I was completely unconscious for who knows how long.
My ears were awake before my eyes. I heard the sounds in the room before seeing anything. The two men weren’t near me but I could still hear them. They were talking in semi-hushed tones. Judging by their conversation, they didn’t suspect I was awake yet. I kept my eyes closed, perpetuating the ruse.
“I believe we’ve got everything we possibly can for now.”
“I agree. She’s been quite useful.”
“Her biology is almost exactly the same as us. I didn’t believe it before but now I’ve seen it with my own eyes…”
“If it wasn’t for the extra proteins in her blood, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference yet.”
“The autopsy will reveal much more.”
“Certainly. We will need slides of her brain, as well as all her other vital organs. The immunity to the disease has to be in her genetic makeup somewhere.”
“If it is, we’ll find it.”
They paused while I silently freaked out. Autopsy? They only performed those on dead people. They expected me to be dead soon.
They continued on completely oblivious. “I almost believe it’s possible for this thing to reproduce with humans.”
“Now that’s a terrifying thought.”
“A hybrid. I never thought I would see something like that.”
“I never thought I’d see an actual alien. And yet here it is, in this very room.”
“We should save some of her eggs for future experiments.”
“I’ll make a note of it for the autopsy.”
“She should be coming around soon. I’ll get the guards to take her back to her cell before she wakes up. We’re done with her for today.”
“Agreed.”
There was no use in protesting. The door opened and closed twice before rough hands carried me back to my cell. They dumped me on my bed and slammed the door closed behind them. There was nothing gentle about anything they did to me.
I was still groggy for hours afterwards. My stomach was growling for food, it had been more than two days since I had eaten anything. Even then, I had been so worried about everyone that I had barely picked at my food.
Endless hours of boredom stretched ahead of me. In the tiny cell, I tried to exercise. My injured limbs protested any movement so I was gentle. I wanted to heal but couldn’t let my body grow weak. Running on the spot seemed like my best option for now.
As I moved, I tried to think of a strategy to get out of there. I couldn’t save anyone if I was being dissected by curious doctors. I got the distinct impression that finding a cure for the disease was secondary to their inquisitiveness.
My door clanked open without any warning. “Chow time. Hurry up.”
Chow time? That meant food, right? I trailed after the guard, noticing quite a few of the doors to other cells open. I wasn’t handcuffed which was a first. Perhaps they deemed me not enough of a threat after my morning of surgical fun.
“You’ve got one hour,” the guard ordered as he stepped away from the door he had been blocking. There was a cafeteria behind him. And it was full of other prisoners.
I hurried in, not wanting to waste one minute of my hour. I searched the faces for some I recognized. I spotted them at a table in the corner. I didn’t bother with food, I needed to see my birth parents.
“Mom, Dad.” I almost shouted the words I was so happy to see them. They both embraced me together. “Are you okay?”
“We’re fine. What about you? You look so pale,” Mom said, her eyes running over me as she attempted to tuck an unruly piece of hair behind my ear. I hadn’t seen myself in a mirror but was pretty certain I had a decent bruise from the guard’s punch to my jaw. It felt that way, anyway.
“I’m okay. Are they treating you well?”
“We’ve been locked up since we were caught,” Dad explained. “But you, I keep hearing your cell door opening and closing. What have they been doing to you?”
I shook my head, refusing to let the tears flow. I needed to be strong for them. “Just trying to find out stuff. It’s nothing.”
“I’ll get you some food,” Mom said as she hurried off to the line.
Dad looked at me pointedly. “It isn’t nothing, is it?”
I was on the verge of crumbling and telling him everything. But that
was not going to happen. Not yet and not now. “It’s nothing I can’t handle. But I’ve been thinking, you and Mom have powers, right?”
He sat down, indicating for me to do the same. It was more painful to move than I let on as I joined him. He leaned in close, making sure we couldn’t be overheard. “We are forbidden from using our powers on Earth. You know that.”
“I do, but maybe that’s the only way out of this situation. Keeping us locked in here is the best case scenario, what about if they intend to do worse?”
“Worse how?”
“Like kill us. They could, they have no reason to keep us all in here forever. We’re mass murderers in their eyes, we deserve to die for our crimes.” I didn’t believe that and it physically hurt saying it out loud but there was no point in dancing around the situation. Burying our heads in the sand wouldn’t do any of us any good.
My harsh words seemed to hit a nerve with my father. He nodded solemnly. “It is a tough situation.”
That was an understatement. A wave of dizziness suddenly washed over me. I tried to breathe deeply to mask it but Mom chose that moment to return with a tray of food. She set it in front of me.
“Amery, what’s wrong? You look even worse than before and I didn’t even think that was possible.”
Nice, Mom, just what I wanted to hear.
“I just need some food,” I managed to get out. I had to grit my teeth together to stop myself vomiting. There would be nothing but bile in my stomach but it didn’t stop the nausea.
Mom pushed the tray closer to my reach and I took a bread roll. I forced myself to eat it slowly but I certainly didn’t have the stomach for it. Perhaps twenty-four hours ago it might have been nice, now I was beyond hungry.
She played with the ends of my hair absentmindedly as I ate. It was a small comfort in the horrible place. They gave me a quick rundown of their capture. They had only made it to the end of the street before being picked up by the police. Clearly we had hesitated too long to make a successful getaway. Our house was targeted in particular because of our previous media attention.
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