by Harper Doyle
It took several attempts before there was a hole the shape of a shoulder, approximately the size of a cantaloupe. Nadia stopped Dmitri before he started to run again.
“I think that’s a good start, we can pull on it from here.” Nadia grabbed a piece of the wall and yanked pulling off a piece of drywall. Dmitri followed suit and pulled off a bigger piece. They continued in the manner until there was a hole big enough for a large child to fit through. Nadia went over to where Sonya had been laying and grabbed her.
“I’ll go first, followed by Sonya, then you Dmitri. Okay?” Dmitri nodded and Sonya gave a look that seemed to mean ok. Nadia pushed herself through the opening and discovered that the inside of a wall was not a pleasant place to be. Spiders and their webs seemed to find there way into her face and a few times Nadia found herself inhaling them. The space between walls was barely big enough for Nadia to stand slightly diagonal with her shoulders brushing the walls. The inner wall area seemed like a maze and Nadia started to make her way down the inner corridor. Sonya stumbled a few times and Dmitri was silent from behind. Nadia realized that she had not thought this plan through and so far they had been wandering aimlessly.
“Nadia, do you have a plan of where we are going?” Dmitri called from the back.
“SHHH! Not so loud Dmitri and no I did not really plan farther than this. My thoughts are that we have to come out of the wall at some point, I just don’t know where or when.”
“Well, not to pressure you but I think Sonya is silently freaking out. I just think we should pick someplace to pop out soon.”
“Good idea, how about a few more steps, I want to find a hollow place where it might be weaker in the foundation.” Dmitri nodded and urged Sonya to continue to move. Nadia pushed forward a little while longer until coming to an older piece of wood and started to push against it. The wood splintered and cracked under only a slight bit of pressure. With the piece of wood gone the hole was easy to create. Pushing was easier than pulling and in a few moments the three siblings were out of the wall.
“Fresh air.” Dmitri sighed and Sonya let out a sneeze. Nadia kept silent and surveyed their surroundings. The overall appearance looked like a hospital, but they had been in jail cells only a few hundred feet away. The confusion was evident of Nadia’s face, but Dmitri did not notice, due to the fact that he was deeply inhaling the ‘fresh air.’
“Dmitri, be quiet, please.” Dmitri shut up quickly and went to stand next to Nadia and Sonya. For the first time since their kidnapping Sonya made a sound. A sort of whimper, which caught both Dmitri and Nadia by surprise.
“What’s the matter Sonya? Are you hurt? Sonya?” Nadia said to her, smoothing her hair and bending down to her eyelevel. Sonya was looking beyond Nadia, a little farther down the hall. Nadia looked confused before Dmitri got up and started to pull the girls down the hall.
“Guards I think. Quick let’s get out of here, now!” Dmitri whispered over his shoulder. Nadia had little to no time to respond before her legs started to run and Sonya was on her back. Sonya began to cry, and Nadia tried to quiet her, but the sobs shook her body and the noise was louder then could be contained.
“Shhh, Sonya, everything is going to be alright. But, right now you need to be quiet so that they guards don’t come after us. Okay?” Sonya nodded and tried to stifle her crying. There was the sound of clinking, as the guards started to walk down the hall.
“Shit, they’re coming. There is no where to hide!” Dmitri was panicking and Nadia was not far behind. The hallway did not have any turns or curves to hide behind, save for the one that they were hidden behind.
“We have to make a run for it. There is no other way.” Dmitri was whispering into Nadia’s ear.
“But, there is no where to go, the door at the end of the hallway could lead back to where we started and then all this would be for nothing.” Nadia was trying to come up with an idea, but no thoughts would form in her head and the time for a decision was drawing near.
“We have to, they are almost here.” Dmitri was pleading, fear enveloping his entire being. Nadia hesitated for a moment before nodding and getting up. Sonya was transferred to Dmitri’s back and then Dmitri and Nadia started to run for their lives. The guards heard them and turned the corner.
The children were exhausted from lack of food and energy, so the guards caught up with them quick enough. Sonya was snatched first, peeled right off of Dmitri’s back. With the sudden change of weight Dmitri lost his balance and fell forward whereas a guard jumped on top of him and held his head down. Nadia turned around quickly to see what had happened and in that time a guard grabbed her wrist and yanked it to stop her movement. With the three siblings caught they were given harsh punishment in the form of a severe beating for all of them, including Sonya. After being beaten to a bloody pulp the siblings were taken to a new holding facility with a guard posted at all times to monitor them. The next few hours held pain and silence with random bouts of unconsciousness.
The next day, or what could have passed as the next day brought bad news and heartache. Early in the morning, as could be determined by the spurts of light given off in the hole called a window, brought Daniel and the old man. This time there were no smiles or the illusion of happiness.
“Grab the boy; put him on the fast track. Leave the girls, they must under go tests.” Daniel opened the barred door and pulled at Dmitri’s shirt and he groaned in the process. Sonya was not awake and Nadia was barely clinging to consciousness. Her eyes flickered for a moment and then her world went black.
Hours later, or what seemed like hours later Nadia awoke. Slowly at first then with the memories flooding her mind she bolted upright, which was a bad idea. The pain flooded to her head and made her dizzy while increasing her pain tenfold. Laying back down she tried to assess her surroundings, but could see little from her position on her back.
“Sonya? Dmitri? Anyone, hello?” she called out, her voice cracking from lack of lubrication. Her lips were cracked and painful, her throat dry as a desert. A few tears escaped her eyes as she heard no response and the pain from the beating hit her like a wave. She lied there unmoving for several minutes, regaining her composure and trying to establish where she was.
While contemplating getting up again Nadia heard the door open and a thud as a body hit the floor. To see who it was merited the pain she would receive from sitting up. After upright and gritting her teeth through the pain Nadia opened her eyes and saw a little girl that looked like her sister. But, this could not be her sister, this girl was bloody and dirty, hair matted to her head and her face so very somber. Nadia stared closer and realized that this girl was in fact her sister.
“Sonya? Are you okay?” Nadia crept to be next to her sister and her head reeled from the movement. A moan was heard coming from Sonya, and when Nadia got there she saw that there were several needle pokes in her arms, with a trickle of blood coming from each of them. Tears stung her Nadia’s eyes and she held Sonya tightly in her arms, unwilling to let go of her baby sister. Fearing the worst and expecting all hell to break loose Nadia let her emotions go.
“Nadia, I hurt so much. I want mommy, I miss her.” Nadia felt a tug in her heart and tried to sooth her sister with petting her head.
“When can we go home? I don’t like it here. All they do is poke me, and I scream but they just poke me more.” Sonya tried to move her arm so that she could show Nadia but the pain must have been to much and her arm slumped and then fell to the ground.
“It hurt so much, Nadia. Please don’t let them take me again. Please…please.” Sonya’s voice was so frail and soft.
“We will get out of here Sonya. Somehow, I will find a way to get us out of here. Me, you, and Dmitri, we will all go home, I promise.” Nadia was choking on her tears but pushed the words out in an effort to comfort both herself and Sonya. There was
a chuckle coming from behind Nadia and she turned to see Daniel and the old man standing in the doorway.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep child. I hate to break it to you, but you and your siblings will never leave this place as long as I have a say in it.” The old man chuckled again and Nadia was filling with rage.
“You monster, what do you want with us? We have not done anything to you. Leave us alone, let us go home. Stop hurting my sister and give me back my brother!” Nadia felt defiant and her anger gave her the courage to speak out against the evil old man laughing at her. The throbbing in her head was pushed down and kept at bay by her anger.
“Stop speaking as if you matter. The answer is that we collect children to use and transform into cyborgs for fighting and killing. That’s the basic idea of it, so you better get used to being hurt and alone. That is all that we have to offer you here. Don’t expect us to hold your hand and pat you on the head, we don’t do that here.” Nadia was shivering with fear and the old man seemed to enjoy it.
“Daniel will you grab Miss Rachmaninov. It’s time for her tests. I’m sure that you are just going to love them.” Daniel walked into the cell and towards Nadia. She tried to push him away, but of course she was a fourteen year old female and he was a forty year old muscular man. He easily over powered her.
There was a swift blow to the back of her head, supposedly to make her easier for traveling, better than some kid kicking and screaming the whole way. The next thing Nadia knew she was in what appeared to be a hospital room, but something seemed to tell her that this was no hospital room. On one wall there were instruments that couldn’t possibly be needed for everyday hospital uses, sharp knives, saws, and plenty of electrical equipment for unknown reasons.
“Wake up now Miss Rachmaninov, time for test number one. Not a particularly difficult test, not much fun either. But, protocol calls for me to do everything by the books. So—” The old man drew in a breath and Daniel, as if by cue left the room.
“What do you want with me? Why are you doing this?” Nadia was pleading with the man. Surely he had answers, anything to put her ravenously curious and exhausted mind to ease. The man seemed to ignore her and picked up a needle from a surgical table nearby and tested it, as all doctors do before injections. Seeing the needle made Nadia freak out a bit, she had never been one to enjoy needles, and in fact she sort of had a slight fear of them. At this point Nadia started to plead, beg, scream, anything that would stall the needle from reaching her skin.
“Now, now, Nadia, don’t be such a scaredy cat, it won’t hurt…that much.” And with that the man plunged the needle into Nadia’s right arm, near the elbow and pushed the liquid in.
“Test number one complete. I guess that it’s not much of a test, more like a step. Oh, well, I didn’t invent the rules, I just follow them.” Nadia screamed at the pain resulting from the jab of the doctor man. Whatever the liquid was there didn’t seem to be any direct effects.
“Tell me, you bastard, what do you want with my family? Stop your fucking around and tell me right now!!” Nadia was screaming, pulled at her restraints that kept her tied down to the bed. All the questions boiling inside her, the memory of her parents, dead, the sight of her little sister bloody and broken, and not knowing where her brother was. She started thrashing around, unable to keep her emotions and feelings inside anymore. The man sighed and gathered himself for the informing talk he was about to unleash.
“Well, it is quite a long story to tell in such a short time. So I’ll give you the abridged version. Don’t feel bad, you are not going to miss much.” The man drew in a breath and let out a sort of chuckle before continuing.
“The beginning of this story starts much like all other stories in the world, a boy with a dream. Only this boy works hard for what he believes and goes off to college and learns what he needs to know. After getting into the world of his dreams, he starts a company and named it Theta. Not sure where the name came from, but whatever. This man gathers more men like him and together they accomplished the dream of the man who started it all. You may be wondering what this has to do with you. Well, to be frank you are the materials needed to fulfill the dream.” The man paused here for effect, letting the words so far sink in before he sighed and continued on.
“To put in terms so that you will understand let’s start with the man. The man is not me if you were wondering; I am but a hired hand, same as Daniel. My name is of no importance to you, but you may call me Jack. I rather like that name, wish it were my real name. But life goes on, back to the story. The man’s dream was to create the ultimate cyborg machines. Make it look like a human, but have the equipment of a machine.
“The company surveys different families in search of candidates and then takes what they need to continue research. Lucky you, your whole family was good to go, ‘cept your parents, the lab only needs children. You see, there is a very prestigious program we run here, need kids before they hit puberty, or close after in order to make the transformation possible. In the beginning the man who started all this tried it out on a fellow partner and he died. Quite sad, but he played a vital role in furthering the research so all is well.
“The children we collect undergo preliminary testing to prepare them for the slow transformation into cyborgs. You and your sister are such candidates, no real incisions for a couple of years. In that time we will start you with small procedures to pave the way to a new life. Your brother is on the fast track, he already hit puberty, but lucky for us not too long ago. He’ll be finished about the same time you start, or close thereafter. When you finish your mechanical transformation you are prepped for either battle or espionage, very lucrative work mind you. Cool thing is that once you are finished and ready for work, you don’t really age much, being mostly metal has its advantages.” Jack took a breath and looked Nadia straight in the eye.
“Now you here missy, I told you all you need to know, so try and be a good little girl and let me finish up this round of tests so that I can get my sleep. Soon enough you will be in community housing, so shut up and calm down.” Nadia didn’t realize she was holding her breath until Jack was done. Once again remembering to breathe the knowledge she had just been given started to sink in and she was so deep in thought that she did not even feel the prick of two more needles.
“One last test, this one is a real doozy, not fun for you, but loads for me.” Nadia had a bad feeling about the way he said that. Jack pulled over a tray that held dozens of needles, and Nadia remembered Sonya and the dozens of puncture wounds she had had on her arms. Nadia tried to pull on the restraints and discovered that one of the injections had been some sort of a paralysis concoction that prevented her from moving her body, but as she would find out, did not remove the pain.
“All these needles are very important in determining if you have any allergies and what not. There are a few dozen of your arms, and quite a few on your back. Loads ‘o fun if I ever saw it.” Jack seemed to enjoy this part of the testing round way to much, and Nadia paid for it in the pain she received from each and every poke.
“Stop, please, it hurts. Please!” Nadia had found her voice once more since Jack had told her the story and the plans for her, though it was too little, too late. Not that Jack would have cared in the first place, he enjoyed seeing others suffer and watch their pain. He was a sick, sick man.
“Nearly there, my dear, only a few more to go, then back to your pretty little sister. HaHaHAAHA!!” Jack was laughing his head off, and Nadia was confused as to why he found their situation so amusing. But, to get back to Sonya was the number one goal in Nadia’s mind at the moment, just seeing her little sister and knowing that she could still protect her, that was enough for Nadia to continue living. Without Sonya everything would be so much harder.
The testing round lasted for thirty more minutes before Jack got up from his swivel chair and br
ought Daniel back in. The drugs in Nadia’s system hadn’t quite been flushed out yet, so her limbs refused to respond to her brain’s message to get the hell out of there. Although this time Nadia could see where they were going, not that she could recognize anything or know how to get back to where she had been. Daniel was a man of few words, none to be precise. The entire time that the Rachmaninov children had been in the prison not once had Daniel spoken. This gave Nadia some food for thought on the walk back to her cell, along with the information she had attained from Jack, including a name to call him, if not his real name.
“Daniel is your name, right?” Nadia prodded the brawny man, trying to gain more information about the place she was in and possibly more importantly, how to get out. Her question was answered with silence, not even a hint that he had heard her. His main goal was to get Nadia back to her cell, and that did not include small talk. Nadia tried a few more questions, simple ones, about him and why he was here, but none of them sparked a conversation, or even a response. After a while Nadia gave up trying to talk to him and a short time later they were back at the cell.
When they got to the cell though there was a mess of blood and lying in the middle of a pool of blood was a tiny figure.
Chapter 2
When Nadia focused on the figure in the pool of blood, what she saw was something that brought the animal in her out. A small girl, with brown hair and a doll-like face, someone who looked exactly like her little sister, Sonya. Nadia couldn’t contain herself, and lucky for her the drug was wearing off, giving her mobility again. She dove for the first person she saw and went after their throat, intent on maiming them, if not killing them. How dare they take the life of an innocent child, a defenseless child? Her rage was unsurpassed, but her strength easily was. Daniel appeared from the corner of her vision and grabbed her arms, and pinned them behind her back, but leaving her legs free. Nadia used her legs to kick the faces of the guards covered in Sonya's blood. Quite a few of them hit there mark and sent the men backwards, but eventually Jack showed up with his drugs and Nadia was out once more, into the black state of unconsciousness.