J.O.Y

by Yalu Taylors

  “Why can't they just leave us the fuck alone. They are fucking ruining everything.” He smashed his clenched fist into the steering wheel again and I cower against the door. I reach for the seatbelt intending to jump from the car, but he grabs my hand squeezing it tightly.

  “You aren't going anywhere. You are mine.” His eyes are on me and I turn to look out the windscreen, a scream ripping from my throat as the jeep collides with the tree.

  My body slams hard against the seatbelt, then just as suddenly I'm thrown back against the seat. All the air rushing out of my lungs. Glass rains down around me as I watch Shaun fly through the windshield. My ears are ringing and my vision blurs in and out of focus. He should have worn his seatbelt. I'm not sure why but this is the only coherent thought in my mind.

  The screech of metal reaches my ears as the door is torn from its hinges. I try to scream but no sound comes out. Big hands wrap around my neck and I struggle weakly against them. The hands don’t tighten however, they just hold firmly over the front of my throat. I pry my eyes open and stare into mesmerizing swirls of hazel.

  “Braydon! She’s bleeding bad. Get your ass over here.” My eyes close again. “Tessa! Open your eyes. Come on Trouble, stay with me.” I hear more shouting and sirens, but I can’t seem to find the strength to obey the voices. Darkness surrounds me, and the voices disappear.

  Hunter

  “Braydon! She’s bleeding bad. Get your ass over here.” Her eyes close and I panic. “Tessa! Open your eyes. Come on Trouble, stay with me.” My heart stutters as her breathing stops. “Braydon!” I shout again and look over my shoulder as I hear the sirens getting louder. Braydon isn't going to make it before the authorities get here. I protest as he pulls my hands away, but Braydon quickly replaces my hands with his. I fear it's already too late for our beautiful Tessa.

  I slump back against the wreckage as I watch Braydon try to heal Tessa. The sirens are right on top of us but I don't care anymore. Getting caught doesn't scare me like it used to. The only thing I'm scared of now is losing Tessa. The girl is my everything. She's brought laughter and light to all our lives, I knew one day we'd all fall in love and move on with our lives but I never thought we'd all fall for the same girl.

  The paramedics arrive just as Brayden manages to get Tessa's wound to close. The three man team just stare at him as he pulls his blood soaked hands away from her neck. “Is she?” I can't bring myself to say the words. Braydon shakes his head. “I don't know what else to do.”

  A cop runs over and starts barking orders and questions but I don't hear the words. My head is full of cotton wool as I stare at the girl I fell in love with. One of the paramedics grabs her arm and something inside of me snaps. I shove him aside screaming at him not to touch her. Someone tries to grab me and I struggle against them. I reach Tessa's hand but it slips through my grasp as two more cops grab me and the next thing I know I'm being handcuffed and pushed into the back of a police van.

  I watch with my heart breaking as the paramedics wheel a gurney with a body in a black bag, passed the van I'm in. My temper snaps at the same time the cuffs around my wrists do. “Tessandra.” I scream as I break through the door. Please don't let her be dead. I pray.

  Braydon appears beside me just as I reach for the zip on the body bag. “Stop Hunter. It's not Tessa. They took her in the other ambulance a few minutes ago. She seemed fine. A bit dazed but alive.” I study his face trying to see if he's lying. Just as I open my mouth to speak something hits me in the neck. I swat it away but my arm feels numb. I shake my head as the world starts to spin. Darkness creeping around the edges of my sight. I stumble and fall, the last thing I see is a group of armed men surrounding us.

  Someone pokes my arm and I grumble at them to leave me be. I was having such a good dream. Voices I don't recognize invade my peace and my eyes fly open, every muscle in my body tense ready to fight.

  “Easy Five-six-six, we'll be finished in a moment.” I glare at the woman who Tessa thought was her mother. She uncaps a needle and I stumble to my feet cursing and yelling at them to stay away from me.

  Two huge guards steps in front of the woman with the needle and point their guns at my chest. I hold my hands up in a gesture of cooperation. Neither guard lowers their weapons so I sit down on the edge of the bed behind me. The woman approaches me again and I grit my teeth as she stabs my arm with the giant needle. “Bitch.” I mumble as she pats my cheek and calls me a good boy. I stay perfectly still as they all file out of the room. Beating people up is easy with my strength but I'm not bullet proof.

  Days pass in the same routine. I wake up groggy and starving, someone shoves a tray into the room, I eat their disgusting hospital food then pass back out again. It's not until the fifth day that I realize the food is drugged. I refuse to eat after that and my head clears a bit. I scream until my throat is raw but no one will tell me anything about where Tessa, Bray or the twins are.

  The clock on the wall is my only source of entertainment so I time the movements of the guards, the times they bring food and when the bedpan is emptied.

  A few more days pass and boredom and fatigue set in. I'm so hungry that the next time they push food into my room I start to eat without thinking. After three bites of the bread I remember about the drugs in the food. I wait twenty minutes and when I don’t feel any ill effects I continue eating only the bread. The next day I eat an apple as they didn't give me bread.

  The scientists stop coming to see me and I'm not sure why. I keep vigil at the window in my door but it's days before I see any other person again. Seeing her standing outside my cell is like seeing an angel.

  Chapter 10

  Tessa

   A beeping sound wakes me up and I sit up hurriedly. Looking around I see I’m in a hospital room, the beeping gets faster as I begin to panic. Where the fuck am I? I hear muffled voices outside the door. Flicking the thin sheet and blanket off myself I turn sideways on the bed. Lowering my bare feet to the ground, I cringe at the coldness of the tiles. Something tugs at my arm and I look over at it.

  Yanking the cables off, I step off the bed and walk towards the doors. The machines behind me screaming annoyingly. I peer out the window in the door and reach for the handle. My hand meets nothing but smooth wood. Frowning I glance down, seeing no door handle. “What the fuck?” I say aloud; my voice sounds weird but I’m too anxious to get out of here to worry about it. I have a niggling feeling that there is something important that I'm forgetting.

  I search all around the door and on the wall to the left. I find a security panel with numbers on it. I hit the pad randomly and grunt as it makes a dong sound. Going back to the door I bang my fists against it. “Hey! Someone let me out.” I shout as loud as I can but my voice strains. I cough and press my hand to my throat. A bandage is covering my throat from the bottom of my chin to my collarbone. I wander around the room looking for a mirror or something I can use to see myself in.

  I finally locate a shiny metal tray under some flowers. Lifting it up, I knock the flowers over and water splashes onto the floor. Shrugging I peer into the tray. My long blonde hair is hanging loose and down to my middle back. My face looks perfectly normal and the bandage on my neck looks white. I peel back the tape holding it in place and look at my bare neck.

  “Why would I have a bandage over nothing?” I frown and shake my head. Ugh I need the bathroom. I look around again but there’s only the one door. Returning to the door I bang on it hard with my fists. A guy walks over and peers through the glass.

  “Seven-two-one? What are you doing out of bed?” I frown at him, what the fuck is seven-two-one? I shrug, must be the room number.

  “Hey, I need the bathroom, and could you tell me where I am?” He moves off the side where I can’t see him through the glass. He returns a moment later with a bedpan. He motions for me to step back and I comply. A small panel in the door opens and he passes the pan through.

  “You are kidding me, right? I’m not fucking using a pan. Let me
out so I can use the bathroom.” He glares at me and shoves the pan, the clang of it hitting the tiles echoes around me. The flap in the door closes and I rush at the door again.

  “Let me out.” I shout hoarsely. What kind of hospital is this? I start kicking the door with the bottom of my foot and someone approaches the door. I peer out and frown.

  “Tori? Where the hell are we? Why won't they let me out?” I look her over as I speak and notice she's wearing a lab coat with a strange symbol on the top pocket. I file the image away for later.

  “Hello Tessandra. Welcome to the J.O.Y Genetics Facility. Now be a good girl and take these.” She opens the flap in the door and holds a cup out to me, with two tiny pills in it. I shake my head.

  “I'm not in any pain. I just want to go home.” I frown at her as she laughs like a hyena.

  “Ah, but you are home Tessandra. This is where you were created.” What the fuck? Why would she say that? I wrack my brain trying to figure out how I got here but the last thing I remember is screaming at her about my car being dented by Peter’s big beast of a car.

  “Make this easy on yourself Tessandra, just take the pills.” I glare at her and step closer. I snatch the cup and grab her wrist at the same time. Squeezing hard I growl out my next words.

  “You will let me out of here Bitch.” I pull her arm until she's pressed tight against the outside of the door, tossing the cup I reach through the hole and grab her shirt in my fist. “Tell me the fucking code.” She starts screaming for help and I push her back a bit then pull her forward in a quick yank. Her head hits the door with a satisfying bang. Her brown eyes glazing over for a second.

  “Give me the fucking code.” I snarl the words as she continues to scream. I know time is running out when I hear several sets of thundering footsteps running towards us. I look her right in the eyes through the glass and ask again.

  “What's the code?” Her voice comes out robotic as she answers.

  “Four, two, seven, six, three…” She’s wrenched out of my grasp as four huge guys surround the door. All of them are well over six feet, there’s no way I could take them. Thug one has dark hair and dark eyes, he steps in front of Tori, showing me his back.

  “Did you tell her the code?” His voice is rough like he’s been smoking a pack a day for years. I watch silently as Tori shakes her head.

  “No, of course I didn’t.” She’s shaking and rubbing her wrist. A dark red mark marring her pale skin from where I had held her. I smirk at her and she backs away. Thug one turns back to face me and glares at me.

  “If you don’t take the fucking pills, we’ll just come in there and knock you out.” He thumps his fist into his left hand threateningly. I step back from his glare and lean down, scooping the pills up off the floor I make a show of putting them in my mouth. Swallowing exaggeratedly, I open my mouth and poke my tongue out at him. Thug one calls me a good girl, before turning and leading his posse away. I open my hand and stare at the stupid pills, tossing them over near the spilt flowers I rush over to the lock panel.

  “Four, two, seven, six, three.” I punch in the numbers and the machine blinks for a moment then makes that dong sound. Ugh! Bitch didn’t give me the right code. Walking around the room in frustration, I try to find something to smash the glass with. The only thing in the room that’s not bolted to the ground is the vase I knocked over earlier. I pick it up and test the weight. Nope, nowhere near heavy enough to do any damage with.

  The room isn’t very big, so I arrange the sheets to cover an area behind the bed, so I can use the stupid bedpan. After relieving myself I push the pan over to the far corner, so I don’t knock it over. Sitting down on the bed I stare at the walls, trying to think of a way out. A blinking red light catches my attention. I get up and look closely at the wall, a small panel in the wall has a Perspex covering, peering through the clear plastic I can see a small camera. “Well I guess the watchers know I didn’t take the pills.

  Pacing back and forth is getting boring so I walk back over to the security panel, keying in the numbers again, I add a zero on the end and the light goes red. I wait a moment and try again adding a one this time. I cycle through the numbers and when I get to seven the light turns green. Standing there shocked I stare at the green light. Shaking myself out of my stupor I push the door and it opens. I quickly duck out and start looking around.

  I’m standing in a hallway with six doors to my left, six to my right and a hallway in front of me. I hurry over to the room next to mine and peer inside the door. Sitting on the bed is a young man, he looks to be around my age. As I watch through the glass, he rolls over, his face is really familiar, but I can’t quite place where I’ve seen him before.

  “Hey, can you hear me?” I tap on the glass and He stands up from the bed.

  “T? How did you get out?” I frown at the guy, he’s got black-purple hair hanging passed his broad shoulders, hazel eyes that look like they are glowing. He’s almost like a bad-boy version of Fabio. Really cute too.

  “I put the code in. Four, two, seven, six, three, seven.” The guy goes to his panel and enters the code, but the light stays red. I step back and look at the doors, each door has a number on it. Mine has a seven. His has a six.

  “Try four, two, seven, six, three, six.” He puts the code in and the light turns green. As soon as he’s out in the hallway with me, he gives me a huge hug, squeezing my ribs. I shrug him off and step back.

  “Sorry T, just got excited, it’s been weeks since we saw you and I thought they might have killed you.” I stare at him with one eyebrow raised.

  “Who are you?” His easy smile falls from his face at my words. I’m almost saddened to see it go.

  “Tessa? It’s me, Hunter.” I shake my head and shrug my shoulders.

  “Sorry, don’t know you. But I really want to get the fuck out of this place, if you want to tag along, I’m fine with that.” I turn to go back the way I came, and he grabs my hand.

  “Wait, we have to get the others out as well.” There are others? I don’t have time to go traipsing around all over the place but something about this guy is alluring. So instead of telling him to fuck off like usual I find myself nodding my head and walking past his now empty room. Room five has a guy with short brown curly hair and the brightest green eyes I’ve ever seen. Hunter said his name is Braydon and that I know him too. He’s familiar like Hunter but I can’t remember him.

  We move onto room three but it’s empty. Room two has a white-blonde guy with vivid blue eyes and a cheeky smile. He rushes out of his room and picks me up, spinning me around. After he puts me down he studies my face but I’m pretty sure my fuck off frown is broken, because he kisses my cheek and starts talking to Braydon.

  “They took Zayne about an hour ago. I have no idea where they took him, but we have to find him.” His smiles gone, taking that cute dimple with it. Out of instinct I put my hand on his arm comfortingly. This guy is also familiar, but I don’t have a clue what his name is.

  “Zack, calm down, we’ll find him, even if we have to search this entire place. I promise.” Braydon squares his shoulders as he speaks, making him look like someone who is trying to take charge. The effect is ruined when he nervously runs his hand through his curls at the back of his head.

  I really don't want to be here when those thugs return so I ask my next question carefully. “How big is this place?” I really wanted to ask if it would take very long to search for this Zayne guy, but I didn't want to piss off these potential allies.

  “When they brought us in I saw two other wings, the first one had laboratories and a couple of offices, they connect to this wing by a long corridor with security doors at each end. No idea what's in the third wing but I saw bio-hazard signs, so cross your fingers we don't have to go in there. This one seems to be holding cells.” Hunter shrugs his shoulders as he moves to stand next to me. I study the other two as they stand there thinking, their brows furrowed in concentration.

  “Alright, let’s assume they
took Zayne over to the laboratories. Lead the way Hunter.” Braydon steps up beside me as Hunter starts heading in the direction I came from.

  “Aren’t you going to check the rest of the rooms?” Braydon stops suddenly and Zack walks into his back. I stifle a laugh as I turn back around and run down to the very end room, marked with a number one. The room is empty, so I run to the door marked eight and peer inside. A guy with black hair and blue eyes stares at me from the other side.

  “Four, two, seven, six, three, eight.” I say out loud and the guy presses the numbers into the keypad. I turn to face Hunter as he shouts at me to get away from room eights occupant, but it’s too late. The guys arms band around my waist and he pulls me hard up against him. I struggle, trying to get free but he whispers in my ear.

  “I knew we’d be together again.” His voice is really familiar, and I get a strange urge to run in the opposite direction. I lift my arm up and elbow him in the ribs, with as much force as I can. With a grunt, he releases me, and I run to stand behind Hunter. He’s the biggest across the shoulders and looks like he can handle himself in a fight.

  “Don't fucking touch her again Shaun. It's your fault we are all stuck here.” Hunter growls making me jump. I step out from behind him and he gently pushes me back.

  “He’s not one of the good guys Tessa. This douche is the one that got us all locked up in here.” I glance over at Zack, whose standing behind Braydon, his fists are clenched, and his face is a mask of fury. I look at Braydon’s face and see almost the same look on his face.

  “Tessandra, Baby, don’t listen to these assholes, they are the ones who got us caught. I’m your boyfriend, these assholes were chasing us and made me crash the car.” I stare at Hunter’s back, wondering if what this Shaun guy is saying could be true. He does look more familiar than the others.

  “Fuck off with your mind control crap Shaun, you know it doesn’t work on us. My head snaps up at the words ‘mind control,’ staring at the back of Hunter’s head, I back away from him and the others. I’m beginning to think this is an insane asylum. I turn on my heel and run as fast as I can. I can hear them following me but I’m not game enough to look back. I reach the door that has the security lock and input the code, minus the extra digits for the rooms. The door unlocks, and I run through, slamming it behind me.