by Elle Cross
What was this place?
A strange keening rose up to cut into the din and then there was…nothing. A terrible hush came over the place and smothered all the noise like it was a physical thing. I kept willing my eyes to adjust to the darkness but failing.
Just when I thought my situation couldn’t get worse, the cage doors opened beneath me and I tumbled onto the floor with an oof.
A kind of slimy residue was over this rough cement floor, and I was sort of grateful I couldn’t see what it was exactly. When I got to my feet, I felt like I was in the middle of an open room. Maybe because I remembered the way the compound looked like when I arrived, or maybe because my mind was playing tricks on me. But it felt like there was an expanse here.
As I stood in darkness and relaxed my eyes, I was finally able to see that multiple sets of silvery, reflective eyes blinked back at me, and I saw outlines amid the blanketing night. I was in the middle of a prison. I wasn’t in a cell, I didn’t think, but I could see rows and rows of them.
Someone pushed forward in his cell, reaching his arm toward me from between the bars. "Oh my God. Girl, run. You can't be here. You can't."
I heard his words but I couldn’t comprehend. How was I supposed to run in pitch blackness? And where?
The rest of the prisoners took up the charge as well, telling me to run, run, run. Their commands echoed the beating of my heart.
The sound of a rusted gate opened, then shut. A menace of growls, a sound pitched almost too low to hear, tremored through my body, igniting adrenaline that surged through my muscles. Even my own body wanted me to run.
It was my brain that needed convincing. In the near-silence, a cry was cut short, and only wet and gurgly sounds remained. It reminded me of the crunching of bones.
I looked up at the creaking cage I had fallen from. If I could jump up there, I'd be able to climb back up from where I'd been dropped, right?
Again, the ominous sounds of heavy footfalls and wet, crackling, breaking bones drifted through the darkness.
"What the hell is that?" I whispered to myself, but one of the prisoners answered me anyway. It was the older man who had first called out. "It's one of the rejects. The rejects from the lab. They keep it around to keep us quiet.”
I gravitated toward the old man’s cell.
Another voice spoke from the darkness, tuned perfectly for my hearing. "I wouldn't get any closer if I were you."
I turned toward the voice. From what I could see, it belonged to a younger man inside of a clear cell. I drifted toward it. As I walked, the man inside kept flickering in and out of view, before disappearing as soon as I was directly in front of him.
He reappeared again. He was taller than me, and I couldn’t quite pin down who or what he was. It was like trying to look at starlight or rainbows. You couldn't really see it clearly, only from the corner of your eyes, it seemed.
“Why wouldn’t I get closer? Don’t they put more dangerous men in glass cages like these?”
He knocked against it with his knuckle. "Plexiglass cage. Real glass would be too brittle. I'd break it, no problem."
As he spoke, physical details filled in around him. He was in an all-black, full-body outfit, black mane of hair floating around his head like he was underwater. He reminded me of those old-fashioned heroes out of the comic books that my dad used to tell me about. I was never allowed to read comic books Before. They were too precious and had to be kept in mint condition. And I’d been too young to check out comic book stores on my own.
"So, what are you?"
He shrugged. “Whatever you want me to be?”
He said that almost hopefully. In another time and situation, I might have laughed if I weren’t afraid some beast in the darkness roamed nearby and could easily crunch my bones. “Well, can you be a useful person then and tell me how to get to safety?”
He brought his face level to mine, and even though I stared into his eyes, I knew that if I looked away from him, I wouldn’t be able to describe him at all. "There is no safety, ramina. Only places that can keep you from being torn apart.”
I stood there shocked. He also called me by that title, and he all but confirmed the fate I feared.
He continued. “There are reasons why some rejects are caged and some are left to roam free."
I figured the ones that were left to roam free were more easily controlled. "So you're telling me that those in the cages would be the ones you'd fear? Versus the thing that is stalking in the dark and crunching on bones?" I knocked back on the plexi. "Since you're in this thing, and you're telling me not to trust that guy, you're telling me not to trust you too?"
He shrugged. "I'm just talking, is all. Passing the time. It would just be a shame for a girl like you to be destroyed."
"Dude, stop fucking around with her. The best place for her would be in a cage."
"Trapped like the rest of you?"
"You remember what happened to the last people who were caught out here by themselves? They power washed the floors for days," the old guy said.
The guy in black look bored. "Yeah, and it was a waste of water since they all kept bleeding and bleeding. He’s right, though. This would be the best place for you. Inside of this cell."
I laughed. “So, inside of those cells would be bad, but inside of your cell wouldn't be?"
His eyes shifted and I could tell he would have said more but couldn’t. Instead, he disappeared leaving only his smile like a Cheshire Cat. "You already have the key. If you want out or if you want to survive. Those are two different options. I wouldn't wait too long, though, because they all seem pretty hungry."
Then he was gone.
There didn't seem to be a lot of time left. Suddenly the lights kicked on, and compared to the utter darkness, it felt like a supernova had exploded in my eyes. Then, with the exception of the one in front of me, each cell opened one by one, taking away that measure of protection. The men who had been inside of them ran anywhere they could. Anywhere.
Screams echoed throughout the prison. Bloody, gurgling screams.
I knew that there was only one place I could go that might guarantee my safety.
"The girl, get the girl, she'll know how to get out of here."
What? Why would they think that? I didn't like the idea of a whole lot of imprisoned men who were suddenly freed coming at me. Didn't sound like a good time.
A memory rose to mind, the one of my dad inputting his numbers onto a keypad. Any keypad. It had worked on all of them. I turned to the plexiglass cage that contained the enigmatic man and decided to throw my chances in with him.
Was the key pad hidden? Or was it in front of my face this entire time?
Was this another fucking mind game from the people of this facility? I punched the glass. Smooth buttons emerged onto the surface itself. Already, the screams of the dying filled my ears, filling me with renewed urgency. I entered in my dad’s number as fast as I could. With a pneumatic whoosh, the cage opened for me and I hopped inside just as the panel snapped shut again.
Slaps of hands against the glass followed right behind me. I scooched farther back into the cage as a monstrous thing loomed behind the wave of people. I couldn’t capture the movements of the monster, nor could my brain figure out what my eyes were seeing, and soon it didn’t matter. All the people fell in a ruin of gore until there was nothing left.
"I would say you made the right choice."
I peered into the corner and the man in black was there again. "What the hell? Did you know that was going to happen?" I barely contained the terror in my voice.
"Did I know what? That there would be a larger-than-life lab-created monster who would cut down a whole host of rejected prisoners who’d exceeded their usefulness?" He shrugged. "I may have surmised it, but I didn't know it."
I blinked at his casual dismissal of life. What was with these psychopaths? That was what they were, too. Psychopaths. Heartless beings who only cared about their experiments.
And I was stuck in the cell with one of them. I started laughing, hysteria creeping in. “I’m gonna die. I’m surrounded by psychopaths and this is how I die.”
"You have nothing to worry about with me. If you didn't feel safe, you wouldn't have come inside this cage." He smiled in that sly and cunning way. "I wanted you to be here, really. It proved something to me. But I’m also sorry because it proved something to them."
"Them?"
"Yes. Them."
And as if on cue, torrents of water washed the blood and gore away, followed by high-powered jets of air. Silence descended once more.
The gleam in his eye was back. "Them."
The back of his cage opened, revealing a long white hallway and a team of waiting doctors, including Guerin. "That went swimmingly."
"What was that?" I asked.
"That was you passing the test. And you did so very well." He gestured to another researcher. "Take Project X up to the base for processing and follow-up procedures. Release him from the restraints, but keep a guard on him."
There was a little bit of shuffling. The man in black—Project X—seemed a little subdued, but he gave me a wink. Once the researcher pushed the button to release him, Project X’s body went slack.
The researcher paused, just for a moment. But that moment was all Project X needed. He sliced the nearest guard in the neck with his hand. The guard went down before Project X was restrained by the doctor. "Dammit, Doyle!"
Project X, or Doyle, it seemed, just laughed even as he was injected with something. As he passed out, he mumbled something that I couldn't understand.
Dr. Guerin rolled his eyes. "I told you to keep a guard on him." He looked at me. "It’s hard to find good help. I mean, really."
Then Guerin came closer to me and I really wished I could get away from him. Was it odd that I felt safer with Doyle the psychopath?
Guerin smiled, full and creepy. "It seems we're in a bit of luck. We've just produced a new batch of Alpha Skolls. It would be nice to introduce them to new blood."
I was strapped to a chair, not unlike what I'd seen and felt in my dad's memory. They were taking blood from me. And I really didn't want to know why they were so happy to do so. Nearby, the unconscious body of Doyle slumped in another cage.
I was alone.
As I gazed around, desperate for an escape, I realized that I was looking at a really clear night sky. Really clear. Like so vast.
Something was wrong. Like really wrong.
It wasn't the night sky, it was too…dense for it. Whatever I saw stole the words from my mouth, had me searching for a way to describe what I was seeing.
And then the view spun and an enormous blue planet filled the vista. Something I’d only read about in those old science textbooks and programs.
Earth.
I was looking at Earth. I was looking at Earth because I was no longer on Earth.
I was in space.
~Be calm, ramina.~
My eyes followed the voice to the prone body of Doyle. Was he talking to me while he was unconscious?
No, of course he wasn't unconscious.
He was playing possum.
~Your idioms are funny. And of course I'm conscious.~
How in the world was I able to hear him?
~Do you want me to explain these good people’s fucked up genetic testing, or would you prefer me to try to free us? Your choice.~
I swallowed my retort. Fat lot of good he could do anyway, considering he was stuck in the cage.
~As opposed to what? Being strapped to a chair like you?~ He opened his eyes, meeting my gaze. ~You may be on the other side of that cage, but in here, I'm the one with the free movement.~
"So what are you going to do about it?" I hissed at him.
He shifted positions, quiet and deadly. That was what this man was. Living night. Quiet. Deadly. ~Be ready, little girl.~
Well, that annoying phrasing was uncalled for. "Look, I know you're all big and bad and everything, but that doesn't mean that you get to call me a little girl, got it?"
~I’ve been around far longer, so until you see about a hundred years? I get to call you whatever I want.~ Before I could say anything, because oh my word did I want to, he quieted me.
~Wait.~
A medical tech came toward me to check my bloodwork. She took the needles out of my arms and then something strange happened. It was like she had stars in her eyes and she started to undo the buckles on my restraints.
That was…new. She didn't take them off of me but they were ridiculously loose.
~Wait.~ Doyle said again.
I rolled my eyes. As if I were about to jump up and start a dance marathon with guards coming.
~I can’t assume your mind, ramina. Maybe you like living on the edge.~
Something about the way he said it, almost in invitation to something I didn’t quite understand scared me, while also…thrilled me. I swallowed. Hard.
The medical tech wandered over to the computers, did something I couldn’t see, and left.
In fact, one by one, the ancillary people all left, and then Guerin rolled in. "Surprised?"
Ridiculously so, but I refused to agree with him. I shrugged as best I could while handcuffed. "Sure, why not? Why wouldn't we be in space."
Guerin smiled. "Yes, it was the last holdout. We had generations of perfecting, though, and now that we have you and your bloodline, finally! We can get the upper hand over the Judas and take back our home at last."
The upper hand. Was he still talking about altering genetics to become what? Bigger, faster, and stronger than other creatures? “The upper hand over creatures you designed to kill people, you mean? One that you thought to keep in check? You’re an idiot,” I spat out to him.
Guerin’s eyes narrowed into beady pinpoints. “I’m the idiot? Look who was the one waltzing back in here as if we didn’t notice your scent and DNA markers as soon as you entered the compound?” He shook his head. “And we thought we made you better than that,” he tsked.
~Keep him talking, ramina.~
I tried not to flinch when he called me that. Something about the way he said it sparked a feeling inside of me, but I didn't have time to examine it because I was being prodded again.
More for my own curiosity over Doyle’s insistence, I kept talking. “Made me better than what?”
Guerin blinked at me, a kind of insectile look settling over his face. “Why, better than the previous generation of course.”
I swallowed. Previous generation? Was he…talking about my biological mother?
~Soleil, close your eyes!~
Guerin opened his mouth to speak, a smirk all over his face, when bright bursts exploded throughout the room.
Computer monitors sizzled, before smoking and then finally popping into uselessness.
An electrical surge rolled through me then, and I yelled full-force into the room, screaming out my pain. Computers, monitors, everything started to burst in mini-explosions then.
Faint flashes flickered against my eyelids. A growling rose among the explosions. People ran, their footsteps drummed against the floor. Raised voices and shouts echoed.
Then a blankness.
I was being lifted into someone's arms and we were moving higher.
“Come on, little girl, you’ve had enough beauty sleep.”
My eyes flew open at the prodding. Throbbing pain squeezed the back of my neck and sent lightning down my spine. My arm was slung over Doyle’s shoulder while he half dragged me across station debris.
He propped me against the wall. “Stay here, please.”
His outline was hazy, and I saw him kneel down at one crumpled body in a white lab coat. Doyle nodded to himself, and restrained the person’s wrists and ankles together so that he was hog-tied.
My vision cleared enough to see that it was Dr. Guerin.
Seeing his face again made the pit of my stomach swell with an unknown emotion. It was a mingling of fear, disgust, sorrow…too many to na
me, yet not enough words to adequately capture it.
Doyle didn’t bother to help me up, instead he swept me into his arms with barely a grunt.
“Come on, there’s still some time.”
“Time?” my voice slurred. “Time for what?”
I surveyed his profile, his jaw clenching as if he chewed on words he’d rather not say aloud. I traced a fingertip along his jawline. He startled as if I punched him, blinking down at me with his galaxy eyes.
“Where we going?” I said again, proud my voice didn’t warble.
He took deep calming breaths then, still holding me in his arms. It was like he could carry me all day; he didn’t show signs of fatigue. Heck, he barely broke a sweat.
“We’re going to a control room, Soleil. The others should be fighting their way back here. Let’s hope.”
I blinked, wanting to ask him for more, but he took up his grueling pace again.
The way the corridors blurred before me, I realized that he wasn’t just walking me along. He was running, and doing so fast enough that the world fell out of focus. All while carrying me.
“What are you?” I whispered, as my vision narrowed to pinpoints of light. As I slipped out of consciousness, a word pressed from his thoughts and touched lightly upon mine.
Yours.
Doyle
The rama. Her presence was overwhelming. It was her scent. Every bit of her filled my being and I wanted to breathe her in and keep her inside me. And that was exactly what I'd done when she first came inside that cage.
Even under the anesthetic, I kept her there, the scent of her, curled just under my palate. I kept her in my senses so I could remember her always, and be able to find her.
She was in my arms, and I could barely believe it.
I needed to get her away. The rest of the personnel had already retreated to black site with their new crop of test subjects who had been ripe for reaping. The only thing they had left to do was prep and keep Soleil.
I thanked whatever gods there were that she had stumbled upon this lab as late as she’d had. It would have been a lot harder to orchestrate a prison riot with the full force of the AEGIS guard at attention. The main units had already led the way out.