I’m not going anywhere but to the Research and Development Division for the foreseeable future, though. I can’t see ever being allowed to leave. Not even for a small field trip if I’m good. I doubt good behavior will get me anywhere.
Once I’ve gotten my fill of Eden’s elegance, I want to stop walking and look for Degory, but the two men keep forcing me onward down the broad street. Degory may be taller than me, but he is still short compared to those around me, so spotting him will be difficult. I know that I have to try.
I feel like I will be betraying our connection if I don’t at least try to look for him among the growing crowd.
In defiance, I walk as slowly as my escorts will let me. Both sides of the street have Reapers in the same black robes and long black pants that Degory dons, but I don’t see anyone with a white jacket at all.
These Reapers probably think I’m bizarre for looking from side to side at what seems like nothing in particular to them. That’s more than likely why they all gathered here in the first place: to see the strange human, as if I’m an act in the circus.
Come see the amazing human with powers!
We continue to walk for several minutes down the same street before turning onto another, where even more Reapers are waiting for us to pass. We walk for a couple of miles and I keep on searching for Degory. With no white jackets to be seen, it isn’t difficult to tell if he is around or not.
Still, I keep searching. He’s a Captain, there’s no way he doesn’t know that I’m being transported today. If I know him at all, he will want to make sure he can catch a glimpse of me to help me feel safer. I don’t think he will try to save me with so many Reapers around, but I’m not sure on that one. It’s basically a fifty-fifty chance.
Another couple of miles and no sign of him. It looks like we are heading towards a large building that is at the end of the street. It’s a huge dome. I can’t even gauge how large. We still have a few miles to go before we reach the building.
I can’t hide my fear anymore, I look up at the dome and start shaking. My feet feel heavier and I begin shuffling as we walk. The building keeps getting taller as we get closer. I’m so focused on the impending doom looming closer, that I don’t notice a subtle parting of the crowd to my left.
All I see is my fate looming over me.
However, I do become vaguely aware of someone yelling from far away. I can’t make out what is being said or whether I recognize the voice, but it is really distracting. I’m grateful for it, actually. It takes my mind off the dome momentarily.
I pull my eyes away from the building, and search the crowd again to figure out where the noise is coming from. Finally, I notice the subtle parting of the group going the same direction as me and my escorts. I try squinting, but I still can’t see who it is or hear what’s being yelled loud enough for everyone else to hear.
It slowly becomes louder and I can see whoever it is getting closer to the edge of the crowd. I look ahead of us again. Dread overcomes me. The building is only about a mile away now, and getting closer.
“Sunny!”
I finally hear the voice. It’s Degory calling to me. I look straight ahead, but use my peripherals to continue my search for him. I find him quickly this time. The white, sleeveless jacket is unmistakable in the crowd. He’s weaving between fellow Reapers to catch up to me and the two men leading me.
While, I want to run to him, or at least acknowledge him, if I do, he won’t stop trying to help me until either one of us are dead. Actually, if they kill me, I have a strong feeling he will go on a murderous rampage until they execute him. I can imagine him taking many Reapers out with him in his rage, but he will get overpowered eventually.
So, instead of getting one last glimpse of his amazing blue eyes, I keep facing forward. I pretend I don’t see or hear him. I have to hold back the tears that well up in my eyes, since I know this will hurt him.
I never want to break his heart, but he will never move on and leave me be unless I do something to break his affection and care for me.
He continues to call my name and try to catch my attention. He keeps pushing his way through the crowd to keep up with us. The closer the dome is, the harder it is to hold back my tears. I hope he doesn’t see them. I want him happy, and he never will be if he doesn’t just let me go – if he even can.
Well, he may never be truly happy, but he will be able to move on and live some sort of a life. I have to be strong for him.
He can’t let it go, though. Degory just yells louder to get me to look at him. We are only about ten feet away from the building and he’s becoming desperate to get my attention. I can hear it in his voice and it’s tearing me up inside.
He’s somehow even able to pull away from the crowd, and runs up to the three of us. The bald man and his friend jump in front of him to keep him away from me. They must have been warned he may try to help me.
I can’t help but face him since he’s only three feet away now. I can see the two female Lieutenants he introduced me to coming forward at a jog to take him back into the crowd. He doesn’t acknowledge them. He simply stares at me while grabbing onto the men’s sheaths in between us, like he’s going to take them on so he can get to me.
He pushes against the sheaths, the two men barely able to hold him back. I’m ninety percent sure Degory isn’t even using his full strength right now. Our eyes lock. His deep blue eyes are full of sorrow and regret. My heart breaks seeing him like this. The tears are much more difficult to hold back now.
“Sunny…” he whispers to me.
My heart breaks even more hearing his yearning to save me, and get me away from here.
I can hear the gasps and mumbling of the Reapers surrounding us, especially with how informal he is with me. They have probably heard stories of the way Degory has been acting when it comes to me, but this is their first time witnessing it.
Wondering how often he is so informal with others, I realize it really isn’t important right now. I can’t believe there are so many people around wanting to see this tragic scene. I would be embarrassed.
“Captain, we cannot allow you near the prisoner,” the bald man says.
There’s no remorse in his voice whatsoever. He’s braced for a fight, but knows he wouldn’t win if he had to go up against the Division Six Captain.
I can’t do it anymore. I can’t hurt him. I start crying knowing there isn’t anything either of us could do to change the situation. His friends catch up to us and they each grab one of his arms, pulling him back with the rest of the Reapers.
I have a bad feeling he will be in for another meeting with the Head Captain for his outburst, which makes me feel guilty.
The Lieutenants seem a little flustered. He must have lost them somehow and gotten here without them knowing he had left. He fights against them, but he’s so overwrought with emotion that he’s unable to push them away and come back to me.
The bald Reaper pulls on the rope tied around my hands signaling for us to keep moving, but I can’t. My feet won’t budge. I keep bawling as I watch Degory get taken away, nearly falling to my knees.
None of this feels real yet, but I can’t ever take away that image. It's going to haunt me more than anything the Research and Development Division can do to me.
Baldy yells for me to keep walking, but I don’t listen. He becomes fed up, and picks me up again, like he had when he took me to the trial. Like I’m a rag doll that he doesn’t want anything to do with and doesn’t want to take care of.
I kick and flail as much as I can, struggling against the rope and his grasp. I know from experience it’s no good, but my love for Degory is greater than logic right now.
Baldy drags me into the building and his friend with the black hair shuts the door behind us.
Chapter 19
I stop struggling when I hear the door shut. The sound of it closing behind us has a finality to it that can’t be undone or ignored. I cease the flailing, but the tears continue to fall freely do
wn my cheeks.
The bald guy keeps me on his shoulder, though. I’m not going to try and run, but I don’t think he wants to deal with even the possibility of it.
We walk down a few different corridors, taking a turn here and there, until one door opens up into a massive room with many platforms. Some of them have a glass case around them stretching ten feet high, but others do not.
Baldy steps up to a platform close by, and puts me down onto it. He unties the rope and steps down. The dark-haired Reaper, standing a few feet away next to, what must be, a sort of control panel, pushes a couple of buttons and the glass casing appears around my platform.
I’m trapped once again, but this time, I have absolutely no hope of privacy. I have officially become a lab rat. I feel my gut sink knowing that this is going to be my new home for as long as I live, for as long as they keep me alive.
The two Reapers turn and walk out of the room without even a last look in my direction, completely indifferent to my entire existence. They keep bickering and discussing nonsense as they leave. Mostly about how grateful they are that they won’t have to deal with human prisoner duty anymore.
I’m glad they are finally out of ear shot. I’m not sure how much more of their ridiculous conversations I can take. Not after everything else that’s happened.
I take the chance to search the room while I wait for what is in store for me next. There isn’t much around me. The other platforms that have cases don’t seem to have anything inside of them from what I can see, but what do I know?
I just might not be able to see what they are within the glass. I can see ghosts, but that doesn’t mean I can see every creature imaginable.
My case has a small cot that is about the same size as the bed in the cell, but slightly comfier. It’s not much of an upgrade, but I welcome every little bit of relief I can get. None of the other platforms have one, though.
There’s also a make-shift toilet set up in one of the corners for my use. There’s no shower and no curtain. Every time I want to pee or poop, I will have Reapers watching me. I consider whether they will inspect my excrement, expecting it to be different from other humans.
I sit down on the floor. The only thing left for me to do is wait. Wait for my death, or wait to be tortured. I have no idea. I don’t know when they will start experiments and I have no idea what that will entail.
I don’t even try to think about what they have planned, though. I force my mind to remain blank. I feel like I’ve lost my marbles and can’t think anymore. With nothing to do, no visitors in the foreseeable future, and not even a book to read, I will surely go crazy within this new cage.
I lift a hand to my face, wiping the wetness from my cheeks. I can’t feel anything, not fear or anxiety, but my tears continue to fall. I lay down on the floor of the platform, and let my body cry as much as it can.
After hours of sobbing, my body becomes exhausted and I fall asleep on the floor. I don’t dream and I don’t move in my sleep. I wake abruptly, unaware of how long I have slept, or what time of day or night it is.
The room is still lit, but that doesn’t give me any indication of what time it is.
“Good afternoon,” a voice over a loudspeaker greets me.
His voice echoes within my cell, the baritone sending a shiver down my spine. If it is possible to pick out a psychopath simply by voice alone, this man is one. I look above me and see a speaker in one of the upper corners of the case.
I can hear him, but can he hear me?
“I am Michael King,” the voice continues. “Captain of Division Nine and head of Research and Development. I trust you slept well. Honestly, it doesn’t matter. We shall be starting the first of many experiments today, so if you did not, you will tonight. I look forward to many successful observations and examinations in the years ahead.”
I hear him laugh faintly, and it makes my skin crawl. There is definitely something wrong with this man. I sit up and try searching for him – failing. He isn’t anywhere in the room. No one is in here except for me. Well, and whatever is in the other seemingly empty cases.
A square piece of the platform opposite the toilet lowers into the ground, as well as a dummy and hay bale, comes into view.
Not much in the way of experiments so far. I guess I should be grateful.
“Use your abilities to set these objects on fire,” the Captain states curtly.
I’m still not quite sure how my powers work without being extremely scared or livid, and I’m neither right now. Just anxious from anticipation, and afraid of what he is capable of. Both of those keep me from focusing enough to use the visualization technique.
Even then, I don’t exactly want to give this psychopath the satisfaction of seeing me use my gift.
“I’m not sure how…” I admit meekly, my voice not much louder than a whisper.
It’s not a complete lie – I’m not sure how to control them since I haven’t had a whole lot of practice with them besides making a fireball.
“I thought my powers were going to be bound,” I say to the void.
“What?” he asks, incredulous. “You have these abilities and you have no idea how to harness them?”
He completely ignores my question. I would be frustrated if I wasn’t so terrified of him.
“Yes.” I answer.
“Pity,” is all Captain King comments with after that.
He sounds bored.
The same corner lowers again, and the dummy and hay bale disappear into the unknown space below my platform. The bare floor square reappears in its space. However, the squares with the toilet and cot also lower, replaced by empty squares.
I’m beginning to shake from fear of what this crazy man has in mind for me. Whatever he’s going to do requires clearing the encased area. There’s no way that is good. And I have nowhere to run.
“We’re going to try something else before we continue,” he starts. “There is no way to prepare you for this, so I’ll just tell you what is going to happen. We are going to fill your platform with fire and see if you are able to survive.”
That scares the shit out of me. Figuratively speaking. After putting my hand in the fireplace at Degory’s family cabin, I know that my hands are at least safe from fire. I’m really not sure about the rest of my body, though.
I crouch on the ground, waiting to feel flames licking at my skin. I cover my head and hair as best I can – waiting.
“We will release the fire in ten seconds,” he continues, “to allow you to prepare yourself in any way you deem fit.”
He probably wants me to be grateful but I’m honestly not sure how that is going to help me at all. I have absolutely no idea how to prepare myself. I just sit on the floor and curl into an even tighter ball, but that still doesn’t feel like enough.
I keep my head tucked into my chest with my hands covering my hair and hope for the best. Before I even have any time to react, fire is flowing down from the ceiling and getting closer before I know it. I can feel the heat, but it isn’t much warmer than my own body temperature.
I can feel the flames swirling around me, but it doesn’t hurt at all.
The smell of burning hair reaches my nostrils and I know instantly that my hair isn’t going to make it out of this unscathed, nor the bandage still around my head. My clothes are, also, burning up around me, the smoke seems to be floating up off my skin and up to the ceiling where the flames originate.
The fire keeps raining down on me for what seems like forever without quitting. Finally, though, they relent and the only thing left within the glass case with me is smoke from everything burning up besides my body. Even the hair on my arms and legs.
When the smoke clears, I was going to stand up and check myself out, but the fire burned away all of my clothing. I stay crouched trying to cover myself up from whatever kind of cameras they have watching me.
I lift a hand to my head praying that it wasn’t actually hair I smelled burning, but I’m extremely disappointed. My hai
r has been burned short, nearly completely down to my skull. I probably look like a twelve-year-old boy now.
If I ever get out of this, how am I going to explain this to dad?
“Wonderful!”
The Captain’s voice comes booming over the sound system. The squares that took everything away have reappeared with the cot and the toilet. Even the corner square comes up with new clothing for me. I want to be mad about my hair, but I’m their test subject now. There’s nothing I can say about what he wants to do to me.
“I’ll give you twenty seconds to dress before the next experiment.”
The loud speaker clicks off. I really want to rip the clothes apart and knock the cot over – anything to help with the anger, and embarrassment from being nude and losing most of my hair fade away. I control myself, though, and get dressed.
I have a gut feeling that no matter what I do, how I act, or whether I’m dressed or not, the Captain will come in and perform the next experiment either way. I would much rather be clothed than deal with what he has planned next for me completely naked.
The door to this room opens as I adjust the plane white t-shirt given to me, completing my generic ensemble. A man and a woman step through it, making their way towards me. They stop in front of the control panel, and the man hits several of the keys in a specific succession that I can’t follow. The glass case disappears and there is nothing but space between us.
“Come,” the man says, turning away from me.
It’s the same voice that came over the loudspeaker. It’s Captain Michael King. He takes a few steps and notices that I’m not following him out of the room. He stops but doesn’t look back at me.
“You should know that we have many fail-safes in place in the event you try to run away on us,” he hints. “Most of them result in your death. I would rather study you alive, but it isn’t necessary.”
He pauses before walking again to let the information sink in, so I’m absolutely sure I have no way out.
Waiting a Lifetime (The Waiting Series Book 1) Page 18