I fight the restraints harder, until blood is drawn about my wrists. I jerk my head to the left, away from her hand. “Get away from me! Help!”
“We are helping you.”
She turns away from me, and the door springs open. Bodies. People. Everything’s a blur. Too much color. Too much movement. It’s everywhere. I don’t—can’t—
There are too many of them. Too many for me to fight, especially restrained. I count ten of them, plus the woman who was here first.
She smiles at me. A man passes her a small box. A sharp needle’s pulled from it. My heart palpitates. A needle?
“My name is Rosemary Webber,” the woman says. Her red hair is too perfect, one solid mass that doesn’t move as she leans over me. “It will be easier and less painful if you do not resist the conversion.”
She smiles down at me, her demeanor soft, sympathetic and welcoming. Or, at least, it would be if they hadn’t kidnapped me and tied me to the bed.
More of them turn toward me. They are all dressed in pale blue. Huge grins plaster each face, their lips stretched to garish angles. Soft music plays from a nearby room. There’s the sweet smell of honey floating around, curling toward me, stroking my skin, kissing my eyelids. The room is bright and airy. There’s a slight breeze too. Not too hot. Not too cold. It is perfect.
“What is your name?” A small, dark-skinned woman smiles brightly.
My lips freeze.
“Your name?” The tone is harder, spoken with a bite.
I eye each of them carefully, lifting my head high, until my neck protests. Five men. Six women. All of them are tall. No scars here. And the eyes: Enhanced, throwing light and reflections about. It’s disorientating, and I try to look away.
“Your name?”
“Seven Sarr,” I say.
“Seven?” Several people question me at once. Their voices are too sharp, too shrill.
I nod. My mother named me. She named all my siblings in the same way. I’m the seventh-born, and she said my name was important.
“Seven isn’t a name. Only those Untamed creatures would use that. You don’t want to be one of them anymore, do you? No, I can see it now; your mind will awaken, with our help. Leaving your old wild life behind is the only way to become fully enlightened. I can tell that your memories disgust you.”
Whatever powers Rosemary has are useless. She can’t tell anything about me. None of them can.
“Embrace our life, and it will be easier for you. Less painful. Full of delight.”
Never let yourself be Enhanced. Once it’s done, there’s no going back.
Oh Gods—that augmenter out in the desert. They’ve started it, started the conversion. They’re going to convert me.
My heart pounds as I drag my eyes around the room. There’s only one door—the door through which the Enhanced came, and they’re standing in front of it. There’s a window. But it’s small, too high up for me to get to, and I’m tied to the bed. Can’t even sit up.
“You need a new name. You cannot be called Seven.”
“I am Seven. That is my name,” I speak through gritted teeth. I can hear my mother’s voice now, her soft voice: Don’t ever forget who you are, Seven. Never forget. Your name will lead us through this age.
“No.” The woman steps nearer, bringing with her a blanket of artificial sympathy.
I try to recoil away from her, but there’s nowhere I can go, only deeper into the mattress. I yank at the ropes around my wrists again, but they’re too tight.
“My dear, Seven is a number. And, here, we are all people, unlike the Untamed. We are all the Chosen. We are all equal. And we are all perfect.” She walks right up to my bed, resting her pristine hands with the immaculate nails in front of me. I can’t help but stare at them. “We will give you a new name.” She pauses, then smiles. “Welcome, Shania. Shania Sarr. Such a pretty name.”
I flinch. Shania. The name tastes fake. I want to spit it out. My stomach feels uncomfortable, turning and churning.
“No. I am called Seven.”
The woman laughs this time. “The name Seven belongs to a bad person, my dear. It belongs to a wild Untamed. And you’re not that…thing anymore, you’re a person. A Chosen One who is valued and respected.”
My head pounds. I jerk my arms toward me, but the bindings are unyielding. “But I—”
She shakes her head. “You were bad. The Untamed are ruthless murderers who spill blood for fun. You ran around with them, like scavengers, taking what you wanted. Stealing what you wanted. It breaks our hearts to see such savagery in this world. Yet we—the Chosen—still want to help you; we won’t hold your past against you. We are fair people. We don’t hold grudges.”
Fair? I feel sick, still can’t swallow properly. “You kidnapped me.”
The woman—Rosemary—nods, then smiles. Actually smiles. Her fingernails tap against some sort of radio attached to her belt. Its red light winks intermittently.
“We saved you. There’s a difference. You have to understand, Shania, you have to realize this is necessary. You were bad, and you need saving in order to become a truly perfect being, a person who is not in denial about her previous self. Don’t be embarrassed. We are here to help.”
The corners of her mouth lift up, her face radiating a strange sense of beauty and wisdom and knowledge. If it wasn’t for her coruscating eyes, I’d almost believe it. She lifts her hand toward me, and her skin makes contact.
“Never!” I yank at the bindings again. But nothing’s giving. Only my own body. My fingers tingle. Pins and needles weigh down my legs.
“Ooh, you are a fighter, how lovely.”
I flinch. It’s one of the Enhanced men who spoke. A deep voice. He’s standing off to the left, and his face has that glassy, almost-bored look that a face has when it’s been watching something for a long time. Now, the corners of his mouth lift up, and he steps toward me. His fingers are cold on my forehead. I try to look behind him, but I can’t move my head. My neck creaks. Something pricks against my wrist.
“You cannot win at our game. You’ll realize that soon, my dear butterfly.”
Heat rushes through my veins. The room and their faces start to spin, swirling out toward me.
“Oh, I am sorry,” he says. “I haven’t introduced myself. How rude. I’m Raleigh.” He smiles at me, but it makes my blood curdle. He turns away, toward Rosemary. “Take her to the chamber. A level four is necessary. She’s strong.” He turns back to me, grinning. “It won’t take long. We’ll break you into perfection.”
The cloth is heavy over my face. Some light filters through it. I can see the flashing green and red lights of the box high up on the ceiling. It’s some sort of power-base, I’m sure. Before they brought the cloth, I saw lots of metal components and wires hanging from it, stretching to the corners of the room. My brother, Three, would love to examine it.
The cloth over my face gets tighter. It presses against my nose, trying to force it down. I can feel their hands all over my body, pushing me onto the platform with cold fingers. I know better now than to resist. But they don’t believe me. They aren’t taking chances, they say.
“Join us willingly.” It’s the same man. Always the same man who speaks. Raleigh. The one who called me a fighter. The one who promised he’d break me.
Katya’s a lost cause. She went willingly.
“No,” I gasp. My word tangles in the cloth. I blink, and my lashes drag against the material.
“Very well.” He’s smiling. I know he is. His voice is always lighter and amused-sounding when he’s smiling. “Very well, indeed.”
The water slams against me.
My body’s crushed deeper into the platform.
My throat constricts. I taste bile. I turn, trying to pull away. More water hits me.
Mumbled voices over me. A laugh?
Too much water.
I swallow hastily, my throat constricting again. The syrup in my mouth won’t go away, won’t dissolve.
&nbs
p; I clench my fists. I tell myself I’m not drowning. I can’t be. I’m not. I didn’t before. I won’t this time. I can’t, can I?
I am drowning.
They are drowning me.
My mouth’s forced open by vomit that squeezes through my teeth. The cloth doesn’t move. My vomit sticks to my lips as I choke on the acid. And the water pounds.
My lungs burn.
For a second, I smell cigarette smoke… Corin. I look for him. But the swirling water gushes and gushes, never stopping for me to see. Just blurriness.
I scream. More bile. My throat constricts again. I gag, retching. Fingers press against my cheeks. The back of my head slams into the platform again. Another wave hits me. I taste more syrup.
Pain rushes to my feet. I’m still screaming. I can’t stop screaming. It’s all I know, what I have to do.
Give up…don’t fight…you can’t win….
No… Need to fight… Have to… I can get away. My dad always says we can win… I mustn’t forget…mustn’t….
The cloth lifts up a few inches. My vomit drips onto my face, stinky, smelly. Streams of air burst down my throat. I scream, trying to sit up, but they won’t let me.
“You’re not murderers!” I scream. “The Enhanced aren’t murderers!” It’s what we’ve been taught: the Enhanced don’t believe they’re murderers.
“We’re not,” the man, Raleigh, says. I still can’t see him. It’s just his voice, floating. “We wouldn’t let you drown. This is all in your head, this pain. It’s the evil in you fighting our goodness. It needs to be purged out of you. We have to save you. It would not be right if we didn’t.”
The cloth is lowered again.
Another wave pours down.
It’s not worth it; they’ll break you in the end.
“Join us, and this will stop.”
Save yourself. Give up now. You can’t go back to being Untamed now anyway.
“I’ll never join you voluntarily, I’ll—”
“You’re lying, your voice is too high-pitched.”
I scream out in anguish. I can’t feel my body. The water’s still coming, still crashing onto my face. I gulp, swallowing more and more until my throat burns again.
“Join us now, and we’ll stop this.”
“No—” I choke, eyes streaming.
Water. Too much water.
“We can keep this up for as long as we need to. Surrender—make it easier for yourself. Limit the pain, and join us now. Or suffer for days, months, years. The outcome will always be the same. If I want something. I get it. And my dear little Shania, I want you.”
“Life is like a clock, don’t you think? Time always comes around. It was only a matter of time before we had both you and your mother to boost our power. And I’m so glad we’ve got you, Shania. Such a sensible little one, aren’t you?”
The tingling peal of laughter drags me from the darkness. I force my eyes open, struggling to stay conscious. I’m lying on a bed, unrestrained for the first time. And it feels like an accomplishment, like I’ve achieved something.
For seconds, minutes even, I look around. The room’s too bright; my head hurts.
There. He’s there. On my left. By the door.
It’s him. Raleigh. He thinks he’s broken me.
He’s got dark hair, dark skin—like me. But his eyes are mirrors, set under heavy, thick brows. Even the sclerae, that should be white, are metallic. It’s not right. He smiles at me, displaying perfect teeth, as he steps closer to my bed. He’s a big man, powerfully built—as muscular as Corin—and he walks with the confidence only a hunter can have. My gaze drops to his hands. He’s laden with tiny bottles, bulging with an array of chemicals: more augmenters.
I lift my head higher, eyeing those bottles.
Look away, Seven. Look away now.
But I can’t… My neck hurts too much… The colors are too bright, too intriguing. My spine clicks, and the movement reminds me of something…something that’s too far away.
“Hello, Shania.” His voice is tender. He looks down at me. His short hair is black, thick, and lustrous.
“How long have I been here?”
He grins. “Don’t worry, Shania. You’re safe now.”
I shake my head, and the bright light above me dances about. “How long?”
“Five days.”
Five days. The light dims. Five days. How long is it before we give up on a person? A week? Or sooner? I can’t remember. My head feels too heavy; I don’t know how long I can fight the augmenters.
Are the Untamed still out there? My father, he’ll be looking for me, won’t he? Unless Rahn’s forbidden it… But they’ll be looking for my mother too. Two of us. They have to come for us. They have to. Don’t they?
Katya’s a lost cause. She went willingly.
Rahn and Corin didn’t see the Enhanced steal me. What if… Could they think I…?
No. They’ll hear on the radio that I was captured. They’ll know I didn’t choose it….
But, my mother… The Enhanced have her too. I look around, twisting my neck until black dots appear in front of my eyes.
“Don’t worry, Shania. You were too recognizable before, too easy for others to spot you, but your new name will stop them. They won’t find you.” He smiles.
Raleigh sits down on my bed. He is systematic in his assessment of me. My gaze returns to the augmenters in his hands, held together by a thin wire contraption.
“Your Benevolence is fading,” he says. “Rosemary says you’re running lean again—it just shows how deprived you’ve been, my poor darling. That’s how the Untamed part of you is still able to fight. It’s a strong parasite, but every augmenter you have will weaken it. It’s almost gone as it is; you can beat it. I know you can. One more drink would probably do it. And you have a choice for your next augmenter.”
He smiles as if I should be grateful. But I don’t feel grateful. I feel strange. Everything feels strange. Just strangeness, it’s overwhelming.
Raleigh moves his hands, and all the vials jump a little, each wanting me to pick them. Each one contains a different color liquid, and the full color spectrum—from the palest blue through to the deepest red and back down to an almost-transparent yellow—smiles up at me.
“What would you like?” he asks. His breath is hot on the side of my face, and my skin tingles. The faint aroma of alcohol clings to me, as he reels off the names of the augmenters. He watches me the whole time. “I have Kindness, Benevolence, Happiness, Calmness, Prosperity, Courage, Compassion, Good Will, and Selflessness.”
His gaze gets sharper, like a needle, and my head feels heavier. He leans closer, his arm going around me, and I shiver, despite his hot skin and the warmth radiating from his body. Raleigh nods and smiles again. His teeth seem to get even whiter, the longer he smiles. I blink, nausea rising in me. Maybe it’s some sort of side effect… I shouldn’t feel sick… I’m safe here… Side effects; it has to be. Yes. I nod. Definitely the side effects.
“What would you like?” His words are repeated, only a little louder this time.
I shake my head. “I’m fine.” I lift my head up higher. The aching’s getting worse. I need to clear my head of the augmenters, not take more.
Raleigh laughs. “Nonsense, my dear butterfly. You need one of these to make you feel human, to help you overcome the evil that is inside you. How about this, Shania: I’ll give you a shot of Calmness and, if you’re good, I’ll enquire about boosting your beauty for you. We could even make your nose a little shorter,” he whispers.
I hope it wasn’t Raleigh who changed my clothes.
“No, I don’t want any.” I try to lean backward, but I’m eyeing the colorful liquids, unable to look away. He shouldn’t waste them on me. Others are more deserving.
Raleigh’s arm is around me, and his fingers catch onto my shoulder, teasing my skin through the blue gown. I shiver.
“Come on, Shania,” he croons. “It’s the only way to make you a better person
.”
I start to recoil away from him, but then stop. I frown. Then smile.
He stares at me intently, and I wonder how old he is. His perfect skin and the light stubble with the youthful contours of his face place him in his mid-twenties, earlier thirties at the most. But his eyes offset everything.
Raleigh smiles softly. He redirects my gaze to his hands, to the augmenters. “These are what you want. All these confused feelings within you, they’re normal. But it’s not nice. This uneasiness, the negative feelings—you won’t ever feel them again, I promise. Let me free you from your chrysalis.”
The waterboarding flashes through me—the waves pushing down at my soul, my burning lungs—but before I can move, Raleigh lifts two vials to my mouth. Cold glass presses against my sore lips.
Don’t… He said one more drink would do it….
But the ache in my chest directs my hands to hold the vials, as if my body is under someone else’s control, and then, almost before I’ve realized what I’m doing, the liquids have disappeared. Instantly, my stomach tightens; then coolness screams through my body. Adrenaline and a dozen other hormones fire up. For a second, my whole body stiffens, and I can’t breathe. Then the endorphins kick in. I sigh as I turn my head toward him. A smile dances across my lips.
Raleigh takes the empty vials from me. “Do you like being one of the Chosen?”
“I like being an Enhanced.” My words slur into one long sound.
The corners of his lips twitch. “You like being one of the Chosen,” he corrects. “We do not call ourselves the Enhanced here, that is the name the Untamed gave us. Tell me, Shania, do the Untamed have a secret name for themselves?” He raises his eyebrows, leaning forward, his index finger on the light stubble on his chin.
Untamed Series, #1 Page 3