“16:23.”
The feeling was not cold this time. It was hot, burning like molten lava moving through my veins. I pursed my lips against the pain, turning my head to the side and clenching my jaw.
Barry pushed the fire up my arm, working it toward my shoulder. I could feel my body begin to sweat, my muscles tensing. I was breathing heavily through my nose as the heat moved across my collarbone and then curled down my ribs, wrapping around them individually while simultaneously curling up my neck.
Then, without warning, iron-hot needles stabbed through my ribs and into my lungs and heart.
I screamed.
It was the first sound to come out of me in what felt like years, and the breath it took to scream did nothing more than hurt me more as the fire ravaged my lungs and caused me to scream again in a vicious circle of intense pain and agony.
The fire was fast, moving like electricity through me, lighting each blood cell aflame. My hair stood on end and my muscles locked painfully. My bones trembled. I screamed and choked as my throat constricted. I was completely unaware of the panicking scientists surrounding me
The fire enveloped me, devoured me whole, and still the agony did not end. I wanted to move, to get away from the pain, but I was held down by metal so cold that, when it contrasted with the lava in my body, the pain quadrupled.
It was never ending.
It pervaded all thoughts and emotions, permeating into memories of my childhood, making it impossible for me to remember when there wasn’t such pain, destroying my brain as it destroyed my body. Everything about me was strung tight as the fire ate away at my being. I wanted to beg for death. I wanted to scream at them to kill me and put me out of my misery, but the screams that ripped from my raw throat were lost to me. I might have been pleading for death. I might have just been screaming. For all I knew, I was screaming from joy and excitement.
All the lines blurred. I could no longer tell where my body was, I could not tell where my neck was in relation to my head and everything beyond was lost in a shadow of black flames that destroyed me from the inside. I could tell I was convulsing…or maybe the earth was shattering. It was possible that this was not the serum, but that it was actually the end of the world, when fire would rain down and destroy anything it touched…
Thoughts of fire and blood, pain and agony, death and destruction…those carried me through the end of the torture and into blackness.
* *** *
From the intense blackness that had pulled me under, the intense lights of my cell were too much.
I screamed again, but the echoing sound split my aching head open and my hands went to my ears, my eyes closed tightly.
There was no way I was dead. Everything was in too much pain for me to be dead.
I pressed my forehead to the cold cement floor of my cell. The cool feeling against my heated skin was a welcome relief, but it was not enough. I longed to encase myself in the cement until my body stopped burning.
Carefully moving my hands away from my ears, I pulled uselessly at the red fabric that covered my body. I tried to pull it over my head, whimpering pathetically. All I wanted was to get it off…
I managed to get some part of it over my face, but I was distressed and tangled in my clothes and it made me let out a sob of frustration and pain. It was so hot…so painful…
My back and belly were free of the clothes, and when I collapsed to my side in exhaustion and distress, I felt the cold against my side. Gasping in surprise, I lowered to my belly, letting the cement leech the heat from my skin. Moving my heavy, lead-filled arms, I pulled the fabric further, finally managing it over my head and leaving it on my arms, pressing my front entirely to the cool slab.
A few minutes—or hours, I didn’t know—later, I managed to shake the fabric from me. I did not dare to open my eyes, knowing that the piercing light would make my head explode. I moved my hand down my side, trying to find the other piece of fabric trapping heat to my skin.
I weakly shimmied my legs out of the pants, whimpering when my strength would give out and I was left tangled, confused, and pained, waiting for the smallest sign of strength so I could move the fabric a few more inches.
Finally, when the pants were around my ankles, I used only my feet, the boot around my tattooed foot making it impossible to rid myself of the pants completely. They remained locked around my left ankle, holding me down, but as long as the cool cement was against my skin, I did not care about my foot.
When the cement heated from my body, I rolled onto my back and let a new patch absorb the heat.
I did not open my eyes, even when the food came or the door opened and people walked in to grab me.
Their hands were like barbed wire, cutting into my flesh as they touched me. I screamed, the sound splitting my head open and tearing out of my throat with painful claws. I tried to fight, but I was too weak and tired and their hands hurt too much. I was crying. I had to be.
But they pulled me, without redressing me, back to the cold metal table for another round of the horrific torture.
Time had no meaning. I did not know if this was happening within the expanse of a day, a year, or if I was already dead and this was my eternal punishment in hell. There was so much pain that I could not remember who I was, my name, my parents, or why I was even there.
Three times I was submitted to this torture before I finally opened my eyes again.
And when I did, I was back in my cell.
I felt so weak and helpless that dragging myself to the toilet was the most arduous task I had ever undertaken. Even then, I could not lift myself up to the toilet to use it. The sounds of the people coming in and cleaning the cell were so overwhelming that I would beg and plead for them to stop.
The lights were too bright…
The sounds were too loud…
Everything was just too much.
I could only count how many times I had been on the table based on the amount of times that the pain eased enough for me to move on my own. By the fifth time, I could start to remember who I was and where I was. The pain was still intense and it made everything in my head go white when I was on the table, but when I was in my cell, I had managed to recall memories, remembering faces of other experiments.
Is this what they had endured?
The seventh time on the table was not nearly as painful. When I resurfaced from the pain, I was still in the lab and there were two other tests going on around me, or at least I assumed so with the way the groups of scientists were talking on either side of me.
I listened, recognizing one voice.
“…he’s going to go abroad next semester,” George said. “He’s going to go to study the new medical technology in the Great UK.”
The Great United Kingdom? Oh, that must have been Connor, George’s oldest son who was in his second term of medical school.
“That’s fantastic.”
How did I know that?
“Have you checked on her? She’s awake,” an unfamiliar voice called from my other side.
“Oh, shit,” Jeanie said. “Here, Corbett.” Her heels echoed as she walked to me. I blinked at her. Actually, she wasn’t that pretty. Her face was not proportionate and her pores were quite large. I wondered why I hadn’t seen it before…
“Yep, she’s conscious,” she announced. “I’ll get Dana.”
“Look alive people, the boss is coming,” another voice called with a laugh.
“How alive can that guy you’re doing the autopsy on look?” Corbett replied.
There was a dead person next to me.
Which meant I was still alive.
Fuck.
I remained still, feeling the cool air sweep over my skin as I listened to George talk about the scholarships Connor had received to go abroad. I listened, surprisingly interested though I did not entirely know how I understood who they were talking about.
The door opened and conversation ceased immediately.
I heard another voice.
“…but no change to her muscle mass?” Dana’s voice floated to me on air.
“No,” Jeanie answered. I heard them both, but I could feel Dana drawing closer. My skin sparked and my hair stood on end. His presence was electric.
“I see.”
“It’s all very strange,” Jeanie continued, stepping closer as Dana walked to my other side. I saw him first and I was a little startled to see him with his dark glasses. I wanted to shout at him to take them off. I needed to look into his eyes, but could not yell at him with the raw feeling of my throat. “There is no change in her muscle mass, but she can strain the restraints on the table. Her reflexes are much faster as well, but her brain has not changed and her blood composition remained the same. It’s like her liver processed the serums and removed them. There is not a trace.”
“Perfect.”
“What do you mean?” Jeanie asked. “The tests failed and she was left in agony for ten days.”
“I know,” Dana smiled. “That was to be expected.”
“It was?”
“Back when I was an assistant to Bryant Morris, we had a very similar person on the table with almost identical anomalies in the blood. I am running the same tests we ran on him.”
“Where’s his file?”
“I have it,” Dana answered mysteriously. “You just follow the instructions I gave and we should have a very strong warrior when she’s finished.”
Jeanie was hesitant, but she agreed.
“A few things,” Dana continued. “I want her put on rotation now. She should be allowed Dome time.”
“Alright.”
“Also, halt her testing for a while,” Dana smiled. “Her period should start any day. Once she’s finished, go ahead and perform tubal ligation just to be safe.”
“Of course, sir.”
“Great,” Dana grinned. He reached down and ran a hand over my head, which made me shiver. “Give me a few minutes alone with her.”
“Dana, we have an autopsy and an experiment—”
“The dead one is not going anywhere, and I will be sure the other one doesn’t wander off,” Dana cut her off sharply. Even through his dark glasses, I could feel the power of his eyes as he glared at her. “I need a few minute alone with her.”
“Yes, sir,” Jeanie acquiesced. She called for everyone to leave the lab and, as they filed out, Dana removed his glasses. Filing them neatly in his pocket he turned those amazingly powerful eyes on me. It had been years since the last time I had seen the gold color…
“How are you doing, Little Lily?” he asked me as the door closed behind those leaving the lab.
“Fuck you…” I hissed around my sore throat.
“Oh, I wish I could say that it will get easier, but it won’t,” he sighed, shaking his head, continuing to run his hand over my dirty, knotted hair. “The first test is actually the…third hardest one to get through.”
“I hate you…”
“The fifth testing round will be a really nasty fucker,” Dana continued, ignoring me. He leaned close. “That’s when you’ll be closest to death…”
“Just kill me now…”
“No, you can’t give up,” Dana said, getting even closer, leaning over me as he took my face in his hands. “I know it feels like hell, but you did beautifully. The test went exactly as it was supposed to.”
“I want to die…”
“The part of you that wants to die will slowly die, I promise. And the part that is left will be the stronger part of you,” he told me. “Just remember that. Realize that each time you go through this, you get closer and closer to being one of the most powerful creatures you could ever imagine.”
“I don’t…I don’t want to…be…like you…”
“You say that because you’re afraid of what you feel when you’re with me,” he explained. “You’re afraid of the desire, of the pleasure, of the absolute gluttony you can take part in when you’re around me.” His fingers brushed across my lips. “I’m breaking those walls down. I am letting you feel for the first time in your life.”
I said nothing, the tears burning my eyes.
“Don’t cry…” he cooed. “Don’t cry. This is a beautiful thing…”
I could not stop crying.
* *** *
The following day I was led into the Dome for the first time.
While there were still stabs of pain from my first round of testing, I was too interested in seeing the Dome to notice the twinges. I was barefoot, not recalling when the tattoo healed enough for them to remove the boot. I hardly noticed the difference until I was walking to the Dome and the cold hallway bit into the tattoo that still itched.
The four guards had not chained me, but the two behind me kept their guns pointed at my back as I walked, telling me what would happen if I tried anything stupid, like running.
I had no such plans. I wanted to see the Dome.
The door opened and I gasped at the heat that rushed into the cold hallway. My eyes shut briefly against the bright light, but I forced them to adjust, eager to see the place I knew to have grass and water.
The two gun barrels pushed me forward and I stepped into the warm, bright Dome, looking around in wonder.
The structure was massive, paneled with bright squares that shone light from all sides. The artificial light almost looked natural, as though I was standing in a huge greenhouse and the sun was shining through the glass panels. I looked back to the door, where the panels nearer the ground were dimmer, growing in intensity as they reached higher and higher into the apex of the ceiling. I could not see the center point of the domed roof, since there were large trees that towered into the light, blocking the view of the far edge of the enclosure.
My eyes, which had been traveling up the lights, fell over the expanse before me. It looked like a beautifully maintained garden, with flowers and trees, abundant with color. The stream that had so many memories flowed beautifully and peacefully. There was a small bridge—with extremely high walls to keep experiments from throwing others over the edge—that crossed over of water. The grass was soft and tickled my ankles. There were boulders that provided places for experiments to sit and talk to one another. I saw nine experiments, all dressed in red, which contrasted with the green and white environment. Two were talking while resting under a tree in the shade as if it was a warm spring day. Three others were sitting in the grass not far from where I was standing, holding a conversation, ignoring me entirely. Another experiment was explaining something to a younger boy, sitting on a boulder while the younger male sat in the grass, engrossed in the story. One experiment had climbed into a lower branch of one of the nearby trees and was watching me. Another was sitting on the edge of the stream, her feet dipped into the water, looking into the flowing water as she gently sloshed her feet back and forth.
This was too beautiful to be part of the Commission of the People.
Not sure what I was supposed to do, I started forward, looking for a place to stand or sit, wondering if any of the other experiments would talk to me.
I walked across the metal bridge. The experiment in the tree shifted to watch me, her eyes sharp as she followed my movements, causing my hair to stand on end.
When I reached the other side, I walked to the far wall where the stream left the Dome, putting my hand on the warm light and turning to walk the perimeter, deciding to explore.
There was a grove of trees that sat in the middle of the Dome and my heart caught at the sight of a butterfly moving through the grove to rest on one of the large flowers nearby. I could have stayed in the Dome forever. It made me forget the pain of the table, of where I was and what Dana wanted to make of me. Somewhere, I knew that this was fake, but it filled me with such joy that I could push the thought away briefly. There were a few trees that rested close together near the wall, bent to fit the curve of the ascending light panels and creating an extremely dark area that I stepped into carefully, worried I would disturb another experiment. However, t
he area was empty.
Moving out of the grove, I followed the back curve of the Dome, finding myself among a meadow with small, rolling hills. I climbed up one of the hills along the back and looked over the Dome from the top. The grove of trees in the middle of the Dome blocked my view, but I could see the large tree near the entrance to the Dome, where a little red figure was barely visible on one of the higher branches.
Was that experiment still watching me?
I was half tempted to roll down the other side of the hill, but decided against it, walking down the grassy knoll, strolling along the flower beds until I reached the stream again.
I looked at the wall next to the stream, seeing the water bubble out from under the wall. I barely remembered being pulled through the frigid water and out of the Dome, but I was sure that the area had been improved to keep experiments from escaping again. I did not know if Dana had discovered our method for achieving the breakout, but I assumed he had figured it out and wanted to test me, to see if I would try it again.
Of course, now that the Dome was on, the fans would be going so I could not attempt an escape.
“I wouldn’t try that again if I were you,” a voice called.
I whirled around and saw two experiments under a tree stand and walk to me. The man was older, maybe in his thirties with brown hair and eyes and a sharp jaw line. The woman was extremely beautiful, in her mid-twenties with a thin waist but voluptuous breasts and wide hips. Her blonde hair framed her light face and her green eyes were large, but sharp.
“What?” I asked.
“The fans in there will rip you to shreds,” the man informed me. “Besides, the last time you did that turned out badly if you ended up in here.”
“Do I know you?”
“No,” the man admitted. “But we all know who you are, Lily Sandover.”
I suddenly felt that I was in danger.
“How do you know who I am?”
“Hard not to,” the woman scoffed. “You were the one who helped get experiments out of the Commission.” She stepped forward, stalking toward me. “Tell me, what made you leave some of us behind, huh?”
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