War Guilt [#Wattys2015]

Chapter Fifteen

Location Unknown, Germany, 1943

Maria

It had been days since I woke up in that dark room. I hadn't been moved, approached by anyone or had anything to eat or drink. I was so hungry and I knew that I would look like a sack of bones now but my body was coping somehow. My guess is that it had something to do with the injections that Schmidt and Zola gave to me.

I tried to moved but I couldn't. The only thing I could do was turn my head and wiggle my fingers and toes. By the feel of the bonds, I guessed they were made of a strong chain. The room began to get incredibly cold. It did this quite often actually so it wasn't unusual. My skin's glow had diminished until now. It hadn't been glowing for days but for some reason it did now.

"I feel like a shining star," I said to myself. I think I was beginning to go crazy.

Suddenly I heard some loud noises outside of the room. They sounded closer than they usually do. I stared straight ahead. I saw a small crack of light that you would see if you opened a door in a dark room. My heart pounded in my chest. A little man walked through the door and opened it wide, letting light radiate in. My eyes burned and I screamed in pain as he walked over to me. It was Zola.

"Test One is now finished and you passed," he said to me. I was so confused. "We will proceed to Test Two as soon as you come back into shape."

"What are you talking about!? What do you want with me!?" I yelled at him.

"You'll see," was his answer.

Again a rag was held up to my face....

**********

A Few Days Later

I had been moved to yet another room after being knocked out. It was a light room that had grass in it. They constantly gave me food which I happily accepted since I was so starving.

I hadn't been bothered for quite a while but that peace was soon destroyed when Zola barged into the room suddenly. I cowered into a corner, trying to get as far away from him as possible. I knew he couldn't harm me by himself but he had huge guards waiting outside for any signs of resistance or retaliation. I felt warm tears spring to my eyes.

"Please...no more," I pleaded through a crackly voice. "Please!"

I saw something in his eyes. It was remorse. Like he was doing this because he was told to. But that wasn't the case. He was just a scientist who experimented and wanted results. In this case, I was the results that he wanted.

"There would be no logic in stopping the Tests now," he said to me.

Logic...

He got guards to get me out of the room and take me to a pool. At first I was confused. I thought that maybe they were going to try and drown me. But it wasn't exactly like that. They picked me up and threw me into the water. It wasn't exactly clear water so I couldn't see anything until it was right in front of me.

"What is that?" I yelled, spurting water out of my mouth.

I felt something swimming around me. It was big and grey and had a pointy fin that would pop up out of the water.

Shark!

"Get me out!! Get me out!" I screamed.

I swam furiously towards the edge of the pool, reaching out as I got close. I grabbed it and tried to pull myself out but that resulted in a knee in the face by the guard standing in front of me. I instinctually grabbed my face in pain and groaned but I actually felt nothing.

What?

I was just about to ask Zola why I couldn't feel it when all of a sudden I was being dragged under water. The shark had grabbed me and was thrashing me about like a seal. It had only grabbed one of my ankles so I kicked at it madly with my other one. No matter what I did, it wouldn't let go.

"Stop!" I yelled as I got a breath of air. But it didn't stop.

It dragged me under again and kept thrashing me about. Even though it didn't hurt and I wasn't bleeding or anything, I still couldn't breath. My mind went blank and my skin glowed like a golden river. Before I knew it, a golden ray was emitting from me in a large circle. It got larger and larger, pushing the shark away from me, and lifting me out of the water. My arms flung out horizontally in anger, making the golden circle explode. I landed back in the water and rushed to the surface in utter shock.

"What's happening to me!?" I yelled at Zola. He smiled at me in a sinister way.

I was leaning on the edge of the pool, trembling like I was freezing. The guards pulled me out and dragged me back to a testing room, more gently this time. Whatever was in me was obviously precious to them.

I was strapped to an examination table that was standing upright. They tried to give me more injections but the syringes failed to pierce my skin. Eventually they ended up putting a mask over my mouth so I would inhale whatever it was they tried to give me. I suddenly felt like I was invincible; like I had the strength of the whole world. I noticed my body muscle become more developed than it already was and I felt alive again. Suddenly my skin began to go slightly red.

"Ok enough! No more," Zola yelled at the other scientist who'd put the mask on my face.

As soon as he took the mask off me my skin went back to it's usual colour. It had stopped glowing again when I was taken away from the pool.

"Now for the last Test," Zola said.

He grabbed some sort of handle. I couldn't possibly figure out what it was until it turned on. A small electric blue beam blazed from it. It looked like it was powered by the same thing as the gun that evaporated people. He brought it closer to me and in one swift motion he cut my left hand off. It dropped to the floor and I went into shock. Still, I didn't bleed or feel the pain. I was just in shock that he cut my hand off. I yelled and screamed as I looked at my severed wrist.

"What have you done!?" I yelled hysterically.

"Just wait for it," Zola replied calmly.

Before I knew it, a golden light started glowing from my wrist. It was bright enough that I actually could not see my wrist anymore until it stopped glowing and revealed a new hand. My eyes were wide, mouth agape. I was breathing heavily and shaking. I was scared of myself.

"Final Test is complete...and you passed!" Zola said excitedly.

I thought that everything was finally over, but I was terribly wrong. I was taken to another dark room, actually it was more like a cupboard that was made of steel. I was thrown into it and they shut the door. They're was one window that was just at head height. Scientist, guards, Zola and Schmidt stood outside watching me. The room began to get freezing.

"Help," I whispered, putting a hand up to the window.

Then nothing......