In the Shadows

Chapter Ten

Chills ran through my body as I paced back and forth in the small cell, feeling like a goldfish trapped in a tank. It wasn't my first time being in a confined space, yet it was never a feeling I was fond of. Claustrophobia had settled deep within me during the first half-hour after I had woken up and once I had figured out where I was after a few Hydra scientists had come to take a look at me through the glass on one side of the cell, terror began to settle in as well. 

A muffled groan and a low curse from one of the other cells caused my feet to come to a halt, glancing up at the vent that connected my cell to another. The last two faces I had seen before everything went dark were the faces of Mike and the blond man I had never seen before, I could only assume the noises came from one of them. 

"Welcome back," Mike spoke, his voice less muffled than the other man's, making it clear he was in the cell beside me. 

"Who's there?" The unknown man spoke. 

"We didn't get to formally meet. My name's Mike, I think we got knocked out together." 

"You're the guy with the parts." There was a small pause. "Is the girl here too or did she escape?"

"I'm here." I finally spoke, leaning against the cold stone wall before sliding down it. "My name's Melanie, by the way, we also didn't formally meet." 

There was a small pause, silence lingering between us before the man spoke again. "Either of you know where we are?" 

"No," Mike answered for both of us. "At least they haven't killed us yet. But there are bodies out there." 

"Oh, great. You got all that hardware. Use one of those weapons and get us out of here." 

"Right, because I didn't think of that." Mike's snarky response came without a beat of hesitation. 

"At least your sarcasm still works." I heard him sigh. "How about you, Melanie, got anything to help us out here?" 

I let out a small chuckle. "Unfortunately, I'm in the same boat as you guys. They took my gun...and the knife from my boot." 

"What about that teleporting guy?" Mike questioned. "He coming to help us out?" 

"I hope not." The man's voice cracked slightly. "I think they're tracking him. He'd put all my people at risk." 

"Yeah. Our people are just as outmatched. Only they're stupid enough to try it." 

"So, if we want out of here, we got to do it ourselves." He paused. "I'm Lincoln." 

A small buzz sounded from the ceiling of the cell, a panel opening in the middle of the room. "Uh, guys," I spoke, worry lacing my words. "Anyone else seeing this shit in their cells?" Before I could hear a response from either one, a pulse came from the device in the ceiling and everything went dark once again. 

***

"Do you think this will work, Doctor?" A voice spoke from beside me, or at least I thought it was beside me. The loudness of the beating of my heart and the static in my mind made it seem as though I was hearing the voice from underwater. 

"If it doesn't, we'll try other methods." Another voice spoke. 

For a split second, all I could feel was a cold table underneath me, then came the pain. A sharp blade cut into the skin of my stomach, causing me to try to thrash against the table, but I couldn't move. My limbs felt as though they were weighed down, I couldn't move, I couldn't fight whatever was happening to me, I couldn't even make a sound. 

"Prepare the final injection." There was a small pause, a small moment of relief as the blade left my skin before I felt like fire had been injected into my bloodstream, burning me from the inside out.