Little Lightning

Chapter 34

Lyrical woke up to noise surrounding her.

She bolted upward, hand going to grasp the knife at her hip--

But there was no knife. Panic rose in her. Where was her knife? Wide, panicked eyes swept across the room to find it, only to see it in the hands of a... woman?

"Give me my knife back." She growled at the stout woman. The woman only stared at her, faded clothing ragged. Despite the poor condition of her clothes, her grey hair was pulled back in a sharp bun, grey eyes sharp with knowing. After a moment of staring, she sighed and spoke.

"Ai ai, what a pathetic little creature." Lyrical's brow furrowed. "You look like a dead hornbee." Lyrical didn't know what that was, but from the ladies tone, she could tell it wasn't pleasant. "Come with me."

"I'm not going anywhere." She told the woman, a bad feeling settling in her gut.

"Yes, you are. Unless you wish for your friend to die." Friend? Who--

Crap.

They have Kirtash.

"Where did you take him?" She demanded weakly, trying to keep up her strong front. She could tell she was failing miserably.

"It does not matter where he is. Just know that if you do not cooperate, he will be killed without a second thought." Lyrical ground her teeth quietly. She really had no other choice but to cooperate. In the fragile state Kirtash was in, there was no guarantee that if she resisted he'd be able to fight back. Besides, if they were her allies, then they couldn't do anything too horrific, right?

"Now come along." The lady told her, turning away with Lyrical's knife still in her hands. "I have much to prepare you for."

"Prepare me for?" Lyrical asked, making the split second decision to follow the woman. The woman only gave her a cryptic glace and kept walking. Lyrical blew out a sigh. She could tell it would be a long next while.

Lyrical was right about one thing and wrong about the other.

She was right in thinking that the next few hours or days or weeks would be long. She was wrong in thinking that they couldn't do anything too horrific.

She sat, strapped to yet another operating table, wearing nothing but a tank top and a pair of worn shorts that looked suspiciously like pajama pants with the legs cut off. Swirls of bruises covered her mostly bare arms and legs.

She was really regretting following the woman.

She had no concept of time in this room. Perhaps it had been mere hours, or day, even weeks. All she knew was the familiar needles and tubes they would plug into her, test after test. Each bruise that patterned her legs and arms was a needle prick or place where they had plugged in a tube.

When the woman had said they were only taking a few simple tests, Lyrical had foolishly let a little bit of hope creep in. If she got through these tests, they might let Kirtash go. The woman had left, passing the Lyricals knife to a scientist that had bustled in along with the other fifteen or so scientists. They had made her change out of the dress that Lyrical had arrived in and into the plain grey tank top and shorts she wore now.

When they had plugged in the needle for the first time, Lyrical knew she had made a mistake in thinking that it wouldn't be so bad. She had vague memories of scientists holding her down, a tube pumping some sort of purple liquid into her, hot tears streaming down her face as molten pain pumped through her limbs.