Group Z

Chapter 17

My eyelids feel heavy, as though weighed down by lead. I force them open and am immediately blinded by a bright light hanging directly above my head. I squeeze them shut again and focus instead on my other senses. The first thing I notice is the absence of sound, manmade or otherwise. No clatter, no whirring nothing. It's as if I've been placed in a sound-proof box.

With sound being a loss the second sense I focus on is touch, I'm lying on a cold hard surface. It feels like metal against my fingertips, and I can feel that I'm in different clothes than what I wore in the forest, these are lighter... Airier. With a rush of panic that I try to keep in check I feel the absence of the necklace at my chest. To distract myself I assess my movement. My limbs still feel slightly heavy as I subtly wriggle them but otherwise serviceable.

The final sense is smell, this is like my hearing, there is no smell, the place I'm in is completely sterile. I try to open my eyes again, carefully opening them in tiny increments, so the light doesn't become overwhelming. Eventually I get to a point where I can open my eyes and look around.

Hanging directly over me is a bare white bulb. I appear to be in a cell of some sort, the walls all around me are perfectly smooth and white. I'm on a hard metal bed pushed up against one of the walls, there are no covers and nothing else in the room.

I sit up gingerly, my head spinning a little, for the first time I wonder how long I've been out. I press a hand to my head and swing my legs around to touch the floor. It's cold on my bare feet and as smooth as the walls appeared to be. The clothes I'm wearing are also white, like my surroundings, a soft white tank top and white cotton trousers that come only ¾ of the way down my legs. I haven't got my daggers with me but with a surge of gratitude remember that I left them with Sapphire back at the campfire. Just as suddenly the gratitude turns to fear, and I wonder if Sapphire is here with me or if she managed to escape. I hope against all hope that she isn't in this strange sterile environment.

A noise behind me makes my head whip around so fast I practically give myself whiplash, a portion of the wall has disappeared and there stands a Revealer the red uniform surprisingly pleasant given the lack of all other colour besides my own black hair. They don't speak, customary of the Revealers but instead beckon with their hand for me to follow, I stand up on slightly shaking legs and slowly walk towards them seeing no point of trying to resist.

As soon as I'm out of the room into a similarly white hallway the door behind me blends seamlessly back into the wall leaving no indication of it having ever existed. I follow the Revealer down an extremely long hallway, it probably seems long because it is just unbroken white although every now and again, I sense the presence of others and am sure that people stay in rooms similar to the one I woke up in.

I've never been in this place before although I can only assume it's in the Hub as where else would the Master have taken me? It's probably one of the higher floors, not the training rooms.

At the end of the hallway a second door opens seamlessly, and I'm led into a room with a table in the middle, small enough that the people in the two chairs at opposite ends of it could touch if they reached across. The Revealer roughly pushes me down into one of the chairs and leaves me in the room alone, again with just white to keep me company.

At the other end of the room another door opens, leaving me wondering just how many doors there are in this place and the Master walks leisurely in, sitting delicately in the chair across from me. Already I feel the beginnings of the old fear bubbling up in my throat, but I quash it determined not to let the Master get to me this time.

I lean back in my chair, crossing my arms, attempting to portray a persona of confidence despite the fact that my heart is beating twice as fast as usual. The Master gives a small smile that stretches his face in an unnatural way as if there was a monster inside trying to break free. He places his elbows on the table and interlinks his fingers in front of his face.