SERENA

PART II: Chapter 10 - Trouble

Serena opens her eyes and, as they adjust to the light, she realizes she's in a bright, white room. She's lying down and there are cables attached to needles piercing her skin. As she fully wakes up, she remembers what happened before she was knocked out, before those people clearly took her away and brought her here. Wherever 'here' is. Serena also notices her arms and legs are being kept in place by metal bindings. She should still be able to break free, because in all her time on Earth, she never found something she couldn't break, but she can barely move. Her body is not obeying her, just like it didn't when she was attacked by these people.

"Good morning, Serena Sarokany," a disembodied male voice says.

Serena moves her neck the little she can one way and the other to try to figure out where the sound is coming from, until she notices a box that could be a speaker at one of the corners of the room.

"What –" Serena tries to speak, but her voice is raspy and barely audible.

"You have been out for two days while we prepared everything for your stay," the same voice from before says. "You shouldn't try to talk yet. And you certainly shouldn't try to move. You'll only hurt yourself."

"Please," Serena whispers.

"It has come to our attention," the man continues as if he didn't hear her – or maybe he truly didn't, since Serena could barely hear herself, "that you have come into our planet, our home, from a place called Elementia. And that you possess elemental powers. Even though we have been shown some of what you can do, we would like to test just how powerful you are."

This time, Serena clears her throat before speaking, and her voice comes out clearer. "Who are you?"

"We are agents tasked with dealing with extra-terrestrial threats."

"I am not a threat," Serena replies. "I am just trying to go back home."

"And how is it that you're planning on going back home?"

She opens her mouth to speak but stops herself before she can say anything about Alison and David. If these people knew humans were trying to help her, they might capture the two of them as well.

"I asked how you plan on going back to your planet."

"I don't have a way yet. That's why I'm still here."

"And what exactly are you doing here?" he asks Serena.

"Nothing. I'm just trying to get by until I find a way back home. I don't want to hurt anyone. I'm no threat to your people."

Serena expects a reply but no sound comes from the speaker. The only sound she can hear comes from the machines attached to her.

After no longer than a couple minutes, the door in front of her bed opens, and six people enter the room. Four of them are dressed in a green-ish uniform and are carrying weapons, while a fifth is wearing a suit and stands in front of the other four, closer to Serena. The last person is wearing scrubs and stands closer to the door.

"I thought it was better," the man in the suit tells Serena, and she realizes he's the man who was speaking to her through the speaker, "we talked face-to-face. I am Special Agent Roberts, and I was tasked with studying you. We'll be spending some time together these next few days."

"Let me go."

"No can do. Like I just told you, we have to study you." He turns to the man in scrubs. "Give her another dose of the sedative before we start."

He only nods and approaches Serena. He opens up a drawer and takes out a big syringe that he empties into one of the cables connected to her. This time, Serena isn't knocked out, but she feels herself getting weaker. She was already barely able to move her body, and now it's completely impossible.