Amidst Our Broken World

Chapter 7 (Part 1) - Obedience

When we entered the Practice Room, we found Doctor Brenner wrapping up the physical examinations for the girl himself. He ordered Peter to set up the EEG machine on Four and me to place the cage on the table.

The three of us entered into an observation room inside of the Practice Room. On the separating wall was what I recognized to be a one-way mirror. Four sat facing towards the mirror, the cat in its cage on the table in front of her. There was a microphone on the table where Brenner sat, in front of the window. The cord of the EEG machine attached to Four's headset extended all the way into the observation room next to him. Peter and I each stood silently in our own corner.

Brenner pressed a red button on the microphone stand. "Four, can you hear me?"

The girl nodded.

"Good," he said to himself. He pressed the button again. "As I said earlier, we've been practicing all week with simpler Variables that you've easily eliminated."

"Eliminated"? What did he mean by eliminated?

"Since you show so much promise, we'll be moving on to a more difficult Variable for you to complete the same task with."

He gestured to the cat. "Break its neck."

I felt the blood drain from my face. The way he had said something so cruel, so sinister, without any sign of being the slightest bit faze sent a chill down my spine. How could he say something like that like it was something normal?

I stood frozen as I watched the girl stare intently at the cat, her brow creased in either frustration or hesitation; which of the two I couldn't tell. The needle next to Brenner in front of me began to scratch frantically.

And then it went haywire. I now knew for sure which of the two emotions it had been. Tears dripped down from her face as her entire face shifted into a pained expression, her eyes squeezed shut in anguish and the sides of her mouth drooping in torment. The walls must have been soundproof because although I knew they were there, I couldn't hear the pained wails coming from the feline's outstretched jaws.

Like the time when the red ball had dropped from Six's invisible force, the needle stopped. Then it went back to its normal, slower pace. 

I heard Brenner take a deep breath of frustration. "We've been practicing all week. If she's able to crush an exoskeleton the size of a tangerine, she should be able to crack a neck bone of that size easily."

To my surprise, Peter replied, "She could be sharing the Variable's emotions. There's a chance that she's feeling what it's feeling."

I wondered how he knew, but that thought was quickly brushed aside by Brenner's next instruction into the microphone: "Four, I want you to try again."

The girl looked up at the mirror in horror, not looking directly at either of us as she was unable to see from her side. Reluctantly, she gave a small, shaky nod.

Again, the needle picked up its pace as she focused intently on the cat that was now pushed against the side of the cage, trying to get as far away as possible from her. It opened its mouth, hissing and yowling in agony.

"Push through the pain. It isn't real. It is only an illusion," Brenner spoke into the microphone.

This time, the needle stopped right before her face became distorted, but not in time for the tears that streamed down her cheeks continuously, even as the cat passed out, pressed against its cage. 

Like the time when Six had lost control on the red ball, blood dripped down her nose, but for Four, blood was trickling down both nostrils. Still unable to hear her through the wall, I watched her heave with sobs, trembling, as she fixed her fearful but unwilling gaze on the glass. There was no need for Brenner to ask her to try again to know which answer she was going to give him, and it was most definitely not a nod.

"I guess all teenagers really do go through a rebellious phase," Brenner remarked.

Rage boiled inside me. This was hardly something as simple and mundane as teenage rebelliousness. This was standing up against animal cruelty. Against murder. Against straight up immorality.

I opened my mouth to defend the girl, but a look from Peter in the corner of my eye shut me up immediately. Based on the look he gave me, I wouldn't be surprised if my neck would have been snapped if I hadn't heeded his unspoken advice. But he was right. I couldn't be so rash.

Brenner shut off the EEG machine and turned towards Peter. "Go ahead and put a collar on her."

Peter nodded wordlessly and grabbed what I had already been expecting but hoped to God it wouldn't be from the shelf behind us: an electric shock collar.

I could only watch helplessly as he went into the other room where Four was and clamped the metal shut around her neck. She sat there, unmoving, her strained face taut. I was surprised that she showed no sign of struggle. Surely this wasn't her first time. But I doubted struggling would do her any good.

Peter came back into the room and handed Brenner the remote. However, he didn't receive it. In fact, he didn't even look at it.

"Y/N."

I was startled to hear him say my name. He'd been neglecting me this entire day, and had even been avoiding me ever since I'd arrived. To have him address me seemed out of place, but that wasn't the most unforeseen thing that would happen.

"Set the remote to 800 volts."