Michael Vey: Prisoner of Cell 25

Chapter 46: Lack of Trust

I felt as if I'd been in Cell 25 for weeks when I heard the inner tumblings of the lock on the door. There was a slide of metal and the door opened and I saw the first light since I'd been incarcerated. As usual, I was lying on the ground, and I instinctively pushed myself way away from the door, covering my face from the harsh light. "Stay away," I mumbled.

Nichelle walked into the cell escorted by two of the guards. "It reeks in here. It smells like the giraffe house at the zoo." She started laughing. "He smells as bad as Zeus." One of the guards laughed.

She took a few more steps toward me and looked down at me. "Hatch wants you. Get up."

Hatch. His name alone filled me with terror. I rolled over to my knees and elbows and tried to stand but I couldn't.

"I said get up!" she shouted.

"I can't," I replied, my forehead pressed to the ground.

After a moment Nichelle nodded to one of the guards and he walked over to lift me. He stopped before he touched me and looked at Nichelle.

Nichelle squatted down in front of me. "If you shock him, we'll keep you in here for the rest of your short, miserable life. Do you understand?"

"I won't shock him."

"Why would I believe you? You're a liar."

"Liar or not, I can't stand up."

She looked at me for a moment, then said to the guard, "Help him."

---

The guard put his hands under my armpits and easily lifted me. When I was on my feet he let go of me and I collapsed back to the ground, crying out with pain. Nichelle rolled her eyes. "Carry him."

The guard lifted me again and this time he put his arm around me, carrying more of my weight than I was, as I staggered down the hall to the elevator. As we walked I sucked in the cool air, breathing it in like water. In spite of my pain, I can't tell you how luxurious it felt.

In the elevator I noticed Nichelle pushed the D button and I silently groaned. Hatch was back in the dungeon. Another test, I thought. If he asked me again to electrocute Wade would I do it?

I tried to think of better possibilities. Perhaps I was being reassigned to the dungeon. Maybe with Ian and the two girls. I wanted to see them badly. I wanted to hug them and thank them. The dungeon would be a Caribbean vacation compared to Cell 25.

My hope dissipated as we walked past their cell, back to the room at the end of the hall. Back to block H, the room where Wade had been bound and where I had "failed" my test. The room's light was on and the door was partially open. The guard carried me inside.

There were three chairs in the room and Taylor and Ostin were strapped into two of them. Please, not them, I thought.

I don't know what I looked like. In Cell 25 it was too dark to even see my reflection in the toilet, but, based on Taylor's reaction, I must have looked pretty awful. She gasped when she saw me.

"Michael," she said.

"Oh, buddy," Ostin said. "What have they done to you?"

"Shut up," Nichelle said. "Save your pity for yourselves."

The guard dropped me in a plastic chair and then fastened my hands and feet with plastic ties. A large plastic belt was drawn around my waist and fastened in back. It was overkill. I couldn't have even stood up under my own power. Only my tics seemed strong.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Shut up," Nichelle said. "No talking."

"You're a toad-face," Ostin said.