Reprisal (TSIMHBINM Book 2)

Chapter One

    Colton sat curled up in the corner of a white room, his knees pressed up against his chest. He had been in this room for what felt like forever, but it couldn't have been very long. In all, he had been fed six times, but who knew if it had been over six days or all in one. He had slept majority of the time he had been here. The last thing he remembered before waking up in this room was arguing with Echo about rescuing the other experiments and then them both blacking out.
    Did that mean they had gotten her too?
    He hoped not. He had promised Echo he would protect her. He promised he would never let go and had broken his promise.
    Or she had escaped unharmed. Yes, be optimistic, Colton thought. That's probably what happened.
    But if they had taken her, they would've taken her memories again. She most likely didn't remember him. If she didn't, Colton wasn't going to be leaving the room any time soon.
    He had to escape himself.
    Colton slid his back up the wall, with his hand pressed against the other side to keep him from losing his balance. It had for sure been more than one day since he had arrived. If it had only been one, he wouldn't feel as weak as he did.
    Colton was surprisingly still wearing his dirty gray t-shirt, jeans, and boots. His mother loved giving her prisoners new outfits during their stay. The only thing that felt different was...
    His wings were gone.
    There was no weight on his back, the weight he had gotten used to after having them there for years. Now, in their place, was a bandage that wrapped all the way around his body, squeezing his chest.
    Still with one hand on the wall, Colton lifted his shirt and looked at the bandage. The part on his back, between his two shoulder blades, was stained with dried blood.
    He closed his eyes as he tried to block out the pain. The second he did, he almost fell over.
    He had most definitely been here for over six days as the pain in his stomach almost matched that of his back. The lack of food explained why his muscles were so weak. But despite his fatigue, Colton leaned on the wall and made his way slowly over to the door.
    Just as he reached it, the door slid open and a guard stepped in. They were carrying a tray of food which Colton's stomach groaned at.
    He ignored it. Before the guard could react, Colton had pulled their gun from its holster and was pointing it at them.
    "Good to know I still have my other abilities," Colton said with a shaky voice, still leaning against the wall for support and holding the gun with an unsteady hand. The guard looked at Colton with eyes wide and full of terror.
    "Don't kill me. Please," the guard pleaded. Their voice was more high pitched, so he decided they were a woman. "I was just following orders I'll do anything you want-"
    Colton cut her off. "I'm not going to shoot you. I'm not a killer. Unlike my mother..." His voice trailed off. Colton shook his head to get his thoughts back together. "All I want is you to let me out of here alive and tell me where Echo is."
    The guard thought for a moment and then sighed. "Her and the failures escaped last night. They ran into the forest. Siara and Gray and some kid I didn't recognize were trying to stop them."
    Colton looked at her with a confused expression. "They had a kid with them? What did they look like?"
    The guard paused again, thinking. "At first he had the same hair color as you, but then it turned to a darker brown. And he was shorter."
    Colton's eye narrowed in confusion, only to widen seconds later as he realized who the boy was.
    "They didn't... They couldn't have..." He shook his head. Had his parents actually been successful with the other twin?
    Colton dropped the gun to his side and left the guard standing in the doorway. He had to find Echo and the "failed" experiments. With his parents being successful in another one, they weren't safe anywhere.
    He stumbled down the hall, with the gun at his side. Either his parents let him out purposely, or didn't expect him to be strong enough to get free because he walked right through the halls he knew so well and out the doors that led to the forest.

*A/N I guess I was right in my note in the last book saying it would be awhile until I write again, but I didn't expect it'd be almost six.. oops. But it's finally here and I hope you enjoy it!! I will probably come back and add more to this chapter, but for now I've decided to put it out there since you've waited long enough.*