Lab Rats: The New Addition

Captured

  Adam, Bree, Leo, and I all huddle together and try to find our way through the blowing snow. "Do you think it's possible that Donald sent us here because the cure that we need for Chase is in this frozen wasteland," I yell over the wind. "It's a possibility," says Bree. "Or maybe he just made a big honkin' mistake," Leo yells, angrily. "That's another possibility," I say. "I want a Purple polar bear named Blue," Adam yells out randomly. We all give him a strange look. Then a hand clamps over my mouth while Adam, Bree, and Leo scream, and I feel something being shot into the side of my neck, causing me to cry out in pain. I start seeing black dots as I slowly succumb to unconsciousness.

...

  The pain in the side of my neck is still fresh when I regain consciousness. I groan and realize that I am strapped to an elevated bed in a dark room. "Where am I," I wonder aloud. "My lair," says a deep, disturbingly distinct voice. "Father," I growl. Ash walks out in front of me. "You are correct," he says, grinning devilishly. "What do you want from me," I ask, furiously. "Ah, it's not what I want, but it's what you want," says Ash, mischievously. "What," I ask. He chuckles. "You make things far more difficult than they should be, dear daughter," he says. "Don't call me that," I say.

  He laughs, "For years, I have been trying to find a way to prove that my bionics have superiority over all the others! But I needed control over all bionic beings. It is going slow, but it's working. I even captured your little boyfriend here after putting the rest of your family under a sleeping spell." My stomach churns. Could he be talking about Chase? Chase isn't my boyfriend, but I wish he was, and I think that my father saw some kind of emotional connection between the two of us when he saw how devastated I was when I thought that Chase had died. And what does he mean by sleeping spell? How did he put everyone on the island under a sleeping spell?

  Ash turns the light on and tilts his head to my left. I look hesitantly to my left and my heart skips a beat. There lies Chase Davenport, strapped down onto an elevated bed, completely unconscious. His eyes are shut and his body is bloody. As I look at Chase, the boy that I am madly in love with, and realize that he is on the verge of death, I lose it. I go completely mad. I can't get up, but I start thrashing around and screaming wildly, "NO! LEAVE HIM ALONE! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" "SILENCE," my father yells. I stop screaming and thrashing, but then I start sobbing. "Please," I cry. "Let him go! I don't care what you do to me, just don't do anything else to him!"

  "Ah, you love him," says Ash, gesturing towards Chase. "See, that's the funny thing about love. At some times, it is a hero's greatest strength, but at others, it is a hero's greatest weakness. In your case, it's a weakness." I glare at him and he just laughs. Then he smiles smugly, "You know what? I'll let him go." My spirits rise a little, "Really?" "Yes, but only if you join me," Ash says. My spirits fall, "Join you?" "Yes," he replies, putting his arm around me. "Just think about it. You and I...and your little boyfriend, too, if you insist on bringing him along, could rule the world with a team of bionic soldiers to do our bidding, with the exception of you and Chase. I know that you are both bionic, but I'll let that slide."

  "Never," I boom. "I will never, ever help you. Not after everything you've done." Ash looks furious, but then he smiles, "Suit yourself." All of a sudden, Chase jerks awake. I don't have enough time to be happy that he is alive because he immediately starts singing, You Are My Sunshine in a scratchy, deranged voice that utterly terrifies me:

You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are gray
You'd never know how
How much I love you
Please don't take
My sunshine away

  I am...horrified. Hearing Chase's voice and watching him act like this lets me know that my father did something terrible to him. "What did you do to Chase," I ask, on the verge of tears. My father shrugs, "Oh, I just gave him a few excruciatingly painful shocks and beatings, that's all." That's it. If I don't discover some silver lining to this terrible situation very soon, I will literally end my own life. I look over at Chase, who is now nervously singing Hickory Dikory Dock:

Hickory Dikory Dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one
The mouse ran down
Hickory Dikory Dock

  Then he starts to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but I shout over him. "Chase," I cry. "Chase, look at me! It's Lyrica! Lyrica Mallard! Can't you remember me!?" He pays me no attention and stares straight forward at the wall singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Twinkle, twinkle
Little star
How I wonder what
You are. Up above
The world so high
Like a diamond
In the sky
Twinkle, twinkle
Little Star
How I wonder what you are.

I can't bear it any longer. All this pain. It's too much. I squeeze my eyes shut and tears run down my cheeks. "Oh, Chase," I think. "What has he done to you?"