Survival

22

For some reason this chapter and the next one didn't publish and I've only just realised this. Sorry very much for this! 

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It was a pained howl- the sound of a wolf losing everything it held dearly.

The sound of an Alpha losing his pack.

Thundering of paws sounded as my blood rushed through me; answering howls of loss and pain sounded in my head as I screamed; my boys yelling in just as much pain as I felt as I remembered my last moments as a human. Now I was just a shell. An empty one.

Now I was a lab rat.

My eyes flickered open, only to be stabbed by harsh light. Metal cuffs held my wrists and ankles to the hospital bed frame. Sweat coated my head, my insides felt as though on fire as I regained consciousness.

"Victoria, glad to see you awake again" my eyes adjusted finally to the light and I managed to take in the room around me. It was an ordinary hospital room: the heart monitor and the IV bag beside the bed with all the other equipment, and a black leather armchair sat beside the bed.

Doctor Reece, from before, stood by the bed with a strange look as he glanced at me. "How are you feeling?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. I didn't know if I could trust him enough to tell him the truth about how I felt.

My flare was behind this.

Something was happening to us, and MSRI agents weren't the ones to tell.

"I'm fine" I replied after a minute, my voice rather hoarse. The doctor was quick to get me a polystyrene cup of water. "If you don't mind me asking- what happened?"

Reece chuckled, looking rather shocked at me politeness towards him after our last conversation.

"What's the last thing you remember?" he asked, standing away from me to sit in the armchair He moved my bed so I was more upright.

I remembered going to see Coop. I remembered going to see the boys. I remembered....

I remembered the boys being ill; I could feel an uprising of pain as our flares responded to being close to one another. I remembered my flare coming without warning.

"I can't remember" I answered, and Reece nodded as though he expected my answer, even it was a lie.

"Well, you- uh- fainted when you went to see you friends" he told me, opting for the simpler way to describe it. "Your friends also ended up blacking out"

"Are they okay?"

"Not for much longer. Thompson has already started their testing" Reece's words filled me with raging hatred. The boys were getting experimented on- the one thing I wanted to protect them from.

"Why?" my voice was harsher than I intended, but he didn't seem to notice.

"When you fainted, you all did the same thing. You all cried out and your eyes- they were gold"

Oh shit.

I couldn't say anything to the expectant man sitting by me. He'd seen us flare. Thompson had seen us flare.

And now...

"I want to know why" Thompson was suddenly standing in the doorway, glaring at me. "And how"

"Agent Thomson-"

"I think Victoria is well enough now doctor. I'll send for you when we're done. Subject 3 is finished and requires your attention" Thompson cut in sharply. Reece sighed.