I blinked twice. Three times. Four. My vision was still blurry. Unaware of my surroundings, I rolled over onto my side from his back. I screamed, my ear drums piercing. I could feel a thin, but sharp needle injected into my ribs, just below where my heart beat. Louder and harder each time his brain crossed over... Eleven.
The room was dark and he sensed an Earthy, rich scent. My palm clenched on the needle, fearing to remove it, he rolled over to his back again, his temples throbbing. He shut his eyes for just a moment. The silence washed over him in waves. His lungs began to fill with despair. A rise in the sensation to cough started up his throat. As he let out a hacking cough, a feel of mucus in the back of his throat, someone called out...distant but clear, "I hear you were the smart one. The one that kept the group together," a gruff voice stated. Mike's head swam. He reached up to touch his limp hand to his forehead, his hair stamped to hand as he did this in a pool of sweat.
"I know this is a game," Mike let out under his breath.
"A game?" the man responded. Mike sensed him walk over from his spot across the still pitch black room.
"You asked about her..." Mike's voice drifted. He couldn't look the man in the eyes. He couldn't even lift his chin.
"Who? Your little girlfriend!", the man taunted.
A slight moment of shame hung in the air. Shame, Mike thought to himself. Shame for Eleven? For all that she's done for me? Mike shook the thought away. He couldn't let himself get like this, even if she was never coming back. Mike shifted his gaze to this pale man's loafers shuffling, a sort of drift, over to Mike's....bed? It was harder than a hospital bed, almost concrete....Metal. Mike's heart began to race. He reached up to feel his mouth, suddenly as if it was to disappear right into his face... gone forever. His shaking fingertips felt a papery mask covering up the bottom half of his face, just below his eyes. As he sensed a claustrophobic sense to room, a thought shot to his brain. Lucas.
Mike could feel the walls gaping in, closer with each breath.
"What's the matter boy?" the man had happened to be watching him within the past few seconds, realizing his surroundings, "there's nothing to be afraid of here, you're safe with us."
Each word hissed from his tongue, like he was pouring water across a hot pan, the sharp sizzle hotter than the last. Mike let his lungs breathe. Settle. As the man began to speak, Mike arched his waist to face the man, eager to listen to his painful sentences.
"Eleven was our most valuable...subject," he hesitated as he decided to put her as a 'subject'.
Mike knew that they treated her worse than just a subject. They wanted her dead. Everyone wanted her dead. Except for Mike. Even as his gang grew older he could feel their cars for Eleven sinking, sinking until it reached rock bottom.
"That's why we need you now," the man seemed to speak in a pleased tone, like he was inviting you to enter a contest to win a grand prize...but here, there was no prize. Mike felt his head pound again. This time, harder than his heart. He felt the world began to move in slow motion. He wanted it to stop. No more. No more...
"Kid! Hey kid," he could feel someone's rough grip on his shoulders. Mike shot his eyes open. Was it a dream, Mike thought to himself. It can't be...
"I thought I lost you there for a second," the man's voice sounded reassuring, like Mike was finally in a good place...
"Sorry, sorry," Mike say straight up. He immediately noticed that his mask was gone and that the fluorescent lights were turned on, each bar of light exactly the same space apart. As he his gaze danced around the room, the man cleared his voice.
"So...are you up for it?" the man's eyes stared directly into Mike's dark pupils. Their gaze stood the same for more than ten seconds. Mike suddenly broke it. He rubbed the back of his neck, for the hairs were standing straight up.
"What are you going to do to me? Is this some sort of science experiment? Is this like what you did to Eleven!" Mike found himself shouting. His gaze returned to his lap. He had to let her go. He had to...
"Well...sort of, but trust me it's okay. We won't hurt you, it's not like you can escape from here anyways," the last part let out under his breath, but Mike still heard it. Goosebumps rose up his arms and neck. He needed to escape. He needed to find Lucas. Now.
