The Road to Nowhere

Chapter 23: Experiments

Chapter 23

Her eyes are sickly, yellow, and covered in a milky haze. Her lips part and her lower jaw stretches to about a foot away from her face. Her blackened teeth cradle her tongue until it glides out of her mouth and licks her surrounding skin. Sharply, her hands break away from her sides and slam against the tube. The shriek that comes out of her mouth is muffled by the liquid and glass, but I was still able to hear the gurgles of her voice. She pulses her body forward to bang against the tube. Her forehead hits the glass hard. I dig my nails into my palms when I hear the hollow thud of her head hitting the glass. It reminds me of the sound of a baseball bat crushing a skull. The skin on her body is flaking off and floating to the bottom of the tube. The place where the skin has left is pink exposed muscle. Small tubes are connecting to most of her body and there's a black liquid being pumped into her. 

Layke's second scream makes the group turn on their heels. I would have if I heard Brianna's name.

"Pheobe!" 

Layke shakes in fear as they all run over to the tube. Robbie takes his hat off when he realizes who's inside. He throws it at the ground, making it skip across the floor. I watch as the emotional wall he's been holding up crumbles beneath his feet. He squats down to the floor, hands covering his face. He lets out a small whimper before he takes in a shakey gulp of air. Then, his body flops to the ground and he stares into the tank with wet eyes. Scooter on the other hand runs up to the glass and starts banging on it. Each blow makes Pheobe's body twitch in the liquid. When his banging stops, Scooter's forehead leans against the glass as his hands slide down next to him. 

I hear the click of a gun. It's Robbie's and it's pointed at Mr. Wimble. "What the fuck did you do to her!" His scream is deep and full of pain. 

Mr. Wimble laughs maniacally. "We can't make these creatures out of thin air. Our tests have shown that females under the age of fifteen regenerate the fastest."

"You're saying all of these things are young girls?" I ask. 

"Precisely." Mr. Wimble says with a cheer in his voice. I didn't notice before but all the tubes are full of younger girls. Most of them look like Pheobe does, but some look like something not of this world. They look deformed. Like they're growing and changing into monsters.

I feel my skeleton turn to stone. If all these creatures are young girls, and Pheobe's already dead, then where's Brianna? My eyes scan the neighboring tubes vigorously while I look for her familiar face. 

"Where's my sister?" I scream at Mr. Wimble. I can feel the adrenaline coursing through my body. "Tell me or I'll kill you." 

Before he could answer, the door we came through at the start of the lab slams open. A pack of military men charges in and surrounds us in seconds. I don't move a muscle, since all their guns are pointed directly at our heads. One of the men stands out. His uniform is different than the rest. Instead of the army green color like the rest of the men, his is navy blue. There are many pins pinned to his left breast just below his golden nameplate. It says "Huff". I scan his face but only find stern and colorless eyes, along with rubbery skin and wrinkles that look like they've come on from stress rather than age. This man can't be over fifty. His head must be bald under his hat since I can't make out any hair. A choice of course. But, his face has a thick brown beard covering most of it. There's not an inch of gray. 

The man speaks. His voice is raspy and hoarse like he's been screaming. "Wimble, what are you doing?" His eyebrow lifts, causing his wrinkles to be more prominent.