When Worlds Collide

Chapter 9

"ARI!" I scream as I sit up. I look around. I'm...I'm...I don't know where I am, but it smells like chemicals and I'm in a cage. I think I'm back in the testing labs were I was born and tested on, but I can't tell. I blacked out....how did I get back here? All I remember is seeing Ari jumping on me, at first I thought it was some hairy dog. Then I heard a scream and I had blacked out. Was it me that screamed? I don't remember but it could have. I realize that my head hurts and my leg feels broken. I must have tried to fight him before I blacked out. I hear a door open. It must be from the hallway, but I see light come into the room and see a man in a lab coat walking over to my cage. It's hard to see him from where I am at, but he looks very familiar....NO! It can't be! He died! He....he...he left me to tend to my flock all alone again. For a second time since I had escaped this prison all those years ago. Yet here he is! Standing right in front of my cage. The only thing seperating us is metal bars. I want to scream at him and tell him he is a traitor. All I manage to do is whisper his name. "Jeb." I say. This time with more confidence, "Jeb Batchelder." I say. He just stares at me and says one word, the word I always dread now. "Maximum." he says with a hint of coldness in his tone. "What do you want?" I say matching his tone so that he knows I mean business. "We have a lot to talk about." he says. "We sure do." I said