With Love And War- Book Five In The United Series

Chapter Eight

Max's POV:

It's one of the most painful experiences I've ever been through.

There are electric jolts going up and down my arms and legs and it feels like I'm being burned all over again. My head feels like someone is pounding Leo's hammer against it repeatedly and I feel so dizzy I think I'm going to knock out.

Just as I feel about ready to pass out, I feel myself in a completely different place. I open my eyes and look around. I'm back in Chicago, but the latest fight we had with the Mogs is raging on in front of the John Hancock building. Is this happening right now, or is this just a memory? I continue to look around until I spot...myself. I'm down on my knees while Jason, who seems to be possessed by whatever, is holding his sword against my throat. I can't hear what we're saying, but I already know as Jason leans in to my ear, just as he did before. He's saying 'Helping the right side'.

My vision gets blurry and I feel the same painful experiences going throughout my body again. This time, I open my eyes to see a completely new sight- it's the battle I had with Octavian and Curtis back in Mexico at the Loric Sanctuary. I'm beating up Octavian and Curtis as they both come at me from each side. This is right before Octavian pinned me to the tree and set Nine off with the whole 'burns' thing.

I look down. I don't want to relive this memory again. Apparently Octavian doesn't want to, either, because I once again time-skip to a new memory- it's the fight Setrákus Ra and I had at the border of Missouri and Illinois, when I deflected the blow of his whip with a water shield I created and caused a huge explosion. Looking at it in third-person makes it look a lot more deadly than I thought it was. Almost all of the Mogadorian soldiers fall into the water or turn to ash and Setrákus Ra falls back and groans in pain. Ivan flies back and rolls on the ground, groaning in pain, and I fly back so hard I slam into the huge wall of rocks behind me. Ivan unsteadily gets to his feet but instead of helping himself, he automatically starts searching for me. When he finds me sprawled on the ground, he picks me up bridal-style then carries me to the boat the Mogadorians came in. I don't remember that happening, so it must've been while I was under the love potion Ivan put me under.

My vision blurs again and I go through so much pain, I would rather be back in Nine's penthouse under the truth serum with John again, but this time asking me about what Octavian meant by 'burns'.

I feel so dizzy I fall to my knees, but I know that I'm really strapped to a chair attached to a machine made by the Mogadorians. The me reliving memories I had hoped I'd forgotten, though, is in so much pain I could die now. I shout in pain, though I know Dr. Zakos and Octavian can't hear me. I clutch my arms to my chest, the horrible pain spreading throughout my body. It feels like someone's cutting my arms and legs up with a scythe. There's a burning sensation in my chest, a pounding in my head, a lurching in my stomach, and an aching in my whole body, like a huge bomb just went off near me but purposely kept me alive for me to feel the pain.

I fall on all fours and as my head seems to split open from the drilling in my brain, I wake up in a cold sweat on the chair in the testing room in the Anubis. I look around me and see Dr. Zakos furiously pressing buttons on the machine and Octavian leaning close to him, questioning him about what happened. My heart beats so fast I think it's going to burst out of my chest. I can still feel pins and needles on my arms. My rapid breathing slows down a bit and I somehow manage to just barely control myself. I hear a weird beeping noise to my right and look that way to see a long heart monitor I didn't notice before. My heart is beating a lot faster than I thought it was. 

I hear Dr. Zakos sigh heavily and I look his way. He looks slightly defeated but also kind of hopeful. I'm not sure whether to feel good or bad about that.

"The machine lost control and went too far. If you stayed in there for a few more seconds, you would've died," Dr. Zakos informs me and before he even gives me a chance to respond, he turns to Octavian, dead serious.

"Get her in a cell and make sure she doesn't escape. We still need her," Dr. Zakos orders Octavian. Octavian nods his head then unstraps me from the chair. I pretend to be a lot more worn out than I already am as Octavian grabs my arms and drags me to my feet. I glance back at Dr. Zakos and realize that he has a gun strapped to his belt. I hear him muttering about how the next time he experiments on me, it'll work.

I can't let that happen.

With Octavian's grasp on me much looser than usual as he thinks I'm so tired, I rip myself from his grip then leap for the gun on Dr. Zakos's belt, grabbing and cocking it. Dr. Zakos shouts at me to hand back his gun and Octavian raises his hands towards me, ready to use his legacies again. I aim the gun at him, then realize that I can't kill him. He'll just stop the bullet with his telekinesis then take the gun and knock me out, and I'll wake up in a cold cell with the number two on it.

I take one last breath before I tightly hold the gun and rest the barrel on the side of my head. Octavian's eyes widen and Dr. Zakos gasps. I turn to Dr. Zakos with a completely natural face, as if shooting yourself is a normal, everyday thing.

"You need me alive for this experiment, right?" I ask Dr. Zakos in an unnaturally calm voice. He doesn't say anything, he just stares wide-eyed at my position. I hold the gun tighter as Octavian glances from me to the gun.

"Right?!" I repeat, my voice raised with anger in it. Dr. Zakos stutters, trying to find the right words. I'm slightly amused by this. Octavian answers for him.

"Yes, yes we do. You figured that out a while ago," Octavian points out. I shrug my shoulders, still holding the gun tightly in my hands and giving a small smile.

"Well, in that case..." I begin, lightly placing my finger on the trigger of the gun. "Tell everyone I said goodbye," I finish bluntly, then I pull the trigger.

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