Spy School: The Rise of Gama

Chapter 15: Rescue

Adela wakes up with a pounding headache, making her wish that she could return to the dreamless sleep she has just been pulled from. She groans and tries to sit up but finds herself strapped down to a table. This realization wakes her up quickly. Her eyes widen and her heart rate increases as she tries to pull her wrists and ankles free from the metal cuffs that bind her to the cool metal table. The quiet sound of someone whimpering ends her struggles as she turns her head to locate the source.

Next to her, both Liz and Ty are strapped to their own tables the exact same way that she is. Ty is still unconscious, leaving Liz as the source of the whimpering. In the dim light of the single incandescent bulb hanging above their heads Adela can see that Liz’s cheeks are wet with tears as well. She must have been trying to pull free for a while, Adela thinks as she notices the blood smeared on the cuffs that keep Liz’s wrists to the table.

“Liz, calm down.” Adela whispers urgently. “Panicking isn’t going to get us anywhere. We’ll figure a way out.” Hopefully, she adds silently.

“Adela, you’re awake.” Liz’s voice is full of relief, “I was starting to think I’d be the only one to ever wake up. You and Ty were still and quiet for so long, I started to think that you were…” Her sentence trails off. Adela doesn’t need her to finish to know what she was going to say.

Adela turns her head away from Liz to look at the other side of the room only to be greeted by darkness, the light from the bulb not being strong enough to illuminate much past the tables. “Have you seen or heard anything?”

“Sort of,” Liz responds quietly. “There were murmurs coming from somewhere to the left for a while, I didn’t pick up anything the voices were saying though.”

“Where am I? What happened? Liz? Is that you?” Ty’s whispers join the conversation, although they soon turn frantic. “I.. I can’t move! No, not this again, please.” She starts to yank at her own cuffs and squirm around on the table, her breathing quickly picking up pace until she’s dangerously close to hyperventilating.

“Ty, deep breaths.” Adela instructs through a forced calm. She’s just as scared as Ty, she knows what this setting means. Pain and worse is going to follow soon if they don’t get out of here.

“I don’t want to go through this again! Anything but this, please!” Ty continues to squirm despite Adela’s instructions.

“Quiet, they’re going to hear you.” Adela hisses. “If they know we’re awake they’re going to come in here.” This silences Ty immediately, although she continues struggling against the restraints. Adela addresses Liz once again, “Do you know anything else about all this? How far from the school we are, who these people are, anything?”

Before Liz has a chance to answer, the room is lit up by a blinding light. She opens her eyes and blinks rapidly against the harsh light as she waits for her eyes to adjust. The room around her is now clearly visible.

Above the girls are several bright florescent lights that are humming softly as they work to fill the whole room in white light. The edges of the room are lined with counters and glass cabinets. The cabinets contain a variety of materials from needles to strange colored bottles and vials. Black tile covers the floor, possibly meant to try to hide the bloodstains which still show as darker blotches beneath the metal tables the girls are on. A single door sits at the far left of the room, next to it is a large mirror which most likely hides a one-way window.

A hiss of air escapes as the sealed door opens. Four men file in, all wearing lab coats and medical masks that cover most of their faces. Three of them are holding clipboards, pens held ready to take down any notes. All four approach the center of the room, circling the tables that the three girls are held down to.