Rise

Chapter Thirteen: Revelations

Matt made his way down the gloomy corridor, keeping close to the white walls. After entering the facility, Matt had made a left, as it was the only direction available. There were no stairs or doors leading to other halls, only one passage, with rooms on either side. At each door he quickly checked the sign, trying to figure out where he should be headed. It seemed that each room he passed was some sort of office since each sign had the name of some man or woman, rather than what it was used for. Matt wasn’t sure what he was looking for but doubted it lay behind any of the doors he was currently passing.

Emma and Flint kept his pace as they quickly traversed the hall, on constant alert of any guards or staff. Matt and Emma ducked below windows after taking quick peeks inside, trying their best to stay undetected. 

Through the grated glass they saw men and women in gleaming white lab coats, running tests on bright fluids in test tubes and beakers. All were so engrossed in their work that none ever saw the two teens poking their eyes just above the edge of the windowsill.

Seeing the scientists more than put Matt on edge. If this was the place they had taken Rose, what kind of sick experiments were they putting her, and any of the other girls taken, through? The thought only put more speed into Matt’s step. The sooner he found Rose, the better. 

The trio passed more laboratories similar to the first, each filled with more scientists running experiments. But, as they progressed down the halls, the sights within the labs only grew more horrifying. Inside of the beakers and test tubes, Matt saw what he thought to be human fetuses, but could not be sure. What he did know was the way his stomach churned as he laid his eyes upon them. On the tables lay dissected humans, girls by the look of them, each with a large incision along their abdomen.

Each looked to be alive but sedated. Their eyes were glazed over and their limbs hung limp in their restraints. The operating tables beneath them were stained with both the girls’ blood and what looked like older, dried blood that Matt assumed belonged to previous “specimens”. Matt wasn’t sure if he was relieved that Rose wasn’t on any of the tables he could see, or only made more nervous by it. If she wasn’t there, that could have meant they had already operated upon her, and he didn’t know what happened to the girls after the scientists had finished with them.

As they made their way past more of the gruesome labs, Matt stared into the face of every girl that lay on the tables, searching desperately for Rose’s face. As much as he feared seeing her in such a state, he just wanted to find her, and see her alive. He knew he could take the scientists on if freeing her came to a fight, trusting in his skills with his walking stick and in the revolver that he had fastened to his hip.  

With each lab the party passed, Matt’s apprehension grew, as he could not find Rose in any of them. They were nearing the end of the hall and still there was no sign of his sister. Only other girls and women lying on the operating tables, some getting prepped for the surgery and some already through with it.

As a goggled man with a surgical mask approached one of the untouched girls Matt found that he could not look away. He stared on as the scientist administered an injection; some sort of anesthetic, judging by the way the girl’s body had relaxed. Even though her body was limp, the girl’s eyes were wide and terror-stricken. They darted wildly around the room before finally fixing themselves on the surgeon as he readied a scalpel.

Matt felt his stomach lurch as the scientist plunged the blade into the girl’s abdomen, releasing a thick stream of blood out onto the table. There was a stifled scream to his right as Emma clapped a hand over her mouth, making it evident that she was watching the scene as well. Matt tried to think of something comforting to say but nothing came. Instead, he felt a hand, Emma’s hand, creep into his. He squeezed hard, not entirely sure if it was for his benefit or hers. Both, he concluded as he watched the man tear across the girl’s skin, separating her tissue with one precise incision.