Project Genesis

CHAPTER EIGHT.

Light.

It's blinding white tendrils wound their way through the air, causing Orion to wince her eyes closed in pain. The methodic pounding of her forehead was relentless, making it feel as though her head was being slammed into the ground. Slowly, almost in a daze, she began to open her eyes one by one; her pupils dilating as she allowed the light to penetrate them. She slowly adjusted her eyes to the unfamiliar room before recoiling in shock. Where was she? What was this place? What did they do to Corvus? Memories began to flood back into her mind; the man, he had sedated her and brought her here. Her breathing began to speed up as her heart started to pound. She tried to sit up only to be yanked back into place by chains around her wrists and ankles. She pulled at them again, feeling only the nip of cold steel digging at her wrists. Her forehead was searing with pain, and she vaguely remembered falling head first to the pavement.

Looking around she noticed the room itself was very plain, it's bare white walls were reminiscent of the room that they had been awoken in. She was sitting in some sort of hospital bed, her wrists and ankles both secured tightly to the rails. The bed was hard, and she could feel the ache in her body from being stuck in one position for so long. The most concerning part of the room was the tray of medical instruments that lay beside her. She swallowed the lump forming in her throat as she assessed the tray's contents. There was a scalpel, some tweezers, and a few other miscellaneous instruments that she didn't recognize. Her eyes lingered on the scalpel, watching how the light glinted off its smooth edge.

What were they going to do to her?

The door in the corner of the room suddenly creaked open. A woman entered, clad in pale blue doctors' scrubs with a medical mask obscuring most of her face. Their eyes met for a brief moment before the woman looked at the floor.

"Please, you have to help me. Where's Corvus? What's going on?" She tried desperately to elicit a response from the woman, but she remained silent, busying herself by putting gloves on her hands.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here." Orion focused her attention again to the doorway. Another woman was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed over her chest. She was petite in stature but her pixie cut hair gave her a more intense appearance; her face was contorted into an almost sinister smirk.

"Please, tell me what's going on. Do you know where Corvus is?" Orion pleaded desperately.

"Oh, shut up. I wouldn't tell anything to one of you. Why would I after all Excel Corp. has done?" she sneered, wrinkling her nose in disgust. Orion's mind was racing. Why did Excel Corp. have anything to do with-

Excel Corp.

Orion glanced down at the jacket she was still wearing. She had hardly noticed the green leaf insignia with the words "Excel" embroidered beneath it.

"These were the clothes we had on when we were awakened, I didn't know," Orion trailed off at the venomous look the woman gave her, shrinking back into the bed she lay on.

"We?" the woman spat, stepping forward to Orion's bedside. Orion began to explain but was shocked when the woman suddenly lashed out, wrapping her hand around Orion's throat. She began to sputter, trying to raise her hands only to be stopped by the chains relentlessly digging into her wrist. The woman's cold fingers tightened around her throat and Orion could feel her nails digging into her flesh.

"What do you mean by 'we'?" Her eyes narrowed as Orion sputtered for air.

"The- others. S-even," she managed to choke out, feeling the heat in her face from the lack of oxygen. Much to Orion's relief, the woman let go of her neck and she was able to gasp in some air, her chest heaving.

"Where are they," she demanded, her intense stare unwavering.

"I don't know, Corvus and I climbed the wall after they did. When we got over, they were gone." Orion panted as she tried to regain the oxygen she was lacking. She met eyes with the woman, an unsettled feeling returning to the pit of her stomach as she saw the look on her face.

"This Corvus, did he happen to have a torn-up leg?" she asked, almost smugly. Orion's eyes widened.

"Where is he, what did you do to-" she was cut off by the woman's cynical laughter.

"Relax, he's in stable condition- for now. His condition is going to get a whole lot worse, however, if you don't start giving us the information we need." Her smirk caused anger to bubble inside of Orion.

"I don't know anything, why don't you get that?" she yelled, surprised by her sudden explosion of anger.

"We woke up with no idea where we were or where we came from. Some stupid hologram told us that it was up to us to figure out if the earth was able to sustain human life once again, and that we had to record it on our stupid implants." If it weren't for the fact that her mouth was moving, Orion wouldn't have believed that she was saying the angry words that flew out of her mouth.

"Now how about you tell me where the hell my friend is?" Orion had a fire in her eyes as she locked glares with the woman, chest heaving slightly as she allowed the welcome air into her lungs.

"Oh, I will, but first I need you to show Rebecca over here that arm of yours," she said with a smirk. Orion didn't have much choice but to allow the woman in medical mask access to her arm. She felt the cool sterility of her gloved fingers on her skin as the masked woman- Rebecca began to roll up her sleeve, exposing the small black disk embedded under her skin.

"You see, we suspect these implants are doing something to your memory. That's what Rebecca over here is for," she said, pointing her finger at her arm. Her voice was condescending, almost as though she was speaking to a child.

"We were going to test out our theory on your buddy Corvus, but he was in pretty rough shape when we got him. It's a good thing you came along." Orion noticed Rebecca grabbing the scalpel from the tray, her heart rate rising as she brought it closer to her arm.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt... Much." Orion's eyes widened as the woman brought the scalpel down onto her skin, slicing through it with ease. An anguished scream managed to tear its way from her throat as she felt the cool steel cutting through her skin as though it was butter. She tried again futilely to yank her arm away but only felt the restraints digging further into her wrist. Beads of sweat began to drip down her forehead as the woman began to dig for the implant under her skin with the tweezers. She let out another bloodcurdling shriek of pain as the woman yanked the implant free from her body, a metallic clink resounding throughout the room as she dropped it into a metal bowl beside her. Orion felt numb, her body succumbing to the overwhelming amount of pain she was experiencing. She was barely aware of the tugging of stitches weaving their way through her skin.

And then it happened.

Her head snapped back, slamming into the bed as she began to feel them. They grew stronger and stronger every second, racing through her mind as though they had never left.

Memories.

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