NUMB

Day Forty-Nine (pt. 1) - Elyse

I am pulled from sleep by a pinching sensation on my chest, above my breast. My eyes snap open and I gasp. Dr. Hendry stands over me, pulling a needle out of my skin. The room is hot and stuffy, the air feels too thick to swallow. I scramble into a sitting position, scoot to the corner of the bed in order to get away from Dr. Hendry's hands.

"Good morning, Elyse," he says. His voice still startles me, even though I am looking right at him.

"What did you give me?" I ask.

"A sedative last night, to help you sleep. A small dose of adrenaline today to wake you up. He drops the syringe into a baggie which he then wraps around the syringe and stuffs into his coat pocket. "Come along then, breakfast is waiting and then you have an appointment with Sheila."

I slide off the bed, cautiously. There are no Wardens waiting in the hallway, which is odd. I decide that running away now would be pointless. These hallways all look the same and I would get lost easily. So I follow Dr. Hendry to where I will be having my breakfast. It is a room with a couple of tables, chairs stacked along the walls and a small counter on one side. There is a tray of food already waiting on one of the tables.

We are the only two in here.

The food is the same stuff that is served downstairs. Today, it is eggs with toast, oatmeal and a small glass of juice. The juice is sugary and makes my tongue feel sticky after I down the glass. Dr. Hendry sits across from me and watches me eat. It is a little unnerving. His eyes are small on his face and he has thin lips. He looks like he is in his thirties, not too many wrinkles on his face. The tie he wears today is a deep red and looks like it might be tied a little too tightly. I shift my gaze down to his hands as I nibble on my toast.

Most of the scars on his skin look older, faded with time. There are some that are still pink, still fresh. He must notice me staring at them, because he moves his hands to his lap under the table. After a few more bites of toast and a couple forkfuls of eggs, I slide my tray towards the center of the table, signaling that I am done.

Dr. Hendry gets up without a word. I follow him, stopping only when he nears the door.

"Am I allowed to use the bathroom?" I ask, gripping the hem of my shirt to hide the fact that my palms are sweating.

Dr. Hendry pushes his sleeve back to reveal a watch and frowns at it. "Yes, I suppose you can." He straightens his sleeve carefully and pushes the door open. "Follow me."

The hallways are strangely empty as we walk through them. The only sounds are from our shoes on the tile, his clacking and mine squeaking every three steps or so. Dr. Hendry does not look over his shoulder at me while we walk. I take it as a sign that he also thinks it would be stupid to run. I guess he is not aware that I am prone to making stupid decisions.

When he starts to slow down near a door with the word restroom printed neatly on it, I ready myself. He turns to face me and I swing out, punch him in the nose. He lets out a wheezy noise and holds his hand over his face. While he is distracted, I turn and run down the hallway, back the way we came.

I think if I can get back to my room, I will be able to find my way out of here. Or at least, find my way to somewhere else. I need to find Krysta so we can get Tasha and Isaiah. The sounds of quick footsteps come from behind me. A hurried, clack-clack-clack-clack.

Dr. Hendry calls out to me as I round a corner. I glance away from him just as I smack into another body. The collision sends me to the floor, and the other person stumbling backwards. My eyes lift up, to the man who stands in front of me. A Warden.

I half expect the sight of a Warden to deflate any hope I have of getting out of here, instead, I am fueled and ready to go. I scramble to my feet. Dr. Hendry finally rounds the corner and skids to a stop, his shoes slipping on the tile a little. The Warden lunges at me, arms ready to grab me, but I slip around him and take off down the hallway.

My heart beats so loudly in my ears that I can hardly hear Dr. Hendry's pinched tone calling out for someone to stop me. I turn a corner, then another, and another. Find myself standing in a hallway that goes two ways, left or right. I do not have time to think. Take the right turn and regret it. There are three Wardens hanging out in the middle of the hallway.

When they see me, one of them shouts "hey!" before they move towards me. I spin around, my shoes lose their grip on the tile and cause me to scramble for my footing. There are doors lining the hallway up ahead. I do not recognize this part of the building. The doors are glass and the wall cuts off halfway up from the floor, glass starting where the wall ends and stretching up to the ceiling. I can see into the rooms, labs. People work at desks, a few of them looking up as I dash past them.

There is another door at the end of this hallway. With a keycard scanner. Panic explodes in my chest, because this is where my escape comes to an end. But then the light over the door turns green and it opens. An older man stands on the other side. He presses his body against the doorjamb as I yank the door open all the way and run through it.

This hallway ends in another two way intersection, left or right. Only, I know where I am now. The entire wall at the end is windows. Sunlight makes me squint and it reflects off the half-glass walls of the labs, off the stark white walls. My vision dances. Once my eyes adjust, I turn right and head to where the stairwell is, hopefully.

The courtyard is empty below me, only a few Wardens wander on their patrol. Thoughts of Jet flood my head and I hope that he is alright.

Up ahead, a sign with a light around the edges draws my eyes.

stairwell

I could cry from relief.

I am just about to grab the door handle and pull it open when someone grabs me from behind. A scream bubbles out of my throat and I thrust my elbows backwards blindly. There's a grunt in my ear when one lands, and then my hands are secured with cuffs.

I struggle against the restraints, against the Wardens who have surrounded me. My gaze goes to the windows and I use the fact that the Wardens are basically holding me upright to kick my legs out. One hits the window and a sharp pain shoots up my leg, like I just kicked a brick wall.

"No! Let me go!"

I use my whole body to try and break free, twisting and wiggling. Dr. Hendry meets us at the intersection before the door and shakes his head.

"What trouble." He runs a hand through his hair, pushing it back from his face. "Sheila is not going to be happy about this."

"No! Get away from me!" I kick out again at the sight of another syringe full of clear liquid. I will not be put under again. My wild kicking pays off when I watch the syringe fly out of Dr. Hendry's hand.

"For God's sake! Get her under control! She's just a little girl!" He shouts at the Wardens as I try to kick out at him again.

After a few more minutes, during which the people in the labs stop working to watch the commotion in the hall, I am subdued. Thankfully, Dr. Hendry only had that one extra syringe, so I am still awake. But my legs are bound together and my arms strapped to my body, the cuffs still on my wrists. I can wiggle around, but I cannot do much else.

The Wardens have to carry me, like a corpse, to where Sheila is waiting for me.