NUMB

Day Fifty (pt. 1) - Elyse

I do not struggle when they drag me out into the room the next morning. I do not react as they strap me into the chair and hook the machine up to my body again. The tests today are more of the same ones I have been taking my entire life. There are new people in lab coats in the room today, but I do not pay attention to them. I do not look at them as they shine their lights in my eyes or as they knock against my knees. I do not answer their questions when they ask.

I sit strapped to the cold metal chair and stare at the wall across from me. There is a door there that blends in with the wall. It is only discernable by the caged light above it and the keycard box on the wall next to it. I wonder where it leads to. I let my mind wander as the tests continue on.

Jet comes to the front of my mind and I remember a conversation we had once. When he told me that he thinks the emotions have always been inside of me, but being Numb has detached me from them, made it hard for me to find them. I think about that detachment and try to find that again.

It is easy to slip back to Numb, to remember that I have done this my entire life.

They do a different type of physical test today. This one involves sending shocks of electricity through my body and gauging the response to it. They only shock me three times, but it is enough to make me sag in the chair. They resume the questions after and I resume doing my best to be the Numb I have been made out to be.

Sheila appears to be getting more and more irritated by my lack of response to her tests. I suppose it is because I was so responsive yesterday, giving her the results that she wanted, and today I am being the Level Three she should have been expecting.

"Stop. Everyone stop what you are doing!" Sheila slams her clipboard down on the table and more than one person in the room jumps. "This is no longer working. She is resisting the tests, I know she is. I don't know how, but she is. It's time to move to the next step."

The door I have been staring at across the room opens and a body is shoved through the doorway. There is a small spike on the machine monitoring my heartbeat, but it steadies out almost immediately. Jet stumbles forward, almost falls, then steadies himself. He looks like hell. There is a dark bruise blooming on his cheek, another forming under his eye that spreads across the bridge of his nose. There is blood on his lip and more dried around his nostrils. His hair is matted to his head with sweat and his shirt collar is torn. He stands tall though, with his hands behind his back.

I swallow the urge to speak to him. Instead, I merely keep my eyes fixed on the light above the door on the wall across from me. Sheila moves over to Jet and I try to keep my focus on the light, but having Jet in the room makes it difficult.

"I've noticed on the security feeds that there's been quite a bit of interaction between you two. It's unusual, to say the least. In all my years of working with the Compound, I've never seen a Three who bonds like you do, Elyse. You have such a diverse group of friends, one from every Level if I'm not mistaken. Although the one I find the most interesting is Jet here." Sheila drags one of her nails along the underside of his jaw and his body visibly tenses. "A Sensitive. It's never happened before. Not with a Three. A Level One, I could understand. They have the same basic emotional capabilities. A Two, even though it would be pushing it, I could understand. But A Three? What could a Three and a Sensitive possibly have to bond over?"

Sheila turns her cold stare in my direction, but speaks to Jet. "Tell me, Jet, how does someone develop feelings for a Numb?"

Jet does not respond to her and when he looks at me, the emptiness behind it makes my stomach churn. There is a strain in his arms I had not noticed before.

"Answer me! How can you feel for something that does not feel itself?!"

"She feels more than you do." Jet finally says. Even his speech sounds like it has taken a beating. His words come out dull and heavy.

Sheila's face twitches and she waves her hand in the air. Two Wardens step up as she speaks to no one in particular, "Begin the next step."

One of the Wardens goes up behind Jet and strikes him on the back. Jet falls to his knees and the other Warden lands a blow on his face. Fresh blood trickles down his nose. He tries to stand only to be knocked down again. I watch, try as I might to shift my head or turn my eyes away, as he is lifted off the floor only to be knocked down again.

Why is he not fighting back? His eyes find mine and the emptiness is gone, replaced by pain and anger. I keep his gaze on me for as long as I can, try to speak to him using only my eyes. He has to fight back. They are going to kill him if they keep going like this. Jet turns a little, slowly, shifts so I can see that his hands are still behind his back, his wrists bound to one another. The machine beeps loudly once or twice and then goes silent.

A Warden slams his fist into Jet's jaw and he falls forward onto the floor. He lifts himself up slowly, his eyes falling on the machine that I am hooked up to. He kicks out at the Warden closest to him and manages to catch him off guard. Jet's foot makes contact with the back of the Warden's knee and he topples over.

With a moment of distraction to work with, Jet quickly slips his legs through his arms so they are now in front of him. Though they are still bound, he has something to defend himself with now. When the other Warden comes at him, Jet swings his fists out and the crack that sounds is followed by a low groan. The Warden holds his nose as blood spills down his face.

Sheila watches on the sidelines, her arms folded across her chest and her lips pressed so tightly together they have lost all their color. Jet has the upper hand in the fight now. The next time he knocks one of the Wardens down, he doesn't get back up. Jet and the remaining Warden square off against one another.

It is easy for me to picture the way this will end. Jet will fight off the Warden and then knock Sheila out. The others in the room will not be a problem, most of them look terrified right now anyway. He will come over and free my hands and then I will free him of his bindings. He will get the band off my head so I can get off the chair and then we run.

But of course, as easy as it is to imagine something, it is not always that easy in reality. Especially when in reality, the Wardens have weapons other than their fists. The Warden reaches behind his back and pulls something from his belt. I barely have enough time to warn Jet with a shout to look out, before the Warden slams whatever it is he grabbed into the side of Jet's neck.