Abnormal {Book 1: Completed, Book 2: Ongoing}

Chapter 17

Lyanna's POV

The next morning, I am escorted to a room with no windows and only one exit, which is guarded by at least 5 grown men in full gear and loaded guns. Inside is a small wooden table, a lab doctor standing next to it, and a frail figure hunched over in a chair. 

I swallow and walk closer to them, clad only in the thin T-shirt and shorts they gave me before bringing me here. The lab doctor, a tall woman with sleek black hair tied back into a ponytail, possibly in her mid thirties, motions for me to sit in the empty seat. 

I turn slowly to the frail figure, and my throat tightens as I see the person's face. It's a boy, about the same age as I am, with elfish features and closely beaded eyes. His fingers tap nervously on the edge of his seat, his eyes darting back and forth between the doctor, me and the guards. But what scares me the most is the gauntness of his face, and how his ribs show through his shirt. He seems to be starving.

Has he always been like this? I can't help but wonder. Or do they start starving the Abnormals further into the program?

"Hello. I am Janette Karen. You may address me as Dr. Karen, and I am in charge of your lab today, so listen carefully to my instructions."

I nod quickly, sweat pooling in my palms as I struggle to calm my breathing. The guy next to me doesn't move, speak, or even look at us. He just stares at the wooden table, silent. 

"Kendall, please stand up and move to the left side of the room. Lean your back against the wall." So his name is Kendall.

"Lyanna, please move to the right side of the room and lean your back against the wall." I stand up stiffly, and shuffle to towards the white wall several feet away from the table. The wall is cold and hard against my back, like every single person I've met in this place. Except for Cole, a small voice whispers at the back of my mind.

He was never cold to you. In fact, he was the opposite of cold...

Dr. Karen snaps her fingers, and a panel slides open in the floor, in the center of the room. An electric chair rises out of the ground, with a small child about 3 years old, perched in it.

The little girl's gaze is fixated on the screen in front of her, playing some Disney movie that I've probably seen before. There is a large black headset covering her ears, so that she can't hear anything around her. Her long brown hair, porcelain features and blue eyes are so perfect and doll-like that my heart lurches for a brief moment. I haven't seen something this pure, innocent and untainted for a very long time. 

Then suddenly, she giggles at the screen, her small hands waving joyfully in the air. Dr. Karen steps towards the girl, her lips pursed and face expressionless. The coldness in her eyes is unnerving, and I lean forwards, trying to see what she's going to do to the child. Dr. Karen turns to me. "Back against the wall, Lyanna."

I gulp and nod nervously as she reaches out and pushes a large, red button at the back of the metal chair. Instantly, the movie on the screen is switched to a horror film, with corpses lying on the ground, their bodies cracked wide open and their intestines falling out. Some of the bodies are rotting as the living people around them turn into vultures to salvage the remaining flesh. I freeze in place, watching in fascinated horror as the child begins to scream and cry, thrashing in the electric seat as the corpses start to rise from the ground, some of them missing eyeballs, others missing entire legs or arms.

"The only way to change the movie back is to press the green button located next to the red one," Dr. Karen said. 

This must be a trap, the voice in the back of my head tells me. But the child is now reduced to hysterical sobbing as she tries and fails to pry off the headset, which seems to be stuck to her head somehow. I glance at Kendall, who is watching the girl's every move but still remains motionless. Is it possible that he's done this before and knows what exactly will happen if the button is pushed? 

The girl has given up on the headset and is now pummeling the screen with her tiny fists as zombies leer at her through the screen. Tears continue to flow down her face, and I just can't stand it anymore. I stumble forwards and jam my index finger down on the green button. Instantly, the horror movie switches to the Disney one, and I breathe a sigh of relief. However, the girl starts screaming again, and I stare in horror as her body starts convulsing due to the electric shocks going through her veins. Suddenly, a razor shoots out of the top of the green button and impales itself in my arm. I shriek both in pain and surprise as blood starts seeping out of the wound. 

I'm too stunned to cry, or even scream.

Dr. Karen walks up to me slowly, plucking the razor out of my arm. She tilts my chin up with her fingers, then makes a clucking sound with her tongue.

"Lesson number one: Never save someone unless you are absolutely sure of the outcome. Mastering this will take you a long way in being a...servant of the Central Government. Now, let's see how fast you can learn."