Runaway

Lab Rat

Author's note:

Sorry for long wait! There's tons of things to do in school like paperwork, projects, reporting, and quizzes all in the same week! We also just had our almost-week-long exams! Here's the fourth chapter I owe you guys!
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Chapter 14:
I was alive. I knew it. It felt too real to be a dream but I couldn't open my eyes. I couldn't move. I knew I was awake but the reality seemed too tempting to believe, making me feel I was unconscious. I started to hear little bits of conversations little by little.

"Experiment 917652 ready for ..... her blood cell count is too low ..... Try tomorrow ..... You and Damien, take care of this mess..."

Damien, he betrayed me! What is he going to do to me? Is he going to kill me or inject me with something?

They stabbed me with an injection to allow me to move again. I slowly fluttered my eyes open but I was blinded by the bright light shone in front of my face.

Even if I tried to move, I couldn't. I was strapped to the chair with metal buckles.

"Wait, there's something in her pocket," another voice said. Perhaps it was one of the "escaped prisoners".

"Let me see," she said as she reached into my pocket, " The serum! This is it! This is the answer to our problems! We can upgrade people to be genetically robotic to control them."

"On who?" Damien said.

"On her of course. She was the one who had it anyways," the woman replied.

"Why her? She could be the most important aspect of this. We have many others to test on anyway. If we're sure that it will be successful, then we can try it on her and use her as a weapon to threaten the others ," another man said, his voice strangely familiar.

"Okay, you heard him. Feed her and keep her in the pit. Do only what we tell you otherwise, we'll swipe your memories and delete them," added the woman.

"Yes," said the prisoner.

"Damien? Are you hesitating?" said the woman.

"No," he said. I was sure that he was contemplating to accept it as if he had any other choice.

There was a short moment of silence before a sharp sound came. She slapped him.

"Then you answer right away. If you want to know about your parents, you do what we say whenever we say it."

"Yes," he said.

I thought I saw for a moment of him clutching his fist. I was sure that he hated it but why did he still do it? Didn't he have any other choice?

"Bring her to the pit," said the man.

Someone unbuckled me. I felt the urge to run away again.

The minute I heard the unbuckling of the last buckle, I thrashed my way passed the person and ran. I was really running blindly. I couldn't see anything.

Someone grabbed me though. The grip was so strong so I thrashed around as must as I could to escape.

"Let me go! Let me go!" I screamed before I remembered the dagger I had on the sole of my shoe. I used it to hit the person.

"Agh!"

I started to run again. This time, my vision clear and adrenaline pumping so much.

"Stop it, Charlotte. Stop before it's too late," said Damien.

"You stop! Your life is worth nothing since you live like this!"

I saw a short flash of hurt in his eyes and I knew I should keep doing what I was doing.

"What about you? You ran away from everything! You're hurt by your uncle, your parents died, and you're caught! Give up while you still have a chance."

I threw the dagger but I missed. I was too late. He ran towards me and tackled me. He then grabbed me by the waist and slung me over his shoulder like an empty sack.

"Let go!" I screamed while hitting his back as hard as I could.

"A feisty one now, don't we?"

Damien ignored the comment and continued to carry me to the "pit".

"You should have listened. I gave you a chance and you missed it."

I didn't want to waste my energy on Damien. As he was walking to the "pit", I took note of everything I saw : each corridor, each room, each label, each guard, and each placement of the cameras.

"Here's where you stay. You'll be here until they're done with you. It's either the lab or the chip swipe you know?"

"I know. I heard it earlier."

He let me down gently though I still tried to escape. While he was locking the door, I kept banging on the strong glass door though my hands started to hurt.

"Just listen and you might make it. Thanks for the dagger anyway."

I suddenly remembered my dagger. I was now helpless. I was a trapped thing ; something to experiment on.

I continued to bang my fists on the walls and scream, each one more painful than the last. I lost my voice eventually but I still didn't stop. My knuckles bled after a while. Only then did I stop.

I looked at them, all sore and wounded, just how I felt. I couldn't do anything but sit down and do nothing. I realized so far that's all I've ever done. Nothing. I've run away but after that, nothing.

Each second I spent in there felt like an eternity. Each second felt like minutes ; each minute felt like hours ; and each hour felt like forever.

"Here, eat," said the prisoner.

He dropped in a tray of food which he spilled on the floor. He was the one I hit with the dagger. He was making his grudge against me more evident.

Damien took the place of the prisoner after a while. If he wanted to tell me something, he couldn't. He told me that each place was bug-sound sensitive and filled with security cameras.

"You're doing well so far," he said.

"Thanks," I replied.

"They're going to operate on you later."

"Operate?"

"Yeah, operate to find out about your brain and how it works."

"Why?"

"Now, Dammy, said to not tell the subject anything," joined the prisoner.

Despite the constant torment that followed later, he kept his cool knowing he would lose if he showed a hint of frustration.

"Aren't you scared to tell me all this?"

"Just saying what you should expect to happen. I'm not giving out any information. Try as you might, you can't get out of here..... alone."

"alone", was what he mentioned whispering lay to me only.

I wanted to ask him about his parents and about the memory swipe but I didn't want to get out too much information in one day. Who knew what those people would do to me?

"Did you hear all the clamor?"

"Yup. Every last bit of it."

I didn't admit it but talking to him really helped.