MKULTRA. The covert operation responsible for the abduction of children from all over the world. After an accident, TEN -- a child stolen and turned into the best soldier -- must protect ELEVEN from a world they both knew nothing about. This is her...
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C H A P T E R O N E the escape artist
[the vanishing of will byers]
BACK AND FORTH, TEN dragged her exposed feet against the concrete floor, hand trailing against the pale walls of her room as she paced. The surfaces were cold against her sensitive skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps up and down his arms and legs. There was a quiet thump from the other side of the wall, TEN pausing as she pressed her ear against the surface. Closing her fist she knocked against the wall once and then waited. Another gentle knock sounded back towards her. She grunted slightly, liking to hear that she wasn't alone. TEN had limited contact with people in the compound, never meeting anyone new and always transported with the same three men.
She wondered who was on the other side of the wall, maybe another person like her. A child forced to live in these conditions without knowing what life was outside the three rooms she was permitted to be in. She'd seen the corridors stretch down in directions she'd never walked, doors left unopened by her that she just wanted to know. Something in the back of her head nipping at her to get answers.
Sleep was difficult in the compound, TEN wasn't given covers to sleep under and was forced to have constant lighting in the room. Each corners had cameras watching her every move, red blinking lights telling him privacy wasn't as option. So Five spent most of her nights pacing until her legs gave away and she crashed onto the floor to sleep, curling into a ball to keep warm. She always woke up pained and exhausted, eyes stinging from the constant stream of light.
Around her tenth pace back and forth she looked down at her wrist, seeing the bandage tightly wrapped around it. Memories of what had happened earlier flashing into her mind. Endless testing, with things being stabbed into her, things stuck to her forehead as they forced her to use her powers. Her other wrist was covered by a metal contraption, two little needles stabbing into her skin. If she did anything wrong they'd send a jolt of electricity up her arm. If she hurt someone, jolt. If she didn't comply, jolt.
Her life was dictated by the contraption, the officers and scientists able to control her every move. Scientists made her into what she was now, a dangerous weapon who could easily kill a room full of soldiers with a bat of an eyelash. For as long as Five could remember she was told a simple phrase, Eleven's life over yours. All she knew that whoever Eleven was, she was the protector.
Emotions had been snatched from her, leaving the girl with a blank stare that was for intimidation tactics. Like the scientists had clambered into her brain and forcefully yanked her personality out. Much like with her discipline, if she smiled, zap. If she laughed, zap. If she cried, zap. However they never seemed to zap her when she gritted her teeth or tensed her jaw, wanting that anger to remain. It left her like an empty shell of a teenager, confused and frustrated.
