War Is Madness

Chapter Nine: Lab Z

When I next awoke I found myself to be completely alone in a padded white room. I tried moving my body and found myself shackled in place. My head was pounding as the bright, fluorescent lights penetrated my sensitive eyes. With each beat of my slow, cold heart.

The agony of being alive without my soul consumed me. Every muscle, every fibre of my being felt as if I was being burned alive. I tried pulling against the shackles that had my arms stretched out and attached to the walls on either side of me. I ruffled my wings in annoyance as I felt my more animalistic sides screeching at me to escape.

I inspected myself as my vision slowly became clear. I noticed I had been changed into a simple pair of white pants, made of a strange, stiff fabric. The rest of my clothes were nowhere to be found. I also noticed I was clean, which made a cold chill run down my spine. Someone had clothed and bathed my unconscious body.

The thought made me feel even more uncomfortable than I had already been. When I tried turning my head, I noticed I had some sort of metal collar tightly locked around my neck. It pinched and poked my skin, but I feared what its intentions were for.

Although from what I could make out this collar was man-made as I felt no magical energy radiating from it. My thoughts were loud, repeating how I had to find my way to Rose, Dendra and Rastus. The outline of the door to the room in front of me started to make clunking noises. Sending feral panic straight to my heart. My feathers ruffled and my fangs elongated as my natural defences took over.

I didn't feel like myself in the slightest. In fact, I felt like a cornered animal. I pulled against the chains in a futile attempt to free myself as the door slowly opened. Humans, both males and females rushed into the room, dressed in white laboratory coats. I hissed and bared my fangs in warning, acting on pure instinct. One tall and very lanky looking male, who radiated confidence, held up a small metal box in his hand with a sadistic, wicked gleam in his eyes.

"Now, now. I'd be calm if I were you, Boy. How could such powerful beings be such savages? Your kind is truly fascinating. I wonder what types of experiments I could try out on you?" He pauses, "I guess we'll get to that later. For now. Speak."

A low growl emitted from my chest as my arms were shackled behind my back, while I felt a sharp pinch in my neck.

"That's a strong tranquillizer that's just been injected into you. Usually only used on elephants."

My body slumped forward as the drugs struck my mind. I felt dizzy and my vision blurred. It made me feel ill, but I forced myself to stay awake despite my body screaming at me to sleep. I didn't want to be unconscious and vulnerable to these people.

"Do you know what I hold in my hand, Boy?" The male questioned me as I looked up at the bastard.

I only scowled as a reply. I refused to give in to this Human.

"Come now? Have you no clue? Or should I go ask your Brother?"

"Fuck off!" I yelled and launched myself at the sadistic man.

I was furious he would threaten my Brother in any way. But before I could even get close to him, he smirked and pressed his thumb down on the metal box. This triggered the collar around my neck, and it sent a constant stream of electricity through my body. I was paralyzed by the violent volts traversing my veins.

Left to wriggle and shake on the floor until the man felt like taking his thumb off the button. I couldn't tell if it had been minutes or days. The burning buzz of the electricity warped my senses. When he finally did release the button, I was in utter agony. More than the usual pain of my rapidly decaying body.