Hunted Predators✔️

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Matted hair sticks to the side of her face. There's a dull aching in her shoulder. A pounding in her head. Katherine sits up in the bed only to be held back by the handcuffs binding her wrists. Katherine blinks, squinting as the room slides into focus.

It's the same size as her room at Mabry. If her room was the same size as a closet. There's two cots spaced a couple feet apart and a toilet in the middle. Sitting on the second cot is a blonde girl, staring right at her with an expressionless look on her face.

Katherine swallows. "So how are we supposed to use the toilet while we're handcuffed to the bed?"

The skin on the girl's face contorts as she grins wryly. Half of her face is melted tight over her skull like candle wax, and when it stretches, bone can be seen. She couldn't have been more than eighteen, but she looked like she had fought in war. "Welcome to the little preview to hell you get before you die," the girl says. "That is, if you'd be so lucky to die."

"Uh... could you be a little more specific, please?"

"The Wellness Institution, Katherine. We're in the Wellness Institution."

The girl watches Katherine freeze, her breathing coming quicker, in short breaths. Katherine's eyes dart to the girl when she giggles, and Katherine's eyes narrow. "What are you, clairvoyant?"

"Hm?"

"How did you know my name?"

"Wouldn't that be cool? If we got some super powers out of these experiments, and we could use them against the guards? I used to be really strong, but they keep us at the brink of-"

"How did you know my name?"

The girl waves Katherine off. "The ward likes to show us news clips whenever he finds something he likes, so we got to know a little vampire girl named Katherine Cruz very well. The ward says you're like Harry Potter."

Katherine stares at her. "What."

"The Chosen One. The one chosen to put an end to all our misery."

"I don't think the warden said-"

"You want to know why they make us wear the handcuffs?"

Katherine stares at her.

The girl taps her index on the side of her jaw, pretending to think. "Wouldn't the steel door be enough?"

"To torture us?" Katherine says.

"That's much too simple." The girl settles back down on the cot, closing her eyes.

"So are you going to tell me or...?"

"You don't want to know."

"You're the one who-"

"To keep us from eating each other."

Katherine just stares, and when the girl doesn't elaborate, Katherine edges closer to the wall. The next time the door opens is when a guard steps through. Three more stand in the hallway.

The leading guard steps into the room, keeping his eyes on the girl and making sure his back is ever turned. He undoes Katherine's handcuffs and instructs, "Stand back."

He approaches the blonde girl slowly and unshakles her hands. Two more men step in, brandishing buzzing tasers. "Why don't we play nice today?" one of the guards says. "This is gonna hurt you a lot more than it's gonna hurt me."

The girl whips around and kicks him in the face, knocking him to his knees. "Worth it," she says with a wild grin. Katherine looks away, to the empty hallway. She edges out of the room, stepping away from-

"Don't even think about it."

A guard with a fresh pink welt on his face grabs her arms, pinning them behind her back, and shoves her forward. "Look, I didn't kill Darko," Katherine says.

"Shut up."

"I bit him, but I never took any blood. If you just removed-"

"I said shut up!"

"But he's-"

"Do I have to get a gag?"

Katherine bites her lip. As he escorts Katherine down the hallway, the only sounds keeping them company are of electricity, screaming, and maniacal laughter. They grow distant as they walk further away, but even after her room is nowhere in sight, the screams don't stop.

They come from seemingly everywhere, the faint cries for help. "Huh," the guard says to himself, "Must be a new batch today."

...

He leads her into a grey room with large blackened windows. The guard handcuffs her to a hook in the middle of the table, so Katherine can fidget, but not move more than a couple inches. Directly across from her sits a man in a worn yellow suit.

"Hello, Katherine. I'm your lawyer, Lester Crawley." He smiles at Katherine, revealing his mangy yellow teeth. "How are we doing? Do you need anything?"

"You're my lawyer?"

"Indeed."

"Are you going to get me out of here?"

"That's the goal. You see, you have two options. The first: plead guilty. Take a life long sentence in the Wellness Institution. Or. Let me fight your case. Go to trial and gain your freedom."

"Oh, come on. It can't be that simple."

The lawyer shrugs. "It won't be easy, but I have faith that this case can wield great results. Cases are really on a matter of opinion, of who can tell the better story."

"But, my roommate. She, uh... she said something about... Harry Potter."

"Sorry about that. The treatment here... it wears on their bodies, their minds. Some of the patients start to lose their sanity." He looks down, his face grim. "So!" He says brightly, sticking out his hand. "Ready to fight?"

Katherine shakes his hand.

"Allright," Lester says. "Just sign on the dotted line." He slides Katherine a piece of paper and a pen. After Katherine scribbles her signature, Lester gathers his things. "Just hold tight in there until your trial. But don't worry, I made sure you'd be left alone since this is going to be a temporary setting."

"Really? How temporary?"

"Two days until your trial."

"Thank you. That's..." Katherine blinks. "Incredible." Lester smiles back at her, reaching for the door. "Thank me when your trial is over."

"So Darko's completely recovered, right?" Lester pauses, his hand going still on the door.

"They got all the venom out of his system? He's no longer paralyzed?"

"Oh, right, of course. Yes, he's doing..."

"Good?"

"Yes, that's the word."

Katherine stares at him, her smile slipping. "Why does it feel like you're telling me what I want to hear?"

"Why do you say that?" His voice is a little strained.

"It's just... everything's working out so well."

"You know, Katherine, I think you need to be a little more optimistic. When life throws you a curveball, especially if it's..." He throws a smile at her. "Good... you must learn to adapt." He slams the door just as Katherine's about to reply.