Specimen

Suddenly, the top is opened and I’m hauled out. As they release me, I drop to the ground, unable to move. I’m dragged back to the platform. A painful grunt is lodged in my chest, refusing to make itself heard as they stretch my aching limbs and splay me out again. Wires are attached to the nails in my legs and arms, and they shock me again.

Questions are screamed into my ears between every shock. When I stay silent, I’m placed back in the box and the water covers me again. Escape scenarios cycle through my head, but they become slower and slower, the loops more frequent. The impulses become disjointed and begin to lose all meaning as I struggle to keep breathing. Several hours later, they bring me back to the chair. When they get nothing from me, it’s back to the box.

Over and over and over again.

I lose track of time. I’m so cold, I can’t feel my skin anymore—I only feel sensation deeper down, in my muscles and bones. The burning pain in my chest is the only part of me that feels warm. I can feel the cold in my head, too. I almost welcome the shocks just because they warm me briefly.

My mind is foggy. It’s difficult to think at all though I realize they’ve stopped asking me questions. They drag me back to the box; I can’t even walk anymore. The rumble of the pump starts up, and the cold water hits my back again. I squeeze my eyes shut and slump against the side as the water reaches the tops of my thighs. It won’t be long before I have to hold myself up again.

When the water reaches my chest, I hear voices. At first, I can’t make out the words, but then the volume of one voice increases, and I am able to understand.

“What’s going on here? Where’s the specimen?” The voice is on the other side of the warehouse, but I can still detect the deep timbre of an older man.

Murmured voices respond. I tilt my head back despite the protest of my neck as the water covers my chin.

“What?” the voice shouts.

“We’re just doing our jobs, sir!”

“Are you out of your mind? Get him out of there!”

I hear quick footsteps approach me, but the light shining down on me is too bright to see anything. The hum of the pump goes silent, and the water around me recedes. The light is knocked away, but all I can see are spots in my eyes as hands grab for my shoulders and pull me from the box.

I fall to the floor, still curled in a ball. My limbs won’t stretch out. In fact, I can’t move at all; I can barely breathe. I’m frozen beyond shivering, and my brain feels slow and nonresponsive. Brief instructions roll though my head, encouraging me to move, flee, fight, get out—but I’m unable to do anything.

“Get me a blanket.” It’s the same voice again—the one that told them to get me out. I can’t open my eyes enough to see who he is.

Rough cloth covers me, and my head is lifted slightly before something is placed beneath it. I’m beyond exhausted. Impulses in my head continue to tell me to fight and get away, but I can’t even open my eyes.

Everything fades to darkness and silence.

Chapter 14

“Can you hear me?”

I feel a hand on my shoulder. I haven’t been out long, and I still can’t move. I’m so incredibly cold. I’m sure if I were to be picked up and dropped to the ground, my body would shatter into a thousand pieces.

A hand wraps around the back of my neck and lifts my head. Something is pressed to my lips, and water flows into my mouth and trickles down my chin. I start to choke, then quickly force myself to swallow.

I’m lowered back to the ground. The sharp pain in the center of my chest has been reduced to a throbbing ache, but I have almost no sense of the rest of my body.

“Get Anna in here.”

My mind drifts.

*****

There’s an arm across my chest, holding me against the wall of the barn.

“Galen! Galen, please! Make them stop! Please, Galen!”

I squeeze my eyes shut, as if that will help my struggles. I’m punched in the gut again and again. I hear laughter and groaning. I hear her screams.

There’s nothing I can do.

*****

Something warm and wet is being dragged across my forehead. There’s a sweet, distinct scent filling my nose. My temples throb as my mind tries to make meaning of the smell.