Meant to Be (The Saving Angels 1)

“Well just before I fell asleep, they were discussing your strength increases. It seems the more pain they inflict on me the stronger you become.”

Mark tensed at my words. I forgot I had glossed over the shock treatments on my earlier explanation.

“What do you mean they inflict pain on you?”

“They’ve been shocking me with jolts of electricity, obviously testing to see how far your strength will go. Your dad wants to see how far we can be pushed. He survived your mom’s death and I think that’s his ultimate goal for the other Protectors. His real problem is the fact that the Protector’s life depends on someone he thinks is weak,” I said trying to clarify the source of Russo’s madness.

“I just can’t believe my father is capable of this kind of evil.”

I grabbed his hands and twined my fingers through his. “Neither did the others,” I said.

I kept expecting to be ripped away from him at any moment.

He obviously felt the same, because as the time passed, he wrapped his arms more firmly around me as if anchoring himself to my body. I had a more pressing thought on my mind, but was trying to avoid bringing it up.

“Are going to get out of this alive?” I asked softly.

Mark made no comment at first. I angled my head so I could look up at him to see what he was thinking. He leaned forward and brushed a brief kiss on my lips. “I don’t know,” he said a breath away from me. He leaned down and pressed his lips more urgently to mine.

My heart broke into a million pieces. This could be the last time we would see each other. I felt a hot tear burn its way down my cheek. Mark stroked it away with the pad of his thumb. We did not talk again and when I woke I could still feel the heat of his touch.

I opened my eyes and looked around to find the lab was once again deserted. I scanned the room as my eyes adjusted to the dim light. Sitting up, I expected to be too weak to move, but I felt surprisingly alert. My body still ached, but the feeling of heaviness had receded.

I lay back on the table as I heard someone enter the lab. It obviously wouldn’t be good for me if they found out I had regained some of my strength, another round of torture would be brutal. I couldn’t help wondering though if maybe it was the injection Russo had given me that had me feeling a little stronger.

I remained as still as possible quietly listening to the movements of the person who had entered the lab. I heard the rapping of computer keys and then the shuffle of feet as they moved from one computer to the next. A few moments later I heard the familiar tapping of Amanda’s heels on the polished cement floor. I was worried that Russo would arrive considering he would be able to pick through my mind and know that I wasn’t as weak as I appeared, hopefully he was still away from the lab like I had heard the previous night.

I kept my eyes closed realizing this made my other senses stronger. I could smell the coffee in the machine across the room as it began to drip in the waiting pot below and the overpowering perfume that clung to Amanda in a nauseating way. It wasn’t just my nose that seemed stronger; my ears were picking up many noises around the room, like the impatient tapping of a woman’s fingernails as she waited for the coffee to finish brewing.

Finally, I heard the sound of multiple feet as they entered the room. Amanda passed out daily instructions, which led me to believe that Russo was indeed gone for the day. I kept my eyes firmly closed and willed my body to remain lifeless as someone raised my arm to check my pulse. I remained spaghetti-like allowing my arm to hit the table with a heavy thud when they finished. My cover was nearly blown when a cold metal stethoscope was pressed to my chest causing me to wince slightly. Thankfully the worker was too preoccupied with another conversation to notice. After a few moments the stethoscope was removed and I could feel a blood pressure cup being applied to my upper right arm, with a few pumps the band constricted tightly around my arm. Once completed, I heard the scratch of a pen on paper as the person jotted down my statistics.

“Her stats are still running high, but her body seems to be depleted of all strength. She remained unconscious through the simple exam, I believe she doesn’t have much longer,” the voice said.

I lay there, quietly contemplating what I should do next. They were obviously waiting for me to pass away. How long would they wait before they decided to take matters into their own hands? I knew I would have to act the next time they left me alone, if my strength remained.

The lab was noisy with activity as everyone worked at their stations. I passed the time by trying to connect to Mark, but no matter how hard I concentrated I was not able to make my mind respond the way it needed to. I could feel that I was close, but I didn’t know how to bridge the gap. Every few hours someone would come over and go through the routine of taking my stats. Each time I would will my body to remain limp. I was amazed that I continued to get stronger as the morning progressed. I soon felt that if I wanted to, I was capable of movement. I believe that the time I spent with Mark in the dream had made me much stronger. Lying on the table for so long though, I became acutely aware of the fact that my body was dehydrated and my stomach was empty. The thirst I could ignore, but I laid there in fear that my stomach would betray my half dead state. I played mind games in my head trying to remain alert, wanting to be sharp incase I had to move quickly.

Finally, when I thought I would go stir crazy from lying on the table for hours, I heard someone say it was lunch time. There was steady noise throughout the room as everyone closed up their stations and headed to lunch. The room slowly emptied and was soon quite, but I remained still and decided to wait a few moments before I moved.

My heart almost stopped when I heard someone approach my table. I laid there, barely breathing feeling the person’s eyes on me. I kept my eyes closed and tried to even out my breathing.

After what seemed like an eternity, the person finally walked away. I forced myself to wait a few more minutes before I dared to open my eyes.

I blinked in the light as my eyes adjusted to being open. I was definitely alone. This was the opportunity I needed; I was going find Mark and get us out of this mess.

I sat up and was taken aback by how lightheaded I felt; I needed to find food fast. After a few moments to clear my foggy head, I swung myself off the table and stood on shaky legs using the table for balance. My first steps were tentative as my body betrayed my determination, but I made my way to the coffee pot where I found leftover muffins.

The pot was empty, but I was pleased to see a left over muffin in the basket. I grabbed it quickly and gulped it down. It was dry from sitting out unwrapped all morning and the last bite got stuck in my already dry throat. I scanned the room and my eyes lit up when I spotted a half filled bottle of water sitting at one of the work stations.

The water helped the last of the muffin go down and I felt better with something in my stomach. >“Don’t look so dismayed my dear. It is all for the greater good. The others will become stronger because of your sacrifice.”

“You’re a monster,” I said, not afraid of his anger.

Surprisingly he was not angry, instead he laughed.

“A monster? I don’t think so. I just took back some of the power. There was a flaw in our DNA makeup when we were created and I decided to fix it.”

This was all sickening, I thought. Where did such evil come from?