Thank goodness for that, I'm certainly not any good at the comforting side of this job.
“Charlotte’s friends are all in the lobby,” Danielle announces softly. This only makes Sophia start crying harder. I can’t blame her there. I saw how broken Charlotte was when we started the interviews three years ago. She's a completely different person now that she moved to Arcadia Hills.
“I think I’ve got them! It looks like it’s in a cluster of warehouses an hour and 45 minutes from here. Address is sent to your phone, Clark. What kind of backup are we anticipating?” the tech expert asks while typing away.
“If she is patient 634, then it isn’t a small operation. Get in contact with the local PD for backup, and get us several squads of agents for more. Then let the director know the plan so she can handle the other steps while we get in route. Look into the owner of the buildings, he might be our guy. And get us a warrant... now!” Clark barks out orders as he grabs what he needs and ushers us on our way. Now that we have a location, nothing can stop us.
This has to end.
Tonight.
Charlie
The scientist growls in frustration as he tries again to stick the IV in my arm again. It’s his third attempt since he’s not as strong as me. Unfortunately, my fight is draining. But I'm still not going to give up. I'm doubting they will kill me if they need me for this experiment, but if they do, it would be better than being a lab rat for the rest of my life. I'm also betting on his ultra-skinny arms tiring out before I do again. I have muscle and age on my side. He growls once more before stomping off to the intercom on the wall.
“Bring the boss down here, 634 thinks this is a game.” He stomps out of the room through the sliding door. I can’t help but smile at his child-like behavior. This grown scientist is disrupted by a moody teenager.
My humor is short lived as he stalks back in the room with a snide smile on his face. He's accompanied by Dominic. Oh look, he had to tattle to his daddy.
“Now 634, do we really need to give you more bruises before you cooperate? Timmins isn’t our only scientist. I promise they will outlast you. He wants you awake for this experiment, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have other means of getting you to listen,” he explains, still using his fake pleasant voice, even as he's threatening me. I just blink at him, like I have every other time. I refuse to let them see they faze me at all. I can handle pain… I hope.
Before I realize what's happening, my head is whipped to the side as he smacks me with whatever is in his hand. My ear is ringing now, and I can feel the warm blood running down my cheek. My vision is still working, so I purposefully blink up at him as I straighten my head and brace my shoulders.
“Just leave the abdomen clear, so we can carry out the tests there,” Timmins says as he heads over to grab his IV needle. He walks back to me and shows the boss where to hold me down, and he does so, using both hands to hold my upper arm and shoulder in place. I continue to fight, but I'm yet again overpowered. Timmins manages to get the IV in this time, but not without bruising and pain. Generally I wouldn’t choose to move around when there's a needle coming at me, but this situation is not your average hospital visit.
“There now, all done,” the boss says with a pat on my head. He raises his hand again, but this time I see it coming. I square my shoulders and await the impact of his closed fist this time. He clearly doesn’t use as much power as before, but it still jolts my head as he makes contact with my eye. I meet his gaze with a determined one of my own. I probably look like I'm the loser in an MMA match, but I don’t care.
My fight isn’t gone and part of me wants to push him into knocking me
out. Letting my mouth fill with saliva, I spit on him as my only form of retaliation. The bloody saliva drips down his face and the look of shock written on it is almost comical. Dominic snarls and winds up for another blow, but the scientist holds up a hand to stop him from hitting me again.
“Lucky you, you get to feel the pain of your insubordination while the saline goes through. Then you get to be distracted by the awful stinging of the vitamin mix. Then the real fun begins.” Timmins laughs to himself as he hooks the IV to the stand nearby before leaving the room with the boss. He isn’t wrong, I can feel my pulse in my cheek and eye with each beat of my heart. I sit there in pain, trying to fight the hopelessness that's sinking in.
Please God, let me die before letting them experiment. Haven’t I suffered enough?
Unknown
Unknown
Charlie
I’m not sure how long it takes for an IV drip, but it feels like hours before Timmins stalks back in. He doesn’t bother acknowledging me this time. Instead, he switches out the IV with a creepy chuckle before he stalks out of the room again. My head lulls to the side and I try to squint through my swollen eye to see but outside of the vibrant yellow, I can’t tell what’s in the room.
As the drip starts making its way through my body, I can barely breathe. The solution is like lava in my veins, the pain so intense I nearly black out and it just began. When he said awful sting, I wouldn’t even have imagined it being anything close to this. This time, I know the drip will feel like days before it's done.
If I could scream without pain, I’d do it. But the thought of any more is unbearable. Each passing second has me praying for death, anything to make it just stop.
When I'm to the point I don’t think I can handle any more, the pain subsides, and the IV bag hangs empty on the stand. I let out a sigh of relief, nearly crying as my body relaxes into the chair.
Timmins walks back in with a smile on his face. Where the hell did they find these guys? What kind of grown man enjoys the torture of others, especially a kid? I hope that Flynn manages to find these psychos even if I don’t make it out alive. Especially since not making it out alive is seeming more and more like a real possibility.
Timmins makes his way to the back of the chair I'm strapped in and presses a button on the side. The chair moves under me, laying me flat, and I stare at the ceiling so I can maintain my composure, but this is the point where I start to lose my calm exterior. I let out a whimper when I see the glint of polished silver as he pulls over a cart full of surgical tools. He merely chuckles and sets an array of scalpels and other equally horrific sharp tools out for me to see. I start to thrash again as he pushes my scrub top up to expose my stomach.
No, god no.
Please don’t reach for the scalpel.
Much to my horror he went straight for what looked like a shiny, sterile hunting knife.