Vess woke up to a pounding in her head. The ground she was laid on was cold, and hard. There was a slight buzzing that filled her ears, sounding like a hundred flies whirling around. She lifted herself onto her hands and knees, opening her eyes to find only darkness, but not completely. It was slightly illuminated by a blue glow that came from long bars, forming a cage around her. The air was cold, but light.
Vess felt a hand placed on her shoulder, “Vess, are you okay?” It was Zach, as she recognized the voice. She leaned back into his warm body. His hand wrapped around hers, allowing him to feel her signs. She signed back, “I’m ok, just cold.” His arms wrapped around her in an embrace.
By the blue light, she could see the dirt and scrapes on his arms. She started tracing his wounds, feeling him flinch a little when she got to a particularly bad scar. She stopped and signed into his hands, “Are you ok?”
“Yeah, it just stings a little” She stopped touching his arm. Out in the dimness came a shuffle to her left. Vess could see the shadow of a man raise himself off the floor, groaning as he did. Vess couldn’t tell exactly who it was from where she sat, but she had a good guess. The shadow seemed to look around and suddenly rush closer to Vess and Zach’s cage.
Well, as close as he could anyways. The glowing bars of his own cage illuminated his face enough to reveal Tony’s worried look. He went to say something over to them, but interrupted himself when he touched one of the bars. He jumped back with a quick shout and cradling his hand close to his chest.
Zach looked up, noticing Tony for the first time. “Are you okay?” Zach practically yelled over, panicked. Tony squeezed his eyes shut, still holding his hand close, breathing through his teeth. “Yeah,” He groaned, obviously not okay, “I’ll be fine. Are you two okay?”
Zach’s voice still sounded worried, “Yeah, we’re okay.” He shifted a little, “Who else is in there with you?” Vess shifted her gaze, seeing the second shadow next to her brother. Tony carefully crawled over to it and genitally moved something away from their face. “Nya” He answered. Tony placed a hand on her shoulder and tried to wake her up.
Vess pulled away from Zach and tried to look around the room they were stuck in. To the right was another cage and shadow, undoubtedly being Jordan. Other than that, Vess couldn’t see much in the darkness. It all looked like clusters of shadows. Vess walked over to the bars. She looked closely at the light coming off of it. It was blindingly bright with a neon blue glow. Vess squinted at it, trying to get a closer look. Little sparks of lightning danced between the bars.
Vess was pulled and stumbled back, being caught by Zach. “Don’t go near the bars. They will shock you if you get too close.” Vess nodded, still keeping her eyes on the bars. They reached at least 10 feet up, so she couldn’t climb over.
After a little while, everyone had woken up and started to talk through the situation with each other. Vess listened into their conversations. Tony was talking with Nya about what they last remembered, while Zach and Jordan talked about their injuries. Vess sat on the ground in the middle of her enclosure, tracing shapes and symbols into the dirt.
It felt like forever before the lights finally turned on, blinding them all in the process. Once Vess was able to blink open her eyes, she gazed at the area where they were being kept. Walls of dark stone surrounded her, rising and curving at the ceiling. The room looked just small enough to fit the cages with a little path in the middle of the room, leading to a small doorway.
A man was stood in the doorway, looking over all of them. He looked about middle aged, like Max. His hair was messy. So was his shirt. Everything about his seemed to be messy. Even as he walked slowly towards Vess’ cage.
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“Good morning. Are all of you awake?” He spoke in a cheerful tone, and was answered with dead quiet. “Not big talkers I see. That’s okay! I’m sure you’ll warm up to me. We are going to spend a lot of time together.” Vess could only stare at the man with the rest of her siblings. His face dropped, “It’s not that bad here, you’ll all see. Lets get introductions out of the way. I’m Dr. Hull and I am your researcher.” He gestured to Tony for him to continue, but he stayed silent. “Oh, come on. Don’t be shy.”
“I’m one.” Tony stated coldly. It was a code name given by Max, to be used during emergencies. Vess’ was fifteen. The man didn’t seem to be amused by this however. His face became solemn and his tone became cold and serious, “I see Tony doesn’t wish to participate. How about we start with Jordan?” Tony and Jordan both froze at the sound of their names. The man paced in the small area, watching them carefully behind the bars, “Or maybe Nya, or is it ‘Nia’, I don’t really know how to pronounce it. Forgive me.” He took a half-hearted bow in front of the aforementioned. Vess looked to Nya, who didn’t seem to even try to hide the fear on her face.
The man continued his walk around, making his way over to Vess’ and Zach’s cage, “Maybe Zach would like to go first. I’m sure he would have an interesting perspective.” Jordan quickly stood, followed by Tony. They both moved to get as close to the man as they could, before being blocked by the electric bars. The man got on his knees, becoming eye level with Vess. She could almost feel him looking into her soul. “Perhaps, the youngest should go first. Anything to say Vess?” Zach pushed her back quickly, standing between Vess and the bars., blocking the man from her view. She glanced over to see Nya standing now, and if looks could kill, this man would be dead four times over.
Jordan tried to reach through the bars at the man, but jumped back at the shock, growling and holding her arm. He turned to her with a bored expression, “Now don’t do that.” He sounded like a teacher, condescendingly scolding a young student, “We don’t need any unnecessary harm.”
Vess’ whole body had tensed up at the sound of her name coming from this stranger’s mouth. About a hundred questions flooded into her head, but she couldn’t get her hands to move away from her chest.
The man moved away from the cages. “I know a lot about you all. I know your names, where you went to school. I even know your teacher, Max. He was one of my earliest subjects.” The room stayed quiet, but it was a different kind of quiet. This quiet made the air feel stiff, freezing them all in place. All of them, except the man, “I can talk more about that later. For now, I wish to begin out experiment.”
Vess could feel her throat close up, holding back her fear. The man looked around at them, “Don’t worry too much. It’s nothing you haven’t been through before.” He paced in the small clearing, “Well, everyone but Zach at least. Previously, you were exposed to audio therapy. You hear a high pitched noise at a certain frequency and you turn into a solider. Disrupt the sound, and you stop.” He paused to look back at all of them, standing in the door way, “I am going to preform something similar, except I will be using electroshock therapy. I will strap you to a table, attach a few wire, and give you a light shock. This will make your minds more vulnerable to my control.”
Vess lowered herself to the ground, feeling her legs start to shake from shock. She tried her best to understand the man’s plan. She couldn’t be a soldier again. She didn’t want to lose herself again. She didn’t want to hurt people. Zach sat next to her and held her close to his chest. She stared at the ground, mind racing.
The man was still explaining his plan, “This time you will be fully conscious during the procedure, and, if everything goes well, the effects should be permanent.” Vess didn’t expect this to get any worse. From the way Zach and her other siblings tensed up, she could tell they were as scared as she was. The older three seemed to hide it better though.
The man leaned against the door frame, “I know you haven’t been the best participants, but I need a volunteer to go first.” They all stayed silent. That was until Vess got the perfect idea. Well, maybe not perfect, but she thought it was their best shot.
She stood up and raised her hand. The man looked at her shocked, “Brave girl! Of course you can go first.” As the man walked forward, Zach grabbed her arm, “No, Vess! Don’t do this!” He had such a scared look in his eyes.
Tony stood close to the bars of his cage, “Take me. I volunteer, just leave her alone.” The man seemed to unlock something on the cage, “Would you all stop being so protective?” He asked, annoyed, “She volunteered first. You will all have your chance.” A few of the bars went dark and a door swung in. Vess pulled her arm away from Zach, trying to give an encouraging smile, and walked over to the man. Every bone and muscle in her body was screaming “NO”, but she kept her breath even and walked to the man. She trusted herself.
The man held out a metal bracelet, “I have to have you wear this.” His voice sounded forcefully comforting. Vess slipped her wrist into it and the man closed it, locking it with a click. She felt a little piece of metal press into her skin and a blue light turned on. The man grabbed her hand, leading her out of the cage. He let go and turned to lock the door again. ‘Not yet.’
Jordan called out to her, “Vess! Please rethink this. One of us could go first, I can go first.” She said the last part to the man. He scoffed, “Stop all your whining. You should have acted faster.” He grabbed her hand again, leading her to the outside hall. She didn’t resist. Tony called out as they left, “Vess, be careful.”
Out in the hall, the man let go of her again and turned to the dimly lit room. ‘He’s testing you’ She thought. She stood still. He addressed the rest of her siblings, “Since I’m not a complete monster, I’ll let you have some light. He turned away, leaving the door open.