Subject R - ON HOLD

chapter 3

My hands are sweating, my knees are knocking, and I swear that my heart must be sprinting faster than any Olympic runner's. Mrs. Feng is walking on my right, Dr. Wenton on my left. Mr. McCaulty is behind me, which makes things worse since he scares the crap out of me.

I'd gotten a promotion of sorts.

And as grateful as I should be, I'm scared shitless. Not kidding and/or fibbing. I couldn't take a poop right now if I wanted to.

I nervously tug at the edge of the plain white uniform they'd told me to wear. It reminds me of a nurse's outfit, except minus the pockets. Everyone else with me is wearing the same thing, and as we go further and further in to the belly of the Research Building, I notice other people wear these too.

No one has hardly spoken a word since we've entered the Research Building, and this definately adds to my stress. Can't they just mindlessly jabber to quiet my nerves? Make a dumb joke? Hell, sneeze? Not a sound. Except Mr. McCaulty's labored breathing because of his chubbiness. And that isn't comforting.

We reach the end of a hall and everyone stops. Mrs. Feng reaches out and touches my arm. She gives me a reassuring smile. "You ready?"

I only nodded. I didn't trust my voice.

We entered through the doors that I noticed opened and closed with a soft bzzz, meaning they were automatic and you'd have to use a tank to get through these without the code. It made my stomach drop thinking about why that was necessary. We entered inside and there were more hallways, but we kept going straight.

Then we turned right, to a door that opened to a large room, and I couldn't stifle my gasp.

These were the observation sites. The holding cell was down below, with large windows from where the researchers could look down on the creature inside safely. There were screens everywhere, meaning hidden cameras in the cell. But everything was blanked out the second I entered.

Dr. Wenton gently took my elbow and lead me ahead. Mr. McCaulty gave me a grim smile and Mrs. Feng nodded encouragingly. When we were free of those two he leaned closer to me and spoke under his breath. "Man, those two are hard to be around."

I laughed, though it was strained.

He lead me to another door, and on the other side of it were stairs. We followed the short steps down and there was a rather large room that reminded me of a waiting room. There were several soft chairs spread around. He had me sit down.

"Now, Cecily, through that door is Subject R." He pointed to the obviously automatic door (because of its lack of handles or pushers). "Are you ready?"

I nodded.

"Cecily?" His tone was disbelieving and I gave in. I shook my head and finally gave out a terrified little girly gasp. "No, Dr. Wenton, I'm not,"

"Please, call me Geoffry," He said, kindly smiling at me. I realized now that he's actually a rather cute man. Probably mid-thirties (not bad for my twenty-two), with a kind face, and sweet brown eyes that crinkled the tiniest bit at the corners.

I mentally slapped myself. What am I thinking?! Think about your new assignment, genius! Wow! You shouldn't be worrying about how cute your new boss is! Focus on what you have to do! "What should I even do?" I asked, because I seriously had no idea.

Geoffry hesitated. "Well, we don't even know...He's been very unresponsive. He doesnt react to any of our seditives, so we haven't been able to really study with him. We've tried communicating verbally, but I doubted in the beginning he'd speak our language. But he seems to be able to do something with his head...and I thought maybe you..."