Undead hearts

The stolen body

For the first time, none of my nightmares woke me up. Instead, the rattling of keys in front of my cage did. Squinting away the sleep, I stood up and mentally prepared myself for whatever task Dr. Martin had for me. It would be a lie to say I wasn't disappointed when he was there instead of #7. Like most days, he grabbed the tray off the floor and wordlessly handed it to me. In return, I turned around so he could flip a switch on the back of my collar. Only after hearing the click did I begin eating. The meal was almost triple the usual portion and even had a glass of pure water with it. No hell flavored juice, clear water. I was overjoyed because nothing like this ever happened. That was probably why I was apprehensive as well. Not only was how long I stayed in my overnight cage strange, but I met a new person and now this. Everything about the last day was odd, although it wasn't like I could voice my confusion. Instead I ate in silence before following the old man out of that horrid room to conduct my daily routine.

After that was finished, I waited patiently by the lab sinks so instructions. All Dr. Martin said was "Go to the medical tables and lay down," for the first time in all my time here I was terrified. Each step I took on wobbly feet led me closer to an assumed death. Shives ran through me and I tried to control my breathing. Id seen the medical tables, they were hard to miss. Three cold "beds" against the wall. I had seen people struggling on them. Thrashing against the restraints. Their screams could be heard even through the gags. I had even been tasked to clean up the tables once or twice. Scraping what was left of a human body off the tables and dumping it in the flames. Sterilizing the once bloody sheet of metal and restrains before someone else was put on it. That only happened once a week, or at least I assumed so. In this white pit of doom, no one cared about time.

Surprising myself by not vomiting, I reached the table. One of the tables was already taken.  The girl on the table, was already thrashing about, he eyes wide with fear. She had the same dark hair as #7 only longer and had a white sports bra in addition to the sweatpants all slaves wore. That was all I saw before I was guided to the table and strapped down by another man in a lab coat. Failing at being calm, I was buzzing in the restrains. The freezing metal on my naked back, added to my sorry state and chills ran through me as I helplessly tried to control my breathing.

I heard soft footsteps before the restrains of another subject were clicked down. Dr Martin appears above me, and the smell of alcohol filled my nostrils and the soft wipe cleaned my arm. A tight band wrapped around my upper arm as he prodded my arm looking for a vein. Humming in satisfaction, I heard him click a needle into place and felt a sharp sting in my arm. Whatever he injected into my bloodstream burned. My eyes shut instantly as I bit down on the gag in my mouth, a cracking scream caught in my throat. Pain ripped through my veins, burning whatever it touched. I could make out the thrashing of the patients next to me, knowing they must be going through the same thing I was. After what felt like hours, the horrid mix reached my heart, my pulse shot up and I banged my head on the table, wishing to make that pain stop. The stinging pain shot throughout my body, my head screaming. Slicing up my neck, the serum reaching my brain, the screaming intensified and I was frozen. My consciousness pulsated before I blacked out.

A buzz echoing through my body as my eyes flickered open. I tried to turn my head but my body was locked in place. Dr. Martin's voice tumbled around it my head as I dizzily tried to remember what happened. "Finally he's awake," Oh yeah. The hell thing. I survived, somehow but I knew this was far from over. Someone was loosening my restraints and a command set me into motion. "#9 stand up!" Without so much as a realization of what I was doing I was up. My stomach was aching with lack of food and I could only hope to wonder how long I was out for. Someone fitted an earpiece on me and I could hear as it was fitted onto the collar. I stood there, my vision fuzzy, staring at the blank wall. Perfectly still until I could only hear the rhythmic beat of my heart. There was a tiny crack in the white cement. A sliver of shadowy black in a world of white. I wanted to crawl up into it and hide. Somehow push myself into the hairline crack but go no further. I wanted to die there I realized. That's when the screaming started. Senseless yelling clouded my brain, I want to close my eyes and make it stop but they were stuck open. Focusing solely on closing my eyes, they almost twitched shut. I tried again, and again, and again. My eyes twitching but never shutting fully. Then, they shut and black lovely black was all I could see. The screams had stayed at a constant volume, but as soon as my eyes were shut a single piercing yell filled every inch of my brain, it seemingly pushing at my eyes like it wanted to escape, wanted to crawl out of my head. Struggling with quieting the voice, I opened my eyes. The yelling seemed dull in comparison.

A voice took the place of the yelling. From outside my head, it was coming from the earpiece. "All test subjects, report to lab 3," I walked as soon as the command finished, step after step, watching but not fully controlling myself. My eyes blinked on their own accord and for once the yelling was quiet. The cavity in my head was blissfully silent. I barely cataloged the scientist hold open the lab doors as I walked in. "#9, sit in the corner," the voice said again. I did as told again. Crossing my legs and placing my folded hands in my lap without realizing it. The screaming returned as soon as I had finished. Ignoring the again painful yell, I forced my eyes shut. Soon enough the scream subsided and I was left with an echo of its power and the mild yelling of the other voices. I opened my eyes to find #7 across from me, sitting the same as I, with his eyes shut tightly and I could see the girl to my left out of my peripheral vision. Somewhere in my head I wondered how I missed their arrival but I passed it off. I'm addition to the hunger I realized the soreness throughout my body. Damn was I tired. I closed my eyes with only a touch of hesitation but with the constant wailing in my mind sleep was far away. Frozen in place, I kept my eyes shut. Without being forced to see everything around me, I could almost pass it off as a dream. Like if when I opened my eyes everything would be back to normal. I knew that wasn't true, nothing worked like that, but it didn't feel as far away. Again I replayed that awful day in my head. Wishing I could've been smarter. Now days it seemed like the only thing I could remember. Maybe I wasn't even remembering it correctly. It seemed like yesterday, but maybe I was mixing up the order of things. Maybe the drugs made me remember wrong. There was no way I could be sure. The one thing I knew what no matter it's actuality, I hated that day and myself for letting it happen. Instead of moving on chronologically, every time I imagined that day, I would never go past me passing out. I had long purged that out of my mind forcing myself to build a wall keeping that memory hidden. I just replayed that moment over and over sometimes changing what I did but knowing nothing could change what happened. I got stuck in a loop of wishing I had died before I met that woman. Sometimes I imagined being shot in an alleyway. Sometimes I imagined getting hit by a car crashing into me. Every death just restarted my brain to replay it again. I was so stupid I wanted to cry. Forcing out tears would do nothing only have the scream come back.

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Days went by, with no food and no sleep. Only a string of commands I followed without question. Simple things like "Stand up," or "Walk 5 steps," In the shadow time, time without commands, as I called it, I found myself slowly becoming more in control. Eventually I could move my head, open my mouth and flex my fingers. Everything else was under something else's constant control. Each movement was a battle. But as time passed without the landmarks such as sunlight or sleep, I found the commands becoming more frequent. Carrying them out was the only silent time, a time I cherished. Like everything, I was adjusting to this new hell. Then the command came. After standing in the center of the room, the voice said "#09, injure the girl." Walking over, I could see why they would throw away an asset like that. She was constantly twitching, her hands shaking. The silence the washed over me pressured me to slow her pain. Ignoring her screaming, I dragged out her punishment, not quite letting her die as I pummeled her. Blood painted the walls and I felt it drip off my hands. After feeling a crack of a rib under my fist the voice said "#09, stop. Walk back to your corner," I froze. Then, followed the command. Her wailing didn't stop, #07 had taken my place and was ruthless beating her face it. Behind the mirror like glass, I would've bet my life there was a smirking scientist proud of his favorite experiments. This time, #07 didn't stop until she was an unrecognizable heap on the floor. I could see him walk back to his corner across from me. His eyes twitched in what I assume was pain. My breathing was shaky as I realized what I did. The screams were back along with my own. Mentally I yelled at the stupid damn screams, not doing anything to stop them. A cold shiver washed over me and I desperately tried to hide it from the apparent scientists behind the glass and the camera they watched though. I keep telling myself maybe I should show signs of my own rebellion so that I might join her, but self preservation kept me still. For the first time in this stupid room, I allowed myself a single tear, saying it was for her, but knowing it was for me.