The Project

Chapter Eight: Never

"So you've been stuck here for thirteen years?" I nod. "How long have you guys been here?" Felix's eyes flash with uncertainty. "You sure you're up for that?" I nod and he continues. "Uh.. about three years.. Mark's been here for two, Phil's been here for about six months, Ethan and Tyler were brought in at the same time.. so about one year and two months."

 He waits for my reaction and looks down at his hands. I'm pissed. "I'm fine." He lets out a sigh and nods. "So.. everyone wants to know why they're here.. and frankly, so do I." Mark looks to me after gesturing around the room. "So, Mcloughlin. Why are we here? Did they tell you?" 

"I don't exactly know much. I've just overheard certain things." Phil smacks his hand onto the table and glares at me. "Bullshit." I turn towards him and furrow my brow. "Excuse me?" He stands from the table and Ethan grabs his forearm, shaking his head. 

"Phil, sit down. If he says he knows nothing, then he knows nothing." Phil's eyes soften and he sits down again, shooting me a glare before returning to eating his dried meat. "What's his deal?" Felix clears his throat and forces a smile. 

"Uh.. so Mcloughlin, what's your favorite color?" I raise an eyebrow but answer the question anyway. "Red."

"Are you going to eat that?" Tyler points to the weird mashed stuff on my plate. "I don't know. Depends on what it is." Mark choked on his dried meat and looked at me like my head had been cut off.

 "You've never eaten mashed potatoes?" I shook my head. "No, I have. It's just.. been a while." Mark nodded sympathetically. "Try it. It's good."

 I looked down at my plate and raised an eyebrow. "This is good? I doubt it." Mark laughs at my disgusted expression. "Just try it." I hesitantly raise my fork and stick it into the bouncy white mush, taking a bite. 

I swallow the white lump. "Wow. It actually has flavor." Mark rolled his eyes. "Of course it does, what kind of food did they give you?" 

"A combination of tasteless foods like, meatloaf, peas and corn." They all stare at me in disbelief. "What did you do to deserve that stuff?" I shrugged. "I don't know. I just got it everyday." 

"Ha." Phil scoffs and narrows his eyes at me. "They only do that to people who don't follow the rules." He gives me a wide, mischievous grin. "What exactly DID you do, Sea-" I stood up and walked over to him, his smile growing even wider. 

"Don't call me that, ever." He rolled his eyes. "And what are you going to do if I don't?" I glowered at him and pursed my lips. "I'll make sure this cafeteria is the last thing you EVER see again." 

The whole cafeteria silenced and stared at me in horror. My box somehow managed to turn itself up in volume. I turned my head away, busying myself with the metal box. 

I took off the rings from my head and placed them back onto the box, striding over to the bored looking guard. He took one look at me and sighed heavily. 

"Done already?" I nodded and he guided me back to my cell.. or where he was suppose to be taking me, instead he took a left down an unfamiliar hallway and tightened his grip on my arm. 

He opens the door and I immediately recognize it as a cleaner version of where that ginger haired girl was.

I began to struggle and he placed me in the reclined chair, shutting the metal restraint onto one of my wrists. I kicked up one of my legs and it hit him square in the jaw. He grabbed my leg, forcing it down into the open metal ring.  

"Don't make this difficult, boy!" I tried to punch him with my free hand and he dodged it just it time, locking it down.

 He fixed all the restraints in place, including the one keeping my head down. I struggled against my bindings as someone walked into the room, dimming the blue lights to a darker blackish blue. The doctor leaned over me, placing the light above my head right over my arm.

"This won't hurt, I promise."

Marzia took a butterfly needle from a clear container and felt for a vein on my arm. Once she was satisfied, she wiped down where she was going to stick me and prodded around in my arm, making me hiss at the stinging sensation. 

I shot her a glare, but she ignored it and kept going as I squirmed beneath her. I really don't like needles. 

She took a tube and placed it into the bottom of the needle, drawing my blood into several different sized tubes before taking the needle and throwing it into the waste bin. "That should be it, William." The man known as William gave her a look of uncertainty. 

"How the hell am I suppose to get him to his room without him kicking me in the jaw again?" He rubbed his jaw and winced at the pain that shot through it. "Hadn't thought about that.." She trailed off, in deep thought. "Ah. Unlock him, I have a table with restraints for this type of thing." 

The guard nodded and waited for her to return as she opened the door and closed it shut behind her. A few minutes later, two people I don't recognize waltzed in with a table. The restraints were leather, unlike the reclined chair. The guard nodded at the two women and unlocked me. 

As soon as I was set free, I kicked the man's right leg as hard as I could. He bent down onto the hurt leg and howled in pain. The two women narrowed their beady black eyes at me and took out a small lipstick-like container.

 I rolled my eyes and they both smiled at each other. They flung their arm down and what I thought was a lipstick container, outstretched into a rod. A blue light could be seen as it flickered angrily, making a high-pitched noise as it charged up. A fucking taser.