Don't Look Back! Part 2

Chapter Ten: aMAZEing

Staring at the old, weathered, torn photograph, the only one he possessed of Lucy, Luke leant against the wall in his cell. After another fit, the guards had locked him into this room. Dark, without windows, doors, no way to escape. And the only opening to receive food, high up on the ceiling where he could not reach it.

The almost empty lighter in hand, Luke gazed at the tiny face on the photo, smiling at him. His entire world. All he had left, and he did not even know if she was still alive.

With the next meal came a syringe that in the light shining from the ceiling hole gave him sight to a short letter. Instructions on what to do. He pressed the needle into his leg and pushed the liquid into his body, the pain lessening with every passing moment until he sank to the ground and closed his eyes.

Upon awakening, Luke stared at the men before him. They took him into a separate room, stripped him, cold water hitting his face and body as they washed him so hard, he felt his skin grazed by sandpaper like sponges. After that, new clothes and a set of sturdy boots found their way into his possession.

With the new look, the terrible memory of the shower and their time together, the soldiers brought him into another room, and another and a third and fourth, all rooms that he wanted to forget.

"Everything ready, ma'am" The soldier beside Luke saluted as Dr Paige walked by and handed her a report card.

"Excellent, send him in"

Luke got pushed onto a platform, the pinch of a needle in his neck causing him to drop to the ground once again, his eyes shutting. The last image he saw before it all grew dark around him, the face of little Lucy, smiling at him. With a grin, he shut his eyes and drifted off into another world.

Loud whirring and the clucking of boxes woke Luke. He rubbed his head, curious and confused. His glance jumped around int he metal cage he lay in. Red lights shot past him as the cage ascended with rapid speed and threw him to the ground at the abrupt stop it had under a set of heavy iron doors.

Voices reached his ears, quiet compared to the ringing inside his head. As if it exploded with the next touch of his hand, his head drooped to the side. Luke sat down, rubbing his arm that had hit a box as he protected his face from the sudden fall.

Bright light flooded the box when a boy, about his age, dark skin and a bright grin on his face, ripped the doors open and jumped into the box.

"Hello, Greenie. Good to see you" he greeted Luke. Helping him on his feet, he gestured others to get the boxes and together they climbed out of the cage and onto a metal platform that surrounded by grass, stood in the centre of a walled in space.

"Welcome to the Glade" some other boys cheered, waving at him, but Luke remained still.