Operation S.A.L.V.A.T.I.O.N.

Chapter 11

The silent scream builds in her chest before she can even comprehend feeling the searing agony. Whatever was in that needle is burning its slow way through her veins like acid, leaving her insides boiling and her mouth gaping silently, her throat and vocal cords feeling like they'll tear apart.

Every sense becomes painfully vivid. The slightest drop of a metal instrument hits her eardrums like a gunshot and makes her flinch; the touch of the bands restraining her movements feel like sandpaper against her skin; the taste of blood in her mouth makes her want to throw up; the smell of alcohol and chemicals make her nose burn so much her eyes water; her vision sharpens and magnifies every color, image, and shape within her gaze's scope, even through her tears.

"Now," the gravelly voice of the man...scientist...tyrant...whatever he is, comes through her whirling pain. "Let's see what we got."

He continues to talk for the rest of the long procedure, though to himself. Lantroupa wishes the time could have blurred together and been over quickly, or that at least she could black out from the pain and sink into a merciful ocean of blackness where there is no pain, but it doesn't and she can't. She feels every cut, every incision, every poke of a needle as the scientist injects her with more and more liquids that hold a new agony every time. He takes skin samples by scraping off chunks at a time, cuts deep into her flesh to draw blood and experiment with her 'healing properties', and even rips hairs from her head and places them into glass tubes with such reverence you would think they were made of gold.

She doesn't make a sound through the entire process, terrified of tearing her lungs out. She's a trembling, sweaty mess by the time it's over. She has no more tears to cry, and blood is dripping from the multiple and various injuries to her skin around her collarbones and all along her arms. 

The scientist puts the last tube with her blood onto the table where the other samples are and looks down into her face. There's disappointment evident. He looks into her face for a couple more moments, then shakes his head.

"No noise," he says absentmindedly. "Odd."

Lantroupa would have rolled her eyes if she wasn't in the state she's in. For an 'observing' scientist, he sure wasn't very observant.

There's a beep and the door to the room opens. The scientist strips off his gloves and tosses them in the trash. In walk six black-clothed guards. 

"Get her out of here," he says and they nod silently. They unstrap her, stunners ready in hand. They must not know that she has lost too much blood to be in a condition to fight back. They haul her up and drag her back into the white container, locking the door behind them. She lies on the floor, taking a careful breath, and then it's ripped out of her again just like it did earlier. Steam starts shooting out from every wall except the glass one, driving Lantroupa off the floor and cowering against it, covering her face. As the steam covers her it stings, but it's much worse than last time. The cuts and injuries burn like crazy, making her suppress a whimper and flinch every which way. 

Finally it stops, followed by the strong wind and then silence. Lantroupa doesn't look up from her cowering position as she tries to regain her strength. When she does raise her gaze, she finds herself and her clothes all clean again. Even her cuts aren't bleeding anymore, though they've turned into nasty red scars.

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A/N: Okay so Sapheer has been yelling at me for not writing about him in forever so I'll have to do that now lol.

The sky is gray, clouds drawing over the normal healthy blue color, and the wind is especially sharp. It's been so quiet here; it's been two months since Lantroupa was taken. There's been no sign of the government since then.

Sappheer frowns and wipes angrily at the tear threatening to slide to his chin. Every time his sister crosses his mind, his heart feels like it's tearing in two. Even now after two months. He doesn't know if he's ever going to see her again. Why now? Why did they have to take her? Why did she have to push him out of the way? And why didn't they come after him, too?
He'd rather they were both captured and at least together than this nightmare.
Sappheer kicks angrily at the gravel under his boots and hoists the backpack he's lugging farther up on his shoulders. He looks ahead with a heavy frown and turns to look over his shoulder for probably the hundredth time.
When he ran after Lantroupa told him to go with that terrible cry, he didn't waste a second obeying her last command.
She wanted him safe, and he was going to honor that, even if it had been the last thing he'd wanted to do. But if it is what she wanted, why did he feel such guilt?
He'd run, in zigzagging patterns that would have confused even the stray wolves that roamed here sometimes. Once he'd been satisfied that he wasn't being followed, he holed up in an abandoned sewer pipe and stayed there for hours, finally crying himself to sleep.
Only when the sun rose the next morning did he slowly make his way back to their tent, heart heavy with grief.
He'd stayed there a couple days, barely eating, not knowing what to do, going about the days by mere routine alone.
On the seventh day he'd made up his mind. If the government had wanted him, too, they would have come for him by now. He half wished they would. But they never came and he was done doing nothing. He was going to find her.
If it was the last thing he did, he was going to find his sister.

Hello everyone!

Thank you all for your patience. I took a break from writing over the holidays to spend more time with family and friends and to enjoy the most wonderful time of the year.
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I hope you enjoy this latest chapter. Tell me what you think, and to all you Sappheer fans out there, you're welcome. Well, you should probably thank Sappheer for nagging me so much about leaving him out of the action lol.

Here's to 2024 and good times ahead.
Talk again soon!

Best wishes,
LiethaS.