Inextricable: A Divergent FanFiction (Book Three) ©

Chapter 26

I jerked backwards, already feeling my legs wobble as I fumbled to pull the needle free. My fingers felt stiff, and the world around me began to tilt wildly as I fought to keep my balance.

"Vera," I gasped, feeling my words begin to slur as I fell to one knee and then the other. "What is this?"

Slowly walking forward, she easily pushed away my weakly searching hands and plucked the syringe out herself. She then capped it and stuck it in her pocket before acknowledging me.

"Just a little cocktail. We were hoping that this would be easier, that you'd cooperate, but since that's obviously not going to be the case–" and with that, she raised her booted foot and slammed it against my chest.

I fell back, limbs fully numb as I felt myself drifting off into darkness. My lids heavy, I was still able to watch as Vera pulled a silver device from her pants and then proceeded to speak into it.

"Found him, but I'm going to need some help getting him to the lab." I couldn't make out the response, but whatever it was Vera replied with a prompt, "Very well, I'm on standby."

A single slurred word escaped me as I tried my best to stay conscious. "Why?"

For a second I thought she might not have heard me, but then she edged closer and bent down so that her face was only a foot away from mine.

"Because, Sage, this is the way things have to be if we want to save our city," she crooned, her voice unnervingly gentle. Then, when my eyes could no longer remain open, she reached out a hand and tenderly swept a bit of hair from my forehead. "Don't worry. You'll see things our way soon enough."

That was the last I heard.

I don't know how long I was out, only that when I awoke I was in pitch darkness, my arms and legs strapped to what I could only assume was a chair-like contraption. The feeling of my skin against cool metal told me that I'd been stripped of my shirt.

At once the memory of what had happened returned, and I felt my heart sting with betrayal. Rather than let myself dwell on that, however, I focused on finding a way out.

The moment I flexed my hands, giving the fastenings a testing pull, a fluorescent lamp above me flickered to life. I was bathed in its incandescent glow, and I had to blink several times before my eyes could adjust.

When I could finally see, the sights around me had me wishing it could all just be part of a nightmare.

To the right of me, there were a series of examination tables, all of them equipped with leather straps at each corner. And at the foot of each table there sat a tray filled with scalpels of various sizes, bone saws, needles, a mallet, and what looked to me like a set of industrial pliers.

One of the tables appeared to have been used recently, because even from where I sat I could just make out that there were traces of fresh blood smeared upon its surface. The tools were also laying around haphazardly, their handles grisly with gore.

To my left I could see that there were a line of cages, all barred with thick poles that extended from the ceiling and were embedded into the cement floor. Each also seemed to be equipped with a computerized padlock.

No, this can't be. Is that?

Just inside the closest one, I could see the unmistakable form of an emaciated body. One that was clearly missing its head.

My pulse quickened, and when I looked down at myself it began to thunder in my ears even more erratically.

Three IV's were hooked to each of my arms; two at the crook of my elbow, and one along my forearm. The top two appeared to be pumping in some kind of murky brown substance, while the third one contained a sickly red fluid. The lines appeared to come from within the actual chair, and even through the sound of my pounding heart I could just make out the mechanical hum that came from within.