Subject A7

Chapter Four

All afternoon I could not stop thinking about tomorrow, tomorrow was the big day and honestly, it kind of scared me.
I skipped lunch and headed to the gym for a couple of hours. I ran around the track not even bothered to worry about my goal, I did some stretching and even jumped on a couple of the machines.
My thoughts were everywhere. I thought about Noah and wondered where he could have gone too and really hoped they were not keeping him in that punishment room for too long, I thought about the tests and experiments, about the infected and about the blonde boy. I sort of had to stop there, why was I thinking about that blonde boy. I shouldn't be thinking about an Outsider. I glanced over at the clock, it was quite a surprise to see a couple of hours had passed when it felt like it was five minutes. My mind was really everywhere.
I picked up my water bottle and drank the water greedily before making my way to the elevator. I pressed the button waiting, I was very happy to see that I had the elevator all to myself and pressed level G.
I leaned against the wall and sighed. Dinner would be ready in about an hour so a hot shower was a definite.
Ding!
I walked out making my way to my room, I did glance at Noah's room but did not stop as I was tired of knocking on it and waiting for him.
Opening my door I put my bottle on the bed and began to strip leaving my clothes on the ground not caring about picking it up and putting it in the bin. I turned on the shower, put my hand under it and adjusted it until it was at the perfect temperature. I shivered now realising that I was feeling a little cold but after a few seconds, I felt like I was in heaven.

I grabbed some sweet smelling soap and began to wash away my sweat, I did remember to peel off the bandaids and winced at the pain when the hot water came into contact with my sore.
I washed my hair and stayed there a little longer just enjoying it before finally switching it off. Maybe after dinner I might have another shower, it was quite relaxing.
I stepped out and dried myself with the towel when a pounding noise came from my door. I wrapped the towel securely around my body before going over to open the door.
Noah stood there sweating and out of breath.
"Noah?" I was surprised to see him there.
Noah practically pushes me back into my room, he looks out worriedly before closing the door.
"I think we're safe," he mutters. "But for how long?"
"Noah?"
Noah snaps his head up as if he had just remembered that I was standing before him. I brought one hand up to make sure my towel would stay where it was, this was not right and was scared about the consequences of having a male in the room while not dressed appropriately.
"Noah, what is wrong?" I asked him. "Can this wait until I am decent?"
"Avery, I do not think they are doing this for the right reasons," Noah says grabbing my shoulders forcing me to look at him.
"What? What do you mean?"
Noah runs his fingers through his hair, something he did when he was nervous.
"Remember Conner?"
Conner, he had turned eighteen a couple of days ago. He told us that he was not going to do what they wanted and wanted to leave as soon as he could, since then we have not seen him.
"He said he did not want to do it. He did not want to help, he just wanted to be free from this place."
"So? They gave us options Noah" I tell him slowly so he could understand, "they said if we help, that's great but if not, they would allow him to leave. No one does not do anything against their will."
"That's the thing, Avery, it's all a lie."
It's all a lie, those words hit me hard.
"What?" was all I could manage to say.
"It's a lie Avery, don't do it tomorrow!"
"The experimentations and testing? How did you know about that?"
Noah glances worriedly back at the door.
"So much to tell you," he mutters, he was trembling. "Don't believe them, Avery, just don't! Someone will come to see you tonight, don't be scared of him. He is here to help us."
"I don't understand Noah, slow down please" I begged him. "You're scaring me."

Suddenly Jaxon comes barging in with two guards right at his heel, the two guards grabbed Noah pulling him away from me.
"Noah!" I screamed looking at Jaxon. "What's happening?"
No one answered me, one of the guards struggled against Noah who was fighting back, he even kicked Jaxon who shot him a glare before he pulled out the taser and pressed it against Noah's neck causing him to flop down on the ground.
"NOAH?" I screamed.
"Take him to the punishment room," Jaxon orders. The guards picked up a now unconscious Noah who continued to spasm from the shock and dragged him from the room. I go to run after him but Jaxon stops me.
"What's going on?" at this point I was hysterical, Jaxon turns to me I shrank back scared that he would turn on me but when he didn't come any closer, I focused on regaining my composure but it was all becoming too much.
"Noah has been speaking to an outsider" Jaxon answers calmly although his face was anything besides calm. "He was caught and ran. Didn't expect that he would come to you."
Jaxon stepped towards me. "What did he say to you?"
I was starting to tremble, I was terrified and confused but the last thing I needed was for Jaxon to torture my friend even more than they would already do.
"I have no idea," I tell him looking away.
"Don't lie to me Avery," Jaxon says coming closer, I noticed and stepped back until my back was against the wall and he was pressed up against me. I felt sick. "You wouldn't lie to me now, would you?"
"No, sir" I reply feeling fresh tears trickling down my face.
"Now, now Avery, there is no need to cry" Jaxon says brushing my tears away. "Just tell me the truth and I'll leave you alone."
I sniffed still unable to look at him. "I have no idea, he was not making any sense," I tell him. "I couldn't make out anything he was saying, it was all mumbling."
"Is that all?" he asks.
"Yes sir. I didn't understand him."
Jaxon took a step back from me, I finally found the courage to look at him. He observed my expression for a moment before his eyes began to wonder. I really wanted to punch him in the face, I brought my hands up without realising and thanked whoever was watching me that my towel had remained attached to my body. Just thought of it slipping off without me knowing really made me sick.
"I'll see you tomorrow," was all Jaxon says leaving the room. He slammed the door shut leaving me alone. As he left, I covered my mouth and ran to the bathroom to vomit. The smell was putrid, I flushed it and wiped my mouth. I got up to wash my mouth out and walked back into my room. My mind was running wind and before I knew it, I sank to the floor sobbing about what had just happened. Noah has been missing and when he does come back, it was like he was not himself. He was scared and nothing he said made any sense besides the fact that these people were lying... Noah's never lied to me before, our friendship was always based on trust and honesty, hell we even snuck out sometimes just to catch up on what happened to one another.
If what he is saying is true, where does this leave me?
"Gah!" I covered my face with my hands, all this thinking and crap was giving me a massive headache. With a heavy heart, I wiped my face, got up to quickly put some clothes on and decided to just skip dinner and go straight to bed, I just wanted this day to be over. And pretty much as soon as I hit the pillow, I was sound asleep.