SHIFTER ─ marvel

XXI. A Cure

Chapter Twenty-One
Soroya

I wake with a jolt, feeling something tight around my body. I can barely move my head, but I lift it up just enough to see that my arms, legs, and torso are strapped down.

The effort it takes to lift my head up is almost too much. I feel utterly exhausted, a sense of nausea coming over me just from slightly moving my head. I lay my head back down, making a thud against the metal table.

I see movement out of the corner of my eye, and I look over to my left to see an entire laboratory around me. It looks like the one Becker used to work at, but much smaller, and with far less equipment. I must be on an operating table of some kind, because next to me there is a tray filled with several sizes of needles and tools.

Analiese has her back turned to me, looking into a microscope and writing down something into a notebook. I let out a small breath, trying to calm myself down. I focus on turning into a mouse, opting to go for a smaller animal for my escape, but when I open my eyes, I'm still strapped down.

My heart rate increases as I try to shift again, but I stay human. I try again, and still nothing. I feel panic rise in me. I try to pull at the restraints keeping me to the table, grunting as I do so, but they don't budge.

Analiese hears my struggles and turns around. This is when I notice she's wearing a lab coat, with her hair tied back and glasses on her face. She approaches the table I'm laying on and smiles down at me, like the sight of me struggling gives her some sort of sick pleasure.

"What...what did you do to me?" I say, feeling even more exhausted from pulling at the restraints.

"I found a temporary solution to stop my shifting, using a serum I created. It only lasts a few hours. I gave you a more concentrated dose of it. Shifting won't work for you. And make sure you can't break free using your strength, I pumped you with a large dose of Vicodin. Tired aren't you?"

I glare up at her, still trying to pull at my restraints, but my body feels like it's been thrown into a wall. I can't move, lifting a finger feels like too much effort.

"Is that what you gave me at the...the base?" I ask.

She nods. "I have the serum in liquid and gas form. It made you pass out because I basically put a clamp on your powers. You lost your senses, your strength, all of those things you've relied on for so long. It made you faint because it weakened you."

I let out a whimper, feeling my muscles burn as I try to break free. "So-so what's it gonna be? I'm just gonna lie here and be your blood bank?"

I wince as Analiese sticks a needle into my leg, taking a sample of my blood. Once she takes the needle out, she stares at it, shaking her head. "Only until I've found a cure."

"Then what? You'll kill me?"

Analiese lets out a laugh. She lowers her face so it's just above mine. Her eyes look over my face like she's studying me. "Like I could let you go," She says, a new look of determination in her eyes, along with something else. An unhinged look is in her eyes, an unsettling look. "I have thought of you everyday for twenty years. I didn't know your face, your height, your voice, just your name. I have thought of everything I would do to you once I had you in my grasp. And now that I have you, you think there's a chance you're going to get out of here alive?"

She gently caresses my face, and I feel another wave of nausea hit me. I don't think it has anything to do with the drugs she gave me though. As she pulls away, she sets the needle with my blood down on her desk. She picks up another needle, with a clear looking liquid inside. As she brings the needle closer to me, I begin pulling at my restraints again, yanking with all the strength I can muster to try and break free. She injects the liquid into my arm, and I stop my straining, feeling my brain become fuzzy and my vision beginning to blur.