Chained - Jenlisa

Ally

The General watches the footage from earlier today in silence, his eyes slitted and focused. Sandara and I sit in silence as well, waiting for his verdict. After a handful of long minutes, he rubs his stubbled chin and grunts long and low. He takes a moment for himself. Then he re-watches sections of the footage that interest him.

"It appears to be real," he says, looking up. "Do you think she's faking?"

"I certainly don't," Sandara chimes in. "She had every chance to make an escape, and we all know she very well could have succeeded, yet she went back to her room. She didn't even stray or attempt to look into other rooms. Someone who was faking would at least do that."

The General nods in thought. Then he looks to me, "And you?"

"No," I mutter, agreeing with Sandara. She was right when she said Lisa didn't attempt to snoop around when she had the perfect chance. I remember the look on Lisa's face in the footage. She was determined to go back to her room and I'm certain that if someone had tried to stop her, they would have paid dearly. "I don't think she's faking." There are the facts of her past, too. No one would willingly allow their bodies to be abused the way hers clearly has been. Her scars are too precise, as if she didn't fight what was happening to her.

"All right," the General gruffs. He taps his desk for a moment, then seems to come to a decision. "So we have her on our side. Now what?"

Sandara and I look at each other, surprised. She says, "You're asking us?"

"Mostly Jennie," he clarifies, eyeing me. "You know her best and she trusts you. I would like to put her out in the field like Jisoo, but I think now I need to turn to you on whether or not you- and her- are ready for that."

I'm flabbergasted. I knew Lisa would eventually be put out into the field, but I never thought it would be with me, or that I'd be the decider on it all. "I- I don't know," I blubber.

"You have time to figure it out," the General tells me. "You can keep her here for training or take her up top to get her used to you and her new surroundings. Everything has already been set for when you decide to go into the field."

"Thank you, but..." My words trail off. I haven't been up top for an extended period of time for years. I had no plan to go up anytime soon, but now I'm going to have to, eventually. I can't put it off forever. "What will be the arrangement?" I ask, to better know what I'm going to be getting into.

"You and the subject-"

"Lisa," I correct him before thinking. "Her name is Lisa."

"Right. You and Lisa will be stationed in the same building as Jisoo and Sandara so Lisa can have more than one pair of eyes on her. Your apartment is fully furnished and paid for. All you need is to be on call for whenever we need you."

Well, that doesn't sound so bad. "I think we need to get her off the tranquilizers first," I say. I might as well start getting used to the idea of living up top with Lisa. That means I have to keep an eye out for her. "Give her a week to get used to living normally. Then we'll go up top and see how she does."

The General grunts in agreement. "Fine. I'm giving you the last word on anything that has to do with the sub- Lisa's health. You're her caretaker now. If you need help on it, you can ask Sandara."

I stand and smooth down my shirt, anxious. A caretaker is a sort of a promotion, seeing as there's only one- Sandara. Well, I suppose now there's two.

Sandara walks out of the General's office with me, a smirk on her face. She pushes her glasses further up her nose and says, "Welcome to the club. The apartment isn't fully furnished, by the way. You're going to need to buy tampons."