Tiger, Tiger

Tiger, Tiger: Chapter 13

That wonderful day called Friday has arrived again! 

It was a good old snow day for me here in England, so this chapter is up a little earlier today than usually. I am sorry for the strange layout, but Wattpad just does it's own thing...

This chapter is a little short, but it's preparing for bigger things ;) xx

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The next day a large group of murmuring scientists filtered into the room, separating out to enter different cubicles. The only thing I could think of now was finding some way to escape, so I watched intently every move they made, trying to get an idea or clue of their weaknesses. I mentally noted each ones mannerisms, their attitudes, what behaviour interested them, what buttons they pressed, whether they hesitated before jabbing a needle in your arm or it came to them like second nature.

It was a woman who stepped up to my space, activating some sort of mechanism to let herself instead of using a key as some of the others had done. She must have been middle aged with waves of auburn hair pulled back into a loose pony tail. From the way that she wiped every emotion from her face but concentration I could see that she’d been here a long time, done this a million times before.

In a smooth motion she signalled for the walls to go black and I was trapped in with her. I couldn’t help it as my heart began to jackhammer in my chest; adrenaline pulsing through my veins till my limbs ached with the need to shift or run.

But there was nothing I could do here as she pulled a packet out of her pocket and tore it open. The scent of strong alcohol wafted out almost instantly, crawling its way into and down my throat as I inhaled. The inside of my nose burned as she pulled a small white square from within the packet, before shoving that roughly back into her pocket. If I looked uncomfortable or frightened it didn’t register in her eyes as she unfolded the white square and wiped it across my inner elbow. It left a trail of cold tingles in its wake.

My heart rate increased tenfold and for some reason the back of my knees felt all wobbly as I realised what was coming next. She withdrew a needle from another white box and then carefully but quickly inserted it into my arm. I felt my stomach roll queasily. She took at least five vials of my blood before deciding enough, thankfully, was enough. It felt so surreal to see something so precious to my body just sitting there in glass bottles. They had no right to take it, or its secrets, away from me and shifter kind.

As she withdrew the needle from my arm it tore away from the muscle and skin that had reformed around it. I let out a screech of pain as the needle ripped out and even more blood leaked free, streaking smoothly down my pale skin. Biting down hard on my lip, I clamped my hand down over the wound in a futile attempt to numb the pain as the skin began to weave itself back together.

Her calm demeanour didn’t even falter as she put the needle and glass vials away, stood and left my cubicle. The door clicked quickly shut behind her and I was left alone in the black walled space. In my head I hissed profanities at no one in particular for the ordeal I had been forced into, and then pulled my sticky hand away from my arm. Running a finger over the blood stained spot I felt nothing but smooth skin and the faintest tingle.

When I looked up I realised that the walls had returned to their transparent form and that there were a lot of eyes on me, full of curiosity or worry as to why I had screamed and why blood stained my arm. One pair especially I could feel burning into my side more clearly than any other.

I couldn’t help but turn and catch Alexander’s gaze, as if something out of my control pulled me around. His sapphire eyes swirled like dark stormy oceans as his hands balled into tight fists at his sides. I could tell that he was afraid for me, and that was the last thing I wanted. I didn’t want him to care about me at all in the same way that I shouldn’t care about him at all, so I whipped my head away without explanation. There should be nothing between us.