Chapter 8
Arcelia
Today Experiment Varian and I were being tested properly. It was surprising that he had yet to be tested because as soon as I was settled in I was thoroughly tested.
A proper test was completely different to how He tested on me; His ‘tests’ were more of an experiment. A test consisted of running on a machine with needles jabbed into your skin. The needles were hypersensitive and measured our speed, heart rate, and any additional data that the scientists required.
They would then let you rest for five minutes before testing your physical endurance. The lab coats would make you lift weights, catch flying and whirring objects that were projected your way and dive underwater to see how long you could hold your breath. It all depended on what experimentation team you were on and what day it was
After, you got another break before they gave you water and you went into surgery. Not everyone went into surgery, only the ones signed up for it the week before. On a daily basis most experiments went in every other week, but if you were one of the failing experiments then you had to go every week. Since I was so successful, I never went except for when they wanted to perfect things like my voice.
Last was the examination. I hated them. They were long and redundant. They would poke and prod you and make you wait until they got the results back. Then they would spend the next thirty minutes telling you how non-average you were, not realizing or caring how much it offended us. They meant to make it reflect how ‘amazing’ we were but none of us saw it that way. The ones who actually did ended up getting too much self-confidence and had to get killed off because they were too extroverted.
I was curious about how Experiment Varian would test. I doubt he could beat all of my high ranking records, which were the best out of all the Labs, but I did think he would do exceptionally well because he was in the same trial I was.
The Red Virus Trial.
I was taken away from my thoughts when the door opened with its signature ‘whoosh!’ sound and this time it was Dimitri, lab coat Linsey and Experiment Varian who walked in.
Dimitri looked relaxed like always and lab coat Linsey was fidgeting and looking down again, which I started noticing all lab coats did around Dimitri. I didn't care enough to analyze Experiment Varian.
"Hello." I murmured, making sure my mystical voice reverberated around the room and got everyone's attention. It worked as all eyes were immediately on me.
"Hello Lia. Are you ready for testing?" Dimitri asked with a smile as he started humming an unfamiliar tune.
"Of course. I'm always ready for whatever you have prepared." I said and he just looked up at me with a huge smile.
"Yes. You didn't get to be the most successful experiment because of your virus only. I see they actually taught you manners, which is very nice."
"Yes, I was taught well." I murmured, thinking about Him. He was the one who taught me everything I knew. Not a single lab coat had taught me while I was here. They poked and prodded, not praising me or scolding me. But He did and I was getting praised for His teaching.
"Okay, lead the way Lia." Dimitri said and I gave a nod before stepping ahead of them all and walking.
Varian
She was so beautiful that it was heartbreaking but she made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with me.
She just glanced at me this morning, her eyes not even really seeing me before they landed on Dimitri and she acted like his damn puppy. I hated seeing it. She thought Dimitri was good; it was obvious in her eyes when she looked at him. She found him interesting, whereas she found me lacking. She found Dimitri better than the man that was here before.
But she didn't realize people weren't supposed to be treated like this. They weren't supposed to be yours to test little chemicals on here and there. They weren't yours to go 'Whoops! I killed that one, but there's another one waiting.’ To her this was all normal, but to me this was all sick and twisted.
As much as I hated how submissive they’d made her, I could understand why she was so submissive. If I’d been in here for as long as I assumed she had, I’d be bowing my head to all of them too. They’d trained her, like she was a pet or something. It sickened me to my core, but I still understood.
She didn’t understand how deadly her submissive behavior was. If something ever happened to the lab, she’d be killed in an instant. Outside of labs, in the real world, you couldn’t be a follower like her. You couldn’t keep your opinions to yourself. You had to show your dominant side and gain respect. If you weren’t respected, you might as well be dead.
Back home, I’d been respected. I’d been the one who’d go out on the streets to get supplies. I’d been the one to beat people down for something as small as a blanket. I wasn’t proud of it, but it was the only way to survive. If I hesitated, I’d be the one on the ground, lying in a puddle of my own blood. As much as I hated hurting people, I didn’t want something like that happening. I wasn’t ready to die yet.
Right now we were standing inside one of the testing rooms and she was getting an examination. I nearly punched Dimitri when he was he was going to give her a ‘thorough exam’ but then he promised me I could stay in the room the entire time.
The testing rooms looked like fancy, sterilized clinics. Where I lived, there was a clinic, but the walls were yellow with age and the fake tiles on the floor were peeling off. But neither of those ever stopped the place from being crowded. I always hated going in there. It was never quiet. Someone was always coughing, always moaning in pain.
This room looked exactly like the clinic would if it’d been taken care of. But instead of the smell of death, this place smelled like disinfectants. I wouldn’t be surprised if the walls were hosed down daily and they bleached the entire room.
There were steel cabinets lining two of the walls. Two of them held silver sinks while the others were just black countertops. There was one large steel cabinet that was securely locked, a yellow ‘HAZARDOUS’ sign in front of it. In the middle of the room there was a large table where Arcelia was sitting, being ‘examined’.
I remember watching her throw knives at the targets and seeing them hit the bull’s-eye head on. I didn’t know what it was then, but I felt something surge through me. Now I realized it was pride. I was feeling pride for this beautiful, brainwashed girl. And I had no clue as to why.
I didn’t care for girls before. I wasn’t one of those guys who went through them like a can of soda; I wouldn’t just use it until I finally crushed it and tossed it out of sight. But I also wasn’t one of those guys who were fawning over girls every day.
There was one girl I was interested in and she made sure I knew that she didn’t feel the same way. After that I tended to avoid any girl, especially the beautiful ones.
But here I was, throwing away all my rules. She was beautiful and I was fawning over her like a love sick puppy. I didn’t even really know her, but every day the feelings I had seemed to multiply and I knew that if they kept increasing at this rate I was going to become insane.
I remembered wondering why they even let hear near knives as I watched her throw them, her face expressionless as she concentrated on the target before her. Were they really that dependent on their brainwashing and silver collars? If I had one of those in my hands there would be no stopping me.
“How many surgeries have they given you?” Dimitri asked distantly as his hands grazed over her stomach and I bristled.
“I have received less than any experiment here. I’ve only received 13.” She said like she had memorized it from a textbook.
“Wow, that’s a very small number. The first I’ve heard that’s less than 20.” He murmured, his hand curving to her back. The next few seconds happened slowly.
I didn’t have control of myself anymore. It was happening exactly like before. The creature was rushing towards Dimitri with a loud snarl and he grabbed him by the neck before we ended up at a wall, Dimitri pinned to it by the creature.
For a man hanging in the threads of death he was acting calm. He wasn’t even panicking. But the creature didn’t care about that. All he wanted was the blood of the man touching her.
“Mine.” He growled out and growled louder at the gasp of the other female in the room.
“I wasn’t going to hurt her.” Dimitri said calmly and he just growled, refusing to believe that. He didn’t believe a single word this man said. Dimitri was just trying to keep him from killing him and letting his blood color the walls.
For a second I could feel myself wanting that too. He was one of the many people who’d made her like she was. She was more submissive than anyone I’d ever seen. Back home, being submissive would get you killed and tortured within seconds. Here, you were rewarded.
I could feel the need to shed his blood boiling and bubbling to the surface. The creature was waiting on me to show a sign, to give him a signal. Then he’d take care of it for me. I was just about to let the monster in me kill this man, but someone else wanted something different.
“Please don’t hurt him Ducky.”