Ch.11
I was thrown into a cage and hit the cold, hard steel with a thud. The bars sizzled with blue waves of electricity. No doubt powerful enough to knock me out again if I ever got the bright idea of trying to pull the bars apart. I was bleeding; there were holes in my flesh from where the tasers had pierced me. But the pain that I felt from my wounds was nothing compared to the agony of knowing that I had failed Spencer once again; this time there was no hope. I knew this place; by sheer luck I had escaped the first time. But now they were going to keep me under maximum security. I looked around; I was alone in a dark, empty room. The only lighting came from the glow of the bars, which crackled and hissed from the electricity coursing through them. Suddenly the lights came on. I was momentarily blinded; I realized that I was on a platform with a control panel on it. The sound of boots clicking on the metal floor reached my ears. Someone was coming. “Hello there.” A clipped, female voice greeted me. “You must know by now that you’ve cost us all a valuable amount of time and money chasing after you. Not to mention you’ve risked the very secrecy of this facility and all its contents. You’ve been quite a menace, Davies. And, (she paused for effect) I will see to it just how badly you’ve threatened the security of this project and punish you accordingly.”
I knew that voice. It was Paula, the warden of the sector I had been held and trained in. She did not tolerate mistakes by anyone, super-soldier or handler. She was cold, calculating, and machine-like. To me, it seemed as if she was never capable of any other emotions other than hate and anger. Maybe it was because she hated us. The ‘dregs of society’ as she called us. The unwanted kids that were used as test subjects. However, she liked Aiden because he had volunteered. What an idiot. Only someone like Aiden would volunteer to be tortured. Paula walked over to the control panel and turned a lever up. “ARGHHHHH!!!!” I screamed, writhing in pain as millions of volts coursed through my body. I couldn’t even muster the strength to move; every time I took a breath I felt as if I was being stabbed by millions of needles. I coughed up blood and spat it out; my breathing was hard, harsh, uncontrolled, and labored. I couldn’t even think; my vision was getting blurred. Paula opened the cage, certain that I was now immobilized. She kicked me hard in the stomach. I merely grunted and lay there, limp and helpless as she had two agents pick me up by the arms and drag me to wherever it was she was going. They threw me down on the cold, hard floor in some room down the hall. I heard the sound of keys fitting into locks and the click of metal unhinging. The agents lifted me up and closed the metal cuffs around my wrists and ankles. Paula pressed a few buttons on a small control box on the table she was sitting at and immediately waves of blue electricity shot out from both of the cuffs, creating a line across my arms and my legs to restrain me if I got any ideas about trying to get out. Not that I would. I was not in the state to even sneer at her. I drooped wearily from my bonds; blood ran from both sides of my face. I glanced wearily over at my tormentor, who sat with her legs crossed, staring back at me with those icy blue eyes. Suddenly the door opened. “We’ve interrogated the witness, ma’am.” An agent said nervously. “She’s your …daughter?” Paula’s eyes widened and her nostrils flared in anger. “What has she had to do with this…filth?” Paula growled furiously. “She does not know the subject’s capabilities.” “Are you sure? Torture her if you have to. Then erase her memory and send her back to NYU.” I was in shock. How could Spencer’s own mother be this heartless, sinister monster? How could Paula even order further torture be performed on her own daughter?

“I’ll kill you if you touched her, you dirty whore!” Paula screamed, hitting me across the face. I stared back at her blankly. Paula rushed over to the control box and turned a dial all the way up. That was the last thing I saw before a huge wave of electricity washed over me and everything went black. When I awoke, I was in a cell with a bed. I wondered if I had died. “Ugh.” I groaned, turning over in my bed. My mind was so blank; it felt as if I had been knocked out for ages. Perhaps I had been. Who knows. I looked up to see that Paula was no longer there. My mind felt numb; I couldn’t remember anything past Paula torturing me. I heard the door to my cell open with a beep as someone unlocked it with their keycard and fingerprint. “Get up.” A harsh voice commanded, kicking me. I stared up at her. Paula. I got up robotically to my feet and rose to my full height, looking at her straight in the eye, ready to obey her next orders. I was one of her super-soldiers again.