I knew I couldn’t stand this for much longer.

My body had begun to burn about an hour ago.

My muscles were numb, my body limp. I couldn’t do anything but lie there and stare aghast and horror-struck at them.

The only thing I could register was the cool hard table that held me in place. The mind numbing headache that had developed over the years. The soft air conditioning blowing in my face and hair, it felt nice. The first nice thing I’ve felt in days actually.

I couldn’t see, my vision had gone hazy hours ago. Turned the world into a tiny fuzzy gray tube. Until it ceased into coerce blackness that stung when I tried to push away the fog. My stomach ached, I haven’t eaten in days either. They knew I couldn’t stand it. And that’s why they continued.

They have been sticking tubes down my throat and arms for an hour now. Shoving shots inside my body like I was a rag doll. They had jolted something in me. If I could just break away, trust me I would. Nothing could be worse them this. I yelped and jumped for mercy. I had burn marks coursing my body. And what was worse, I could hear them laughing. Enjoying my pain.

“Don’t worry, little one. We are almost done.” His voice was eager. Either he was happy I was in pain, as it seemed the other people were. Or he was worried about me, a new one. At least he didn’t call me “It” or LF772-FG or whatever code name they gave me.

Excited murmurs grew around me, entangled inside the madness. Jittery in their crappy discoveries. I vaguely heard their blurry conversations. “I heard she had shark DNA in her.” A husky man with the deepest country accent I’ve ever heard called at the same time a woman said not to my surprise, “Ha, Zeb told me that someone thought of replacing Henry with her.”

“No we can’t dissect her brain yet. And no we can’t let her fight with a pack of wolves.”

What the heck?

“I heard LF772-FG lived with It’s two brothers. One can read minds, the other can tell the future. That is why we had to kill her mother. Breeding creatures like that is illegal.” She said calmly as if killing someone - my mother - was the least of her worries.

How did they know so much about Nate and Daniel?

Least their conversation distracted me, for the moment anyway.

The jammed the last shot inside my chest. Inside my heart.

Electricity shot through my body. I tried to scream but all that escaped my gaping lips was weak, old air. My body trembled from the shock. I could tell you more but this pain I had felt is far beyond words. Far beyond your imagination unless you have experienced it yourself.

I could hear the gasps that swirled around me, like they actually mattered. Reality was red. I couldn’t possibly move because of the pain. A fire blazed, scorching my body with its fingertips. It came, skipping past my heart where it had started but to my brain. I tried to scream but nothing came out but the small measly yelp of a girl who was more of a corpse than a human being. I would have reached out to something, someone but no one was there. Nothing to hide behind as my world swirled in a colorless black.

The odd thing was, it didn’t hurt. My body had already gone numb. Nevertheless, the burning continued. My body was dead, the flames were inside me.

Nothing to save me. I’d rather save myself.

“You kill It, I swear I will kill you.”

I have to get out of here. To them I was just an Other, not human. An alien. Like a test tube.

An It.

I guess it doesn’t matter that I’m mostly human, does it?

The world went hazy again. The room spun, the lights dimmed. Their faces gone fuzzy, I couldn’t see straight. But I could still hear, much better than I could before.

A man gasped, his feet shuffling below him. I would have pictured his eyes widening, his eyebrows lifting above his hairline. “You dumb… you made It blind.”

“But I improved It’s hearing two hundred and fifty percent.” Another man said gladly, I could hear his lips smaking into a smile. As if it could get his out of this mess. “If I enhanced it anymore, It would be able to read our minds. And I improved It’s intelligence, if we give It anymore training It could be-” He cut off but I knew they wanted to turn me into a weapon. Yeah but how can I be a weapon if I can’t even see? I thought and wanted to scream.

Someone, closer then I would have thought, sighed a hissed laugh. “Sure you are an evil mastermind John.” Her voice was whimsical and giddy, like a little kids. I would have laughed if this wasn’t happening.







* * *

The funny thing is that being thrown into a room you still have no idea what might look like really snaps things into perspective. White lights shredded through my eyelids, forcing me to blink them open. I couldn’t see anything, not even black like I would have expected.

I was back inside the room I had started in, the one where I had first met Griffin. I only knew because I could feel his presence beside me. He stroked my hair gently, I felt it stroke my back softly. Prickle the hair on the nape of my neck with its touch. I could even hear it crinkle inside my ear.

He was right, my hearing has improved. But I am going to scream if I start reading minds. Knowing what people think about you isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, trust me.

“Lana.” He gaped, almost screamed. What was I that bruised or something?

“Griffin.” I half yelled back.

But he ignored me. “Where were you? Are you alright? IF THEY DID ANYTHING TO YOU I SWEAR.”

“Shut up, you sound like my brothers,” I said, my voice between a laugh and a groan.

Griffin lifted my chin up in the cup of his hand. His touch was warm against my icy, pale skin. I would have fought back but I didn’t have any strength to even complete a single breath inside my lungs. I could feel his eyes boring into mine. He gasped, not expecting anything. “Your blind.”

I couldn’t respond. There was nothing to say.

“Lana we have to get out of here before…” Griffin trialed off, I could not see his lips moving but I could hear perfectly. I imagined him licking his lips and I knew it was true when I heard him sigh.

“Before what?”

Griffin paused, letting go of my chin. The pressure of his touch faded away slowly, crawling away from me. But the feeling still lingered, setting goose bumps along my jaw line. He moved away from me, his knees popping as he stood up. His clothes rustling with him.

“You’re meeting them tomorrow, maybe the day after if you are lucky.” He said, knowing it was all he could.

“Who?” I asked, my voice rising higher.

“The Exterminators who else? Oh an watch out for Lily. She may be small but she does bite.”

Oh peachy.

But I guess I can’t become an Exterminator now, I thought with a smile. I would have said that to Griffin but there wasn’t much to say. Maybe I am a coward. But this is no time for humor, now is it?

I’m blind now, the perfect excuse if you ask me.

Who knows what the do to people like me. People who where supposed to become an Exterminator, but can’t. Its join or die.

My eyes widened. My face was wet. I tasted the sweet, salty tears on top of my lip. Felt the sweat bead trail across my forehead.

I wiped away the tears from my eyes, before I could shed another tear. I wasn’t sorry for myself, as you might have thought.

No more tears, I’m getting out of here one way or another.