Page 18 of Sergi (Of Blood & Dreams #7)
Chapter Seventeen
I was allowed a quick lunch before the experiments started, but I picked at it, preferring an empty stomach in case I threw up. The guard led me down familiar hallways, but this time, I paid attention to the hallway signs.
I’d been right. There were signs conveniently placed for the staff to find their way through the maze of hallways. They probably didn’t think most shifters could read. It was more likely they considered the guards and their threats of severe punishment enough. They had been until now.
My skin prickled when I walked past other shifters. I’d sensed it in the cafeteria. It might have been my imagination, but this was the first inkling I’d had since arriving that rescue was possible. And if not rescue, then the ability to fight back.
Under the noses of our guards, small whispers between shifters had begun. The word of a vampire chained on level three was no longer a secret. Perhaps they’d heard it from the guards, but the shifters had found a way to communicate—a necessary first step for any rebellion.
I snorted. Rebellion. The idea seemed daunting. But Sergi hadn’t thought so.
The first signage we came across were arrows pointing to the medical treatment office, an area for the staff’s medical emergencies, various conference rooms, and the staff quarters. When we reached the end of the hallway, the sign indicated the labs to the right and, to the left, the security offices and command center.
I’d never paid attention to the signs but must have subconsciously stored the information since what I’d given Sergi regarding the facility’s layout had been correct. The signs changed as we moved deeper into the building, providing directions for the various labs. This was the area I’d become familiar with.
When I entered the main lab, I immediately caught S-272’s eyes. It was the easiest way to assess the mood of the staff. He gave no head nod or facial expression, but I caught a glimpse of a red glow that left as quickly as it came. His wolf was near the surface. Something had provoked him.
Two lab technicians worked on the metal cage that held shifters in place for their injections, stringing monitoring cables through the openings. Across the lab, three others were busy at their stations, their eyes glued to their screens as they typed, pausing only long enough to jot down information.
S-272 stocked the cleaning supply closet, and though he kept his head down, I caught his side glances directed at the lab staff. The guard pushed me to a counter with boxes of medical supplies that included first aid items, bottles with names I’d never heard of, and other items I’d seen in my pack’s medical unit, like tranquilizers, pain medications, syringes, and needles.
I finished the task of storing the supplies as the lead scientist strode in with her entourage. They scurried like rats to their stations, whispering among themselves with excitement. I glanced at S-272, who’d also noticed the unusual behavior. It wasn’t that they hadn’t whispered before, but never with such emotion.
A guard stepped next to me and pushed me toward the corner of the lab as another one forced S-272 into the same area. We sat with our backs to the wall without further instruction. It was the same routine with each experiment. We would wait, forced to watch until it was time for cleanup.
I startled when S-272 nudged my arm. After glancing at the others in the room to confirm they were occupied, I looked down. His fist opened to reveal a vial. I didn’t have time to read the label, but I grabbed it, and keeping an eye on the guards, I slowly brought my knees to my chest, allowing easier access to slip the vial into the familiar place under my shift.
“Can you feel the difference in the shifters?” S-272 asked.
I lowered my head and said, “I’m hearing whispers.”
“There’s a rumor that the vampire prisoner was sent on a rescue mission.”
I didn’t shake my head, though I almost did. “He was sent to locate the lab. I spoke to a shifter who was sent with him. One of their team members might have gotten away.”
We sat in silence for several minutes before S-272 spoke.
“That explains the rumors of an uprising.”
An uprising? That matched my earlier thoughts, and I connected the dots on how the shifters were communicating. I wasn’t the only shifter going into cells to clean, and the guards didn’t watch as closely as they once had. They’d grown complacent. It would be slow and tedious, taking a few days to communicate a plan, but one by one, each shifter would only have to be told which day to be ready.
“What did you give me?” My curiosity couldn’t wait until I returned to my cell. I wanted to know what I was carrying to determine the risk of being caught. I could always dump it before I left the lab.
“The lab assistants talk freely around me. This morning, they were working on something extremely addictive to vampires. I assumed it would be bad for them, but the assistants were tempted to try it. On its own, it’s supposed to revitalize a vampire. The vial is labeled BP-X.”
When he mentioned something addictive to vampires, I assumed it was Magic Poppy. Yet, the label identified it as Blood Poppy. The X in the label name must reference a newer variation. The question was, modified in what way? If the lab assistants were willing to try it, it couldn’t be bad.
“Will it help?” S-272 asked.
“Maybe. I found a vial labeled BP without the X. The vampire seemed eager to try it. I’ll know tomorrow if it had any effect against the drugs they’re injecting him with.”
“There’s something else I need to share with you.”
We fell silent when one of the guards strolled over. His grin was ugly as he sneered down at us. “It won’t be long now. Wait till you see what’s going to happen. We’ll be making better shifters.” He nudged my legs that I had lowered to the ground. “Ones that won’t talk back.” He laughed. “Now you just remain where you are like good little doggies.”
He strode back and bumped fists with the other guard.
S-272’s eyes glowed, and I laid a hand on his arm until his eyes returned to normal. It took him a moment to settle enough to speak, but his skin sizzled with energy. “There’s a secret back door out of the facility. It’s on the third level in the mechanical room.”
“How do you know this?”
“I learned of it early on while listening to the guards. It was used when the labs were expanded.”
“And no one has tried to use it?”
“The old road doesn’t exist anymore. The area is rife with wild shifters, and it’s a long walk through thick forest and dangerous terrain to any village.”
“It would be impossible to get everyone out that way.”
“Not for one or two with the stamina to survive.”
Before I could respond, a window at the back wall that I hadn’t noticed before slowly illuminated to reveal a group of six people. I recognized one of the female scientists and her two assistants. There was a male, the only one wearing an open lab coat over a suit, who seemed to be dictating something to a young female. I wondered if he was the director, or what the guards and staff referred to as Master. A cold dread ran over me when I saw the muscled male behind him. I would never forget his face or his nasty leer. The interrogator. The one Sergi had called Gheata.
Then the door leading to the hallway opened, and four guards strolled in with a shifter between them. His feet were bare and shackled, and his only clothing were loose fitting pants all the male prisoners wore. He appeared resigned to his fate or perhaps they fed him a sedative in his food.
I closed my eyes and mentally prepared myself for the carnage to follow.
I thought I knew what to expect.
I’d been witness to a handful of experiments on shifters that left only bits and pieces of them behind. Someday I would have to face that trauma and know it represented only a fraction of the shifters who’d been unlucky enough to find themselves trapped in this facility. And that it happened because they’d been seen as less.
S-272 and I sat shoulder to shoulder, our arms touching. A mutual need to remind ourselves who we were. This time was different. These scientists believed they’d achieved a breakthrough, and it terrified me. S-272’s energy was tangible, and I wasn’t sure if it was from fear or anger. If he felt as I did—it was both. I was both horrified by what was to come and angered by their excitement at using another sentient being for their games.
The shifter fought being put in the cage. If they had drugged him beforehand, it wasn’t very effective. But he was no match for four vampires, who removed his restraints before shoving him in the cage, stretching his arms wide, and latching the door with an audible click that seemed to echo through the lab.
He continued to thrash, as ineffectual as it was, and his eyes darted around, seeking any assistance he could find until they lit on S-272 and me. My chin lifted as we held his gaze, refusing to turn away from his plight. Neither of us would show weakness at what was to come. It was the only solidarity we could provide.
With his eyes locked on us. He understood his fate, and for some reason, perhaps the simple knowledge he wasn’t alone, he calmed and showed the last of his inner strength.
“Let’s get on with it.” The words came from the director, who appeared irritated and anxious, his hands never stopping as they fussed with his tie. He tugged at his lab coat before stuffing his hands in his pockets then quickly pulling them out. In. Out. In. Out. He finally found a pen in one of the pockets and twirled it in his fingers as a lab assistant picked up a syringe.
I wasn’t surprised to see Leonard, the sadistic assistant from the earlier experiments, as he held up the syringe so everyone could see it as he gave it a dramatic flick with his finger. The syringe was filled with a thick, bright pink liquid, and even from where I sat, I could see it ended with a long, large bore needle.
The female scientist standing next to the director tapped her hands along her leg. “It has to be given intramuscular, either in the bicep or the thigh.”
Leonard glanced at her, nodded, then moved toward the shifter. He bent as if going for the thigh, but the shifter moved his leg out of reach. The assistant stepped back, his expression one of irritation. He shrugged and went for the bicep, which was restrained in the arm clamps.
I questioned why Leonard had moved toward the leg first, and the only explanation I could come up with was that it would have hurt more in the thigh than the arm. The vampire was truly an evil male.
He jabbed the needle in, and the shifter jumped at the assault. Leonard waited a beat, a nasty grin on his face, before his thumb slowly pushed the toxic cocktail into the shifter. At first, the shifter remained calm, but then he began to scream. Throughout the entire long minute it took for Leonard to continue pushing the serum into the shifter, the screaming never stopped, even after the assistant removed the needle and stepped back.
I glanced at the people in the booth, who were smiling and nodding their heads. All except Gheata, who watched expressionless. Were they happy with the screaming, or did the continuing shrill wailing mean this was the outcome they’d hoped for?
I wanted to cover my ears so I couldn’t hear the painful sounds, the screams turning to howls. S-272 leaned into me. His earlier energy radiated through me, and I sat straighter while we watched in horror as the shifter began to morph.
He wouldn’t be able to shift properly in his current position. He might not explode like the others, but the way he was positioned in the cage wasn’t feasible for the structure of a wolf. It would kill him.
The first things that changed were his hands. Thick fur erupted on his knuckles, then the fingers and over his hands, and then up his arms to his elbows. His muscles bulked, and his fingernails changed to razor-sharp claws—long, thick, and deadly. Not the same as a wolf, but close. Thick hair covered his feet, his toenails changed to match the lethal claws on his hands, and his soles thickened into pads that were better for gripping the ground.
The howling continued as the male’s face turned next. A snout grew where his mouth was before his whole head turned into a wolf. Drool ran from his fangs as the shifter struggled in pain. His ears became pointed but remained without fur, leaving them with an eerie human appearance.
The howling ceased as the transformation appeared to stop.
His legs, arms, and torso remained in the form of a human male.
I turned to S-272, who was as shocked as I was.
When I turned back to the room, Leonard pumped a raised fist, and everyone behind the window were smiling and shaking hands. Except for Gheata. He stood like a statue, the only change in his expression was the slight squinting of his eyes. Then it came. The slow grin of satisfaction.
They had somehow managed to stop the transformation. When I forced my gaze to the shifter, my stomach twisted.
He was terrified.
He was aware of what had happened but couldn’t shift back. Was he stuck like that? Maybe when the drug wore off he’d return to his full human form. Or maybe that wasn’t the end goal.
“Well done, team,” the female scientist said. “Phase one is complete. Please record the final measurements, then we’ll proceed to phase two.”
The group behind the window began talking among themselves, ignoring the lab assistants as they reviewed their monitors and typed at their keyboards. The guards faced the wolfman, whose eyes skittered around the room, once more landing on mine.
I nodded to him, trying to keep calm for his sake. He tried to hold it together, but his gaze moved from mine as he searched for a way out. His body shuddered and strained as if he was attempting to shift back but finding the ability taken from him.
“We can’t allow this to happen.” S-272 spat the whispered words. “You need to find a way to free the vampire and get out. Find someone who can stop this.”
“What if the door isn’t there anymore?”
Before he could respond, the lab assistant spoke. “We’re ready.”
The group behind the window turned back to the lab, their expressions, still uplifted, turned serious as they readied for the next phase.
The female scientist scanned her team. “This is a momentous occasion. Let’s see it through.” She nodded at Leonard, who now held a second syringe. This one was a clear light green. “Begin phase two. This injection can go anywhere but to speed up the results, let’s try closer to the head.”
Leonard grinned and turned toward the wolfman, whose huge eyes pleaded for release. Without pause, he jammed the needle into the wolfman’s neck. This time the injection was quick and for several minutes nothing happened.
No one seemed concerned, as if they knew this one would take longer.
The wolfman’s gaze fell on me again, and it was filled with a hopeless sadness as his body relaxed. His gaze changed from terror and sadness to nothing but a blank expression. He was still alive based on the rise and fall of his chest, but he’d either been sedated or they’d somehow cut off his emotions.
“Put the collar on,” the female scientist ordered.
Leonard picked up a thin nylon collar with a small black box that had been threaded onto it. It looked like a dog collar used to control barking or inappropriate behavior.
Deep anger filled me with silent rage.
Leonard didn’t seem as brave as before and handed the collar to one of the guards. That was the first time I noticed the smaller cage door that allowed access above the waist.
The wolfman remained still as the guard fitted the collar around his neck. He was stepping back to close the door when the female scientist said, “Let’s keep it open.”
The guard looked at her, nodded, then stepped back.
She removed a cylindrical black box, aimed it toward the wolfman and pressed a button. The reaction was instantaneous. The wolfman snarled and pulled at his restraints. His eyes were no longer blank but filled with rage and, based on knowing my own wolf, hunger. His hands flexed and unflexed, unable to form a fist because of the long nails but wanting to strike at something. Anything.
When the button was hit a second time, the snarling instantly stopped. The wolfman’s body relaxed and the dull expression returned.
The female scientist smiled and turned toward the director. “Phase two is complete. We have success.”
The director’s expression changed from his earlier anxious state to all smiles, as if a great pressure had been lifted.
“We have several more tests to perform before we move to field experiments,” the female scientist continued. “I’d like to turn five more so we have a good working group for the next stage of trials.”
The director rubbed his hands together. “Yes. Yes. As many as you want, but I want field trials ready in two weeks.” He kept nodding, his smile wide as he stared at his creation. “This is excellent. Our Master will be quite happy about this.”
The words hit like a sledgehammer to the gut. I was trying to understand what this all meant, but his words about the Master stopped all other thinking. The director wasn’t the Master. If not him, then who, and were they somewhere in the facility or someplace else?
Two weeks before field experiments. This had to be stopped.
The discussions between those behind the window and those in the lab continued. The remote control was passed around so others could turn it on and off as if it wasn’t some evil game.
Through it all, Gheata stood and watched the wolfman. The grin was still there as he slowly nodded. He seemed eager to see Frankenstein’s monster unleashed.
I rubbed a hand along my waist, feeling the bump of the vial. What could one vampire do against this? What would happen to those left behind if the vampire escaped?
“This has to stop.” My words were nothing more than a whisper.
“You can’t worry about the rest of us. We’re all doomed. But you have the ability to save the rest of the shifters.”
What would my uncle do?
It was a stupid question.
Protect the species—at all costs.