Page 55 of The Hollowed
“There was…a small altercation,” the doctor admitted. “Your companion was restrained and given a mild sedative. He’ll be waking soon.”
Relief and worry crashed through Luci at once. She leaned forward and searched the woman’s eyes for any trace of deceit. “Can I see him?”
“No, he’s being processed separately,” the doctor responded as if she were reciting a procedure she had no control over. “Once he wakes, he’ll be sent back to Sanctum Medical. But there’s no need to worry, he’ll be provided with transport, weapons, andenough supplies to get there safely,” she said like it was nothing. As if exile was a courtesy.
Luci’s stomach threatened to spill at the woman’s words.
Sent back.
She’d said it as though Alex were disposable, and the worst part was that the doctor almost sounded as though she believed she was delivering good news.
“No!” The word tore from Luci’s throat before she even realized she was on her feet. The gown shifted around her knees as she stood, and her fists trembled at her sides.
The doctor instinctively stepped back, startled by the suddenness of her movement.
“If he goes, I go,” Luci said, her voice nearly breaking with the force of it. “I won’t stay here without him.”
The doctor’s shoulders shrugged slightly, as if she’d heard this before. “I appreciate your loyalty,” she said softly, “but that is simply not an option.”
Luci blinked in confusion, “Why not?”
The woman took a deep breath before she continued. “Per your contract, you are property of Prometheus. Any research or discovery you make is the property of Prometheus. You broke protocol the moment you administered an unauthorized dose of the vaccine to yourself.
“You have no choice but to stay here. You will let us experiment, run trials, and extract what we can from your success. And then…” She looked away. “You will join the reproduction program.”
The room spun and a million thoughts drilled into Luci’s skull. She shook her head. This wasn’t the agreement they’d come to back home. “No. No, I — ” She clutched the fabric of the gown against her chest as if it was the only barrier between her andPrometheus.
This wasn’t medicine.
This wasn’t research.
They meant to possess her. She wasproperty..
Her voice cracked. “Please. At least…at least let Alex stay. I’ll do it. I’ll be in the program, but let me do it with him.”
Pity rose in the doctor’s expression.
“You don’t know,” she said.
Luci froze. “Don’t know what?”
The woman hesitated, then spoke as though reciting from a file. “Alex is ineligible. He was medically sterilized after completing the Reformation Program. It’s standard procedure for our troubled youth.”
Sterilized.
The meaning of the word settled slowly. Luci felt sick to her stomach. Alex had been robbed of his very autonomy.
Her knees nearly buckled as she, for the first time, saw Prometheus for what it was. It wasn’t a sanctuary or an institution of order but a machine that consumed lives and called it progress.
And she was trapped inside it.
In fact, she’d led them both straight into this trap.
Luci sank back onto the edge of the bed, her hands trembling in her lap. Her mind felt hollow, scraped raw as every word the doctor had spoken echoed until it drowned out everything else.
The oath she’d sworn, the promises she’d clung to about saving lives — it all dissipated in a single moment. What good was saving people if this was what salvation looked like? If Prometheus could steal Alex’s future, break him, and then hold her body and her research hostage?
For the first time, she felt the fire of hatred burn hotter thanduty. She hated them for what they’d done to him and for what they’d taken without remorse.