Page 7 of The Restoration Program

“You’re doing a shitty job of showing it.” Nicole twisted all around in search of the voice’s owner. It sounded like it was coming from several stories up somehow.

“She isn’t ready,” the woman muttered, though Nicole caught every word. “The shock may—”

“The sync was flawless,” the man’s voice insisted. “Isolating her any longer poses even more of a risk to her mental state—and her physical safety. Best get it over with.”

The woman sighed. “Very well. Miss Zhou, please step away from the door.”

With leaden limbs, Nicole obeyed. Anything to escape the confines of the room and get some answers. Ryan was out there somewhere, waiting for her.

But again, the door did not open. Even with the ceiling’s disappearing act, she wasn’t prepared for what unfolded. She caught a glimpse of something massive moving over the top of the wall. Before she could get a good look, the entire wall slid up from the floor like a lifting garage door, edges scraping metallically against the adjacent walls.

Clamping a hand over her mouth, she lurched back and somehow managed to stay standing this time. She then went absolutely still, as though an electric current was surging through every nerve in her body.

Giants stood before her.

No, she reasoned.No, no, that’s impossible. She had to be looking at some sort of screen zoomed in on a pair of people in white lab coats. But the longer she stared, the harder it sank in. There was no screen. Her dismantled room rested upon a guard-railed platform just below chest level with the giants.

The blond woman clutched a clipboard the size of a king-size bed in one arm. And the man… the man washoldingthe wall that had been removed from Nicole’s room. As he turned to set it aside, she caught a peek at the other side and found that she could see right through the wall like spotless glass. There were no cameras, but she had certainly been watched.

As she looked around wildly, she glimpsed more giants at the back of the expansive room, standing among building-sized cabinets, couches, and tables piled with unfathomable equipment.

“Miss Zhou,” the woman said, taking a step closer—a distant sound down below that Nicole couldfeel. “We understand this is a lot for you to process. Please, take a deep breath.”

“No.”

Nicole’s attempt to scream barely came out as a croak. Nausea bloomed in her stomach, and pain in her chest. She couldn’t have complied with the giant woman’s request even if she wanted to. Short gasps wracked her body and pummeled her lungs.

The woman insisted on closing the distance, filling Nicole’s vision at an alarming rate. “Miss Zhou—”

“No!” Nicole shrieked, jolting out of her frozen state. She staggered away until her back bumped against the cold bars of the bed frame. “No, no, no! D-Don’t touch me,” she bit out with as much venom as she could muster. “Don’t fuckingtouchme!”

To her relief, the woman stopped advancing. “It’s alright, there’s no need for that,” she said more gently. “No one is here to hurt you. You’re among friends, I promise.”

Nicole white-knuckled the bedrail, forcing her chin up to look the woman in the eye. “I’ve never seen you before in my life. A-any of you.”

“I understand this is a shock, but you need to understand… You’re the one who’s changed—and for good reason. Your life has been returned to you.” The woman gave another irritatingly patient smile. “I’m Dr. Jenning. The man next to me is Dr. Roberts. The others you see here are all integral parts of the team that made your procedure possible.Yourteam, Nicole.”

The smile was kind, but ice flooded Nicole’s veins all the same. “So you did this to me?” Nicole whispered. The question resounded. What exactlyhadthese people done to her?

“Wesavedyou.”

“Doesn’t feel like that.”

Jenning exchanged a look with her colleague. Dr. Roberts cleared his throat delicately. He appeared less comfortable speaking down to her, but he was evidently putting a great deal of effort to look approachable. It didn’t work.

“The new perspective can be a bit jarring for the first few days,” he said. “But I think you’ll be amazed at how quickly the human mind can adapt. Why, our other NüPrints have shown complete adjustment in as little as three weeks.”

“New-what?”

Nicole wished they would just put the room back the way it was, before she was some spectacle in a room of mad scientists.

“Miss Zhou, what do you recall about the afternoon of March twenty-second?” Jenning asked delicately. “Do you remember the car accident?”

She nodded reluctantly, wincing at the memory. “I… I thought I was a goner.”

“Things could have been much worse if we hadn’t acted as quickly as we did,” Jenning tacked on readily. “You’ve been given a second chance with this new form. You’re incredibly lucky.”

Nicole snapped her head up. Anger burned through the chill that had taken hold of her, filling her with a flash of brazenness.