Re: Chapter 4: Abyss
Susan lay on her back, hands behind her head and her eyes on the ceiling above her bed. Her eyebrows were puckered slightly, and a small smile came to her lips as William entered her thoughts. She quickly wiped the smile away, a glare turning to the camera up in the corner before she settled her expression in her usual angry resting face. Why give them anything they could work with? They already had their lives. She was just going to make it as difficult as possible for them to get any conclusive data.
The door to her room clunked heavily as it unlocked and she sat up in her bed, swinging her feet down to the cool floor. Three orderlies and two nurses came into the room, rolling a cart of computer equipment between them all and closing the door behind them. Susan sat with her back as straight as a rod, guarded and poised for a fight.
Despite her kicks, punches and struggles, she was strapped to her bed in quick order. She gritted her teeth and stayed unusually quiet as the nurses rolled the cart up next to her bed, a strange dread deep in her stomach. A keyboard, monitor, and sleek headset were what she saw before the sting of a needle in her arm turned her attention away. A clear liquid was injected and the spot swabbed.
She felt the effects almost immediately. The edges of her vision blurred, and she felt as if she were pitching on a boat. She groaned and closed her eyes, hoping that the feeling would diminish if she couldn't see the room rock. It didn't help. Susan thought she could feel hands on her head, lifting, turning, then something snug around her brow.
"What's going on..?" was that her voice? She slowly opened her eyes, and closed them again tightly. The rocking motion slowly abated, and when she was finally able to open her eyes, she was staring at her ceiling.
Susan blinked and sat up, putting a hand to her head. There was nothing there. Frowning, she got up from the bed and walked to her door. Locked. Turning around, she paced back to the bed to stop by the side, hands propped on her lower back. What had happened? Did she blank out during the experiment? She certainly had a headache. It could be a side effect from that drug.
The lock on her door turned, and it opened as Susan glanced over her shoulder to see what it was. William stood in the doorway, and for a moment, a smile came to her face. Then he suddenly pitched forward and hit the ground, a gurgle of blood coming from his mouth. "William!" Susan screamed, lurching forward and dropping to her knees beside him. She turned him over and froze, shocked at the amount of blood covering his chest. It was all over her hands. Gasping, she took his face in her hands. He was pale, his breathing shallow. "Look at me." she demanded in a low voice.
William's clouded eyes turned toward her, but didn't focus. He whispered something past the blood, something she couldn't hear and he stopped breathing.
Susan screamed his name and shook him trying to wake him up.
Susan woke up to her own scream. The room was dark, and she was covered in a cold sweat. She sat up, breathing heavily and putting her head on her knees. A nightmare. A nightmare. Taking in a deep, shaky breath, Susan flopped back onto the bed, her hands covering her eyes. It was a while before she could get back to sleep.
Checking the monitor and headset sync pattern, one of the nurses stepped back as S. Black screamed again, struggling against the bonds that held her down. The top half of her face was concealed beneath the virtual projector, the effects enhanced a hundred fold by the hallucination drug modified to simulate the dream state sense of reality. The visual on the computer screen was split. Half covered in direction code, and the other a picture of what S. Black was seeing. It was just as the Dr. hoped it would be.
Opening her eyes, Susan looked blearily up at the ceiling. What day was it? Why did she bother asking? She sat up and tried to move her legs to stand up, but her legs wouldn't move. A spike of panic struck hard and fast through her chest. She couldn't move her legs, they wouldn't respond. What kind of test was this supposed to be?
Her door opened, it wasn't locked, and two orderlies dragged a third person in between them. When the door closed, the person raised his head, blood in his hair. William.
He gave her a half smile, only to have it transformed into a grimace as an orderly fist sunk into his gut. He grunted and Susan shouted, "Stop! Stop it!" She tried to jump from the bed, to attack, to help, and tumbled from the bed in a heap. She pushed herself up on her side, legs laying useless. More hollow thumps and grunts as William took the beating. A fist connected with his jaw and blood spattered the white floor. Cursing, Susan dragged herself forward and grabbed the leg of an orderly, pulling on him until she was close enough to bite. She drew blood before she was kicked aside. She felt more than useless to help.
William lay on the floor, his face swollen and bruised. Susan looked back at him, angry tears flooding her eyes. He opened his mouth and said something, but the words were lost past his mangled lips. With a savage kick, William's neck snapped and he stared at her with dead eyes at an impossible angle.
A wrenching scream tore from her throat.
Susan strained against the straps, her scream tearing painfully through the air. Notes were written quickly on a clipboard, "One more."
Susan lay on her bed, her hands pressed over her eyes as the visions of William covered in blood and dying flooded her vision. It seemed so real, the sounds and the smell of blood. She gritted her teeth and rolled out of bed as her door clicked and was swung open. She looked to the doorway, afraid of what she might see. William was shoved into the room and the door slammed shut and locked.
Jumping to her feet, she crossed the room and examined him, "Are you alright? Have they done anything to you?" she asked quickly, ignoring the slightly bewildered look on his face. "What have they done to you?" she pressed, turning to take his face in her hands.
He smiled at her and pulled her to him in a tight embrace. He whispered something in her ear but she couldn't catch it. It had been too faint.
"What?" she asked, taking a step back to look at him. Her heel caught on something and she fell back, grabbing at William's arm to catch herself. They both fell. Susan hit her head on the floor, making her ears ring and her head spin.
As her vision swam, she saw William beside her, unmoving with blood in his hair. She felt like she was falling and her sight faded to black. She coughed and reached out to feel for him, her hand touching nothing but air.
...She heard the door close and lock.. Did they take him away?
She opened her eyes with a gasp, her eyes focusing on the ceiling with sharp clarity. She sat up bolt right, to find herself alone. Drawing her legs up, she tangled her fingers through her hair and a sob racked her body as the images of a bloody William refused to leave her mind.