Weapons

Chapter 10: 1915 part 2

Don and I look to our right to see Dr. Lancaster walking toward us. There are at least 13 staff in the room. “What's happening?” Don asks Dr. Lancaster as she approaches. “You both have passed all our tests and experiments. We have just one more for the both of you. All the research and data have proved this will be successful,” she answers.

The floor in the room is made of white tile, just like the other rooms in “the hospital.” There are 2 large bright lights above each of the tables. In the far-left corner, there's a large machine and a table with chairs behind it. The structure has a large screen on the front of it and long, wide, and thin wires on the back. This is the largest chamber we've seen in “the hospital” in the past 2 years.

Doctors Morbien and Lancaster guide me and Don to the tables. Dr. Morbien helps Don onto one table, while Dr. Lancaster helps me on the other. “Lay down with your head facing the direction of the cart,” she says as she eases me back. The table is cold on my legs and arms. It's so cold it sings.

I lay back, and she uses the brown leather belts to strap me down. Dr. Lancaster starts with my left ankle, then to my right ankle. She makes her way up to my hips. I can't move my lower half. The straps are tight, pinning my body to the chilled silver table. I try not to panic. I know whatever they're doing won't be permanent.

Furthermore, I look to my left to see a large wall made up of a mirror. “Are there people watching us right now” I ask her. “Yes, our investors are standing behind the mirror. They want to witness exactly how our program ends and why we do everything we do,” she answers as she straps my right arm to the table. Her long doctor's coat brushes against my arm; it's warm compared to the table.

She continues to strap down my left arm, chest, and head. Dr. Lancaster moves to the left side of me to pick something up from the silver cart. I glance to my right and see Don already strapped to the table. I'm terrified, “the hospital” has done nothing like this before. “What is that” I ask Dr. Lancaster.

“This is called an IV needle; it's going to go in your arm to make sure you get your medicine,” she answers. One of the staff pushes a tall metal pole with hooks at the top and wheels on the bottom next to the table. All the staff look different but are wearing identical uniforms. There are 2 bags filled with fluid hanging from the hooks. One bag is filled with a thick cerulean colored fluid and the other is filled with a thin dark purple liquid.

Dr. Lancaster sticks the needle into my left arm and attaches the tube that splits at the end to both the bags of fluid. Gazing at the fluid flowing from the bags and into my arm, it stings. Both the colors mix and make a black color halfway through the tube. I glance over at Don, who has the same fluids running through his right arm. Dr. Lancaster takes a vaccine with a clear liquid in it and injects it into my upper-right arm.

I feel heavy, almost paralyzed. Is this it, is this when they finally kill us? I'm panicking, but can't express it because of the vaccine she had just given me. I can't speak, I can't move. Not only that, but I miss my home. I want to tell Don “it's going to be okay” but my mouth won't open.

My body feels as if it's being crushed, and my eyes feel like they could pop out of my head. We've been here for 2 years just for them to kill us. This is how it happens, with my little brother laying a few away from me on a table. “Station 1 and 2 are ready for step 3,” I hear Dr. Isaac say from somewhere in the room. A woman with brown hair up in a bun, brown eyes, and fair skin walks up to me wearing a white uniform and sticks an IV needle into my right arm.

I want to go home, I want to go home, I want to go home, I think to myself, trying not to cry. As I look over at Don, another woman with blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale skin pushes another metal pole to the right of me. The metal pole has 1 bag hanging from one hook and is filled with a transparent fluid. The blonde-haired woman attached the tube from the bag of clear fluid to the IV in my right arm.

I watch the fluid flow from the bag and into my arm. The light above me gets brighter, and I get a headache. My eyes begin to feel dry, and my body aches more. Likewise, I look to the right of me to find Don struggling to keep his eyes open. He already has all the fluids flowing into him.

“What are you doing to us” I struggle to ask. “We're making you better. You will be of great use to us and the government when all is said and done,” Dr. Lancaster replies. I start to feel nauseated and weak. My body wants to go to sleep, but my mind is telling me to fight it.

“Always” I hear Don mumble. I fight to open my mouth to say it back. “Always” I reply. My eyes are trying to close; it hurts to hold them open. I give in.