Trapped

“I’ve got a plan.” He whispered from the next room over. Our beds shared a very thin wall, and the vent just above our head helped. He had kept me alive these past weeks just by talking with me.

               “What do you have in mind this time Theo?” I questioned. He devised a new plan each day, although our days and nights were completely messed up as we didn’t have a window to the outside world in our little cells. They may not have been made of concrete, but they are just as good as. The cameras watched our every move, and if we so much as pushed on the walls, a loud ear-shattering alarm came on, resulting in us curling up on the floor, covering our heads until it stopped.

               “We could tunnel out with our spoons, then run for it.”

               “Really? Like Shawshank redemption?” I snapped back.

               “Yeah, it worked for them.”

               “That was a movie, and they weren’t watched in their cell.”

               “It could be worth a try.” He said hopefully.

               “Well, I guess. We haven’t had our ears bleed in a few days.”

               The door slammed down the hall, and heavying footsteps moved door to door, throwing up the small hatch and shoving food through to each of the captured. They pounded on my door, indicating that today was my day for testing, which meant I didn’t get food.

               “Tough break, kiddo.” Said Theo as he received his nasty protein bar.

               “Yeah, well, we knew my day was coming again. I seem to be their favorite.”

“You are just special, Ridley. I don’t know what I would do without you.” He confessed.

“Oh, you would probably just talk less.” I chuckled with what little happiness I had left after being captured, tortured, and tormented for the last month. I’ve tried to scratch a mark on the wall each time we received protein bars. We were only allowed to eat one time each day.

“Without you, I would have given in weeks ago.” He whispered.

“Stand tall, man. You can handle this until we escape. I know you can.” I comforted him.

“How are you so positive, and it’s your turn?”

“Because I have a plan this time,” I spoke a little too loud with excitement.

“You? But you never have a plan. Well, what is it?” His interest was fully peaked.

“I’ll let you know when I come back.” I hoped it would help him hold on. Also, I needed to do some research as they dragged me down the hall to torture and experiment on me.

“No. You can’t make me wait that long. Sometimes they keep you for days.” He whined.

“Yes, but my plan is not all the way formed just yet. I should have said I have an idea of a plan, but not all the details are there yet.” I explained.

“Are you serious? You have a for-real plan, not a dream?” He questioned.

“Yes, we are going to get out of here.”

The door banged open down the hall; a crowd of footsteps followed, moving towards me. My breath quickened, my muscles tensed, and fear set in.

Theo spoke just before my door opened. “You’ve got this. I will always wait for you.”

Tears streamed down my face as the large masked men grabbed me from the bed, dragging me up to my feet even though my legs didn’t have the strength to move. They rearranged for a better grip to carry me to the scream room. Which was named after what happens inside.

The door slammed behind me. I needed to stay alert to create every detail of my plan. I had to escape. There was a deadbolt lock on the outside of our doors. If I could get out, I could unlock Theo’s and not even need a key.

The dreaded room was on the other side of the large house. They pushed me through to a metal chair in the middle of a large room full of stains, mainly red/brown, depending on how old there were. They strapped my wrists and ankles to the metal chair. The cold burned my bare skin, that was not covered by the short cloth shorts and no-sleeved cotton shirt I wore. The straps cut into me as I pulled, and they tightened.

The needles in my arms started with blood draws that seemed to drain the life from me or what little I had left. Then the multi-colored injections began with torturess effects. My body throbbed with my heartbeat, which drummed in my ears, taking my hearing. My skin burned red as blisters formed, covering all my exposed skin. The blisters grew till my skin burst from the pressure. My screams filled the room and traveled through the house. The pain became too intense as my skin peeled off with each busted blister. I allowed the sweet darkness to take me to escape.

I woke still strapped to the metal chair. My bare, exposed skin shivered. However, the blisters were gone, and new skin had formed. Their experiments must be getting better for my skin to heal that fast because I knew I hadn’t been here for that long as the blood on my chair hadn't dried yet. A strange surge of strength pulsed as a man in a white lab coat walked in. He actually looked me in the face. They usually only study my body as a tool, not as a human.

“Hey, I’m glad you woke up. Now, you can tell me how you feel without using probes and medicine.” He whispered close to me as he began tugging and examining my skin.

“Um…” I squeaked out. My throat burned for water. I gave a raspy, labored cough.

“I got you. Let me see if I can get you a drink.” He left the room, allowing me to take it all in a bit better before the questions and testing started again.

The walls were once painted white, although the many experiments on all of us kids had changed it to a splattered mess of dark colors. The black computer in the corner sat on a rolling cart but faced away from me. A camera stared from a wall by the door, awaiting my every move. My red blood covered the exposed parts of the silver metal chair as well as the concrete floor leading to the drain. There was one medical tray with their medical instruments ready for the next procedure.

My muscles tensed, strained, and spasmed, pulling at the leather restraints that creaked and moaned from the strain. Everything stiffened as my body fought something inside. My head shot back against the chair, sending pain through my skull. The room went black, and I lost my vision. My heartbeat thundered in my ears. Somebody grabbed my arm, and a sharp poke went in. My muscles loosened as I gained control. My hearing slowly came back as the voice seeped in.

“Yes, a seizure. I have no idea what happened. We have caused them before. No, I don’t know why. I’ll stay here and do some more tests.” He grumbled, clearly upset with me.

He must have been on the phone as I didn’t hear the other voice he spoke to. He continued to walk around me, touching my bare skin and examining every part of me. My vision came back in a bright flash of light from the flashlight as he searched my eyes.

“There we go. That’s progress. Now let’s discuss this further. Can you tell me how you feel?” He spoke smoothly and comforting, like I didn’t know it was him torturing me.

I tried to talk, but only a squeak came out from my extreme thirst.

“Yeah, I can’t give you water since we don’t know what is going on?” He explained.

He wasn’t going to help me. I returned the favor and searched the wall behind him with my mouth shut. I was not going to make it easy for him in the slightest.

He got the hint quickly, and his demeanor changed drastically. “Fine, I will find out myself, you entitled brat.”

The needles began again, draining blood and inserting all sorts of colors, turning my veins cold and empty. I lost feeling in my arm and the right side of my body.

He stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

My left side remained strong as I pulled and tugged at the restraints. The rest of my muscles surged on the right side with more power than I’ve ever had in this place. The strap popped like a bodybuilder’s bracelet. I ripped the others off and ran to hide under the camera behind the door to await the guy I loathed.

After a few minutes, he busted in as his life depended on it searching. I jumped out, smashing his head with my extra strong right hand across his throbbing temple. He glanced at me briefly before the white glossy film covered his eyes, and he fell to the hard ground with no movement.

The door remained wide open. I ran with everything I had, remembering each turn as I found my way back to our detested little rooms. As I found the hallway, I unlocked each door, flinging it open and shouting.

“LET’S GET OUT OF HERE!”

They poked their heads out, unsure if they could trust me, but they didn’t take long to decide they didn’t care as the hall filled. I searched for Theo but found him passed out on the floor of his room.

“EVERYBODY, JUST GET OUT! GO! FIND THE DOORS!” I screamed as they stood there staring at me. I picked up Theo or drug him to the hall as one of the other boys helped me get him to his feet and put his arms over our shoulders as his consciousness came and went with each step.

Nobody moved from the hall. I pushed through, dragging Theo to the door to see the holdup. The door was locked from the other side. I didn’t think of it being locked.

A surge of power coursed through me as I kicked the door down. We poured out, searching for the next door to be stuck out but only found an empty hallway with the bright sun shining. Our legs pumped with all we had as we smashed into the door to sweet freedom from this dark, demented house.

We busted through. All the weight had been lifted off me as I floated and dissolved into the bright warm sun that engulfed me.

“Well, Jim, there goes another one. She had such promise too. That seizure did too much damage to her brain, and on to the next. Hopefully, we can figure out why her brain swelled before we test this chemical again. I’ll start with a smaller dosage next time.”

They unstrapped Ridley and drug her out of the chair to the stretcher to wheel her out to the morgue downstairs.