Entry: 8

Entry: 8
   - Humans, or lab rats?


Things happened in a blur. It was hard for any of them to comprehend exactly what was going on.
When bags were shoved over their heads, and hard cold cuffs were slapped roughly on their wrists, they prayed.

When they were shoved out into the dying sunlight, everything drowned out by the ear drumming hum of helicopter blades, they prayed.

They were finally shoved into seats, and strapped down by rough hands.
Sage, still unconscious, slumped against Finnley's left shoulder.
At first she freaked out thinking he was dead, but forcing all other noises to go silent, she picked up his faint breathing.

She forced herself to calm down, but jerked badly when Jayson's shoulder brushed up against hers.
   "Calm down." He breathed quietly. She took several deep breaths, but her anxiety had started up, and her hands started to shake, which in turn, caused the cuffs to jingle.
Someone yelled her to stop, but she couldn't, and that earned her a punch in the gut.
The wind left her lungs as she doubled over.
Jayson yelled something at their captors but that too, only got him a blow to the stomach.
Almera shoved her hands between her legs and squeezed hard.
The jingling stopped.
And she prayed harder.

The flight took forty-five minutes, but they - obviously - had no idea where they were going, or even if they were still Virginia any more.
More to the point, they weren't sure who they'd meet at their destination.

Half the way there, her legs grew tired and the shaking continued.
Jay reached over and grasped her ands in his to keep the cuffs from making noise and annoying people.
   "I'm sorry." She apologized quietly.
   "YOu have nothing to be sorry for." He answered equally quiet.
   "The cuffs are too tight. That's why they're so loud."
   "Hey! Shut up! Before I knock you both senseless!" Someone in front of them yelled, causing her to jerk again.
Jay felt horrible. He kept beating himself up for letting her get caught and for poor Sage to get knocked out.
As he scolded himself, he - absent mindedly - started to rub Almera's wrists which were raw and rough.
Beside him, Almera took deep breaths and focused on something other then their current situation.
She found comfort in praying for others.
She started off with Sage, knowing he would have a horrible head ache when he woke up.
Then she prayed for Jayson.
If she knew him at all, she knew he would be beating himself up.
Which of rouse, would get him ultimately no where, but emotionally and spiritually drained.

++++

   "Sir, they've arrived."
The Englishman smiled a smile that could send milk churning.
   "Good, make sure they are injected with anesthetics. Once that's done, they'll be immobile. You know what to do next."
   "Yes sir."

++++

The next thing any of them knew, they were shoved out of the helicopter. The bags were taken off and they found themselves in a white washed room.
The cuffs were removed by people in white. They were then stripped of their jackets, or tried to anyways.
Almera's spell was still active.
   "What is going on here?" A man asked after he tried to get Jay's leather jacket.
Almera smirked.
   "Would you like for me to show you how it works?"
She maybe nervous, but she hadn't lost her wits. Jay thought with a grin.
The man eyed her suspiciously.
   "Here, come here. I wont bite. I promise."
The man took a cautious step away from Jayson and toward her.
He was just close enough.
She moved her hand to the gun on her right thigh and slammed it into his face.
The man yelled out in pain and she was immediately injected with something that made her body grow limp and she collapsed on the floor.
   "No!" Both boys yelled as armed men dragged her away.
Her eyes grew wide and tears spilt as she watched both boys struggle to get to her. But in the end they both were injected, then the door slammed.

++++

   "I want two dozen men. Fully armed, and I want them now!" The young man yelled into the cell phone.
The man on the other end sighed heavily.
   "Grady, you know I cant just hand you two dozen men fully armed to go on some - some wild goose chase!"
   "It's not a wild goose chase!" Grady forced himself to calm down.
   "I gave you the facts -"
   "Yeah, I know, I know."
   "You owe me Bill."
Bill groaned again.
   "Boy, I tell ya. Don't ever let someone else save you from a bullet."
Grady grinned.
   "Thanks Bill."
   "Yeah, yeah. Just keep it quiet."
   "Will do."
   "Oh hey, Grady."
   "Yeah?"
   "Tell her I said 'hi' for me will ya?"
Grady laughed and hung up.

++++

Finnley had been stripped of her clothes and now wore a white outfit with white runners.
She was now strapped to a dentist chair with thick leather straps.
After they did the first injection into her calf that made her body scream out with pain, she found that the straps were more for keeping her racking body from jerking off the seat, then for her to willingly get up and leave.
   What they did to her. It would have been less painful if they had just cut her open like a frog dissection in a high school biology lab.

They took tissue samples, blood samples, they put a massive needle into her back bone and subtracted some kind of yellow-ish liquid.
And she thought her booster shots hurt!

But all the time, other then screams, she prayed non-stop. She repeated Psalms 23 over and over again. Then she quoted all of her favorite Bible verses.

God was the only thing that kept her will to live from depleting to nothing.
And He did a lot more then just that.

++++

   "Sir...none of them are breaking." One of the scientists muttered in awe and shock.
   "It's been five hours, and none of them are showing any signs of breaking. Not one! In fact all of their vital organs seem to be working as if they were under no stress at all!"
The Englishman marched up to the monitor and looked at the meaningless numbers flying across the screen.
   "They're in perfect condition. It's like they can't feel the pain at all!"
   "Bring up the live feed." The man ordered.
There was a rapid tapping of fingers on a keyboard, and three squares popped up. The man's eyes flashed from one to the next. The scenes before him, confused him. - And he was never confused. - The girl's face did show pain. But she wasn't pleading for it to stop.
   "What is she saying?" He asked.
   "Praying. And quoting the Scriptures. More specifically Psalms 23."
The Englishman's face became wrinkled with disgust.
His eyes flashed to the small boy.
He too, was praying.
The oldest one wasn't moving. His eyes were closed, his lips, closed but relaxed.
In fact his whole body was as relaxed as if he were floating atop water in a swimming pool!

The scenes before him made him shift uneasily.
This should not be happening. He kept thinking.
Finally, he came to a decision.
   "Take them to the main chamber." He snapped as he marched up the steps and out of the control room.
The scientist grew an evil grin as he picked up the com.

++++

Liam had been expecting another needle, but he was taken by surprised when, instead of pain, his bonds were released.
His eyes snapped open, which wasn't a good idea. The bright light blinded him, causing a massive migraine to developed.

One of the scientists helped him off the table, and it took him a minute to regain his balance.
All of his muscles screamed in protest as his legs were forced to hold him up again.
The spot where they had pulled out a muscle sample hurt the worse.
They hadn't bothered to cuff him again, and once he saw where he was, he realized that - ultimately - he had no where to go.

The scientists led him down a cement hall that finally opened up into a large room with a piece of equipment that sent a chill of fear into his spine.
That was one thing he had never wanted to see again.

Both Sage and Jayson saw Finnley at the same time, and they both ran over to her.
None of the scientists stopped them, and they were grateful for that.

Almera stumbled backwards when the two boys hugged her at the same time.
But she couldn't help but smile. Sending up a prayer of thankfulness.
   "You ok?"
She looked down at Sage's innocent face, and pain washed through her heart. His face was sagged, his eyes were red and tired looking. He flinched when she tussled his fair hair.
   "Yeah. As ok as I can be. Are you?"
Sage gave a small shrug.
Finnley turned to Jayson. She didn't need to ask a question. He could read her like an open book. And vice versa.
   "You two freak me out when you do that." Sage muttered.
Finn looked at him in surprise.
   "Do what?"
   "That! you have this entire conversation with just a few glances. It's freaky."
She chuckled and pulled the little boy close.
   "Yeah. I missed you too." She muttered into his hair.
Sage was only eleven. And sometimes he still needed that sister-like attention.
(Even though he'd never admit it.)

A pain wave caught a hold of her and her knees buckled.
The boys, caught by surprise, almost let her hit the concrete floor.

Her vision flashed and flickered till she was in the future.
She was outside a building that was made of cement.
She saw a young man with a Marine hair cut, and a tattoo on his deeply tanned bicep. He held a machine gun close to his chest, which was covered in a bullet proof vest.
She bent down and looked into the almost hidden window. She saw herself looking up at the man and giving a slight nod.
But what shocked her was that Jayson was getting strapped into the machine with a look of pure fear and determination in his eyes.

Her vision flared again and she was back in the cement room with boy boys looking at her with stressed and worried looks.
   "You alright?" Jayson asked as she got her feet back under herself.
   "You know, those pain waves can be quiet helpful." She muttered, rubbing her temples. Now they were both confused.
   "What?" Sage asked. Completely lost.
She made a signal to keep it down, and glanced around nervously.
   "The Calvary's coming." She whispered.