I tried to make sense of the questions crowding my head, and the memories of my childhood, wondering if perhaps they held more clues to my mother’s unbelievable story. Skinned knees that disappeared by the time I ran to my mother’s arms. Mosquito bites that were swollen, itchy, and then gone in seconds.
I had thought, when I left this lab six years ago, that my captors had changed me irrevocably, that they’d poked and prodded me to make me invincible. But I was wrong.
I had been invincible when I arrived.
“So why did they bring me here in the first place?” I asked.
“I published an article years ago, only theorizing the practice of genetic modification at the embryonic stage to immunize future generations against cancer and diabetes and other diseases. Someone at the Branch read the article and approached me with an offer I couldn’t turn down.
“They wanted to create a serum, something that could be administered at the adolescent stage, or even well into adulthood. But… I couldn’t replicate what I’d done with you. Every attempt failed. I didn’t understand it, and we were running out of time and money. The only other course of action was to use you as our map.”
“You had me kidnapped on purpose so you could study me?”
“I knew I would need you for an extended period of time, without you fully knowing and—”
Rage burned in my chest till my vision was tinted red with it. I reached over and slapped her across the face.
Her head snapped aside, and she brought her hand to her cheek where the skin was already an angry shade of pink.
“How dare you!”
She clenched her hands into fists at her side. “Do you have any idea what this kind of medical breakthrough could mean? We can cure diseases! We can save lives!”
“Are you working for the Branch? Is that who’s in charge of this program?”
She pursed her mouth and said nothing.
“The Branch is not the kind of organization that works to cure cancer.” I recalled the things Nick had told me about his past, and the Branch. Terrible, terrible things. “They kill people, Mom.”
“You can’t believe everything Nick has told you.”
“Well, I do. I trust him more than I trust you.”
The look she gave me was almost as if I’d slapped her again.
“Why am I here now?” I asked.
“We need to make more serum, and make it better. We need to finish what we were prevented from finishing.”
Because I escaped, she meant.
I backed up toward the door, wondering if she’d left it unlocked, if I could perform the miracle of escaping a second time. “I won’t be a part of this. You can’t seriously think I’ll cooperate.”
“No harm will come to you. No harm came to you six years ago. You were always treated with respect and the utmost care.”
I narrowed my eyes, feeling the hard edge of my teeth as I bit into my lip. She had no idea what she’d done to me, what the whole ordeal had done to me. The nightmares. The anxiety. The panic attacks.
I might have been indestructible on the outside, but inside I was broken, and it was all my mother’s fault.
“Get out,” I shouted. “Out!”
“Elizabeth.”
“Out!”
She lurched backward.
The door opened, and Riley strolled in. “Move forward?”
Mom discreetly wiped the tears from her face. “Yes.”
Without another look, she turned and left the room.
Two lab technicians swept into the room, carting a massive machine, wires spilling from several ports.
“What is that?”
Once the machine was parked near the door, two more men entered the room. They were different from the technicians in that they were larger, colder, unflinching. They strode over to me and grabbed me by the arms, tossing me onto the bed.
“Let me go!”
Straps were tugged from beneath the bed, and my wrists were pinned down at my sides, my ankles secured at the end of the bed.
“Mom!” I screamed, until my voice broke.
Riley checked his phone briefly before looking over at me. “Don’t worry, Elizabeth. When you wake up, everything will be fine again.”
“What does that mean? What are you doing to me?” I tried the straps, yanking my arms up, hoping for some slack.
Riley murmured instructions to the technicians, ignoring me. The two large men exited the room once I was secure on the bed. I flailed again as adrenaline took over. I needed to get out of here. I needed to escape. Instinct told me that if I didn’t get out of here right now, then there’d be nothing left to fight for.
“Call me when it’s finished,” Riley said. “I’ll see you in the morning, Elizabeth.” He left.