Specimen(85)
This shouldn’t be taking so long. Where is Riley, and what is being done or said to her? Was coming here a horrible mistake? I’m sure Merle will want to talk to us, but from what Anna said, he’s not here. How far away is he, and what might happen in the meantime?
My patience is wearing thin. I’m having an increasingly difficult time not acting on the instructions running though my head. I’m near the breaking point when someone opens the door.
The soldiers are instantly alert and pointing their rifles at me again. The grey-haired gentleman is just outside the hall, and he tells them to bring me along.
The restraints on my legs are removed, and they take me to a large office. Riley is there along with Anna Jarvis and Merle Hudson.
“You can remove the restraints.” Merle waves a hand in my direction.
I twist my hands, grab hold of the thin metal, and rip them off. I hand them to the soldier next to me, staring him down in the process.
“Do I make my point?” I ask him harshly.
He glares at me as he tentatively takes the broken restraints from my hand, and Riley comes up to me and looks me over.
“Are you all right?” she asks in a hushed tone.
“I’m fine.” I look from her to Merle, who sits at the meeting table with the others.
“Please, Galen,” Merle says, “have a seat.”
We join him silently, and Riley reaches under the table to squeeze my hand.
“Dr. Grace has told us all about your escape from the Mills medical facility,” Merle says. “Honestly, it’s considerably more than I had hoped for. It was far more likely that you would either be repaired, which would remove your memories again, or be destroyed.”
“I have Riley to thank for that.”
“So I gather.” Merle leans back in his chair. “Are you hungry, Galen? Thirsty? Riley’s been tended to, but I doubt you were.”
“I don’t need anything.”
“I realize that,” he says, “but do you want anything?”
“I want to not be locked up again.”
“I understand, and I apologize for that,” Merle says. “Security can get a little…overzealous. Realize it’s for the good of us all.”
I stare at him, not responding.
“Errol should be here shortly,” Anna says. “He’s looking over the diagnostic file Riley provided.”
“He’s comparing it to the last diagnostic he took himself,” Riley tells me. “He wants to determine for sure how much of the degradation you experienced when you were here before is due to the absence of the drugs in your system, a defect in the device itself, or due to…what they did to you.”
“Trying to freeze information out of me.”
“I can understand your anger,” the older man says, “but you must realize the position we’re in. You weren’t exactly expected.”
“Galen,” Merle says, “this is Donald Cross. He’s the head of this facility.”
“I’ve already reviewed the reports on the information obtained during your last visit here,” Cross says.
I hadn’t been sure where I was held the last time, but now I know it was this very facility. The holding cell is the same, and there are several buildings nearby that could have been the warehouse where I was tortured.
“Your ability to withstand extreme conditions is remarkable.” Cross has a big smile on his face, and I clench my hand into a fist.
“You mean, I did a nice job of not breaking when you tortured me.”
Cross stiffens at the words. He doesn’t like being confronted, and I am almost positive he is the one who ordered the soldiers to abuse me.
“We needed to understand your limits,” he says simply.
“I suggest you keep any of those involved in testing my ‘limits’ away from me from now on.”
Cross stops smiling and narrows his eyes at me.
“If it makes you feel better, you put that poor young man in the hospital earlier today.”
“That ‘poor young man’ drove nails into my legs.”
Riley tightens her grip on my hand.
“This isn’t productive,” Merle says as he reaches over and places his hand on the table in front of Cross, gives him a stern look, and then comes back to me. “What was done to you shouldn’t have happened, and it won’t happen again.”
I take a deep breath and lace my fingers through Riley’s. Being next to her is already affecting me, and I relax into the chair just as Errol Spat walks in.
“Did I miss the party?” he asks with a big grin. He takes a seat between Merle and Anna.
“Just getting started,” Merle says. “I’ve been reassuring Galen that there won’t be any repeats of the past.”