Wingless Angels
Chapter One:Satan's Hell
My blood ran thickly down my arm and spotted on the floor. I stared at it through half closed eyes as my body began to lose the rest of its strength.
"Are you going to listen now?"
I bit my lip hard so the pain would keep my awake. I did not want to be unconscious in front of this man. I would be powerless to him, and he could do whatever he wanted. I would wake up, beaten and with a cut up back like the last time, left to bleed half to death in a ditch until they were ready to drag me back in.
I gritted my teeth as he dragged his knife over my arm again.
"I will cut you until you bleed to death, you little bitch! Now get up and get into the testing chambers!"
I shook my head again. Those tests were agony. Tubes being poked into your body, water pushing you down until you can't breathe, demons of insanity appearing before your eyes. I would had rather spent my afternoon in this decaying cell, waiting for starvation to claim me.
The man snapped as I refused again and raised his knife high into the air, yelling, "Fine! You asked for it!"
A gunshot silenced everything. I felt warm blood splatter across the back of my neck, and the man slumped forward over me. I turned my head to the side to see his dead eyes staring back at me, then I stifled a cry and turned away.
That was the thing about these people. They were not hesitant to kill their own.
"Now, now, that was a bit mean of him, wasn't it? He shouldn't have done that…"
I knew that sleazy voice. The man's name was Badge, simply because he had no other, and he wore a number of stolen badges on his shirt. They were a sort of fixation for him, but he was not as innocent as it made him seem. Being the little brother of the boss was definitely giving him the power he desired, and he used it to take down whomever he pleased.
"I won't go," I muttered stubbornly.
He was smiling as he walked into my blurred view. "Are you really that scared of our little tests? Surely they are not that bad."
I didn't answer. There was no point in explaining, simply because he did not care.
His smirk vanished as I remained silent and a burst of rage pulsed through him. He punched me in the jaw, and as I fell into the darkness I could hear him laughing like the psychopath he was.
There I was again like every gruelling week, standing naked in a giant glass case with tubes hanging from my mouth and nose. I could not breathe as the liquid around me took away all of my air, and I had the same panic of drowning. A few seconds later the liquid drug named Satan was pumped through the tubes and into my system.
Then the hallucinations began.
As I began to see dark clouds swarming around me, what remained of the real world was coming to life. The dealers of this drug and my captors in the same began typing wildly on their computers as they monitored the torture I was going through.
A skeletal hand reached out through the black swirling mist before me and slammed me into the back of the glass. It cracked and cut into my back, but I could not scream. My voice was gone, so all I could do was struggle as this un-dead creature grasped me around the throat and strangled the life out of me.
"The test is complete. Get her out of there."
I opened my eyes as the now empty glass prison was opened and human hands of flesh grasped me and pulled me out. The tubes were ripped from my mouth and nose, dragging blood trails with them. I coughed and spluttered for all I was worth and they dragged me across the floor like a rag doll, calling for the next victim to be locked in.
The next time I opened my eyes I was lying in the corner of my cell with blood crusted on my lips and trailing down from my nose. My head ached as though someone had knocked it into the bricked walls around me, and I could barely move it at all. The light above me burned into my sensitive eyes, and my muscles jerked suddenly, forcing up a wave of nausea and the tiny amounts of dinner I had been fed.
As I vomited, someone entered the hall outside of my cell. Their feet slapped against the floor, and I lifted my head quickly, knowing that sound perfectly well in my mind.
It was the boss of the dealers.
"Rachael, test subject number twenty two."
I bared my teeth.
The man laughed and shook his head. "Yes, you're right. That is much too formal. To us, you are just one of our oldest used animals."
"What do you want?" I asked rudely. I had no respect for this man, the leader of the dealers.
"I heard you were very disobedient today," he said quietly, running his hand over my bars as though to antagonize me. "One of my men died because of it."
"Blame Badge," I said simply.
He growled and punched one of the bars, making it ring in my ears. "Do not blame my brother! If you had not enraged Karl he would not have ended up dead!"
"If you're brother had some control…" I began, but trailed off and turned away. It was best not to anger this man.
"Sir!"
Another of the dealers ran into the hall and slid to a stop before his boss. The man, not much older than a boy really, looked hectic and panicked. His hands waved in the air as he struggled for words.
"What is it, Celone?"
"G-gunshots! People… our own, dead!"
"What?"
For the first time I saw fear in the eyes of the dealer leader.
"Badge?" he asked immediately, grasping a handful of Celone's hair to keep him talking. "Is my brother alright?"
Celone gave a weak nod before somewhere nearby, a door was smashed to the ground.
"Don't make a move! I am a part of the RAPT police force-"
Whomever had been speaking was shot dead by Celone as he pulled out a trembling gun. Behind him, his 'strong' and 'courageous' leader was running down the hall like a mouse from a hungry cat.
I could hear more RAPT soldiers entering the hall, and bullets began hitting Celone in the chest. His body convulsed in the air with every shot and blood exploded from his body before he was thrown to the floor completely.
"Move in!"
Through the thin walls I could hear more chaos throughout the remainder of the facility that was my prison. People were screaming and gunshots became the only other dominant sound. I could smell the thick smoke and coughed until a rag was placed over my mouth and hands dragged me to my feet.
Over the crumpled bars of my cell I was led. Swarms of soldiers in black and orange pushed past me without a glance. They all stared out of their helmets with no visible fear, their guns held firmly in their hands. The smoke was getting worse and I coughed into the rag pressed to my face. Tears filled my eyes and I was forced to close them.
When I opened them again, I was staring at Badge.
Around me, the soldiers had been killed. He held the weapon of such destruction in his hand and laughed at his murders.
"Pathetic, aren't they? My dear brother has already escaped along with some other dealers, but not me. I stay behind and keep these bastards back to protect him! I'm brave enough for this!"
He truly was insane, but I just nodded and backed away some steps.
He shook his head and jerked the gun up to point it at me. "Uh-uh, come back here."
I did not budge from where I was.
Badge clenched his teeth. "Rachael… That was it, right?"
I didn't respond.
"Is that your name?" he asked angrily, holding the gun firmer now and correcting his aim.
Now I was nodding furiously.
He smiled. "Good. Now, Rachael, I am going to shoot you, and you will be my fifty third victim today, and my second out of you test subjects."
He explained it so calmly that I was not even expecting the bullet completely. Nevertheless, I reacted. My body surged with power and I rushed forward. Everything around me slowed and I found myself passing the bullet. My eyes bored into Badge and my fears melted away as I saw his stricken face, trying to understand how I could move so fast. I leapt into the air, my fist driving up into his jaw and snapping it back, then as I felt the blood splash against my front, I allowed myself to rise higher until I nearly touched the roof. When I landed it was on a perfect crouched angle, and I turned too see Badge lying in a pool of his own blood.
Having no energy left to even stand straight again, I fainted dead away on the spot.
"What is your name?"
"Rachael."
"How old are you, Rachael?"
"I'm sixteen, seventeen in five weeks."
These questions were pointless to me. No one was looking for me, and no one would miss me… accept for…
"So your birthday is on the eighteenth of September?"
"Yeah," I replied absent minded as I tried to remember the person my mind struggled on.
"Are you alright?"
I quickly shook my head to clear it of the haze. "I'm just trying to remember… someone."
The young man nodded and pat me comfortingly on the shoulder. "It may be hard for a while because your memory has been damaged by the shock… and the drug."
"Satan," I muttered.
He nodded his head. "We found out much about this drug, and I am sure you are happy to know that it will not bring you any fatal harm."
I felt an odd disappointment twist in my stomach. Should I be upset by this?
Feeling I needed time, the man left me to my thoughts.
All I could remember since waking up in this hospital was the fragments of my life in that cell, the tests, Satan, and my kill… That power I had used had been enough to bring down Badge with ease, and I wondered what on earth it was I possessed. Never had I moved like that or struck so perfectly.
I woke in a hospital after I passed out in front of Badge's body. They knew of my power and what I had done, and now I was deemed dangerous and unstable. Fortunately I was allowed to normal circumstances, with a hospital bed, my own room, and regular check ups from the doctors.
I lay back, my head sinking into the soft pillow. I closed my eyes and willed myself to sleep, but I could hear voices outside of my room and I could not find that dark void.
"Well she hasn't done anything of the like since she woke up here."
I kept my eyes shut to seem asleep, but listened to the conversation taking place. I knew it was about me, so that gave me the right… right?
"You say she has no memory?"
"Not a very strong one. She remembers the painful pieces, like the tests and the drugging, but there seem to be parts missing."
"I see."
They spoke about my story, about how I had been found by the boss of the dealers to be tested with their new drug, Satan. It was me and many others, and when we were not facing the effects of the drugs whilst they recorded what we went through, we were locked in cages with very little food and water.
"They were treated like animals," I heard whom I thought to be the nurse as she explained everything about me.
The woman asking questions seemed constantly intrigued.
"Do you know how long she has been there?"
"Not entirely. She does not remember, but it seems like some time. She is weary of us when we need to test her such as immunisations and such, so she has some trauma."
"That must be difficult."
"It is… May I ask why you are so interested in this patient?"
Now my eyes opened and I glanced out towards the glass where I could see them on the other side. The woman whom was asking about me did not turn to me, but continued to face the nurse. She was beautiful with short hair tied at the back with a purple ribbon and a pale complexion, but what she said had me confused to my core.
"I have been asked to take her along with my crew."
