Disclaimer: Sorry, folks. Max and her flock ain't mine. It's all JP's.
Have you ever had recurring nightmares? Well, I have….
Clink. Stainless steel clamps snap as they fasten on my wrists and ankles, the cool metal warming against my body. The School. Of course. Who would have it any other way?
Break Free! The steel clangs as my legs and arms surge forward to free myself, muscles, veins, and tendons popping out. Nope, no go. This stuff's really strong. C'mon! You can break through this! You've done it before!
Go ahead and guess why they use stainless steel. It's not that hard to guess, so don't be too creative.
Yep, it's so they can efficiently clean the blood off their shiny, torturous toys. Heartless bastards. Everything's sterilized so that fewer infections occur. That's the least of your problems in a place like this, trust me.
Surveying the room, I see the basic medical equipment quietly bleeping in the background. Then I spot Adam from my flock, laid out on a metal table next to me, out cold.
Is he…? My heartbeat halted for a split second. I can tell because I was hooked up to a monitor where the green line went limp for said time.
No. He's still breathing. Adam's chest rose up and down and I relax a little, but only a little.
"Adam!" I yell, "Adam, can you hear me!" My voice pierced through the too quiet room.
He didn't even stir. That's never good in this sort of place. I begin shouting anxiously like a maniac for him to wake up, but he never heard me. I don't see any bruising, cuts, or bumps on him – that means he didn't put up a fight. Maybe he's been tranquilized. Why wasn't I?
Both of us are wearing our "Smocks"; you know, the ones they give patients before surgery, but covered in the back so your butt doesn't stick out. They're uniforms to label the School's lab rats. In a word, moi.
Everything itches inside of me with nervous anticipation like a million bugs scratching their hairy feet underneath my skin. I can feel myself shaking as the cold sweats slide off my forehead and down my neck, making me slippery. Even with all of this fun stuff going on, I still can't squeeze out of these stupid clamps.
I look to my left see the words Laboratory 401 blinking blood red against the shiny metal door and I scream my lungs out like a fire siren, Mayday! Mayday! Red Alert! Red Alert! My heart constricts and sinks into cold dread - we're in the unstable experimentation room, where mutant children go in and disappear. Code phrase: put to sleep. Literal phrase: murdered. Not here. Anywhere but here.
I struggle, my muscles push to the limit as I thrash around, pummeling myself like a rag doll hard against the operation table, only to make my wrists and ankles rub raw and bloody. My body writhes hysterically as my face turns beet red from lack of oxygen. I feel my brain mash in its fluids against my skull from head banging against the unmoving table, but I don't care. All that matters is getting my hybrid bird ass out of this place.
Get me out of here! They're gonna kill me! GONNA KILL ME!
I let out a deafening frustrated roar in the morgue-like room. A man with glasses, a white coat, and sanitation mask appears above me and stands hazily, blocking the metallic, bright lights, watching me squirm. Why didn't I hear him coming? I feel a prick in my right arm and glance down to see a gleaming needle protrude and then slip out, the syringe empty.
The greenish liquid enters my bloodstream. Excruciating pain in my veins ignite, quickly spreading throughout my body. No amount of Tabasco sauce can amount to this. Everything tingles and it feels like I'm boiling and sizzling alive! I hear jerky beeps spit out of the monitor. My heartbeat keeps accelerating until I think it'll tear right out of my chest. Somebody help me! I'm burning in hell!
My mind pounds with so much pressure I can practically feel my skull splinter, about to explode into a million shattered pieces, fluids seeping out of the cracks, brain matter splattering like clumps of hamburger meat. My eyes roll to the back of my head as I violently shake into uncontrollable convulsions. Blood bursts out my nose and I feel the warm liquid running past my cheeks, dripping wetly down my temples as I quake. I'm spitting shit out of my mouth like a freaking volcano, half choking in my own blood.
Hold it. Stop shaking! Don't give up that easy! My nails are digging deep incisions into my shoulders as I try to hang on to steady the shakes, cutting deeper and deeper.
My jaw aches from clenching it so tight. Grunting, I think my teeth are going to crack…
Then, agony suddenly recedes, slowly, from wherever it came from and my eyes are flooded into a grayish blur. I see two dark figures hovering over me as my vision shifts, making me nauseous.
"Very good," a floating voice mutters, "It has survived its first test."
Test? My eyes flutter shut and I black out into sweet darkness with those words echoing in my eardrums.
"Nooo!" I moaned, distressed. My eyes pop open, the words still on my lips. Frantically checking the area, I see my flock: Icarus, Matthew, Peter, and Wendy asleep in the cave we found. That is, except for Ozymandias, who's staring right at me. He was on watch.
"The dream again?" he asked mildly.
"Yeah," I replied, still taking in deep breaths from hyperventilating. My shirt clung to me, soaking wet from having the cold sweats. With my gaze hung downwards toward the stony floor, I tried to calm myself. I had to keep reminding myself that it was all dream. Just a dream.
Only, it kind of wasn't. It was from my past at the incarnation of hell, the School. A memory back when I was about four and Peter and Wendy weren't born yet. Back when Adam was still one of us and not a traitor. My mind suddenly went numb.
Oz was quietly watching me when he said, "You really need to cut that out."
"You think?" I retorted, "It seems I forgot to switch the Dream Channel to comedy tonight." I took a deep breath, exhaling loudly, and focused on the rocky ground.
"Shit." I muttered. He could hear the bitterness in my voice. More silence.
Wordlessly, I got up. Walking to the mouth of the cliff, I looked below and sat down. The view of an enormous, shale lake under you a couple hundred feet up was definitely relaxing, Zen even. Moonlight cast the whole valley into a bluish white glow, making it look like a painting. It was beautiful. Bits of my nightmare were still mulling around in my head incoherently.
"You okay, Max?" Oz ventured.
I sighed deeply. "I'm fine. Just tired of having the same dreams, ya know."
The dreams are necessary so you remember your past. Let go so you can meet your destiny, your future, head on. Tiredly, I started to get irritated at the ever-present voice. Yeah, yeah. Voice, you're a broken record, aren't you. Try learning some new songs.
"Max?"
"Hmmm?" I must've dazed off again.
"What ever happened to you and Adam when you guys stayed in Room 401?" He queried, his intense, dark eyes looking directly into mine. I stared at him for a second. The question actually surprised me. Usually, we never talk about this kind of stuff. Everyone in the flock knows it stirs unwanted memories, especially when it comes to Adam. It's kind of a forget-while-you still-can/out of sight, out of mind sort of thing. Guess it's not foolproof.
"Tests that were meant to make us stronger." I curtly replied, trying to divert the real question.
"And?" Oz hedged. His gaze was locked on mine, he really wanted to know. I don't blame him; I've been having these dreams for years, only they're way more vivid and frequent now because of my newly installed, pesky voice.
I groaned, picking at the rocky edge with my fingertips and letting loose pieces sprinkle down.
Maybe I should tell him. He's my best friend and if I can't trust him, who can I trust? Right? Holding my breath for a few moments, I prepared myself and him for a secret I've been holding in since we escaped from the School four months ago. Here we go.
"And it was where he and I were tested to see who would save the world."
Please review - Kinda curious to see what I get.