Ch. 2 – Questions
I woke up feeling very disoriented and sore. My hands were still bound behind my back, but the blindfold was gone.
Instead of moving, I took in my surroundings. It was incredibly dark, but there were no windows. I couldn't be sure if it was dark because it was nighttime, or because there were no windows in this place at all.
Figuring there would be nothing I would be able to see, I listened. There was the faint sound of someone breathing and shifting every so often, coming from very close by. I had a guard, though I wasn't able to see them.
I was also able to hear the very faint sound of conversation, though there was no possible way I would be able to tell what they were saying.
I tried my hardest to stay still, but eventually my muscles were cramping and practically screaming for me to move and at least attempt to stretch out the kinks in my aching muscles.
Shuffling around, I drew the attention of my guard. I heard him also moving around, probably to get a look at me, and I hoped if I didn't turn around to look at him that I would also be ignored.
I stood on shaky legs, moving around my arms as much as I could. I rolled my neck, feeling several pops and almost sighing in relief.
"Hey, Daniel, the parasite's awake!" My guard shouted out into the room, and I jumped violently. I turned my back to the wall, keeping my eye on the entrance to my room, watching to see who would enter.
The room was suddenly enveloped in a warm looking glow, and the source was a bright lamp in the middle of the room where my guard was. My room was cast in shadows, and I glanced around. It wasn't big at all, and it was probably formally a small bathroom, or even a closet.
Hearing an exchanging of words at the entrance to the room surrounding mine, I shrunk as far into the wall as I could, trying to be unnoticeable.
Daniel stuck his head in the entrance of the room then, staring at me with disgust written all over his face.
Tell him I'm in here, Melanie pleaded with me, finally seeing that these humans were not going to be nice.
Not now, I thought back. There was not going to be any way that Daniel would listen. I doubted that he would ever listen, even if the truth hit him in the face.
Daniel squeezed into the little room with me, filling it up with his body. There was barely any space left for us both to walk around, but since I was not keen on standing up that was just fine.
He just looked at me for a while, and I could only imagine that it was my eyes. I could see a faint reflection of light that my eyes were casting, even in the faint glow that the lantern gave. It made me a target.
"Close the door from the others," Daniel finally said, and I cringed when he spoke, fearing the actions that could come along with his words. I could make out whoever the guard was nodding and leaving the entrance to this small room, and hear him close the second door. "Guard the outside. I don't want the others to get curious and investigate; it might try to escape when the door is open, especially if it catches me off guard." Daniel spat out the word it with such hatred I gave a small, breathless squeak of fear.
I heard the door close, and Daniel grabbed me, pulling me out into the bigger room. "Alright, you damn parasite, you are going to tell me how you all do it."
My breathing rate picked up, but I didn't respond to his request. I didn't know what he was talking about, nor did I want to say anything in front of him.
As a response to my refusal to answer, I was met with a punch to the side. It knocked me sideways, and I lost my balance, twisting as I fell into a wooden chair. I knocked it over on my descent, though I didn't get to stay on the ground for long. Daniel was looming over me, and he grabbed the closest part of me, which happened to be my arm, and wrenched me up. Pain shot up my shoulder, but I ignored it, facing Daniel.
"Did you have others with you?" He asked this time, and I was caught off guard by the sudden change in his question. I was about to shake my head, but I didn't do it fast enough before Daniel swept my feet out from under me, getting the opportunity to kick at my stomach and ribs.
As I was coughing, Daniel barked the question at me again, and this time I made sure to shake my head.
He seemed to be satisfied with my answer, and he watched me as I curled up into a ball and drew in ragged breaths, trying to calm myself down. Tears were streaming down my face, though I did my best to keep quiet and not anger him more.
Daniel left the room without another word to me, and the guard came back in, ordering me to get back to the small room.
I struggled to stand up, and the guard did nothing until I was moving too slow for his liking. I didn't even see him move, he struck hard and fast, like a snake. His punch met my face, and I was welcomed with blossoming pain, faintly registering the sound of my nose breaking.
Moaning, I stumbled my way blindly back into the room. Warm, sticky blood was trickling slowly down my face, but the guard didn't seem concerned. Once he was certain that I was back in the room, he set down directly in front of the entrance, his back to me.
Using the glowing light, I caught sight of a stray piece of fabric in one part of the room. I made my way, as quietly as I could, over to it. I decided it was best to just lay down in this corner instead of moving back where I was, and I gingerly pressed the fabric to my nose.
I did my best to keep the blood contained, and once it finally stopped streaming I gently wiped at the blood that had crusted all over my face. After I was done with that, I curled back into another ball, hoping silently for rescue to come, though I had almost no hope that it would.
During the time I spent in a ball, I drifted in and out of sleep. I was awake enough to hear the shuffling sounds and muffled conversation of the guard being replaced. But I was too exhausted to make out what they were saying.
I woke up again when there was the sound of a confrontation right by the outside door. It sounded as if they were angry that I was still alive. I shuddered, bringing my legs in close to me and listening mutely.
"There are more of them out searching through the woods for it!" A voice declared, sparking an ember of hope inside me.
"They'll never be able to find this spot," another said, sounding annoyed. "You could barely find it and you know it's here!" And my hope was washed away almost as soon as it had come.
We do want to fight back, Melanie put in. She had been too shocked to be much of a presence in the fight before, and it made me angry that she only wanted to show up when it was convenient for her.
You're losing the battle, I snapped back, wishing I was able to make her go away. I was still too exhausted to give much of an effort, and my attempts to push her out were almost nothing.
Melanie angered at my comment. I saw a brief flash of Jared and Jamie cut through her anger. Before I was able to reply to Melanie, the conversation of the humans attracted my attention with their next statement.
It sounded like Daniel. "Everyone just shut up!" As the chorus of voices died down around him, he spoke up again. "I found this place first, along with my brother, so we have ultimate say. I already discussed this with him. We are going to be asking it information, and if it doesn't tell us, well, we try and force it out. And if it proves to be worthless, we can ask the other groups if they have a guy that can do something with it. I am pretty sure that big group has someone named Doc, right?"
I stiffened. There were more human colonies? I also didn't like the sound of this Doc person.
There were sounds of affirmation coming from the chorus. "Good," Daniel continued, happy he had everyone's agreement. "And in the meantime, if we get no answers, at least we have some way to blow off some steam until we find time to ask the others."
Happier, agreeing sounds. My body froze with fear at them though. I was going to be everyone's own personal punching bag, and I didn't like the sounds of that at all.
The chorus seemed to disband after that, going back to the distant, indistinct babble it was when I had first woken up.
I thought that maybe I had gotten the day off, but that idea was shot down when I heard someone outside again, talking to the guard. They wasted no time in coming into the small room with me.
This human looked a lot like Daniel, but he had a smaller build and his eyes and hair were both lighter. I assumed they were brothers. He didn't give me much time to react; he grabbed a hold of my hair, forcing me to my feet and forcing my head back.
"Tell me how to get a parasite out of a human," he whispered menacingly in my ear. When my only response was sounds of pain escaping my lips, he moved his hand to my arm instead, wrenching it behind my back at a painful angle.
"Do you know how to do it?" The pain of my arm was distracting me from my answer, though I could hear Melanie trying to shout through my lips, even to just shout no. I did my best to keep the secret safely inside of my head, and it worked, even away from Melanie, except the result was for my arm to be twisted to the point that it felt like it might snap in two.
With one last twist, he elicited a short-lived scream of pain from me. Disgusted, he threw me to the ground.
He took my chin into his tight grip, gritting his teeth in disgust. "I don't want to hear a thing out of you unless you are going to be giving answers," he said, tightening his grip so that I was sure it would add on more bruises to my already long list.
The nameless man left then, leaving me on the floor.
Things stayed the same for the next few days, or at least what Melanie and I assumed were days. People would come in, ask questions that I would stay silent for, both in fear and because I didn't know what would happen if I said anything; would they dispose of me once they had the things they needed? Would they try, and fail, to get me out of Melanie's head? I knew how crude their medical system was to ours, and they had already mentioned that no one here in this group had medical training. Melanie also realized that, in the desperation to survive, these humans were not going to listen.
On a particularly bad day, during which time one of the most violent people came in, my weak body was so drained that I decided to pull out what Melanie wanted me to from the beginning.
This man was one that frequented my room, seeming to need to have to "blow off steam," as Daniel had so eloquently put it however many days ago it was. He seemed particularly angry, and I thought it might have something to do with the faint sounds of arguing and yelling I could hear from my prison room earlier in the day.
The man came into the room, red in the face and still fuming from whatever argument had gone down in the main area of this house. He didn't bother to waste any words before he grabbed the back of my head, getting a fistful of hair as he dragged me out into the room.
He started throwing punches as soon as he had let go of my hair. I didn't have time to react like I usually did, to be able to at least block my face from any blows. I whirled to the floor, dizzy and dazed.
He didn't wait for me to recover at all, sending hit after hit and kicks at me while I was on the floor. I cried out, though it didn't help. No one heard, or no one wanted to hear.
When he finally had enough of kicking and hitting me, he retreated back, allowing me to catch my breath. After he felt he had given me enough time, and I could feel the aches and pains of my body catching up to the adrenaline, he came forward again, forcing me to roll to my back.
I didn't know what he was doing as he situated himself on my left side, pulling my arm closer. Melanie seemed to catch on before I did, throwing a half-hearted image of one of the TV shows she had watched once, one with a torture scene of someone breaking another's finger.
I nearly vomited, starting to panic. What do I do? I asked wildly, starting to try to pull my arm out of his grip.
I don't know, Melanie responded groggily, also feeling the effects of the haze of pain our body was under.
Before I had any time to ask more questions, he painfully gripped my pinkie finger, twisting it in both his hands until I felt a snap. I screamed against the pain, writhing against his grip. I had never before felt anything like this, and Melanie briefly flashed back to when she had broken her arm years ago.
He grabbed my ring finger, about to do the same, when I gasped to him. "W-wait!" I cried, breathless from pain. "It's not just me in here," I said, hoping it would deter him from breaking anymore bones.
I succeeded in doing what I wanted, and he froze, looking at me. I flinched when his cold, angry eyes met mine. "What did you say?" He asked, tightening his grip on me.
Wincing, I spoke through gritted teeth, "I… the human who's body… I wear. She's still here."
Melanie stirred at my words, waiting to see how he would react.
There was a tangible silence.
"I don't believe you," he hissed through his teeth, twisting at my second finger, watching my reaction as I screamed.
Why? Melanie cried in my head, astonished. Why didn't that work?
I couldn't respond, in too much pain to even think about responding. He continued down my hand until he finished with the thumb, and then he unceremoniously lifted me up and dumped me back into the smaller room, leaving without another word or glance back at me.
