AN: Sorry this is two days late. If anyone is thinking about trying the 'two jobs plus full time school' thing, I don't recommend it. It's really easy to forget about important things like posting chapters!
So welcome to the next chapter! Please read with caution as this does include some torture, though it's not too bad this time around. Also, I do not have a degree in biology or medicine or anything of the sort so I apologize for any errors in the information. Additionally, I am not advocating for stem cell research or anything; everything in this chapter is specifically for storytelling purposes.
Side note, thanks to the waves of people that reviewed last chapter. Okay, so I know that there were only six, but that's a pretty big jump compared to past chapters. So thanks SO much for reading and giving me your feedback. It helps a ton and is a real morale booster!
For warnings or disclaimer, please see Chapter 1.
Chapter 11: Let The Fun Begin
The first thing that pulled Sam from the fog was a tinge of pain coming from his stomach. His first instinct was to touch the wound and examine it, but when he tried, he realized that his hands had been rendered completely immobile. He opened his eyes in slight panic and was met with a bright, fluorescent light that intensified a headache he previously wasn't aware that he had.
Suddenly, a woman, who he eventually recognized as Ginny Cavenaugh, leaned over him, blocking the light.
"Good morning, sunshine."
Sam's gut tightened immediately. He struggled against the binds but was unsuccessful.
"Don't waste your energy, kid. There's no getting out of these," she said, patting the leather restraint wrapped around his wrist.
Sam looked at her, his eyes wide and full of anger.
"Oh, now don't be like that. This is gonna be fun … well, for me at least. You see, I'm always looking for ways to improve my babies. It would be nice if they had muscles like yours. Imagine how much stronger they would be!"
Her hands glided across Sam's large biceps and he flinched at the touch.
"Don't touch me," Sam said sternly through his gritted teeth.
She laughed. "You seriously think that's going to deter me? Then boy, you have got another thing comin'. But enough small talk. I think it's time to get started."
Ginny left Sam's field of vision and his heart began to thump in his chest. He wasn't scared by much, but he agreed with Dean on his dislike for humans. Demons and monsters he could deal with but humans were insane and unpredictable creatures. He strained to see what she was doing but being unable to move his head, he couldn't see much.
"Sammy, don't worry, I'm gonna get us out of here," Dean said from his cage. The doorway between the two rooms allowed him to see his brother and project his voice in Sam's direction. He didn't really want to watch, but he felt better knowing what was happening. It would be so much worse to have to hear his brother's screams and not know if he was okay.
Ginny suddenly reappeared and Sam began to gasp in pain. Dean watched helplessly as she pushed the tip of a knife into Sam's stomach.
"Dean," she said with a warning tone, "I suggest you keep your mouth shut or Sam here is gonna pay – big time. I would just shut the door, but it's just so much more entertaining with you watching."
Dean wanted to say something. He wanted to yell at her and call her a bitch. He wanted to go after her with a spray of expletives. But he couldn't bear to cause his brother any more pain.
She pulled the knife back, allowing Sam to breathe a small sigh of relief.
"That goes for you too, Sam. I don't really wish to hear any smart comments from you either. Though, feel free to scream as much as your heart desires. In fact, I encourage it."
Sam tried to focus his mind. If she wanted him to scream, then he was going to do everything possible to keep that from happening. He may not be able to fight back, but keeping quiet, he could handle. Plus, he had to stay strong for Dean.
"Alrighty then, now that the ground rules are set, let's get this show on the road."
Her jovial tone made Dean want to puke. He looked around rapidly, desperate for some kind of escape route so he could rescue his brother from the hands of the psychotic woman before she had time to do serious damage.
He didn't see anything within reach that would help his escape. Dean figured his best bet would be to return to the basics so he started to examine the cage he was held in and the lock keeping it closed.
Dean glanced at the other hostages who looked at him with despair and sadness. He looked away quickly, not wanting to distract himself from the task at hand.
Sam strained again to see what she Ginny doing as she picked up a wad of gauze and a dark brown bottle. She opened the bottle and covered the opening with the gauze, tipping it to the side and letting a generous amount soak into the cloth.
"Did you know that muscle cells contain a protein that allows them to find other muscle cells and fuse together?" She continued on, obviously not expecting a reply from her unwilling patient. "It's really quite fascinating. No matter what purpose the cells served before, if they are placed in a new environment, they will fuse to the nearest cells and take on that purpose."
Ginny wiped the gauze across a small section of Sam's exposed left bicep giving the skin a slight yellow-orange tinge.
"It's part of what I focused my doctorate research on at UCLA. But those bastards wouldn't allow me to carry out any of my experiments. The review board claimed they were inhumane. Ha! Inhumane … I would have put the patients under anesthesia and done everything in a controlled environment. But no, they chose to miss out on a groundbreaking study opportunity. So they forced me to carry things out by myself."
Dean couldn't believe that she just kept on talking. He didn't give a damn about her research – no matter how groundbreaking she claimed it to be. What he wanted to know was why no one had ordered a psych evaluation when she had put in her research request. The naivety of humans sometimes was shocking to him.
"Sam, you could be a very big asset to my research," she continued, picking up a scalpel from the tray.
Pulling the skin on his bicep taught, she carefully sliced through it like butter. Sam groaned but tried to hold his composure. Dean could see his brother's head shaking a slight amount from his muscles being clenched so tightly.
After passing the scalpel through the three layers of Sam's skin, she pulled the skin back and made a second cut into his muscle. Sam tried to breathe through the pain, but it was proving too difficult.
"Ah!" It came out as more of a gasp, but nevertheless, the message was delivered to his brother. Dean was angry, even more so now that his brother was in obvious pain and he couldn't do anything about it. He tried once again to break the point in his caged that he had deemed the weakest link, but to no avail.
Ginny was overjoyed with the reaction she was creating in her unwilling patient. She made a few more cuts that had Sam shaking underneath the restraints before finally pulling out a small tissue sample and placing it in a sterile bowl on the metal tray.
Sam released the breath of stale air he had been holding and took another deep breath in to combat the pain in his arm.
"Now you know we can't just leave it like that. I definitely don't want any infections setting in. I'm going to need you to last a while if I'm going to be able to accomplish anything. It's a shame though; you'll probably only need seven or eight stitches."
Pulling out the curved needle and the synthetic thread, she quickly got to work on causing Sam even more pain, although what she didn't know was that Sam was used to anesthetic-free stitch jobs. It didn't make the experience any more pleasant, but it was at least a little more bearable for him.
When she finished, she wiped a peroxide soaked piece of gauze over the newly closed incision and went to a nearby sink to wash her hands.
"This is only the beginning, Sam. I have big plans for you."
Sam groaned. It wasn't the first time he'd heard that and the last time didn't turn out too well for anyone involved. Would there ever be a point in his life where he could create his own path instead of being a part of all these malicious plans of others?
"Now that we're finished with that, I think it's time to move on to something with a little more potential than muscle cells. Your stem cells would be invaluable to me, Sam. I've been waiting for someone as – perfect – as you to come along. I hadn't realized how slim my subject selection would be out here, nothing but a bunch of overweight hicks. It would have been nice to have the advantage of UCLA's random assignment process. It took my babies a little time to learn what type of human makes a good specimen for research. The old guy they brought the first time was much too old and the kids, while young and healthy, weren't quite physically mature enough to provide what I was looking for. They were good substitutes though until they brought me Eric. You middle aged ones are so perfect for research, but I digress.
"Stem cells are really one of the most fascinating things about the human body. I will never understand why so many are against the research. One day those people will come down with some debilitating disease and the technology to save them will not be available."
She laughed heartily, walked back over to him and placed her hand just above his recently injured arm, causing him to involuntarily flinch. "Look at me going on and on, I'm sure you don't feel like being bored to death with all the specifics. Let me skip ahead to the juicy stuff. I'm going to harvest your peripheral blood stem cells and use them in the next generation of children."
She walked away again and Sam, in response, pulled against the straps, trying to see what she was doing.
"Most living stem cell donors receive injections of Filgrastim over about two weeks. It's a synthetic protein created to imitate the effects of the protein made naturally in the human body. There are usually very few peripheral blood stem cells in the blood so the protein will increase the amount of cells available for harvest. I don't really have two weeks to spare if people are coming for you like you said they were, not that I think they'll actually find you, but we can't take any chances. It's always better to plan ahead."
Dean became visibly agitated. He wouldn't have put it past her to be listening in to their conversations, but he was really hoping that she wouldn't. So much for having a secret plan.
She returned to Sam's side carrying two large syringes and a pair of alcohol wipes. "So we're just gonna give you that two week dose now. That way, the cells should be ready to harvest by tomorrow."
Ginny unwrapped an alcohol pad and rubbed it over the skin in the crook of Sam's left elbow.
Sam watched, eyes wide, as she slid the needle beneath his skin and began injecting the protein. Almost immediately, his arm felt like it was on fire. His breathing turned into short gasps as he squeezed his hands into tight fists.
"Oh yeah," she said casually, "I forgot to tell you that it causes a little bit of burning as it goes in. It's usually not a problem but most patients receive about one-sixteenth of the amount I'm giving you now."
She pressed a clean piece of gauze to the injection site to stop the bleeding and the moved to repeat the procedure on Sam's right arm.
"No," he gasped, trying again to break the hold that the restraints had on him.
"Shh, shh, shh, it's almost over."
The pain seemed to increase tenfold now that he was feeling it in both arms. Spots cascaded across his vision as his breathing became quicker and even more shallow.
Once the last of the protein had entered Sam's bloodstream, Ginny disposed of the syringes and went on humming the happy tune from earlier.
Dean watched with despair as Sam continued to writhe on the table. He didn't know anything about Filgrastim but getting that much of it at once couldn't possibly be safe. Looking over, he noticed Paige quietly sobbing. She was downright terrified. He squeezed his fists in anger and examined the room for the hundredth time trying to find something he could use to escape.
Appearing back at his side, the woman frowned and touched Sam's cheek gently. "Oh honey, you're looking a little under the weather. Don't worry, that feeling should go away soon." She laughed heartily. "What am I talking about? I've never done this before! I don't know if it will go away or not, but you can always hope, right?"
Not only was the bitch crazy and evil, but she was cruel. No, she was beyond cruel.
Sam tried his hardest to pull away from her touch, despite her cool skin feeling so nice against his fevered cheek.
"Five! Bring me another dose of Thiopental for our patient and then go get your brothers. It's time to move Sam back to his temporary home."
Not wasting any time, the monstrosity disappeared and then returned seconds later. The pre-filled syringe was deftly taken and the medicine injected, thankfully, into Sam's neck, avoiding his already greatly abused arms.
Sam's breathing quieted down allowing Dean to relax a little for the first time since the day had begun. He didn't know what she had done to his brother, but more than anything, he couldn't handle watching him be tortured.
The other creatures returned and Sam was picked up and moved back into the cage next to Dean.
"I'm going to let you two chill out for a while. I have some errands that I need to run. But no funny business. Rest assured, they will be monitoring you," she said, motioning to her test-tube creations. She then turned and walked upstairs with her 'children'.
