Resonance


How was everyones Christmas/Holidays? Hope it was good now enjoy this next chapter :)


"Let me take the test," Ed repeated with force.

Holly met his heated gaze with a calm one. "No I have better plans for you."

"Like hell you do," Ed shot back, pointing his gun to her head.

"You won't shoot," She stated calmly. She was right; the chances of Ed actually shooting her point blank were slim to none. "Besides, even if you shoot me the tests will continue. I have others that will continued the project."

I glanced out the glass window at Scarlett who was hunched over against a wall-hands bleeding. She got up a few moments later to pick up a cube and heave it over to a large red button. Her face was twisted in a scowl and her eyes showed no fear though I knew she was probably about to pee herself.

Ed lowered the gun with a scowl- the witch had a point. Even if Holly were dead we would still be stuck down here, wherever 'here' was.

"Dr. Tate," A young scientist called scampering up to Holly. "Your son is on line 3."

A flicker of emotion showed in Holly's eyes before they went cold again. "Thank you lab boy, go tell Raul to get Edan ready for testing in chamber 9." Her gaze traveled to me. "Take Lynelle to test chamber 3."


When I was finally done with the God-forsaken test my body ached. I sat in the medical bay on a white cot while a doctor administered medicine via needles.

"I'm surprised the turrets didn't do more damage," The doctor commented.

I winced as he placed gauze around my arm. "Me too."

The old doctor, Dr. Bane, gave me a weary smile. "Please don't tell me you signed up for this."

My eyes widened, "Signed up? Hell no, more like kidnapped! My three friends and I were brought here against our will," I paused. "Have you seen them?"

Dr. Bane shook his head. "I know they're here but they haven't gone through this test chamber yet."

Once I was bandaged up and given painkillers a security guard came to escort me to…somewhere.

"It would be awesome if you told me where I'm being taken," I said. No answer. "Well F you too then," I muttered, earning a glare in reply. "But for real, I'm hungry. You should feed me." More silence came after this statement. "You really hate talking don't you?"

The guard took me to an office and quickly left, slamming the door behind him. I rolled my eyes at this and then scanned the office; along its off white walls where plaques that signified various awards. My eyes narrowed in anger at the name that was engraved in all of them- Holly Tate. On the large oak desk sat many more awards and a picture. With closer examination it was a photo of Holly smiling (which was creepy) with her arms tightly around a boy in a wheelchair who looked about my age and very attractive with his nicely tanned skin. His dark wavy locks fell into his hazel eyes and his smile was genuine- he obviously loved his mother. My face scrunched in confusion, this devious woman was a mother? How was that possible?

"You're very nosy." I twisted around and found Holly walking into the office, closing the door behind her. She moved towards her desk and took a seat behind it. "I see you survived your test with minimal scarring."

I gave her a blank stare, not in the mood to play her games. All I wanted right now was food, water, and sleep all in that order. "Define minimal scarring."

"You're not dead."

I sighed and collapsed into the armchair behind me. "What more do you want for me Holly? Do I have to do more of your tests?"

She shifted through some papers before answering. "Possibly."

"Where's Lynelle, Ed, and Brysen?"

"Testing of course."

I tugged my hair out of its bun and began finger combing it in frustration. "I can't stand you and your constant bitchiness." I glanced at the photo of her and her son. "I bet your son hates you."

She slammed the file she was holding onto the desk, sending papers everywhere. "Don't you dare talk about my son!" She shot up and reached out towards my hair. Luckily I was able to react fast enough to move out of her reach. "I want you out of my sight!" She then picked up her phone and called in a guard.

"You're such a psycho," I ranted. "If you want me out of your sight send me home! Send me and my friends back home where we belong!"

"No!" She screamed, her voice jumping up a couple of octaves. "I will keep you here and test you until you die! All for the sake of science!"

The guard came in and roughly took me by the forearm and asked, "What do I do with her?"

Holly looked at me with steely eyes before replying. "I don't care anymore what you do with her. Throw her in the radioactive pool if you want, I just want her out of my sight." The guard looked at her uneasily, not sure how to take the order. With a sigh she rephrased her last sentence, "Go have her test with Edan. I need some side by side comparisons."

I looked back at her with a scowl, "All the chemicals you have been working with have gotten to your brain. You need help, a lot of help."

And with that I was out of the room and onto another testing chamber. I began to realized what made Holly tick- her son was one of them.

Why did she want me in her office anyway? I wondered. Maybe she wanted to tell me something.

I pushed the thought out of my mind and focused on the next obstacle course I would have to push through. When the doors to the chamber opened I sealed my fears and tied my hair into a bun. Let's do this.


What was the point of all of this? What was the point of all this testing? I was told this was for science. I was told that if I didn't test the all of humanity of at stake. Really, because everything was doing okay before all of this happened- before Ed had to bust out his alchemy in order so save my friends and me.

"Do you feel anything odd happening in you, in your veins?" I was asked.

I hazily replied, "No."

"Can you see me?"

"Barely."

I heard someone writing rapidly. "Do you feel warm, like you have a fever?"

"Yes."

"What's your name?"

What a dumb question. "Brysen Woods." More writing was heard and the clicking of keys.

"You can rest now Brysen."

I shut my eyes and took a deep painful breath. "Thank you."


It took me almost three hours to finish my highly dangerous tests. I sat in the medical bay on a cot as a doctor cleaned and bandaged my injuries. I was physically exhausted but my mind was so wired that I couldn't even think about sleep. All I could think about was an escape plan.

"You must hate the director," The doctor said after finishing up.

"Who?"

"Dr. Tate," She replied.

I scoffed, "I wish I could kill her with my bare hands."

"That's rough," She said with a small smile. "She's really not all that bad."

"Well," I glanced at her nametag. "Dr. Lang, you're not being tested against your will."

"True," The young woman agreed. "But I've known her for years, we went to college together. If you knew her-"

"I don't want to know her," I snapped at the Asian woman. "I want to go home!"

She looked at me surprised for a moment before brushing some black hair over her shoulders and saying softly, "I understand." She walked across the room to open the door and peak out into the hallway before moving back over to me. "I can help you."

I gave her a sharp look. "You just told me you were a friend of Holly. You really think I'm going to trust you?"

Her dark eyes looked at me pleadingly. "That's exactly why I can help you. Holly puts a lot of trust in me and I'm second in command around here, I can make things happen and she'll be so busy with other projects that she won't notice." She sighed heavily and took a seat across from me. "I've been against human testing since it begun just a few months ago and since she's found out about this alchemy," she shook her head. "Its all gone down hill from there."

"What's her goal?" I asked.

"Her 'motherly goal' is to create a better future for her son Rico. I think she's trying to find a way to use this alchemy so he can walk again. Her company goal is to advance science," Dr. Lang replied. "If you ask me I think she's been around one too many chemicals."

"For real," I commented. "So, how exactly do you plan on getting me and my friends out? Can't you just take us to the front door?"

"I could but it's very difficult to get there unnoticed. I might be second in command but one of the guards will send in a report if all four of you are together in one place," She replied. "We also need to make this happen before Holly does her second round of examinations."

"Examinations?"

"There are tests and then examinations- though the examinations are only for Test Subject #3986-"

"Who?"

"Edan Alaric," She replied before continuing. "She'll put him through many chambers of tests before sending him through to examinations were he'll be injected with God knows what."

A rush of panic filled my stomach, "He got sent to testing the same time I did. That means he's probably done by now and sent to examination!"

Dr. Lang swiveled in her chair to face a computer. "Not yet. He's still doing his tests."

She brought up a video of Ed using his alchemy to create a bridge to get across what looked like a river of acid.

"You people keep acidic rivers here?" I asked.

Dr. Lang shrugged, "It's a product of Holly's very unstable mind."

"Obviously." A thought then crept into my mind. "Have you seen Brysen?"

Dr. Lang clicked off the video before facing me with a grave expression. "I currently don't know where he is. Scarlett and Ed are both testing but I haven't heard nor read anything about Brysen's whereabouts. For some reason Holly's been keeping that very hushed."

Fear snaked around inside me. "But why?"

Dr. Lang shook her head; "My only guess is because she's using him for special comparisons. She's comparing you and Scarlett's ability to test without having injects with Ed's ability to test with alchemy and injects. I have a feeling that she's just using injections on Brysen which could cause some serious damage."

"What kind of damage?"

"Physiological damage."

I leaned back against the wall and gave an exasperated, "Awesome."

"Our first goal is to get to Edan before Holly can exanimate on him then we find Brysen and Scarlett-"

"I thought you said all four of as can't-"

"Calm down I'm getting to that. I'm going to have a friend help with the escort so two of you will be with me and two of you will be with him."

I didn't fully trust her but after running through all of the other options in my head (which I really didn't have any), I decided that going along with her plan would be the best way to go. There was a knock on the door and when Dr. Lang granted entrance Holly came inside.

"Dr. Lang may I have a word with you?" Holly asked.

Did Holly over hear our conversation?

Dr. Lang didn't seem fazed with her friend's entrance, "Sure." When the two left the room I clutched the sheets of the cot I was sitting on. If this plan fails then I would be stuck in the hellhole for possibly the rest of my life or until they no longer needed me. I wouldn't be surprised if they put the unneeded test subjects in a prison cell and left them to rot.


~Hmmm I wonder if their plan will work?

~Constructive critisizm (for some reason I can never spell this word right) and suggestions are always welcome! :D