She woke up with a start and sat up, looking around her. She was in a room with dark grey walls and floors, mostly empty except for her bed, a desk with a computer on it, two doors in either side and a simple metal bar on which wooden hangers with white clothes were perched. Noticing the hangers caused her to look at herself and, with a blush, she noticed that she wasn't wearing her clothes, but clothes exactly like the ones in the hangers.
Breathing quickly, she jumped out of the bed and, ignoring the grey flip flops on the floor, she ran barefoot to the door on the left. It was locked. Quickly she ran to the other door and she almost laughed when that one actually opened, but then she found herself in a simple bathroom with the basic toiletries and a shower. She ran out as fast as she went in and that's when she started screaming.
"Where am I?! Let me out!"
She ran to the desk and tried to turn on the computer to no avail. Seeing nothing else to interact with, she let herself fall on one of the chairs, sobbing. A couple of minutes later, however, the door to the left opened and a couple of soldiers and a man in a button-up shirt and dress pants walked in. She sobered up rapidly, looking from each of the men to the next and back.
"Hello, Caitlyn," the man who wasn't dressed like a soldier said with a kind smile.
Her mouth agape, she couldn't talk for a second, but she recovered her speech before the man could talk again. "Where am I?! Who are you? Where's Brandon?!"
The man raised a hand, as if to silence her, and said with the same calm voice, "I will answer all the questions you have to the best of my abilities if you follow me, Caitlyn."
He then motioned to the door for her to get out and, not really having any other choice, she stood up. That's when she noticed that the floor was actually quite cold, so first she walked next to her bed and put on the flip flops. Her room opened to a hallway that seemed carved directly out of stone, with the only light coming from fluorescent tubes every two yards or so. It seemed like a mine, except that mines, at least in movies, always had normal light bulbs.
They walked through the hallway, with the man and the two soldiers following behind her, causing her to look back at what they were doing every two seconds. No matter how many times she looked, the soldiers kept their stony gazes straight ahead and the man in the plaid shirt always looked back at her with a smile. All the while, they passed next to doors similar to the one that led to the room she was in, but nobody told her to stop. After ten minutes or so, they arrived to a particular one, identical to the others.
"Caitlyn, if you could follow me here," the man said, opening the door using a key he was holding.
She walked behind the man, her eyes still erratically going all over the place, searching for any sign of Brandon or a way to escape. The room was similar to the one in which she had woken up, though quite a bit smaller. There was only a table in this one, with single chairs on opposite sides and two tablets on top of it. She also noticed the camera hanging from one of the corners of the ceiling and a huge mirror on the wall opposite the door.
The man took one of the seats and offered her the other one, and she sat as slowly as she could. She was startled when the door closed, and noticed that the soldiers hadn't walked in; she was now alone with the man in civilian clothes, who kept responding to her glare with a bland smile. Her eyes went to the camera, and she allowed herself a breath; if they were being watched, then this creep probably wouldn't do anything to her.
Once they were seated, the man spoke again. "Hi Caitlyn, I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier. My name is doctor Morgan Bishop, I'm in charge of the research for this project."
She only looked at him with wide eyes.
"I understand that you have a lot of questions. For where we are, this is a secret facility belonging to the government of the United States," he said.
She spoke then, interrupting his spiel, "why am I here?!"
He smiled to her—the smile looked more and more rehearsed every time he gave it—and answered, "you're here because you're an important asset in Project B-2."
"Project what?" She asked, her eyes still wide as saucers.
"That's only the official designation," he said. "We usually call it 'Project Brightburn'."
"Where's Brandon?!" She exclaimed, prompted by his words.
"He is... under observation," he said after a pause.
She narrowed her eyes. "I don't believe you, you wouldn't be able to stop him."
Now it was his turn to look surprised, though he composed himself very quickly. He didn't bother to answer and just grabbed one of the tablets, turning it on and passing it to her. On the screen was a video of Brandon, completely naked, lying on a metal table. She immediately dropped the tablet.
"What did you do to him?!" She all but screamed.
"We've been studying him," he answered.
She frowned, "you've been... How long have I been here? Why isn't he moving? Why isn't he awake? What is happening?"
"You've been here for three days," he said, his voice calm.
"Three... I was asleep for three days?!" She almost stood up at that particular revelation, but settled on clasping her hands and glaring at Bishop, inhaling deeply to try to get her breathing under control.
"We couldn't risk to wake you up until we were completely sure you weren't like him," he explained.
She looked from him back to the tablet, "you mean he's only asleep?"
"Yes, the room he's in is being constantly pumped with the sleeping gas we used at your house," he informed.
His words made it easier for her to finally regulate her breathing. They hadn't managed to kill him; he was still alive.
Bishop continued, looking much more interested now, "you seemed concerned for a moment. Are you aware of any way to harm him?"
She returned his stare with the worst glare she could manage. "No, and if I knew, I wouldn't tell you."
He sighed, as if he had expected that answer, "we have resources, Caitlyn. Eventually we'll find out a way to harm him, just like we found out a way to disable him. Your reaction now has given me confirmation that it's not impossible."
"Good luck," she said, mustering a smug smile. "You say you're studying him, what have you tried so far?"
"Needles won't go through his skin. We've tried to cut him, to burn him, to freeze him and some other things. At least his hair can be cut, and he still drops skin cells and..." He paused for a moment, looking away, before he continued. "Anyway, we've been able to analyze his cells to check his DNA."
She was hanging on to the doctor's every word, and she hadn't even noticed it. She could finally get some answers on Brandon, and Bishop had clearly noticed her interest even if she hadn't said anything, because he gave her a more genuine smile. However he said nothing more, and only looked at her in expectation.
She chewed on her lip for a second, but ultimately was unable to keep herself from asking, "and what did you find?"
"He's most definitely not human. There are sections of his genome that we haven't seen in any other creature on earth, we can't even make sense or replicate some of them," he admitted, a touch of frustration in his voice. "He's completely unique."
She smiled, a true smile this time. That much she knew already.
He didn't miss her smile and, composing himself, his eyes bore into hers. "However, one thing we gauged from analyzing his sperm cells is that, despite what we don't know about him, we do suspect that there's a high probability that he might be compatible with humans, at least sexually."
"Sperm cells, how did you even...?" Suddenly she was blushing. "You are gross!"
He at least had the decency to look embarrassed too, "one thing he also has in common with humans is that sometimes, young human males have nocturnal emissions, and he's been sleeping quite a while. We had the opportunity to gather another of his fluids so we took it."
"So gross," she repeated, unable to keep looking at him and now even more aware of the fact that Brandon was naked on the screen.
"Anyway," he continued, ignoring her. "His apparent compatibility would explain why he's looking to mate."
"'To mate'?" She asked, shooting another glare in his direction. "What are we? Dogs?!"
Dr. Bishop smiled then, but this time it wasn't for her benefit; he seemed glad about something. Not missing a beat, he said, "so you agree that your relationship with the subject is not entirely platonic. There's a sexual component."
"A sexual..." She was blushing furiously now. "I want to get out of here!"
"I'm afraid we can't allow that yet, Caitlyn. Now even less," he said, again with the fake smile.
"What do you mean 'now'?" She asked, even though that was an answer she'd really rather not hear.
"Have you had sexual relations with the subject?" He asked, seemingly not noticing how over the line the question was.
"I... I... What question is that?!" She exclaimed.
"One for which we need to know the answer. We don't know what kind of result would a coupling with the subject produce, and that's certainly not something we're willing to test. The last thing we want is more of him..."
"No! I haven't!" She yelled, interrupting his, to her, nonsensical speech.
"Your reaction suggests that that's something that would have changed in the future," he said with a monotone. His eyes widened a little, he shook his head, and then he switched to a more normal tone. "Or, to put it another way, that you have considered the possibility and you think it might happen."
She was bright red now. "Well... I... he's my boyfriend!"
"Your boyfriend," he repeated, slowly. "So you haven't been coerced into this... arrangement and you see it as a normal romantic relationship."
She was getting tired of his verbose nonsense. She stammered, "well... I know he's not... normal but... I mean... we kiss and that..."
"You are aware of everything he's been doing, correct?" The doctor asked, a shadow of anger crossing his face for an instant.
Before she could answer, there was a change on the screen. Two people wearing hazmat suits had walked in, carrying what looked like a large metal box. After leaving the box next to Brandon, they walked back off screen.
"What is..." She started asking.
"Another test," he answered before letting her finish. "That box contains uranium."
"Uranium?" She asked.
"Yes, we want to see how he reacts to radiation," he explained, looking at the screen with interest.
She felt a pit on her stomach. "You really do want to kill him, don't you?"
He looked at her, "it's not a matter of what we want. I, for instance, find him fascinating and wish I could study him for a long time, but the truth of the matter is that now that we know he's not human, he's been classified as a hostile, extremely dangerous, agent. For all intents and purposes, he's a walking weapon of mass destruction and it's not in the interest of the United States to let such a creature roaming around."
"But... he's a person..." she started.
"No, he is not. He isn't human, Caitlyn. I know that this is difficult to accept, specially if you feel romantically involved with him, but he's not one of us. That's why you need to tell us everything you know about him; we need a way to dispatch of him faster," he said.
She sighed and, fixing a glare at the doctor, said, "I told you, I don't know anything about that, I've never seen him hurt. And even if I knew..."
"You wouldn't tell us," came a female voice from a speaker. A speaker she couldn't even see.
The doctor, for the first time, looked annoyed. "Robbins, I'm not done..."
"Yes, you are, Bishop," the female voice interrupted. "You've been talking with her for thirty minutes, telling her way more than she needs to know and you haven't gotten anywhere. It's my turn now."
The doctor made a face but said nothing. Around five minutes later, the door opened and a woman dressed like a soldier walked in. Caitlyn could see that the two soldiers that had accompanied her there were still standing in front of the door. Bishop stood up and, only sparing a glare at the woman, he walked out. The soldier, who could only be 'Robbins', took the seat that the doctor vacated.
"Good afternoon, miss Connor," Robbins greeted. "My name is major Samantha Robbins. I'm one of the people in charge of this place."
Caitlyn was done with these adults and their bullshit. She merely crossed her arms and glared at the major.
"I'm going to make this easy for both of us. You 'boyfriend', like the doctor said, is classified as hostile party or, as far as I care, a terrorist. We don't negotiate with terrorists or those who abide them, like you," Robbins said, glaring at Caitlyn.
Caitlyn said nothing, even if this woman was starting to make her squirm. As if anticipating her reaction, Robbins simply grabbed the second tablet, turned it on and showed the video it was playing to Caitlyn. It was her mother, tied to a chair and it was easy to see that she'd been crying.
"Mom!" Caitlyn yelled, forcefully taking the tablet from Robbins's hands. "What are you doing to her?!"
"Nothing," Robbins said. "But we might start unless you tell us everything you know about this freak."
"You... You can't do that!" She yelled, openly crying.
"We can and we will. No measure will be spared to stop B-2," Robbins said, her voice disgustingly chipper.
Caitlyn looked from one tablet to the other. From her mother to Brandon. Looking at the box next to him, she spoke, "what if the radiation kills him? That way you wouldn't need me anymore and you wouldn't have to force me to say anything, right?"
"If you think he's dying anyway, what difference does it make if you tell us or not?" Robbins asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Because... Because I don't want to tell you anything!" Caitlyn said with a glare. "I'm not gonna tell you anything about him, specially if you kill him. I have no reason to help you!"
Robbins rolled her eyes and spoke a bit louder, as if there was someone else in the room she was addressing instead of Caitlyn. "Do it."
Her mother immediately started twitching and, even though Caitlyn couldn't hear it, screaming.
Caitlyn yelled in kind, "what are you doing to her?!"
"She's sitting on an electric chair," Robbins explained, looking at the video stream with disdain.
"Stop," Caitlyn whispered before she screamed, "STOP! PLEASE!"
"Fine," Robbins said, once again speaking a bit louder.
Her mother stopped twitching then, and her head fell to one side.
"Are you ready to tell us everything?" Robbins asked, as if she hadn't just tortured her mother.
Caitlyn loved her mother, she truly did, but she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she was the reason Brandon died. Crying brokenly, she whispered, "please, let's at least wait if the radiation harms him. If it does, then I know it won't matter and I'll tell you everything you want to know."
Robbins snorted. "Teenagers, caring more about their boyfriends than about their mothers. Fine, in a couple of hours we should know if the uranium can actually kill that thing."
Without another word, Robbins stood up and left, leaving the two tablets in front of Caitlyn. She tried to turn them off to no avail so she was forced to see Brandon unconscious next to radioactive material, and her mother sitting weakly on an electric chair. She had to stand up, she had to stop looking at the screens, but she kept on staring at them. The only thing she did with the food that was brought to her an hour later was throwing it against the mirror in a tantrum.
About two hours after Robbins left, there was again movement on Brandon's stream. Another, or probably the same, two people walked in and they touched all over Brandon with some sort of metal thing. After around five minutes of that, they walked out. Five minutes later, Robbins came back, walking through the door. She was smiling brightly.
"Good news!" She said with enthusiasm, "B-2's skin is starting to show signs of radiation damage. I guess it was easy to get rid of him after all!"
Her whole skin broke out in goosebumps at Robbins's words and she grabbed the tablet with Brandon's stream. She had to see it for herself, but there was nothing on his body that showed any damage; maybe it was invisible. She couldn't stare for too long, though; her eyes were clouding with tears.
"Anyway, he's going to die, so you better tell us everything you know about him," Robbins said, glaring at Caitlyn again.
Caitlyn looked from the tablet, to Robbins, and back at the tablet. These people had kidnapped her and Brandon, and had been trying to torture and kill him, and were also trying to torture her mom, all in order to get her to talk. She couldn't see any damage on Brandon, and the two people in the hazmat suits had taken five minutes examining him. If they found something, wouldn't they have run out right away to tell? She remembered the time at the lake, in which she and Brandon tried everything to hurt him. They hadn't tried radiation, of course, but still, something in her gut, deep in her very being, told her that this didn't add up, that Brandon was tougher than whatever they were doing. She had no proof, but somehow she knew that Robbins was lying.
Caitlyn glared at her and, through gritted teeth, spoke, "you're lying."
Robbins's glare gave way to a surprised look, which she suppressed immediately. It was too late though, that was all the confirmation Caitlyn needed.
Robbins swore under her breath before yelling, "ok you little bitch, you're going to tell us how to kill this motherfucker or your mother is going to be the one to die in his place!"
"FUCK YOU!" Caitlyn screamed, but she couldn't help from smiling triumphantly, she had just gotten one over these awful people. "I TOLD YOU! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO HURT HIM!"
"That's not what you said earlier. You said you'd tell us everything," Robbins said, wearing a triumphant smile of her own. When Caitlyn just crossed her arms again, she snarled, "fine, let's give this bitch's mother another shock!"
And on cue, her mother was twitching and screaming again. Caitlyn couldn't bear to look at it so she just stared straight ahead, telling herself that she wasn't doing this, that it wasn't her fault; it was these people hurting her mother, not her. She had lived in fear of her mother dying since that night Brandon came to her room after breaking her hand, and it was actually a morbid relief that ultimately it wasn't going to be him who killed her. Her heart was breaking, but she was growing numb and distant, hiding within herself. If this made the pain of her mother's death go away, then so be it.
"You really aren't going to talk?" Robbins asked, looking surprised once more, and this time not even bothering to hide it.
Caitlyn didn't reply.
"Next time, the shock will be fatal. If you don't talk now, your mother is going to die," Robbins said, now going for a conciliatory tone, and she even reached a hand toward Caitlyn, but she simply pulled back, just out of Robbin's reach. "Come on, Caitlyn, losing your mother is not worth saving this monster. You know that the world is better off without him."
Caitlyn didn't reply.
"Fine, this is serious, and I don't like this, but we really need you to talk. The next shock will start now and your mother will die of cardiac arrest within three minutes unless you speak. We need you to tell us everything you know about B-2 now," Robbins said, her face a cold mask.
Caitlyn didn't reply.
She just kept staring straight ahead without really seeing anything.