Warning- again this chapter is darker than before, just be warned okay??
Hells child 2.
They all waited, poised on the precipice for that order. The instructor stood with a stop clock in his hand and a knife in the other. He handed it to the hardened prisoner.
"You know the rules? Make it to the fence and you're free to go. Don't underestimate the kids." He handed him a knife and set the clock.
The death row inmate raced to wards the perimeter fence.
"Ok Soldiers, for today's Seek and destroy that man is your target. Incapacitate him; do not let him reach the fence."
He looked down at the timer "4…5…3…2…1 GO."
The X-series raced off into the forest en masse.
Bulli turned to them and started handing out hand signals for them to scatter different directions.
Max waited, she knew that he would give her instructions last, if at all.
When the entire unit had dispersed Bulli raced off without really acknowledging her and she sighed, moving in a different direction.
She heard the forest come alive with the sound of footsteps and crunch of leaves under soldier's boots and she listened hard as they got closer to her position. She frowned, surely the prisoner wouldn't be making in a circle it wasn't logical. She crouched low and made her way through the underbrush.
From behind a tree Bulli moved and stood in front of her with a smirk.
"452."
She stood upright and watched him warily. A sound to her left made her spin and she saw a soldier leaning against a nearby tree with his arms folded over his chest.
A prickle of apprehension trickled down her spine and she turned to see another at her right. A noise came from behind her and she knew for a fact that she was now surrounded.
"What do you want?"
"A nice clean unit with no traitors. Oh wait I don't have that…yet." Bulli said almost conversationally "You see I was thinking that you've been around for far too long now 452. I thought the trainers would get rid of you by now but they seem to be taking their time so we need to give them a hand."
As he talked she could hear steps from all directions and she glanced around to see the rest of the unit standing in the clearing.
A boy she hadn't seen much put his hand on Bulli's arm.
"This isn't in the protocol, let's get our target. Leave her." He urged with barely a glance in her direction. Bulli brushed him off.
"Back off 765." He snarled "You are a member of our unit and we don't tolerate traitors. Are you in with her?"
The boy looked at her and Max wondered if she finally had an ally but that brief hoped dwindled as his glance fell and stepped back.
Thanks anyway she thought bitterly as he walked back into the forest. He'd given her time to think and it had dawned on her what they were doing.
"You're going to throw the exercise and blame me."
Bulli smirked "Not as stupid as you look. This way they'll know you're not only a flight risk but a security risk."
"You'll be disassembled." A girl said clearly.
Disassembled, dissected and given to the nomlies.
Flashback
Ben smiled at her "Only the best soldiers get to go to the Good Place. The ones who fail...you know what happens to them?"
Max knew the story because he had told her so many times, she moved closer and answered "They disappear."
He nodded almost approvingly "To the Bad Place. Where they open you up and drink your blood until you're almost dead. Then they leave you there for the Nomlies. They crawl up from the basement through special tunnels. And when you're not looking...BAM! They break through the wall and drag you away"
Zack shuddered "Well, what do the Nomlies do with you?"
Max shook her head at the telltale revulsion in his voice even as he was intrigued by the tale Ben was weaving.
Ben smiled sadly "They keep you as prisoner of war and eat you up, little by little, forever."
End flashback
"I didn't do anything." She protested.
"You exist 452. And you shouldn't." Bulli said condescendingly.
They advanced on her and she readied herself for an attack. She didn't have long to wait as Bulli kicked her midsection and a brown haired boy aimed a punch at her face.
"Don't!" she skittered back but ran into another soldier who punched her low in her back causing all the air to rush out of her lungs.
"Shut up 452/" Bulli said as he moved again and kicked her legs out from under her. She buckled and fell to the floor.
Max could do nothing but crawl into a foetal ball and try to switch the pain off as the blows and kicks rained down on her in hails.
A snap confirmed that someone had broken her rib and the impact of a boot in her back caused her to arch forward leaving her face free which was when another swiftly aimed kick knocked her into blackness.
"Well 452, I knew you were a trouble maker, but to deliberately provoke your team mates into a fight so as to let the prisoner escape?" The trainer spat at her.
Max couldn't see him, her eyes were almost totally swollen shut and she could feel blood dripping down her chin as her limited vision spun.
It was useless to argue as someone had given a chop to her throat bruising her vocal chords so she couldn't even defend herself. A croak would not save her and it was her word against the whole of the unit.
"It looks like you need a refresher course in what it takes to be a soldier. I think a few weeks in Psy-ops should help you out."
PSY-OPS?
Max swallowed and frantically tried to get her voice working.
"N-o."
"Guards?" he had already turned away and two mean burly guards arrived. "Take 452 to Psy-Ops."
Max shook her head and tried to get away from the guards but her bruised and battered body wouldn't let her.
From the corner of her swollen eye she could see the face of the boy who had tried to stop Bulli as he looked ashamed besides Bulli's triumphant gaze.
Shame. Triumph.
She closed her eyes, unwilling to look at him and drooped as they carried her away.
Psychological evaluation and Operations, also called Psy-Ops was every soldiers nightmare- even worse than the threat of the Nomlies had been the idea that they would be taken away to the place where no one comes back the same. When Jack had died Ben had been taken away to Psy-Ops when he climbed to the high place. He had come back quiet and shaking and scared.
That night Max had woken to soft cries and she had gotten out of bed to see Ben sitting by the window shaking frantically and crying. She had no idea how to help him and she glanced longingly at where Zack slept. He would know what to do but she also knew that Ben wouldn't want their C.O to see him this weak.
She softly walked to the windowsill and tugged on his arm. He wiped away his tears with a small fist and she had pulled him down and back into bed.
Then she had climbed on top and wrapped her small body around his. He had started to cry again against her shoulder and she had stroked his hair like she seen once in a book. It seemed to sooth him and sent him off to sleep. In the morning Zack had glared at her for being out of bed and in with Ben but she had told him that she had had a nightmare and he had softened and told her that next time that happened she could climb in with him. He was always sweet to her like that, but Ben had been grateful. He had given her his dessert at lunch even though it was his favourite. Over the next few days they managed to coax him back to himself but he was always quieter after that. Different.
Max didn't want to be different.
The scientist looked down at her in horror.
"This girl needs medical attention not more abuse."
"It was Trainer McCarthy's orders." The guard explained.
"I'm a scientist not a monster." He argues and sent the guard off to find a medic. He looked at her frightened face. "Let's fix you up."
I'm not broken. She wanted to cry.
The medic arrived a few minutes later and gave her a once over.
"Broken arm, cracked rib, bruised larynx, splintered cheekbone. Some bruising around the eyes and possible…no make that definite concussion. Poor kid, they worked you over good."
She placed a wet cloth over Max's forehead and spoke directly to the scientist. "The bones I can set and with transgenic healing they should be alright in about three days. Bruising should be down tomorrow but I am going to need to take her to the med bay for observation for that concussion."
"Sure I'll tell McCarthy that we can't do anything until she's healthy again."
Fix me to break me. Max wanted to laugh hysterically and wondered if perhaps she was going crazy.
"I'm Sarah." The medic said "You're 452 right?"
Max nodded and then had to wait for the room to stop spinning.
"I'll get you ship shape in no time."
Med bay was full of white. White sterile walls, white sheets, white floor pristine and white coats all milling around as they set her leg and fit her up with a drip because they had discoed that she was malnourished too.
Here she could sleep as long as she liked and they encouraged it. The food was better and bigger portions and no one hit and told her she was worthless trash. She liked med bay despite the pain of resetting her jaw and bandaging her ribs.
The best part was that Bill came to see her last thing one night.
"Hey girl, haven't seen you in a while. Oh God!" he said when she turned her face to him "What the hell happened?"
"Bulli." She whispered "He wanted me to get disassembled so he told the trainer I threw the exercise. They were gong to put me in Psy-Ops but I needed to be fixed first."
Bill's shocked face made her lower lip tremble but she pulled it back in.
"Oh Maxie." He stroked her hair like she had done to Ben so many years ago.
"How did you know I was in here?"
"Heard some lab tech's talking about McCarthy's sending some broken kid to med bay. I figured it was you but I never thought-" he breathed in harshly as he trailed a finger over her bruised face "Why the hell did you let them?"
"Fifteen to one. Didn't have much of a choice." She replied and then in a fit of honesty she blurted it out "They're going to kill me."
"Who?"
"Bulli, Unit 6, Manticore take your pick. I'm expendable and I'm an oh niner. Just another soldier. If they can't break me then they'll kill me."
Bill didn't offer her hollow platitudes or tell her that she was wrong. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead.
"Don't ever let them break you Maxie; you're too strong for that. Play their game and let them think they're winning until you can break free but don't ever let them take you away. You're not expendable. You're special."
They heard a noise from the corridor and he got up.
"I have to go, I shouldn't be-"
Max nodded, tech's weren't allowed to fraternise with the soldiers and they would both get in trouble.
He paused at the door and she could see his dark features cast against the white paint work.
"Never forget who you are Max." he smiled and walked away letting her turn over his thoughts in her head.
Max walked into Psy-Ops more or less of her own volition. The scientists ignored her until she sat in the big metal chair in the middle of the room and lay down. A guard moved forward and strapped her down to the chair with the leather restraints and metal collar holding her head in place tightly.
A scientist handed her a pill and made her swallow it before he opened her mouth. It was a relaxant supposed to work to make the person more malleable and ready to acquiesce. It made her head ache and her eyes blurred.
A ventilator was placed in her mouth stopping her from swallowing her tongue and helping her to breathe.
Actually Max figured it was stopping the scientists from hearing their screams.
She wouldn't scream, no matter what.
The red laser swept into her cornea plastering images onto her retina over and over.
MISSION
The Manticore sign.
DUTY
Soldiers marching.
DISCPILINE
Formation lines.
MISSION
DUTY
DISCIPLINE
An electric shock ran through her body as they charged up the metal in the chair.
MISSION
DUTY
DISCIPLINE
MANTICORE
FAMILY
OBEDIENCE
MISSION
HONOUR
DUTY
The images started to come faster and faster and they burned into her eyes with a fiery heat like a brand.
"State your designation."
"X5-452." She said as she sat up to attention in the cold empty classroom. She had been in Psy-Ops for three days and she was trying to block out most of what they had done to her. She felt sick to her stomach but Lydecker had taught them that under torture you can make yourself forget certain things so as not to give them away. Max tried her selective forgetting on what they had done to her. She didn't want to remember. Even though her own moans and screams echoed in her head and her palms sweated every time she saw a blade she wouldn't remember. Maybe this way she could sleep at night and her dreams weren't full of blood; hers.
But now she was in the reindoctrination part of the cycle. All she had to do was get through the next two days and she could go back.
The scientist stood in front of a screen.
"You are a Soldier. Your mission is the most important thing. If you fail in your mission then you fail in your life. Failure is not acceptable. What is not acceptable?"
"Failure."
"Your unit is your family. Betrayal of your unit is betrayal of your family. Betrayal is what Traitors do. This is what happens to traitors."
He touched a button and the screen lit up with an image of a body being dissected.
She watched impassively until the camera angle changed and she jolted.
Max recognised the body.
Deen! He hadn't made it out with the rest of them and she finally got to see what happened to him. The scientist sliced down his torso and let the blood drip down as they cracked open his chest.
"Take a good look 452. This is because of you. This soldier died because he neglected his duty. His mission. He was a failure and he is being disciplined for his actions. If you throw a mission, if you fail then you are like garbage and will be treated as such."
She couldn't tear her eyes away from the picture.
"This one was another failure."
Eva. Her long body naked on the table and a bullet being dug out of her form.
"This is what happens to good soldiers because of your betrayal."
A picture of a small boy chained to a wall being prodded with a taser. His body shook with the electrical charge. Max felt bile rise up in her throat as she didn't recognise the boy.
"We had to discipline all of the remaining X5's to assure that they weren't traitors like you."
Not a traitor. She maintained.
"You abandoned your mission. These abandoned their mission."
There was a picture of Zack followed by a word.
PLAGUE
Syl.
RAT
Krit
DESERTER
Seth
TRAITOR
Ash
PLAGUE
Ben
RAT
Jace
DESERTER
Tinga
TRAITOR
Zane
PLAGUE
Jondy
RAT
Brin.
Max wanted to scream, to cry that they were her family. They weren't traitors or snakes or cowards and they were the best thing Manticore had ever had. But that would mean more Psy-Ops.
What was it that Bill had said?
"Never forget who you are."
"Never let them break you."
She sat up face forward and let the images wash over her. She was 452.
452 stood in the corner as the man walked in front of her.
"State your designation."
X5-452." She bit out.
He kicked her "Faster."
"X5-452."
"Faster." Slam
"X5-452."
"What were the oh niners?"
"Betrayers."
"And?"
"Rats, plagues, deserters." She would not say it.
He didn't notice.
"Your unit is you family. Do you love your unit?"
"Yes Sir."
"Would you betray your unit?"
"Never sir."
"Good 452. We will be watching you."
And with that she was let back into the mess hall.
She took her tray in silence from the lunch lady and turned to glance over the room. Over there were her unit. Unit 6.
She moved to go to them but stopped as their hostile glares stung her. She sat on the nearest table and focussed on her plate.
Fork, scrape across the plate and into mouth, chew, chew, swallow.
Ignore everyone's stares at the girl who had just been in Psy-Ops; her blank stare, her raw eyes that squinted against the bright light; her clothes hanging off her shrunken frame and big black hollows under her eyes.
She finished her plate and pushed it away, rising to her feet and marching away.
March, one two, one two. To the training yards. Stand in formation, ignore the stares. Push ups, one hundred, two hundred. Obstacle course, Yes sir.
Hand to hand. Punch, block, and ignore the blows as they come out of formation. Ignore his hissed insults. Can't hear anything. Nothing penetrates.
I am 452.
~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~
Lyndsay- yeah it was darker wasn't it- so was this I'm giving myself the creeps.
Brynnmissy- Lets hope so, she needs a new friend doesn't she!
Kitty- thanks hope you like this one too
Sigma1- Aw bless ya for saying so.
m/a fan- I hope I'm getting the tone right, I want to show why Max is the way she is now. unf, you might have to wait a while for Alec- Sorry!
Kate- Manticore is a nightmare, one which Max is waiting to wake up from.
Barcode-babe-210- Thank you, I must admit I haven't read many Max at Manticore stories before I wrote this but I'm glad it changes formulae slightly.
Fan- Hey again. I will keep it upJ
Jay- She will, eventually get to Seattle just give her a chance. But it will be at the Manticore there so O.C won't be there for quite some time. On the other point I'm just writing the sequel and I think you'll like Alec!
Firegirl1- Nah I like Bill too much for that!1
Raven- Oh it gets worse.
Fair Cate- Yeah this one was dark too, hope its not too bad, things will start to get better from here on out. P.S have you been reading my notes?
Acb- Thank y6ou so much I'm glad you appreciate it. She is getting stronger and that is our Maxie. Hows this one?
Angel21- Thank you very much. Hope you like this too.
Dokushoka79- Once again a swet review for me. Thank you.