Defect - By Ryann Kerekes Page 0,8

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“Instead of sitting in there to rot,” his head tips back toward the mental ward, “you’re going to become a side project of mine.”

I don’t know which is worse – laying in Ward A, drugged unconscious or being O’Donovan’s lab rat – but it’s not like I have a choice. Maybe I can find out what he knows about my mom.

He presses an intercom button on the data terminal. “Yeah, come in. We’re ready for you.”

The door pushes open, and a man with rectangular glasses and a white lab coat introduces himself as Dr. Nolan, followed by Will, who won’t meet my eyes.

“I want a full battery of tests, mental, intellectual,” O’Donovan says to Dr. Nolan. “Along with physical and endurance,” he says to Will who still won’t look directly at me. His eyes are focused on my hands that lie still in my lap, or more specifically, at my tattoo. The memory of him visiting me in the night floods my senses, and I blush involuntarily.

“We can’t seem to get inside your head.” O’Donovan reaches out toward me, and I try not to flinch as he taps a finger sharply at my temple. “And I intend to find out why.” The look in his eyes says it all. He’ll stop at nothing until I’m a broken heap on the floor. He turns back to Dr. Nolan and Will. “As long as it takes, as much as it costs, find me something. I want a report at the end of each day.” And then he turns on his heel and leaves the room, Will saluting him until he’s through the door.

The air in the room is heavy, too still. I can sense them deciding what to do with me, who should take me first.

“You start,” Will says to Dr. Nolan after a minute. “I’ll go set up for the physical tests.” The heavy door clicks into place behind him, leaving me alone with Dr. Nolan.

I position myself on the stool in front of the data terminal to begin the intelligence tests.

I scan the barcode on my wrist on the blue light at the side of the machine, and it comes to life. I tap my finger against the screen to start the test. A word association test appears, and after reading the directions, I begin arranging the words on the screen, dragging them into different boxes. I do it quickly, my mind barely processing each word before my finger slides it into the right place.

I move onto answering questions about how I would respond in fictitious situations, then onto a series of questions where I have to choose between two bad things, like being trapped in a fire or underwater. Lastly, I move onto finding patterns in numbers, where I predict which number comes next in a series, while Dr. Nolan busies himself on the data terminal across the lab.

I have no strategy when it comes to these tests, since I have no idea if it will be better or worse for me if I score well. Regardless, I do the best I can. My eyes burn from concentrating, and I’m hungry after several hours.

Just as I’m finishing, the door pushes open, and a guy I’ve never seen before comes in. “Ready?” He directs his question to Dr. Nolan.

Dr. Nolan is reading a print out from the data terminal tests I took. He looks up from the paper, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “You can take her. We’re done for the day.”

The guy comes toward me. He’s dressed like Will – camouflage cargo pants tucked into heavy work boots and a black T-shirt strained across his muscled chest bearing the silver insignia of government, a crest with sharp edges protruding from the center of the circle in a sun burst pattern – so I assume he’s another guard.

“What happened to Will?”

He laughs, but there’s no joy in his face. “They all want Will.” He closes the distance between us with two more steps and grabs my arm. His eyes narrow and he brings his face directly in front of mine, looking at me with a cruel, mocking expression. His eyes are nearly black, and I find myself stumbling back from him, but his grip on my arm holds me in place.

“Will’s busy with the other recruits. I’m in charge of you now.” My arm turns red under his thick fingers. He hauls me after him, and I have no choice but to follow. He pushes me