that were being run on us were not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.
As much as I want to spill my guts and explain everything that happened to these two men who are standing in front of me threatening my life, I can’t. Reliving that is more than I can handle. Living it once is more than I can handle, in all honesty, but it isn't like I have anything else to do in here. Hell, actual prisoners in actual prisons get better treatment than the test subjects did.
We never got to leave out cells unless it was while we were being manhandled by the beasts that the cabal had already created, and even then it was just for the short walk to the chair or table where the experiments were performed. There was nothing else for me to do except mentally work myself through it and keep myself sane. That simple task had nearly been too much for me to accomplish anyway.
Finally, when the president realizes that I’m not going to react or beg, he storms out of the room. Phoenix, however, does not. There’s something different about him, something that makes my chest ache whenever I look at him for an extended period of time. I feel...drawn to him somehow, like we have something in common, but I don't know what it is yet.
"You need to talk to the Prez," he says eventually, although he keeps his voice low as though he doesn't want anyone else to hear what he has to say. "The more you piss him off, the worse it will be for you. Just tell him what he wants to know and we can help you."
I scoff. These boys really are full of themselves. "You think I'm scared of starving? You think they treated me like a princess in there?" I snarl at him. "They treated me like exactly what they thought I was: a test subject. Nothing more, nothing less. Hell, they treated us worse than any other test subjects I'm aware of. There were rats in my college psychology class that were treated better than we were, and that's not an exaggeration. What you and your Prez don't seem to get is that I have nothing, no one. Kill me. I literally don't care. I have nothing to lose." I start hacking and coughing then, as though speaking so much has worn my throat out. The water bottle still has a little left in it and I guzzle that down, relishing the feeling of the cool liquid on my fried vocal cords.
"Just tell me something I can tell the Prez, and I can talk him into getting you some food," Phoenix pleads with me.
"Why do you want to know so bad?" I ask.
"It's our job. It's our mission."
"Rescuing test subjects?" I raise an eyebrow at him before trying to drain the last couple of drops of water I can still see in the bottle.
"Saving people-- yeah." He was going to say something else before he cut himself off.
"Why do they need saving?" I ask, playing along even though my voice is getting croaky.
"There are bad people in the world, as you well know. There are monsters that want to hurt others for no real reason. We try to stop that from happening. We...color outside the lines in terms of getting the job done."
"You’re guns for hire?"
"Not for hire. We have a very specific goal."
"The monsters?" I clarify. He gives one nod. My mind whirls. Does he mean monsters like the ones the cabal are creating or are there other kinds? Ones I don't know about? It seems likely given everything I've seen under the cabal's tender ministrations. "Worse than those half-man half-animal things the cabal created?" I ask.
His head tilts to the side and his eyes take on a far-away look, like he’s having a private conversation with someone I can’t hear or see. Maybe he’s a sandwich short of a picnic, but I doubt it. Whatever makes him look like that gives him an edge, gives him insights no one should have. "The cabal created them? They weren't beast-like before?"
I shake my head. "They were just guys, then after a few of the experiments some of them would turn into those...things. Then they became like security guards or something." I don't want to think about them anymore, think about what their transformation was like or what happened if they didn't survive the transformation. A shudder runs through my body