the cabal.”
“Cabal?”
She shivers. “The scientists.”
“Definitely not.”
“But you’re not…good, either.”
I stare at her. How do I answer that? Of course I’m not good. My life revolves around killing or being killed.
“What makes you say that?”
Again, something stretches between us, but this time it’s stronger. I try not to show my reaction, but my heart races. This feeling…I’ve only ever felt it with the other men. This connection forged by doing something dangerous, by doing something reckless.
“My name’s Dani.” The words come out on a rush of breath. “But for so long I was just experiment six-two-nine-one. I haven’t been referred to by my name in so long that it feels strange on my tongue.”
“Dani.” I take a deep breath, focusing on her real name and not her number. “Did…did the cabal make you drink blood?”
I hear the Prez inhale sharply behind me, but my gaze is consumed by this woman. By her every breath. I’m desperately trying to lock down on the warning screaming in my mind, but I think she feels my panic.
Her gaze darts between the Prez and I.
“Answer him,” he barks behind me.
Silently, I curse. Give her time.
Her eyes meet mine, and I feel her terror as she looks back at me. “I don’t know. Maybe? It’s not like they were the most communicative bunch.”
And with those words, everything changes.
5
Dani
Just the thought of having been given someone else's blood as part of an experiment makes me nauseous. What the hell is that even about?
These men in front of me aren't part of the cabal. They certainly aren't scientists. Even though that’s a little judgey of me to think, I don't care. They’re standing there in their leather, their torn t-shirts and jeans, grease, beards... There is nothing about them that says science or laboratory. I’m sure they have talents, but I don't think, at least for these two, that they are based in the sciences.
The man who came in later, Phoenix, is strange. When I make eye contact with him, it feels like he’s peeling back the layers of my consciousness like an onion. I can almost feel him in my head when we watch each other, feel him rooting around in my memories, stirring up shit I want to forget.
"Tell me why you signed up for something like that," the older man demands.
I glare at the patch on his leather vest that reads "President".
"No. It's personal and has nothing to do with what they did to me while I was there." I grind the words out, fighting to keep those memories pushed down where they belong. Lock them tight in a box in my mind that I've tried to bury under everything else.
"But it might explain why they picked you," Phoenix says quietly.
I know these men aren't necessarily the good guys. I mean, they still have me in a cage after all, but they seem to be better than the cabal. That fact isn't enough to make me bare my soul to them though.
"Fine," Prez says, one of his hands circling around the bars of my cage like he wishes it was my neck. "Don't answer, but you won't get any food until you tell us." He scowls at me some more.
They’re cute, in a way. Like I'd been fed every day by the cabal? Not so much. I'd been given nutrients, occasionally fed, but my stomach is more used to being empty these days than it is being full. I don't understand why they didn't feed us, but it seemed like they wanted us weak, as though depriving us of food kept our energy levels low and kept us pliable. Which, for the most part, was true.
What they didn't expect was that some of the test subjects would lose their shit and attack anyone who came near them, biting off chunks of arm, ear, neck, whatever they could sink their teeth into. It was like we were in some weird future version of Jamestown. Watching the other prisoners, sorry, test subjects, chow down on some long pig was enough to make me turn away from the small window in my door and never look out again unless I absolutely had to.
Whenever I heard a commotion, I always hid away, not even glancing in the direction of the window.
That little window had been my only break from the four white walls of my cell, though, and after a while, if things were calm, I let myself peek out once more. It never lasted long though. The experiments