Something was happening today. There’d been a buzz around here. I’d been here a little over four months. As each day started to turn into weeks, I started to realize that no one was coming for me. After the first two weeks, I felt silly for even thinking that anyone would. Who on the outside world would miss me? I knew Trevor would only look for me as long as my parents pushed the subject, or until it was deemed long enough for him not to play the grieving husband anymore. He didn’t care enough about me to worry if I was alright. My parents would only use my absence as some type of political gain. The longer I was missing, the better. The world would love to vote for the heartbroken governor with the missing, mute daughter. The only person that would care about my disappearance was Monroe. For the longest time, I prayed that Monroe would come for me, but as the days began to stretch into weeks and then months, my prayers came fewer.
I heard the noise outside of my cell. We were only allowed out of our cells three times a day. Once in the morning for showers and breakfast. Once around noon for lunch and light exercise. The last time we were allowed out of the rooms was for dinner. I imagined my stay here was a lot like being in prison, but in here, they didn’t allow us to bond with the other girls. I assumed it was because they didn’t want us to form friendships and try to escape. The only other time they took us out of our cells, was when we went to the clinic.
God, I hated that damn clinic. I‘d been stuck, prodded, and examined so much I never wanted to see a doctor’s office again in my life. The medicine they pumped into our veins or administered in pill form had me constantly thirsty and restless. The daily physical and mental tests were tiresome as well. I truly felt like a lab rat.
I ran my hand over my shaved head feeling the little prickly hairs. Mother would have a heart attack if she saw what they’d done to my hair. The sound of my door unlocking shook me. I stood from my cot. The huge blue jumpsuit they made us wear swallowed my body. My door opened, and Procter walked in with another male orderly.
“Today is the day, Morgan. You’ve been cleared and ready to go to the compound. Aren’t you excited?” Nurse Procter asked cheerfully.
I’ve said this many times, but this woman is delusional. Nothing about this is exciting. I guarantee if it was her that was being shipped off to some baby factory, she wouldn’t be excited either.
I didn’t reply to Procter. She didn’t expect it anyway. After being here for a few days, I resorted back to my old ways. Silent observer. I only spoke when absolutely necessary. The orderly slowly approached me. I learned early on in my stay to not fight when they came for me—there were greater punishments than death here. The orderly took one of my hands and placed it out in front of me, he then grabbed the other one and brought it to the front before placing metal cuffs on my wrists. He dropped my hand and shoved me forward to walk. I took one last glance at the prison I’d grown accustom to. I didn’t have much, just a few toiletries and a change of this hideous blue jumpsuit, so I had no reason to pack a bag or miss this room.
We headed down the long winding white hallways. I passed a few of the other girls. We seem to all be heading to the same place. We shuffled along, all with one nurse leading us and one orderly behind. I’d seen many of these girls around. We looked to be all around the same age. Their faces familiar to me. Often, we made eye contact, but never communicated. I wondered who these women were. What were their stories? Did they have families looking for them? These were daughters, sisters, and friends; they had to have people waiting for them back home. They had lives that they just disappeared from. How could this many women go missing, and it not become some type of national crisis?
The sun was too bright and too hot when I walked out into the heat. This wasn’t my first time in the sunlight. We were allowed outside for many of the physical tests they made us endure. This time, instead of the grass field that I was used to, we were met by concrete. A white school bus was idling in front of us. The words “Nevada State Penitentiary” were written on the side in black letters.
They loaded us onto the bus one at a time. I was in the back of the line of females. Once I got to the front, a man in army fatigues was there with a tablet.
“Name?” he asked without even looking up at me.
“Morgan Downs,” Nurse Procter answered for me.
The soldier punched in my name on the tablet and then announced, “You’re now number 1362.”
And with that, he finished erasing my identity. They took our freedom, our hair, and now our names. Stripping us of our names was the last act they could do to erase who we were. I fought the burn in the back of my throat that signaled my need to cry. With a heavy hand on my back, the orderly behind me urged me to get on the bus. I climbed on, looking at all the terrified faces around me. There were many different races here. We’d come from many different walks of life, but right now, we were all the same--terrified. I sat down beside a dark, brown-skinned girl with upturned light-brown cat eyes. She’s gorgeous, even with the unflattering low cut. Her sad eyes turned to me, and I smiled. It wasn’t a big smile, just a simple one to say that she wasn’t alone. The simple gesture seemed to calm her.
“Ashley,” she whispered, holding out a hand towards me.
“Morgan.” I took her hand and shook it briefly.
Another girl was placed in the seat across the aisle from us. We both grew silent as the orderly that escorted her walked away.
“How bad do you think it will be at this new place?” Ashley whispered.
I had no idea. I liked to think it couldn’t be that bad. I assumed that when they spoke about breeding us, they would do it by in-vitro fertilization. I don’t understand why they would need to ship us off to someplace else just to impregnate us. I’m pretty sure Vita Labs has more than enough resources to take care of the job. If I ever got my freedom back, I was going to do something about that place.
“I ddddddddddddon’t know.”
Ashley turned away from me and stared out the window. She didn’t say anything else for a while.
“I’m a dancer,” her soft voice said as she continued to look out the window. She turned back to me, and those sad, light-brown eyes locked onto me briefly before turning back to the window. “Ballet,” she further explained. “I’ve always danced. My mama said that I danced even before I walked. My mom’s dead now. She died of cancer a few years ago.”
“I’m sssssorry to hear that.”
She looked to me and nodded before turning back to the window again. “All I ever wanted to do is dance. To be the principal ballerina in a major company.” Another one of her long pauses. “It seems so trivial now. Now, I just want to survive.” Her voice broke, and tears fell down her dark brown cheeks.
I had no assurances to offer Ashley. I wasn’t sure any of us would survive, but I did the best thing I could think of—I placed my arm around her and pulled her onto my shoulder. No need to offer lies or false promises. She just needed to know she wasn’t alone.
“Alright, girls!” a booming voice sounded from the front of the bus.
I looked towards the sound of the voice, a tall man with a goatee and bushy eyebrows stood with one hand resting on each front aisle seat.
“My name’s Dak, and we’re going to make this trip as easy as possible. No talking, no standing, and no funny business. It would be inconvenient, but I have no problem putting a bullet in your head. The smoother this trip goes, the faster you can get to the compound, and then the real fun begins.” He let out a chuckle along with a few of the other soldiers that were on the bus.
Dak patted the driver’s shoulder, then took a seat at the front of the bus. The moment he sat, the bus started, the doors closed, and we started moving to the next stop on this journey to hell.
The ride to the new compound wasn’t very long, maybe only an hour or two. Ashley and I didn’t say much, but we continued to give each other moral support. When the bus finally came to a stop, Dak stood to his feet.
“What the fuck? We’re supposed to go in through the tunnels. All female deliveries are made through the tunnels,” Dak argued with himself.
“All this is blocked off,” the driver replied.
“Get someone on the radio,” Dak demanded.
Both Ashley and I glanced out the window. We looked to be at a large military airbase. There was nothing but large flight hangers, along with military airplanes, a few heavy-duty jeeps painted in dusty brown colors. Soldiers ran around the airstrip dressed in odd green army fatigues.
“Are they flying us somewhere?” Ashley whispered.
I didn’t get a chance to answer before Dak started yelling.
“You tell that asshole, I have a delivery to make. A schedule to keep. Open those goddamn gates and let us into the tunnel.”
The driver relayed his message and then paused for a reply.
“They said turn around and come back tomorrow. They won’t accept the girls today.”
Dak cursed under his breath. He turned towards us and ran a hand over his bald head. From the pinch brow and the unfocused eyes, I could tell he was weighing his options. Other than a two-hour drive, what’s the big deal with bringing us back tomorrow? Dak answered my question with his next words.
“Taking them back will fuck up the schedule, and I’m not taking the blame for that.”
“So, what are we going to do?” Another one of the soldiers asked.
Dak looked back at the closed gate, then smiled.
“We take them in through the back entrance. Once we get them offloaded, they will no longer be our problem.”
I assumed the driver thought this was a great plan. He immediately started the bus and pulled away from the large yellow gate. We took a few sharp turns that sent us sliding to the left. The driver then stopped the bus in the middle of another busy air strip. This one seemed more crowded than the last. Dak and a few of the other soldiers climbed off of the bus. One of the soldiers in the strange green pattern fatigues ran up to Dak, and a heated argument ensued. I watched as more soldiers in those strange green fatigues approached seeming to question our appearance. From the looks of it, the green fatigue soldiers wanted Dak to leave.
“Hey, let’s just start unloading these girls off the bus,” the bus driver stated.
The remaining soldiers on the bus all stood. One made his way to the back of the bus near us and opened the emergency exit. Another soldier directed the girls in the closest seats to climb off the bus. This caused even more of a ruckus. More armed soldiers approached all wearing the same green color fatigues. While the others girls watched the approaching soldiers, my eyes were glued to the men in the dark gray and black fatigues. The first thing that caught my eye was that I’d never seen those color fatigues, and I’d seen a ton of military uniforms these past four months during my stay at Vita Labs. The next thing that stood out about these particular soldiers was how big they were. They were tall, some maybe even reaching seven feet, and they were muscled, the kind of muscle you find in action movies. Their black t-shirts fit snug around large biceps and broad shoulders. Even still, that wasn’t the only thing that stood out about them. There was something about the way they stood, the way their eyes were trained straight ahead, yet I don’t think they were seeing anything. Their bodies are unnaturally still. No one could stand that still. It’s like not even the wind blew around them. There were other men with them too--a few of the soldiers dressed in green fatigues and heavy combat gear. The soldiers on this side of the hangar looked as if they were dressed for war.
A slender man in a white lab coat was turned towards the bus. From the look on his face, he wasn’t happy. He was medium height and build. Nothing really stood out about him. Dark brown hair that was short on the sides and back with only a little length in the front. A few little sprinkles of gray through his temple. Brown hooded eyes that seemed to flame more and more. I could tell by the way he stood and by the way the men around him reacted to him, that he was in charge, more so than the man in the full general uniform behind him. The man in the lab coat was definitely running this show, and just from one glance, I knew I needed to stay clear of him. The slender Middle Eastern man beside the guy in the lab coat said something, and lab coat guy turned away from the bus.
“Let’s go,” a soldier said before grabbing my arm and yanking me out of my seat. His grip was so tight, I knew it would leave a bruise. I tugged my arm away, but the soldier held on tighter as he drug me off the bus.
I don’t know what made me do it. Maybe the fear of being dropped off in this new place, or maybe I was just sick and tired of being treated like some hard criminal when I wasn’t, but something snapped, and I felt the urge to fight back. I yanked harder from the man’s grip losing my footing and tumbling to the ground.
“What the hell, Hector? You can’t control that bitch.” Another soldier from the bus mocked.
Hector frowned down at me. He grabbed me by the throat lifting me to my feet. I cried out as my small fists fought against his chest.
When I was a kid, the tree in our back yard got struck by lightning. I was in my bedroom looking out the window when I saw the light hit the tree splitting it in half. I ran out of my house, wanting to get a closer view, despite my parents’ objection. I remember how charged the area was minutes after the lightning struck. It was like pure energy was circling around my back yard. Well, for the second time in my life, that feeling hit me again. This time, it caused the hairs on my arms to stand up.
A loud commotion sounded off in the distance. At first, it sounded like a growl that was followed by yelling, then the sound of feet hitting the pavement. Hector released me, and I fell to the ground. I turned to the sound of the commotion, and my mouth dropped open. One of the soldier’s in black had broken rank, and he was headed towards us. One of the green fatigue soldiers stepped in front of him with a gun. Before the gun went off, the huge soldier bent the metal gun in half, grabbed the soldier, and snapped his neck all without breaking his stride.
“Fire the guns!” the guy in the lab coat yelled.
The sound of gunfire went off. I turned away, not wanting to see the tall soldier get shot down with the large guns that were aimed at him. The sound was deafening as more than fifty guns went off at once. I covered my ears to block out the noise. When the sound stopped, I lowered my hands and looked back up expecting to find the soldier lying face down on the pavement. My eyes widened at the sight before me. Standing in front of me, with what looked like hundreds of small darts sticking out of his body, was the soldier. He was even taller this close up, but what I wasn’t expecting was how beautiful he was. I know using the word beautiful to describe a man isn’t common, but there was no other word for him. His bone structure was enough to make a sculptor jealous. A hard, square jaw with full lips. A long narrow nose that had a slight crook in it. It was the only imperfection on his face. Golden tan skin that made his silver deep set eyes stand out. Eyes that were so intense they made my heart beat fast. He didn’t speak as his chest rapidly expanded and depressed like he just ran a marathon.
“Alpha!” I looked around the soldier to find the man in the white lab coat watching us. The way his eyes studied us was unnerving.
The soldier, or Alpha, still didn’t move. He stood in the same spot watching me.
“Alpha, that’s enough. Everything is alright now. Come back to the line, and we can discuss this.”
Alpha didn’t acknowledge the lab coat man. His eyes were still on me. I waited for him to speak, to say something, but he didn’t. He took a step towards me, and I crab crawled back on instinct. I didn’t know if this man would hurt me or not, but I did see him kill at least seven soldiers with his bare hands without breaking a sweat.
Alpha stopped moving towards me, his eyebrows bunched together. He looked confused.
“Do you want the girl, Alpha? Is that what this is about?” Lab coat asked.
This time, Alpha’s head turned only an inch towards the sound of lab coat’s voice. A very subtle sign that showed he was interested in what lab coat was saying.
“Alright,” lab coat said. “Take the girl to breeding room number seventeen.”
At the words breeding room, my heart started to race so fast my head spun. This time, Alpha’s eyes narrowed down at me. It was like he knew I was panicking. A green fatigue soldier grabbed my arm to lift me, and before his fingers wrapped around my upper arm, Alpha ripped the man away from me with a feral growl that had me nearly pissing my pants. He grabbed the hand the man used to touch me and yanked it back breaking the hand at an unnatural angle. The soldier screamed and fell to the ground at my feet. I swayed a little. The fear and adrenaline starting to get to me.
Alpha grabbed for me when a large dart hit his chest causing him to stumble back a step. He growled before falling to his knees in front of me. The entire time, those bright silver eyes stayed focused on me. Finally, the huge soldier succumbed to the injuries, and he fell forward landing on top of the injured soldier.
The buzz of the crowd went off around me. The sound of voices picked back up. The guy in the lab coat stepped up to me, and those penetrating eyes stared at me with interest. I guess my plan to stay out of his way just went up in smoke. I didn’t have time to dwell on it, because the dizziness finally catches up to me. I faint.