Reap

Because something inside me had snapped, and just as my babushka had proclaimed, I knew I would never be the same again.

Chapter Ten

Zaal

“You think it will work this time?” Master asked the man who wore a white coat.

I started shaking at Master’s voice. He was cruel. He would punish me if I ever remembered them, he’d punish me if I didn’t do as he said.

“I fixed the chemical balance, so it should work. We’ll see.”

“It took the dog weeks to recover from the last shot.” I stiffened. Master was angry and my hands shook harder.

I stared at the ceiling. I was strapped down, I couldn’t move. The man in the white coat came closer. My body froze. My chest tightened and I couldn’t breathe.

He hurt me.

He always hurt me.

My eyes widened when I saw what he held in his hands. A needle. A long needle. I tried to lift my hands to stop it going into my arm. The straps held me down. I kicked my feet and thrashed my body trying to escape. The man in the white coat stepped back.

“221, stop!” Master’s voice echoed in my ears. I stopped moving.

Don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me anymore, I pleaded in my mind.

Someone laughed as I tried to breathe. “You’ve got him well trained.”

Master laughed. I recognized his laugh. He laughed at me when he hurt me. He laughed at me when he made me bleed, when he hit me, when I cried.

“He’s a weak dog that I broke. Stripped him of his name and that fucking family he belonged to. Now he’s mine. Now he heels only to his master’s voice.”

The laughter got louder, but Master’s command kept my body unmoving on the bed.

The man with the white coat again came closer but he stopped. He was looking at Master. “If I remove the straps will he stay down when I inject him?”

“He’ll do anything I command.” Master paused. “Watch.”

The man in the white coat unfastened my straps. I wanted to move, until Master ordered, “221, stay still. Do not move or you will be punished.”

At his command, my shoulders pressed into the bed. Not even my fingers could move.

“Impressive, Levan,” the man in the white coat congratulated.

“What will be even more impressive is if this shot works. It’ll clear any memory of who he was, and fuel his rage, yes?”

“Yes … flawlessly,” the man confidently replied. I could see the white coat out of the corner of my eye. I didn’t want to see him inject me, so I closed my eyes. A sharp pain spread through the arm. The man in the white coat pushed the needle harder and deeper. I wanted to scream, I wanted to run away, but Master had ordered me not to move.

A hot feeling suddenly filled my arm; the hot feeling quickly shot through my body. I gritted my teeth as the liquid turned to fire in my veins. It hurt, it hurt so much.

My body shook. Something was stabbing my stomach. I couldn’t stand it. It was making me angry; so angry I needed to scream out the pain, I needed to get it out.

But I couldn’t move.… I couldn’t move.…

Snapping my eyes open, I blinked and my body jerked. I blew out a breath. I could move?

I could move.

I squeezed my eyes shut to chase away the nightmare. Master had been there. Master and a man in a white coat, both hurting a boy. Hurting a child who was … who was—

Hearing breathing beside me, I sat up, braced to kill, when I saw her. The golden hair, the brown eyes … her.

I shook my head and squeezed my eyes shut trying to remember. Water. Water. She’d washed me. She—

Opening my eyes again, I reached out and, taking her arm, pulled her closer. She let out a shocked cry and her eyes grew big. She looked scared. I didn’t want her scared. I thought she must have been like me. She must be Master’s, too. He never let females that weren’t his near me. Ever.

I had to protect her.

Remembering her from before, I picked up her hand and stared at it. It was so small. Her fingers were so little, and they had a strange color on the end.

Her hand was hot. It was so soft. I ran my fingers over her palm and heard her breathing change. I saw her light skin go red. I wanted to touch it.

Lifting my hand, she went still. I moved my fingers closer and pressed them against her skin. It was soft like her hand. No, softer. And it was warm.

Her hand moved in my hand. Before she could pull it away, I picked it up and pressed it against my cheek.

I closed my eyes. It felt just like last night. I felt just as good.

Her breathing got faster and faster, and I opened my eyes when her other hand pressed on my other cheek.