55Chapter 21
Now, one would have thought that the human community would have caught on before now that their daughters were going missing, but, alas, that is not the case. It took the police department weeks to even look at the missing persons reports. It was quite sad actually, but once the deputies realized how high the number of misplaced young women was, they immediately went into their own form of action by forming long overdue search parties and posting signs in neighboring towns. They went so far as to send a report on it for the local news station to air since they reached everyone within a five hundred mile radius. Unfortunately, this newly heightened interest made it hard for the pack to get anything done. The police were everywhere the remaining children might be.
Dravin was getting fed up with the police wandering around the curious neighborhoods, asking far too many questions about the citizens' daughters. It was after their seventh questioning of her that Miadma yelled at the officer in her living room to leave her family alone because he obviously had no idea what he was doing since he kept asking her the same ignorant questions over and over and her answers were not going to change no matter how many time she asked them and would he leave now, please. Dravin went to the station and made bail for his wife, who returned to their house red as a beat and just as angry. No one could blame her though. Ever the humans were feeling on edge. For some of them, it had been weeks since they had seen their daughters and everyone was about ready to take the law into their own hands, which was a scary thought for the police force.
It was a cool day as the town made its way into late summer considering the act that the temperatures had stayed well up into the hundreds for weeks by that time.
Refusing the drugs was not an option as the girls were all being treated like guinea pigs. Pretending to take them and then hiding them in a nearby plant was, however, what Caro did with hers daily. Caro dropped two more "headache" pills into the dark earth under the tree that had wept for ages and ages. With her own, she put a small vivid pink capsule she had confiscated from Elle. Caro was sick of all the giggling. It was like being back in elementary school when boys were boys had cooties and clothes didn't match, as her friends would say.
There was a pattern in their days at the compound. Get up, dress, eat, test. Testing went on for hours on end sometimes. One day it would be like a regular check-up, the next they'd be asking questions, and then the next would be just weird as they told her to stare at an object and concentrate on it. Nothing ever happened, at least not that Caro saw. At least there wasn't the worry of the full moon anytime soon; that's what the lab coats were looking for. Every evening before bed, one of the worker bees of the doctors would take their temperatures. If they were Were then their blood was naturally warmer to keep whatever it was that brought the change on working properly. Lycanthropes that were cold usually died or were near death when found.
Caro had had just about enough by the time the machine beeped that she was beginning her third mile. There was movement to her right and Mysen appeared with a sobbing human girl in her arms. Their eyes met and Caro saw something she couldn't place. Was it fear or superiority that looked back at her? Mysen was a mystery.
The floor was moving faster. Damn. Caro had to pay attention to where her feet were going. She had been running for what seemed like ages at gradually higher speeds and was irritated that the stupid little minion in scrubs didn't let her off. She would have to hurt him when the chance arose. No one ordered her to do anything and she certainly wasn't going to let them control how long she did run, a fond pastime. She pulled impatiently at the suction cups on her body that connected her to machines. She grabbed the railing around her as she tripped on the moving sidewalk they had her on. Stupid thing was going to break her neck, but she wouldn't give them the satisfaction. The technician stood and began walking slowly backwards towards an intercom phone on the wall, never taking his eyes off the sweaty, advancing Caro.
"You don't want to do that," remarked Lee in an idle, singsong voice as she continued her light jogging on a machine across the room.
The little man in scrubs ignored her and told Caro to be a good girl and put the equipment back on as she walked towards him. He had the receiver in his hands and was inching towards a call button, probably for backup guards. With a blur of movement, she shot forward, grabbed his wrist and twisted it up at an odd angle. One squeeze and she could easily break it. He whimpered as Elle followed her example and pulled herself free of the machines. Elle grasped the receiver and pulled the entire phone from the wall. The two girls smiled like devils at each other. The man, unnoticed for a few seconds, had his emergency call alarm in his free hand and was trying to press the button that called for backup.
"Tut tut," clicked Caro as she snapped the bones in his wrist. He gave a strangled moan as Elle covered his mouth with her hand and smashed the alarm caller with her foot. The girls smiled and he fainted, sadly. Disappointment etched on her face, Caro leaned him against the wall. "That was no fun. How dare he not be the jerk he was when we were all busy."
Elle chuckled at her friend's attitude and headed for the door. "Come one, Caro. Let's get out of here."
Drake was pacing up and down the hall in front of Dravin's office. Chris was watching him from his perch on a nearby mahogany table. He was getting dizzy watching his long time friend acting like a caged animal. Drake had gotten Raven, the idiot of a girl, out of some kind of trouble. It had to be important for no one to be allowed in the office but Dravin and Raven. Probably had something to do with the kidnappings, but why would she know anything? As Drake passed him for about the seventy-fifth time in ten minutes, Chris grabbed his arm and pushed him to the floor.
"What was that for?" Drake grumbled, rubbing his back as he sat up.
"You're making me sick with your pacing. Quit it."
With a sign, Drake picked himself up and learned against the dark green walls. Unusually, he wasn't arguing, which in itself was disturbing. Raven was not one whom Drake had ever cared for more than simply to ask her to "pass the butter" when there was a communal dinner. She was not one of those people that everyone flocked to, but when she decided to speak up, they listened. Chris watched Drake as he again started his voyage up and down the hall. He would have to trip Drake soon or he might throw up all over the ornate rug covering the length of the wood-floored hallway.
Drake radiated pent up energy as he paced back and forth like a caged animal. It was times like these that Caro would have given a signature smart-aleck remark, they would have argued, and he would have gotten to let off some steam. Drake had always been funny that way. It was Miadma that finally got him to go lie down to calm himself. He was making the house very uncomfortable to be in. Finally, he fell asleep, having not slept much the night before. Dravin, meanwhile, was making little headway with Raven since she seemed incapable of forming whole sentences. Miadma led the girl away to rest and restore her wits when Dravin threw a heavy, leather bound book at the door, denting it.
Outside of the house there was a ruckus beginning. Miadma went to investigate, Chris in tow.
The two guards outside of the lab room doors were easy to take down by surprise. Caro and Elle thought that they had been better guarded, but they guessed not since it was this easy to get out of their designated area. In quiet steps, the girls made their way down the corridors, looking for Lee. They could get the rest out later, but with three of them out, they were bound to be able to find an exit. A door was open about halfway down the third hallway the two of them tried. Inside it was Lee, sitting at a table in a hard, metal chair, reading a book. Elle knocked the guard's head against the wall and watched him slid to the floor before going in and shaking Lee about the shoulders.
"Lee. Lee?" called Elle softly. "It's time to go. Hello? Are you in there?" She knocked playfully on Lee's head.
Lee turned and looked her in the eye. Elle stumbled backwards until her back hit the wall, away from Lee's dark gaze. Caro stepped forward as her friend stood from the art book she was examining and turned a cold gaze on her.
"Lee, you have to snap out of this. We don't have a lot of time and we'd like to get out of her as soon as possible. Lee, are you listening? Can you hear me?" Caro snapped her fingers in front of her friend's face before turning away, taking a deep breathe, and turning back around to slap Lee hard enough to send her sprawling across the linoleum. It took a moment, but Lee sat up on her elbows, the ugly look gone from her eyes, and glared at Caro?
"Gees, Caro, what was that for?" Still, she smiled as Caro helped her to her feet. "What's up?"
"We're making blowing this pop stand," was Elle's reply from the doorway. "And I think we should keep moving. One of the men is sure to wake up and alert the whole compound about us soon and I for one would like to be as far away from here as I can get before that happens."
The other two nodded and they continued cautiously down the hallways. Suddenly, a blue light flashed above their heads and a siren screamed.
"Shirt," yelled Caro, running around the bend of the hallways.
They could hear footsteps not too far off. A door opened to their right and a hand beckoned them to follow. With not other options, the girls followed, then stopped dead as the door closed behind them. Mysen stood there in front of them looking grave.
"Mysen," spat Caro.
"Here me out, kids," was the calm reply as Mysen adjusted her glasses.
"Why should we? You are probably the one that told theses evil people about us and it's all your fault we are here and not where we should be with the rest of our families," whispered Elle with eat, because they could hear heavy footsteps going up and down the passageway outside of the door.
"I know you do not trust me, but I am only trying to help you. Please, listen to me. If you don't, you will never get out."
"We're listening," replied Caro, leaning against the door for her own peace of mind.
"This experiment that all of you are involved in is, was my pet project. It was my idea to explore preternatural powers. I had proof that vampires existed, so why not werewolves, dragons, every fantasy creature imaginable? I asked myself this, and then went to my boss, who begun funding the whole project, but then it got out of control. I had though we would study suspected people of preternatural origin from afar. Just observe, not disrupt their lives in any way, but them Dr. Shaitan was put in charge of my project. She did not agree with me on how the research should be done and the data collected. I had gotten some interesting observations from a small community and I went to investigate and get away from that vile woman. I found my first proof that I had stumbled upon a werewolf pack and sent it back to the base station to be analyzed. The next day, Shaitan shows up, round up all of those people who were more than just people and threatened that if they didn't cooperate, she would kill their young ones one by one in front of them all to see. She's a sick woman."
The three girls stared in stunned silence at the woman in front of them. She was either telling the truth, or a really sick lie. Mysen looked desperate to be believed, but she had not given anyone licensed to trust her thus far.
"I can get you out of here, but you have to trust me," Mysen finished, softly.
"Since this is our only option right now, Mysen, we'll go with you," said Elle.
"I can't go with you. They'd suspect something if I'm gone. Go through that door," Mysen pointed to a door on the far wall of the room. "Then go down the hall until you come to a door on the right side marked EPL. Go through the door until you reach the end of the room and through the door at the end. Go through it and down a short hallway. There should be a red door at the end. A pass code is needed. Punch in 4-3-7-9 and the door should click open. Open it and run like hell."
"What's EPL?" voiced Lee.
"Experimental Paranormal Laboratory. Strange stuff. No more talking, go."
Mysen pushed the girls towards the door and left them in the beginning of the hallway.