14_Unhinged

I was dragged into a room. I couldn't see a thing because of the large sack over my head. I heard voices that hushed as soon as I stepped into a room.

I felt footsteps approaching I tried to use my sense of directions to know exactly where the sound was coming from.

The person suddenly stopped walking in front of me.

"Remove the sack. We need to see what we're working with" someone said.

The sound of heels clicking against tiles was the only sound in the room.

The sack over my head was immediately yanked away and I had to close my eyes to shield them from the blinding light. My eyes remained shut.

"Are you sure she is a mutant? She looks kind of normal" another voice said.

"She is, we had her tested" One of the men holding my arm replied.

"Take her to the room, we'll have the antidote tested tomorrow" another voice spoke.

The men started pulling me away from the room. Before I was dragged away; I opened my eyes briefly to observe my environment, all I could see was a stark white room with a handful of men and women with stark white lab coat and nose masks.

I tried looked around to know if I would recognize Ma, but no one looked like her.

The men dragged me into an elevator and pushed the button for the ground floor. The ride down was a fast one, the doors opened to a poorly lit hallway with doors lined up on both sides. I was dragged down the hallway and pushed into a room at the very end, the cuffs around my wrists were unlocked, the door was locked and I was immediately plunged in darkness.

I looked around, my eyes immediately adjusting to the darkness; I tugged at the device still wrapped tightly around my neck shutting my oxygen intake. I felt uncomfortable as I sat there on the floor waiting for my fate to be decided by those devils in white apparels.

Ma was not in there today, was she being lock away too. I need to find. If only I could get this device off my neck, I would use my powers to break out of here and get to her.

I kept on tugging at the device but it refused to budge, whatever it was made of was really strong. I stood up from the floor; I started feeling the walls for a light switch.

The room stretched out longer than I imagined, I felt around the room for close to a minute until my hand bumped against something that was dangling from the ceiling. It looked like a braided rope. I tugged at it hard, once, twice nothing happened. I gave up and sat back on the floor to think of an escape plan.

I had barely settled down on the floor when I heard a click sound and the room suddenly became illuminated. I gasped in shock at the interior. This looks more posh for a holding cell.

Just like everywhere, the walls and tiles were stark white, I could literary see my reflection on the wall. There was no single furniture in the room, just walls. The source of the light was also invisible. I walked around for a while trying to figure something out.

There was nothing sharp I could use to burst the neck collar. Whoever cleaned the room did a thorough job. If only I had held my hair with pins like I always do, I would have something sharp to destroy the discomfort around my neck.

The sound of the door sliding open alerted me; I quickly sat back down on the floor so as not to look suspicious. A young girl dressed in a white turtle neck and a black jean trouser walked in with a tray in her hands. Her dark red hair was packed up in a neat bun, no strand of hair was out of place, and a pair of glasses was perched on her nose.

"You must be hungry. I brought food" she said placing the tray on the ground in front of me.

I looked at her for a while

"Do you always feed the mutants you kidnap before you kill them?"

She looked at me wide-eyed as if she was clueless about what I said

I rolled my eyes.

It's so appalling if these people think that we don't know what they are up to. Pretending to take mutants for the safety of the people but using them as test objects for their fake antidotes, killing them in the process.

"You don't have to pretend, eveyone knows what you guys are up to"

I whispered getting closer to her.

The food which was surprisingly warm looked so appealing, my stomach choose that moment to rumble, I smiled up at her a little embarrassed.

"I don't like eating with strangers peering down at me" I said to her indicating it was time for her to leave the room.

She turned to walk out and I noticed the pins holding her bun in place. Taking one of them won't hurt, there were a lot of them and I doubt she would notice if one is missing. My eyes lit up as a stupid idea came to mind. I pushed the tray very far from me, placed my hand on my chest and the drama began.

I started coughing so hard as though I was chocking. She turned and rushed towards me. There was a bottle of water on the tray with a glass beside it. She quickly turned away from me to pour me a glass of water. I reached out and carefully pulled out a pin from her bun quickly hiding it behind me. She felt it and quickly turned towards me.

"You had something in your hair. It looked like a web" I said between bouts of cough

She smiled.

"Thank you"

She said handing the water to me.

"You know, not everybody that work here is evil. Some of us hate what she does but we cannot do or say anything"

She whispered.

"She?"

"Our boss, she is the owner of K-Tech"

"This is K-Tech?"

"No. It's a secret lab. But you've heard of K-Tech?"

"Yes. I didn't know K-Tech had a secret lab"

"It was opened two months after the explosion. It's in a secret location"

I looked at her for a while, I hesitated before speaking again, she looked like someone I could trust.

"Do you know any Maria Jones working here?" I whispered

"She prepared the antidotes"

She replied, her face etched with shock.

"Do you know her?"

I nodded slowly then I looked her in the eyes and said

"I need your help"

=========

I knew when the men came in with the mutant, this one was a quiet one. Normally, all the mutants we bring always made noises and struggled to be free.

I stayed in my room through out the whole exchange, tomorrow I'll meet the mutant, I don't want to developed any sentiment before the job is done, if that happens, I won't be able to carry on with my plans.

Cathy was seated on my bed sipping a cup of coffee, her eyes looked tired from hours of working in the lab.

"Do you think we are doing the right thing?" she suddenly asked.

I turned away from the floor to ceiling window to look at her.

"The world is not right, I lost my sense of reasoning when I was separated from my daughter years ago. What is right and wrong have lost meaning to me"

She looked at me for a while, took a slow sip of her coffee

"We must find those documents. This really has to end. I'm tired"

"Don't worry by tomorrow, if all goes well. we'll have those documents in our possession. I guarantee you that"