Indestructible (12 page)

“Not feeling chatty, eh?” The doctor smiled and got up, nodding at the two men, who stepped forward. A boot connected with my ribs, making me cry out. Another kick followed, and I doubled over. One of the men grabbed me by the hair, forcing my head up. His fist collided with my jaw and my head hit the wall. I focused on my breathing, trying to block out the vicious pain.

“Enough,” the doctor said, and the men stepped back. “Still no sign of an element.”

I gave him a bewildered look. “I don’t have any elements. Do you really think beating me up is going to change that?”

“Perhaps not.” He pulled out a small package out of his pocket.

My eyes widened as he unwrapped a syringe and a tiny bottle of purple liquid. “What is that? What are you going to do?”

“You’ll see.” He pierced the top of the bottle with the syringe. “Hold her down.”

“No!” I yelled as the men pinned me to the wall, making it impossible for me to move. “You can’t do this!”

The doctor crouched in front of me and took hold of my arm, tugging at the long white dress they’d given me to wear. Exposing my shoulder, he pierced my skin with the syringe. I cried out as I watched the unknown liquid drain into me.

A burning sensation spread through my veins and I screamed. My body thrashed in a futile attempt to get the liquid out. My stomach convulsed, my muscles protesting in pain as if someone was stretching them out. It was more than I could bear, and when the fire in my blood was exchanged by the sudden coldness, I shivered and let the darkness take me.

I found myself sitting in the middle of a frozen lake and nearly laughed out loud. My mind had a strange way of dealing with traumas. Only this time I couldn’t see Adrian anywhere. The snow crunched under my feet as I got up, glad that I couldn’t feel the cold or  the pain. But when I looked down at my arms, I saw snowflakes all over them, paired with a bunch of nasty looking black veins. This better not be happening to me in the real life because that would seriously piss me off. Who’d ever find a dress that fits or covers that?

My brain kept telling me I should just relax and forget about everything. It wasn’t like I would survive whatever the scientists and Sebastian had planned for me. I eyed the glassy, frozen surface of the lake. If I jumped into the cold water, would I die or feel nothing?

“Who are you?” a tiny voice reached my ears, and I turned around, surprised to find a ghostly figure of a little girl in front of me.

“I could be asking you the same question.” The girl was blond, her long curly hair wet and plastered to her face. If I’d seen her before, I didn’t remember it.

“I’m Sara,” she said, shivering in her white dress.

“I’m Ria,” I said. “What are you doing here? I thought this was my dream.”

Sara gasped. “You’re real?”

I pressed my lips together and shrugged. “I don’t know anymore. The bad doctor gave me something and now I’m here.”

“Oh my God! I did it. I can’t believe it.” The girl’s face was flustered with excitement and panic. For a moment, she looked delighted, but then a shadow crossed her face and wiped away her smile.

“What did you do?” I asked cautiously. How smart was it to talk to the figments of my imagination?

“The doctor said I could reach out with my element and get into the consciousness of anyone whose mind was in a weak state. I didn’t believe him, but you’re here and you look real.”

“Wait, what?” I gaped at the girl. “What do you mean you got into my mind? How is that even possible?”

The girl looked down at her bare feet. “I don’t know.”

My mind was sluggish, so I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to concentrate. I was definitely in some kind of a lab or a research facility. Just because I hadn’t seen any other subjects or normal people didn’t mean that they weren’t somewhere in the building. Besides, the doctors usually kept me sedated while they transferred me from place to place. “Sara, what is your element?”

“Water,” she said.

“So you didn’t create all of this?” I pointed at the snow.

She shook her head. “I think you did that. Is your element ice?”

“No, it’s not. I don’t have an element.” I took a step closer to the girl. “Are you a magic disease carrier?”

She nodded. “I’ve been in this place for months.”

“This place? You mean the lab?” I was hoping Sara could tell me more about where we were. She might have seen something I hadn’t.

“Yeah.” She chewed on her lip. “They told me they brought me here because I’m the youngest carrier they could find.”

“Do you know where we are? Where did you use to live?” All I needed was the name of the town. That could help me a lot to calculate how much time Lily and the others would need to find me.

“I’m from Annville, but I think we’re somewhere near a big city. The drive from Annville wasn’t long, and sometimes I think I can hear planes.”

If the girl was telling the truth, then we were back in the city. Lily and her men should be here at any moment. Sebastian must have been annoyed that the assassin had managed to drag me all the way to Las Vegas when he could have just captured me while I was visiting my mom or Alan. But if this place was so close to Lily’s compounds, then why hadn’t they rescued me already? No, I couldn’t think that they all believed I was dead.

“Do you know if there’s a way out of this place? Where are you being held?” I asked, getting impatient. The snow kept falling on top of me, the coldness intensifying. I couldn’t feel it before, but now small trembles started to shake my body.

“I don’t think there’s a way out.” The girl’s green eyes were big and frightened. “They hold me in a white room, but all the rooms look the same. I never know where I am or how close I am to people whose minds I touch.”

I’d never thought there’d be a person who could exchange her element at a long distance. Did that mean she was transmitting the disease if she touched a regular elemental? If that was possible, then this girl could be used as a weapon.

I was about to ask her another question when everything started to spin around me. The girl disappeared from view and chunks of snow flew up, nearly hitting me. I was getting colder and colder, barely able to move my frozen fingers. The coldness seared me from the inside as I took another breath. I had to wake up from this or I was going to die in my sleep.

The ice on the surface of the lake cracked open, leaving a hole big enough for a person to jump in. I eyed the cold water, wondering whether it would save me or kill me if I flung myself into it. There was only one way to find out. Forcing my feet to move, I walked over to the edge. The ice was slippery and all I had to do was lean forward. Closing my eyes, I dove into the cold water, welcoming its deathly embrace.

Chapter 17

“I told you to force her to use her element! Not kill her!” Sebastian’s angry voice rang through my consciousness.

“She was supposed to use it to save her life. Maybe she really doesn’t have her elements,” the doctor said, his voice calm.

“She took my cousin’s element! I know it’s somewhere inside of her. Ethan’s fire is too strong to fade away.”

I heard the slam of the door and the scurrying of feet across the floor. A cold hand touched my arm and I shivered.

“The subject is alive,” the doctor said, but no one else spoke. Either the doctor was alone and recording this, or whoever else was in the room didn’t have anything to say. The door opened and closed again, and I dared to open my eyes. I was back in one of the white rooms, but this time I was actually in a bed, my head propped up on a pillow.

The cuffs rattled when I tried to move my arms. No surprise there. They wouldn’t have let me untied and alone. I squirmed under the warm covers, satisfied that Sebastian’s plan hadn’t worked. It was hard to believe that he still thought I had his cousin’s element. Even if I did, what would he do with it? He couldn’t bring Ethan back to life. Or was that his way of confirming that I’d really killed Ethan? Either way, it seemed pointless.

An hour or so later, the door opened and a nurse came in, her black hair tied into a tight bun. She was carrying a tray with food and set it on the edge of the bed. Her hazel eyes met mine and there was something in them that was different from the usual cold, empty stare everyone was giving me here.

“How am I supposed to eat if I can’t sit up?” I rattled the cuffs. The woman glanced at the tray, then at me, a frown line appearing on her brow. But instead of uncuffing me, she started for the door.

“Hey! Come back!” I yelled after her, but she left the room. A couple of minutes later, she returned, but with two guys in black and with my least favorite person in the world, Sebastian.

“I didn’t know you were so afraid of little old me,” I said, flashing him a smile. “Do you really need all the security?”

“Shut up,” Sebastian bit out. “Get her up and don’t forget to cuff her.”

The men approached me, their grip on my arms so tight I thought they’d leave bruises. It took them a couple of moments to force me to sit up and shackle me to the middle part of the bed so I could reach the plate. They weren’t too concerned with the fact that I’d have to bend forward into the most uncomfortable position if I actually wanted to eat something.

“What do you want, Sebastian?” I said, unnerved by his presence. “I’m sure you didn’t come here just to watch me eat.” Thanks to his little experiment on me, I knew that he didn’t want me dead, at least until he got his cousin’s element back, which was impossible. This only gave me hope that Lily would find me in time.

“Nothing much. Just came to tell you the doc is preparing something special for you.” He stopped very close to the bed, his hand reaching for my throat. I tried to get away, but the cuffs wouldn’t let me. Sebastian’s fingers wrapped around my throat and he squeezed. My eyes watered and I coughed. He let go of me, wiping his hand on his pants.

“Your life belongs to me, Ria.” He smiled. “Don’t you ever forget that.”

Leaning forward, I spat into his face. The guards started toward me, but Sebastian waved his hand. “Don’t bother. The bitch will get what she deserves.” He grabbed the napkin from my tray and dabbed it at his face.

With one last look full of hatred, he went through the door, the guards trailing after him. The nurse stared at me, her eyes wide.

“What?” I raised an eyebrow at her. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then simply went for the door. I grabbed the sandwich off the plate and bent forward until I could take a bite. Whatever Sebastian wanted to try on me next couldn’t be any good. If Lily, Paula and Adrian couldn’t find me, then I had to figure out how to get out of this place on my own.

How big could the lab be? I assumed it was pretty big, since they had enough space to move us around like it was nothing and ensure we didn’t see each other. Sara had to be somewhere here too, but since I couldn’t feel any elements, I didn’t know whether this place was full of carriers or there were normal elementals, aside from the doctors and nurses. I was entirely sure the doctors weren’t carriers, but I doubted they’d be willing to experiment on their own people.

The only time the guards uncuffed me was when I was allowed to go for a bathroom break. Could I overpower two guards without any weapon or elements? I’d say not really. Damn it. There had to be a way. I looked around the room and saw a tiny red flashing light in the corner. I’d almost forgotten they had cameras. If I wanted to do something, like hide the spoon somewhere for later use, I’d have to be extra careful. I wasn’t exactly sure what for I could use the spoon, but they hadn’t given me a knife or a fork.

At least I knew Sebastian didn’t want me dead, so if I decided to explore the building a little the next time they took me for a bathroom break, they wouldn’t be able to do much except catch me. I wasn’t sure how much of the building I’d be able to see if I tried to run off, but I’d rather try something than sit here and wait for help that might not come.

The guards had no idea what hit them when I jumped on one of them and pushed the other. I stormed down the hall, hoping to see where it was going. To my surprise, I couldn’t see any cameras in the hall. If they were monitoring only the rooms, that could prove to be useful. I looked right and left, but all I could see were gray doors with keypads. My progress was stopped by a large glass door in the middle of the hall. The only way to open the door was by punching the right code into the keypad next to it. Great. There was no way in hell someone would tell me the code, unless I threatened them. The guards relied on their strength and maybe their elements, because I didn’t see any weapons on them.

I fell onto my back as a gust of wind hit me in the stomach. The guards were running toward me, and one of them had a fireball ready in his hand. Raising my hands in the air, I slowly pushed myself to my feet.

“Do not do that again,” one of the guards said before he backhanded me. An idea came to my mind. There was one person who could tell me the code for the door; Sara.

Chapter 18

Every inch of my body hurt after the guards were through with me. They tied me up in a different room, and this time my hands were cuffed above my head. At least I could sit with my legs sprawled. The doctor came in with another one of the beeping devices attached to the pocket of his coat.

“You shouldn’t have tried to run away,” he said. “You know there’s no way out of here.”

I chuckled, but even that little movement hurt. “Tell me, doc, what are you going to do now?”

“I want to try something else.” He turned to the camera and made a cutting movement. The red light stopped flashing. Uh oh. “Shall we proceed?” Pushing his sleeves up, he came closer. “They told me you didn’t only have fire. You had air and water too.”

“Yeah, so?” I tilted my head at him.

“I’ll make you use one of your elements,” he said determinedly.

“But I don’t have...” Particles of dust and sand flew into my eyes and filled my lungs. My mouth and tongue felt heavy, the sand crunching under my teeth. I coughed, but instead of clearing my throat, I kept swallowing more and more sand. If he continued with this, he was going to kill me or knock me out.