Page 82 of The Program

They could keep hurting Bal.

Demari’s face appeared in a hologram, hovering over the dais. I glared, knowing that he could see me even if he wasn’t actually in the room.

‘While I take pride in my success in your abilities, they are becoming rather troublesome in your possession, precious girl,’ he chastised, and if he were more than laser pixels hovering in the air I would have killed him then and there. The coward wasn’t even in the room, and he thought a floating depiction of him would deter me? I think fucking not.

In response, I merely stared him down. I could hear the others shuffling uneasily behind me but paid them no head. With those scalpels so close to Bal, we needed to play this carefully.

Demari’s dissatisfied grunt echoed through the speakers placed at intervals around the room, the result sounding like his voice was coming at me from every direction. Another power play, and one that I had to admitwas working. It riled me up even more, and I had to remind myself not to do anything reckless for Bal’s sake. For my friends’ sakes.

He tsked. ‘Well, it seems you have given me no choice. You’ve been a very bad girl, Subject A-173, and bad girls get punished.’ The face adjusted in mid-air to point at the scientists beneath. ‘You know what to do.’

And then the hologram dispersed, leaving me staring wide-eyed in horror as all four scientists raised scalpels and other sharp surgical instruments above their heads, each point directed towards Baldr’s tiny body strapped to the table. They brought them down, almost as if in slow motion…

And I fuckinglost it.

With a scream of pure anguish and terror, I thrust my hands forward.‘NO!’

It took me a moment to process what I’d done. Where once there stood four scientists over a prone, helpless, screeching Baldr, now stood three. And a bit. Somehow, I had pushed my shield towards him more like a bullet than a defensive mechanism. It had collided with his head, exploding it on impact. Blood, shards of bone, and brain matter burst in every direction, splattering the other scientists with their weapons still raised.

The headless body collapsed to the floor. The scientists looked from the body to their bloody clothes, then up to me. I shouldn’t have taken pleasure in it, but as soon as the realisation that I could kill them even from this distance sank in, I smiled.

Two of them dropped the scalpels and tried to run, and for the moment I let them believe they would get away. Not because I wanted to play with them, but because the final scientist was continuing his efforts to follow out Demari’s orders. The first hit blew his hand straight off and obliterated the weapon at the same time, but I was already throwing another one at him before he could process the loss. This time, the force blew a hole straight through his chest and blasted open his back so I could see straight through to the other side. He gurgled as he fell, but his eyes were lifeless before he even hit the ground.

I got the last two in quick succession, aiming for their heads and their hearts. If it weren’t for the bloody mess left behind of said organs I wouldn’t have believed they had either.

The guards whipped into gear after that, the shock wearing off into true fear as they aimed all their guns at me. They fired shot after shot, but nothing broke through the barrier I had erected around me and the others. I waited them out until they were out of ammunition, mirroring the way I had done so in the facility on the Forbidden Planet only a few weeks ago.

Idiots. They never learned.

Once the last guards had emptied their chambers, I finally let the shield drop. Some tried to scatter. Others prepared to fight back. The smart ones prepared for death.

I picked them off, one after the other, until all that remained of them was blood, gore, and exploded limbs.

I felt a timid touch on my elbow, and I turned back around to face the group. Bromm was the one who had grabbed my attention, and his focus remained pointedly on me. His pale pallor and pinched features told me he didn’t want to look at the carnage, but his eyes held nothing but concern for me.

Cadmus was only a step behind him, looking unsure what to do. Further back everyone else stood huddled together. Addy and Reece were peeking out from over the rim of the cart, their eyes wide with shock. Tarren was hiding behind the cart his sister was in, who I heard sobbing from inside. T and Foryk were taking in the scene with critical eyes, unbothered by the gore, and Urman was hiding Henrik’s face in his chest, blocking the gentle-souled healer from the sight.

I took all of it in in the blink of an eye, but didn’t hesitate to leave them in their various states of shock and horror as I rushed to Bal. I slipped a couple of times on the puddles of blood and guts and kicked shards of bone out of my path on the way but reached him quickly. Tears sprung to my eyes at the sight of him, and my hands hovered shakily over his unconscious form, afraid to touch him in case I accidentally caused any more damage. He must have passed out during the time it took to dispose of the trash, the trauma to his little body too much for him to handle.

There were shallow cuts all over his body, proof that he was hurt only because I cared about him. They weren’t even performing any type of experiment or procedure, they were simply hurting him to hurt me.

I gently removed the needles and tubes from his skin, extracting the wires that were keeping track of his brainwaves and his heartrate. They left behind sticky patches and little red rashes caused by the glue.

A strangled sob broke free as I ever so tenderly picked him up and cradled him against my chest. I pressed my nose softly into his thin blonde hair and inhaled his sweet baby scent, needing it to ground me. He smelled faintly of soap and alcohol wipes, so I knew they were at least ensuring he was healthy and clean up until this point. But they’d still hurt him. They’d made him bleed. So, I vowed, I would do the same to them.

The Program was going down, and I was going to make sure it was as painful as possible.

CHAPTER 30

Artemis

Surprisingly, Cadmus was the one who approached me, a step in front of Bromm. But when I looked up I almost stumbled back at the intensity in his gaze. He leaned in close and whispered in my ear, mindful of the small boy I was cradling in my arms. What he said, however, shocked a laugh right out of me, the sound a sharp bark that was at odds with my tumultuous emotions.

‘I think you just scared the cum out of me, babe.’ He gestured to the front of his pants and, sure enough, there was a large wet patch outlining where his cocks still twitched and strained against the fabric.

‘There’s something wrong with you,’ I informed him, earning me a knowing smirk.

‘I don’t know whether to run screaming or throw you down and fuck you right here,’ he admitted.

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