Page 5 of The Program

It was still slowly encompassing my flesh when the door suddenly swung open with enough force to fling Libby across the room. She landed with a heavy thunk at my feet, her breath coming out in a whoosh as it was knocked from her lungs.

I watched as if from a different perspective, like I was no longer inside my own body, as she slumped to the ground in defeat and sobbed. Her tears stained the floor a darker grey. When the guards swarmed into the room followed by a single scientist, the one I wanted to kill above all others, I saw red.

Still, my body refused to move. It was as if I were paralysed or frozen in place. I was no longer in control of my body, but my eyes still tracked him as he approached. In my periphery I took note of the array of weapons aimed directly at me. Oddly, they ignored Libby.

It was then that I noticed the multitude of darts sticking out from all over her body. She was no longer crying, her body still when moments ago she was shaking and jerking from her sobs. They’d knocked her out.

Good. That would make what happened next easier.

I heldhiseyes, refusing to look away. He might have been a skinny bastard, but despite the range of weapons in the others’ grasps he was undoubtedly the most dangerous man in this room.

‘Subject A-173, you will cooperate or we kill the bitch, the foetus in her belly,andthe boy,’ he said. Though his tone was firm and commanding, I knew it was a bluff. They needed them both too much to dispose of them. I was the only one here in any real danger.

‘Liar,’ I said, and my voice was unrecognisable with how deep it became with lethal intent.

‘Subject A-173, youwillcooperate,’ he tried again.

I stood taller, lifted my chin a little higher, and glared him down as I stood over Libby’s prone form. ‘Doctor Lucias Demari, I willnot.’

If I hadn’t already been looking at him I never would have noticed the almost imperceptible widening of his eyes. The scientists never revealed their identities to us lowly subjects, nor did they ever provide us with a name to refer them by. They wore their own masks, though theirs were of the medical variety rather than the gas masks the guards wore, so we didn’t even see their faces.

I had just revealed to him how little power he had over me, how little control he had over his subjects, and that I knew more about him that I should.

He hid his reaction well, however, and met my gaze head-on as he aimed a gun at Libby’s head. ‘Cooperate or she dies.’

‘You won’t do it.’

Calling his bluff seemed to only infuriate him further, and he did something I never expected him to do. With the baby growing inside her, Libby was valuable to The Program more than ever, but Demari didn’t seem to care when he pulled the fucking trigger.

My protectiveness surged when I watched as if in slow motion as his finger pressed down and the sound shot from the barrel a moment before I saw it flash. I moved without thinking and faster than I ever had before, placing myself between the gun and Libby. If anyone was going to die today it would be me.

I was stupid to think they needed us alive despite my disobedience. I never should have played with fate like this, especially when it came to Libbyand her unborn child let alone leaving Bal to suffer through The Program like we had.

I deserved this.

Contorting my body to cover as much of my best friend as possible, I closed my eyes as tight as they would go and waited for the fatal hit. And waited. And waited…

‘What…?’ came Demari’s response, his stupefaction something I had never witnessed from him before. Usually so calm, collected and stoic, any ounce of emotion was inconceivable to him.

But I was just as confused.

Glancing up towards the man who had just tried to murder my pregnant best friend I found him recharging the gun to shoot another round. It was quick and he pulled the trigger again before I could move from my frozen position. I watched as the plasma shot from the open end of the barrel directly towards me and once again prepared myself for the hit.

Except it didn’t even make it to me. It was as if there was some sort of invisible shield blocking the attacks. I could see the impact, and I thought maybe I could feel it each time they collided but I was too numb to be sure. It was fascinating to see the way the plasma exploded across the invisible shield, like rotten fruit splatting against a window.

I stayed still, contemplating what was happening as he continued firing shot after shot. His frustration grew until he was red in the face with a vein pulsing dangerously in his forehead that I hoped would burst.

When he realised he was getting nowhere with the gun he fell back behind the wall of guards and started barking orders. ‘Don’t just stand there you idiots, knock her the fuck out!’

All at once they mobilised, shooting their darts at me from every angle and I lost sight of Demari. They failed to hit whatever it was that halted the plasma, but still nothing came close to penetrating my skin. I had now been completely consumed by the metallic substance, and I lifted a hand to twist in front of my face as I took in the strange new development.

Had their latest experiment backfired on them and provided me the perfect shield to prevent anything from piercing my skin? Whatever was happening was working in my favour, so I decided to unravel that mystery at a later date. For now, it was time for me to strike back.

I waited for them all to run out of ammunition. Each and every one of them gawked at me, their eyes darting between me and their surprisingly useless weapons. A twisted sense of satisfaction washed over me as their predicament dawned on them, the fear in their eyes like a drug.

These were the men and women that had caused so much pain. They had taken innocent children and destroyed them from the inside out, moulded them into their own vision like clay or pieces of mismatched puzzles. They had taken our identities, our bodily autonomy, and have forced themselves upon in in countless ways. They had locked us up and turned us into monsters.

A grin stretched across my cheeks that I imagined looked rather macabre and psychotic, but their reactions only made it grow wider. I bared my teeth at them, the predator finally released from its shackles.

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