Page 15 of Sergi
The wild smell of shifters.
Vampires.
Maybe a human.
Then the worst scents of all—fear, rage, and despair.
He lost track of the corridors as his guards turned right and then left. How they knew their way through the maze, he didn’t know. His head dropped, and he didn’t have the energy to lift it. His thoughts became murky, and he barely noticed when they stopped in front of a door.
A wooden bar was lifted, and the guards moved him through the opening. After a few steps, they released him, and he hit a hard stone floor.
When the latch was dropped back in place, Sergi let the drug take him.
The only sound was the echo of dripping water.
Then nothing at all.
Chapter Seven
I laidon my cot and stared at the ceiling. Breakfast had come and gone, another bowl of porridge, but this time a hard-boiled egg had come with it. They were late in taking me to my assignment.
Two days had passed since the last experiment, and we’d been given other tasks, cleaning smaller labs and offices. S-272 said the experiments had been put on hold. After the last horrific shifter death, S-272 talked more frequently. It was always in whispers and always with his head down. Security cameras were in every room, regardless of size. When we entered a room for the first time, S-272 would slowly point his chin in the location of the camera.
I kept my head down and asked, “Do you know why the tests are on hold?” Maybe they’d run out of shifters.
“From what little I’ve heard, I believe they’re reworking their formulas again.”
I shivered. “How often does that happen?”
He rinsed out a rag then took his bucket to the sink, pouring out the dirty water and replenishing it with fresh water and cleanser. I sprayed disinfectant on a counter and wiped it, slowing my efforts as I waited for him to respond.
He wiped a lower cabinet, his motions thorough as he moved the rag up and down. “It depends on results. Sometimes they go through twenty or so subjects, sometimes only five or six before pausing the tests.”
I shuddered at how many shifters had been killed. Horrific actions hidden from the world of the supernatural. “Do you know where they get the shifters?”
He slid the bucket away, and I slid next to him, cleaning the cabinets above the counter.
“The wilder ones are local to the area. I believe they transport others from various places. Isn’t that how you came to be here?”
I almost shook my head but stopped before the camera could pick up the motion. My skin crawled. How far were they going to kidnap shifters? “No. I was sent here to find the lab. I was captured outside the facility.”
I glanced down in time to see the look of shock on S-272.
“Who was looking for the lab?”
I didn’t think S-272 was a mole for the vampires, but I wasn’t willing to test that theory. Trust didn’t come easy in this place.
“A friend who wants to shut this place down.”
They worked in silence after that. It wasn’t until after our short lunch break that S-272 spoke again.
“Do you think they will send others?”
I would have said yes when I’d first been captured, but that had been some time ago. I considered the experiments. What if others had been sent? Family. Friends. Others from my pack. Were they here now? Beaten and possibly chained in their cells? Or were they the bits and pieces of flesh I’d been picking up for the last three weeks.
“I don’t know.”
We didn’t talk after that. What else was there to say?
