Page 17 of Rage

“Oi, would you look at that!” Simon grins, a piece of bacon halfway to his mouth. “Glad you could finally make it, buddy.”

“Thought you’d decided to ditch us,” Jack says, elbows on the table as he gives AX2 a wide smile. “Grab some food and come sit down.”

There is something… off about the scenario playing out in front of him. The last time he saw them, they were as cautious as he—careful not to speak out of turn in front of the doctor. This… This carefree atmosphere doesn’t fit with what he knows of this place.

His back muscles flex, tension curling in his gut on instinct, but Dr. Green only nods in the direction of the buffet. “Get yourself a tray. I’ll come back at ten to get you settled into the dorm.”

AX2 stares mutely after him as the doctor walks out, leaving the five of them alone.

“You really should get in on this before the eggs cool down,” Dwayne says between mouthfuls.

AX2 snaps his head back to them. “What the fuck is this?”

His angry rumble makes the others chuckle.

“Yeah, it takes a moment. Welcome to step three of reprogramming. It doesn’t come with pussy, but it does have bacon.” Sean lifts his chin in the direction of the buffet.

AX2 remains frozen for several long breaths. Experience warns him to be cautious, to expect the other shoe to drop at any moment. His kin’s relaxed postures and easy smiles tell another story.

They leave him to work through it, returning their attention to their food and one another.

It takes a few minutes before he forces himself to cross the room, grab a tray and stare at the offered food.

The sheer color of it is overwhelming—the bright yellow of scrambled eggs, reddish brown of bacon, deep green of collards, and vibrant purple of blueberries. Up until now, his meals have consisted of carefully balanced, high-nutrition mush.

When he returns to the table, his tray is loaded five layers high.

“Whoa. You’ll be able to eat again later,” Simon says, eyebrows lifting as he looks at AX2’s tray.

“You’re one to talk—you ate thirty fucking oat rolls the first day,” Jack snorts. “Leave the man to his food mountain.”

“And I was constipated for three days after. Just trying to save his ass—literally,” Simon sighs.

“This—how long has this—?” AX2 makes the mistake of biting into a buttered roll of bread, and his question dies on a soft groan. Pure bliss fizzes on his taste buds.

“Since the whores.” Sean eyes him carefully. “Next morning, they brought us all here. Everyone except you. We thought maybe the lady doc did something to you.”

The memory of soft skin and that throbbing pulse under his palm pushes at the edges of his mind. He shoves another bite of bread into his mouth, forcing his focus to return to the taste of real food.

“Any idea why they kept you away?” Dwayne asks, his tone slightly too casual. He doesn’t quite manage to hide the note of concern.

AX2 only grunts in response.

“Eh. He didn’t fuck on command, so they probably just needed to recalibrate his dick.” Simon points a fork at him. “Pipes in working order now, bud?”

“Why are they doing this?” AX2 asks around another mouthful of bread. His choice not to answer is deliberate.

Jack shrugs. “Who knows? Something-something training us to act like normies.” The smile he cracks doesn’t hide the gleam of darkness in his otherwise pale eyes. “Nothing like real food and company to make you forget months of torture and obedience training, eh?”

His tone is sardonic, but AX2 frowns as he takes in his kin. It’s only been ten days, but he sees the difference in them. Reprogramming, Sean called it. If that’s what it is, it looks like it’s working.

Every instinct hard-won during his time in this compound tells him that there is something bad coming—that the only reason the scientists in charge would ever allow them this is to have something to take away again later.

It doesn’t matter. Even if that’s the case—if this will all be yanked away without warning—he still wants it, craves it, with every cell in his body. Just a moment without fear, without loneliness, is worth whatever horrors lie ahead.

* * *

By the time ten o’ clock rolls around, AX2 is full to bursting, and a warm, lethargic sensation threads through his body. It’s the best he can remember ever feeling.

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