Whisper

Chapter 4

Sitting in the cold lab chair, an assistant had taken out a hair dryer and currently was drying off the ends of Clarise's hair before they hooked her up to all the machines.

The assistant was dead silent, only the sounds of the hair dryer and the clicks of buttons and switches could be heard.

Mateo and Dr. Kadea were whispering to each other. Dr. Kadea seemed incredibly fascinated by something and was avidly asking Mateo all sorts of questions.

What are they talking about?

You.

Why are they talking about me?

Dr. Kadea was watching Mateo and you on the monitors and noticed your expressions. He wants to know how Mateo instigated your reactions.

Clarise did not think much about their interaction. He was asking questions and she was answering them. She just did not anticipate he would respond like he did. Maybe it's because they are so close in age.

Another assistant came by and tied Clarise's hair into two low twin tails and wiped off her neck with an alcohol wipe to start sticking sensors all over her neck, head, and wrists. Nearby monitors came to life with various diagrams and light beeping that matched her heartrate.

"Hello Clarise," Dr. Kadea approached her with a big smile, bigger than usual, "How was your walk today?"

It was 77 degrees Fahrenheit with a partly cloudy sky. The fountain's water temperature was 70 degrees.

Nodding he like he actually understood her, he looked at one of the monitors that showed almost no difference. Dr. Kadea didn't actually hear a single word she said, he just knew what kind of answer she said.

"Let's begin."

Clarise clenched her teeth and shut her eyes closed in anticipation. Electricity shot into ever sensor and made every single hair on her body stand up. Her muscles tensing unconsciously as her whole body began to writhe in agony. Monitoring her brain activity and making small adjustments here and there. All in the name of science. All in the name to artificially recreate her gift.

The electric shocks were not that painful compared to the shocks and treatment the other projects get, but it still made Clarise sore and tired.

Mateo grit his teeth as he stared at the scene unfolding in front of him. He stood by the doorway with a few other guards, watching the test closely. Most of the guards were prepared to apprehend projects who resist the testing. Of course they all knew the extent of Clarise's gift, and she was pretty much deemed harmless.

"When is the security of this facility going to fall?"

Clarise's mouth was foaming slightly as it pried itself open to speak.

In 2 days, 10 hours, and 3 minutes.

Her words appeared on one of the monitors, several of the scientists began scribbling and typing away.

Clarise had bit her tongue while speaking and blood started to leak from both corners of her mouth, dripping onto her pants.

"Stop." Dr. Kadea raised his hand and the electricity stopped. Catching Clarise as she fell forward, pushing her gently back so she could lean on the back of the chair. He looked at a few of the monitors and nodded at his fellow scientists.

An assistant quickly came forward and wiped the blood and saliva from her face. Another assistant brought her water and dabbed away the sweat as well so she was back to presentable. Minus her extremely pale complexion.

The head scientist of Clarise's project, Dr. Loraine Berkman, came around the chair into Clarise's view, whispering something to Dr. Kadea as the two watched a certain monitor.

"Computer," Dr. Berkman's voice was raspy, from years of smoking cigarettes when she is stress, "What did I have for dinner last night?"

One of the monitors went black, series of code flew across the screen as it tried to answer her question.

You had a salad containing spinach leaves, kale, tomatoes, dried cranberries, with ginger dressing. You also had a glass of red wine.

"Clarise," she snapped as she turned to the dazed girl, "What did I have for dinner last night?"

You had a salad containing spinach leaves, kale, tomatoes, dried cranberries, with ginger dressing. You also had a glass of red wine.

"Computer, how does Project Magma escape?"

Error.

Sighing Dr. Beakman turned back to Clarise, "Clarise, how does Project Magma escape?"

When he awakes, he is able to burn through the circuitry of the card swipe causing the door to open.

Sighing loudly again she took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes violently. Probably giving herself more wrinkles and more grey hairs. She looked back to the monitor afterwards, her pale blues eyes staring in disdain.

"Clarise, how do I recreate your abilities?" She asked this every single time, and every single time the answer was,

You can't.

Another scientist came up and took some of Clarise's blood, slapping a plaster over the wound with little to no care.

"Ok, start it up again." Dr. Berkman waved her hand around to signal the others, backing away from Clarise into the safe zone.

Mateo wasn't one for science. Give him a gun and he would know exactly what to do with it. Put him in a lab, he would be like a fumbling toddler. But this didn't feel like science, it looked like torture. Like how he would interrogate someone.

This frail looking woman was bleeding and foaming from her mouth as her body was just writhing in pain. The people surrounding her just asking her one question after another.

He's never been present when Clarise was in the lab, usually he would be on break or on the other side of the noise-cancelling door. But since they increased security for Project Magma, he was needed for Clarise.

Suddenly Clarise's eyes shot open, a greyish glaze over them as they connected with Mateo's eyes.

She was in so much pain, Mateo could almost feel it as he just continued to watch.