Somebody Among Us- To The Stars

Mystery Meats

The next morning, the group was awaken by the guards standing outside the door again. Adrenaline instantly forcing them awake, they all lined against the back wall. When the guards stepped in, they looked around for a quick moment before taking action.

One headed for Brooke, another for Anya. They handcuffed the two again, before dragging them out and closing the door behind them, never speaking a single word.

They dragged the two down a hall, and turned a couple of times. Both were trying to take notes on their locations, as well as the layout, so that maybe it could help them in case of escape.

The guard holding Brooke then opened a door, which led to what looked like a makeshift lab, with a reclinable chair in the middle and medical tools scattered on various shelves around the room. Around several parts of the chair, there were loose straps dangling.

Two men in lab coats stood inside. The guard pushed Brooke in, then closed the door behind them.

Immediately, the two other guards grabbed them by the arms. They pulled them further into the room, and to the chair. Brooke knew better than to fight back, so they didn't object. The guards seated them into the chair, and immediately tightened the straps around their arms, legs, and torso, effectively immobolizing them.

"What's going on?", Brooke asked, tense but not aggressive.

The men ignored them, and turned among themselves and started discussing something amongst themselves. Brooke tried to listen in on the conversation, and caught a small part of it.

"...we'd need to take blood", one of them mumbled to the other.

"Weren't we planning on doing that anyway?", the other asked

"Yes, but now we have more to look out for"

"I wish they'd stop ruining them so badly and then getting mad at us when we can't work-"

"Can't work with what?", Brooke asked.

The doctors turned to face them again.

"Nothing", one of them said. Then he turned to the others. "Let's just get to it"

The next few hours were just about the most confusing Brooke had experienced. They kept expecting pain, having been strapped to a chair, but nothing that happened was that bad. In fact, it didn't feel much different from a normal medical exam.

The doctors checked Brooke. Every time they expected pain, none came. The tools were actually what they were expected to be. Despite being restrained, Brooke felt a weird sense of security, which they hadn't felt in several weeks. Everything in the room was exactly what it was expected to be.

This quickly collapsed however. Brooke watched as one of them attached a thick needle to a weird plastic packet using a long, thin tube.

"What's that for?", Brooke asked.

He didn't respond, at all. Didn't even turn to look. Brooke tried to look as the doctor wrote something on the label of the packet, in thick, black marker. They eventually managed to read what it said.

Brooke Sparks
O+

Brooke was still confused, however. That is, until the doctors approached them again. One put the drip bag into this weird tray next to the chair. The other started approaching them, needle in hand.

"Sit still and we'll be done fast", the doctor adviced Brooke.

Seeing the needle, they started loosing their calm

"What's that for?!", they insisted. The doctor didn't answer. Instead, he got closer to their arm.

Brooke struggled, but their restraints held them perfectly still. The doctor gripped the area right above their elbow joint and held it for a few moments, making their lower arm turn more flushed as circulation was cut off. Then, with the other hand, he slowly pierced Brooke's skin using the needle.

They flinched in pain and sucked in air. They kept trying to move their arm, but the straps still held strong. He taped the tube to Brooke's arm with a small piece of tape, then stepped back. Soon, blood began running through the tube, and into the packet. There was a weird sound in the room, almost like a faucet. All this time, Brooke was confused. They were bleeding into a plastic packet, but none of it made sense to them.

It had been a few minutes when the doctor pulled out the needle. They taped some cotton over the hole instead, and removed the bag from the tray. The two guards approached again and started undoing the straps holding Brooke down.

"What was that for?", Brooke asked.

Nobody responded. Instead, the doctors mumbled amongst themselves.

"This should do for now"

"So, this one's a match?"

"Definitely. We'll need to harvest soon though, before too much damage is done"

"We got the most urgent thing"

"Yes, but still. We can't afford to waste another one, the demand is too high"

Before Brooke could hear the end of the conversation, the straps were undone and the guards pulled them out of the room. They still didn't fight back, knowing what would happen if they did, and instead let the guards drag them outside and back to their cell.

Once they were back inside the cell, they saw all the others again. Anya was there too, she must have arrived earlier. She had a worried look on her face.

"Brooke, what happened?", she asked.

"I'm... not quite sure... they strapped me to a chair, I thought I was done for!", they replied. "But instead they just looked at me, and then took some blood-"

This last detail made the worry on Anya's face instantly grow into fear.

"No... oh, no, it's what I thought-", she mumbled.

"What? What is it?", Trinity insisted

"Brooke, this is important, did they mention something about harvesting, or say the word 'match'?"

"Well- yeah, a couple times, why? You're scaring me", Brooke recalled.

"We need to get you out of here"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Remember how Dylan didn't know what these guys do for business?"

"Yeah-?". It was Dylan who responded this time.

"Well, I think I've figured it out", Anya revealed. "They traffick organs!"