White. It's white again. Is this the end of me? No, wait. Something hurts. I need to find out what it is.
It's still white, but now there's a face staring down at me. He wears a face mask, as if he's in the middle of a surgery.
The sedative is slowly fading away, giving me a clearer view of my surroundings.
The source of the pain comes from the left side of my neck and down towards my shoulder. Every movement causes pain to shoot through my body.
The person with the mask is not alone. He has a woman helping him, wearing the same face mask.
The woman notices that I'm awake and signals the other without a sound. He nods to her and she leaves through the only door in the room. A door identical to the one I unlocked not so many days ago.
I take in all of this, but it takes several seconds before I understand it. My movements are small to none. I can barely make a finger twitch.
Despite my lack of mobility, my wrists are tied to the bed I'm lying on. Thin plastic bindings. Not too strong, but thin enough to cut my skin if I tried to tear them. If I had the strength to try.
The man with the mask removes the needle which had been leading blood from my arm to a blood bag. Why do they need my blood? I am finally awake enough for a question to form in my head.
The door opens again and the woman comes back in, still wearing her mask. Behind her, two familiar faces follow. One of them is Reed. I recognize him instantly.
"Look who's awake!" a lively voice says as he enters the room. The sound hurts my ears after the long silence.
A flashback runs through my head. I remember when I first broke out of that white room and was almost discovered by two people. Then, I remember the recording Sarin showed me at that field.
Standing in front of me is the man behind it all, and so far I only know that he goes by the name 'Professor'.
"Where..." anger gives me some of my energy back to speak, but after I say that word I forget what my point is. Something is still affecting my brain.
"Where?" the Professor repeats, a questioning smile appearing under his white moustache, "I'm sure you must have many of questions now, I'm not sure how much Sarin has told you".
Where is Sarin? That could have been the question I was about to ask. I still don't remember, but it's as if the mention of that name gives me new strength.
"Where is... Sarin?" I manage to say.
"Oh, the car is a couple of floors down, don't you worry, you will see it soon".
How did they manage to catch Sarin after all this? And bring it back here?
I take a quick glance at Reed, who stands by the door, staring at the opposite wall. It isn't until now I realize there is another person in the room. He had walked in together with the other three, but I hadn't noticed him in my haze.
He reminds me a bit of Reed, even though he is many years older than him. The man looks at me with a bitter expression. He doesn't look angry, nor sad. More... disappointed. In who I wonder? In me? I have never seen the man before.
"Do I know you?" I ask, somewhat annoyed. His bitter expression changes into a neutral one.
"You used to know me," he says.
"Grimes here used to be your employer," the Professor states with a satisfied smile.
"That's right, you used to work for me, the same way Reed does," he says and gestures to Reed who seems to have a bit of a hard time keeping his eyes on the wall. This could be as shocking for him as it is for me.
I don't know what to say. I just stare at the man, Grimes, my former employer.
"Are you saying I used to work for CIA? The people who've done all this to me?" I say. My head has become clear in an instant.
"You didn't just work for us," Grimes says, "you were one of the best, always performing above expectations, and always working alone".
"...which is why using you for the experiment was not too complicated," the Professor says, "no one would miss you, except those who already knew what was going to happen".
"This is sick," I say, though my sentence ends in a whisper. Realizing what I could have done through all the years of lost memories, makes it all feel unreal.
But it all makes perfect sense. All my abilities which seemed inhuman are now completely understandable.
"Now, now," the Professor says and glances at his watch, "we can tell you the rest on the way down, the show must go on".
The Professor heads out the door with a wave of his hand, indicating the others to follow. Grimes motions to the two doctors who have stayed quiet this whole time.
The woman releases the break on the bed I'm lying on, and they both roll it out of the room.
The Professor walks on the left side of the bed in the hallway, which is now anything but dark and shady.
To my right is Grimes, Reed walking behind him.
"We might as well tell her everything now, she will not remember anything after this," The Professor says.
"Are you sure that's wise, Professor?" Grimes asks.
"I want to see her reaction when we tell her what has really been going on, I'm sure it will be priceless, priceless," the Professor says, talking more to himself than Grimes in the end.
How the government could choose this man for a project goes beyond my understanding. Everything about him makes me want to get as far away from here as possible.
But a silent part of me wants to stay and hear the truth.
YOU ARE READING
Project Sarin
ActionPeople say, a car can't be your best friend. A friend is supposed to know you. What if the car knows you better, than you know yourself? Sandra wakes up in an unknown room, knowing nothing about herself, except her first name. And that she has to ru...
