Soul Stitched (book one)

Chapter 57: Cashmere

        I screamed as a man slung me over his shoulder.
        "Let go of me!" I hollered. He didn't respond.
"I said, let me go!" I did the only option I had left, I bit him. He cried out and dropped me on the pavement. I saw blood around my knees, but there would be worse if I didn't get away. The man held his shoulder in the spot where my teeth broke his skin. He looked at me with such hate, I actually gulped.
        "You get back here." he lunged, but I scrambled away. I tried to burn him, but once again my powers weren't working. I screamed in frustration and ran. But not in time. The man grabbed my ankle, causing me to face plant. I tried to get away, but his grip was too strong. I kicked his face, but he didn't let go. Blood dripped from his nose as he stood. He picked up a rock and I barely had time to scream before it collided with my head.

        I woke up on a bed/table thing. My arms were strapped above my head and my legs were spread apart, strapped down at the ankles. I was in a small room with three white walls, and the wall in front of me was a mirror. I realized it was one of those one way windows. Were there people on the other side watching me? I didn't want to find out.

        After a few minutes, three men walked in wearing white lab coats and black slacks. One came up to the metal table I was on and peered at me over his glasses.
        "Hello, Cashmere. We are going to see each other every day for quite some time." he said with a smile.
        "What do you want from us?" I sneered.
        "You don't have to worry about that. Your friends are being taken care of." he replied. By the way he said it, I could tell he meant the exact opposite.  
        "You just have to cooperate." he said.
        "Never." I spat. He didn't even blink.
        "I hope you change your mind, Cashmere." he said with a sigh. "I really thought you'd understand." Understand? I have no idea what's going on!
        "Please hold still." he instructed as another doctor pulled out something very sharp. That was enough for me to panic.
        I thrashed, moving around, trying to do something, anything.
        "Hold her down!" he ordered. The two other men walked over and held my arm and legs. The man brought a mask on my face.
        "I'm sorry it had to go this way." he whispered. Then everything went dark.

        I woke up screaming. There was a horrible pain in my arm. No one else was in the room, so I allowed myself to cry. I then remembered the window in front of me, but I no longer cared if anyone was watching. I wanted this all to be over, I wanted to go back in time. To go back before all this, before meeting Aqua, before the virus, before Mac and the fire, before hurting Bri. I wanted to go back home. But I knew that was impossible. 
        I tried to look at my arm, there was a new strap to my collection. Around my neck. I tried to move, but my cuffs sent a shook up my body. I winced. Just then, the man from earlier walked in.
        "Good morning." he said as he sipped out of a coffee mug. It was hard to get a read on this man, he seemed calm and collective, but he was strong-proving that he could easily break my arm.
        "Morning?" I replied.
        "That's right. But sadly you've only woke up to more...tests." he told me.
        "Tests?" I asked.
"Something you'd never understand." he said. "You don't have to worry about your friends. They're doing just find." he said. I gasped.
        "What are you doing to them?" I asked. He pursed his lips.
        "I was only assigned you, Cashmere. The others have different tests." he replied.
"No! Don't touch them! Don't you dare touch them!" I shouted. I used all my strength to break out of these chains, to get out of where ever I was and find my friends. But the cuffs gave me a nasty shock.
        "Please calm down. We just need you to cooperate. It will be easier if you do." the man crouched down next to my limp body.
        "Why do I feel like we've had this conversation? The answer is still NO!" I spat.
        "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, Cashmere. It's all up to you." he said calmly. I closed my eyes.
        "Never." I hissed.
        "What a shame. The hard way it is."

        Twenty minutes later I was in a different room strapped to a wall. It was identical to the room before, but there was no table. Instead, there were four chains on the wall. Two up high, two down low. The two up high were wrapped around my wrists, the two down low were around my ankles. Them man held a whip in one hand, and metal clasps in the other.
        "Cashmere, here's how it will go. Every time I hit you, I'll ask you to cooperate. If you say no, then I'll ad a metal clasp to the whip." the doctor explained, waving the whip back and forth. I gulped. Suddenly, he slung it over his shoulder and thrashed it forward. I cried out in pain when it made contact with my back.
        "One, will you cooperate?" he asked, taking another sip of coffee. I glared at him.
        "Never." I snapped. He took a clasp from his other hand and attached it to the whip. Then it hit my back again. I gritted my teeth and screamed.
        "Two. Will you cooperate?"
        "No!" Another clasp was added
        "Three! Will you cooperate!" he shouted.
"No! Never." I cried.
        "Five! Will you cooperate?" he hollered.
"No. I will never, ever cooperate." I sobbed. I could barely see through the tears. I would't be surprised if there was a puddle of blood on the ground. I tried to look at my back and looked away immediately. My shirt was ripped to shreds and revealed my bloody back. I watched as he added another clasp. I shut my eyes. I couldn't bear to be striked one more time, but I would't cooperate either. He was about to bring the whip down again when I cried out,
        "Wait!" I cried. "Wait..." he paused and lowered the whip.
"I won't cooperate. But do you think beating me like this will make me?" I asked as my lip trembled. He lifted the whip.
        "No! Please! Let-let me talk to him." I said.
        "Who?" he asked.
"Dr. Shep. He's here right?" I said. His calm face faltered and he looked at the window. Dr. Shep had been watching this whole time. After a minute, the door opened and sure enough, Dr. Shep walked in.
        "We have more then enough blood samples now, Paul." Dr. Shep glared at the man, who's name was Paul. It didn't fit him.
        "Hey, she wouldn't cooperate." Paul fired back.
        "Get an operating table prepared. We have to fix her back. We can't go killing her, fool." Dr. Shep warned.
        "Just following your orders, sir." Paul frowned.
        "Do what I told you." Dr. Shep then turned to me. He crouched down next to my bloodied body.
        "Hello, Cashmere." he said.
Then I blacked out.