After The Trials

Chapter 18

I woke up with a heavy migraine. Ignoring the pain, I forced my eyes to open. While my vision adapts to the surroundings, my hands try to help me stand up. I don't know what happened or why can't I feel Thomas. No matter how hard I try to contact him, I can't reach him. It's like he's never been in my mind, like we've never been connected. Now that I can see clearer, I realize I'm in a small concrete room. I feel like I want to throw up, but my stomach is empty. Considering how thirsty I am, I'd say I've been out for at least a day.

The wooden door opens and a man gets in, followed by half a dozen guards, who immediately pointed their guns at me. "You kidnap me, lock me in a room and then threaten me with 6 armed men? Wow, I've never seen so much cowardice contained in such a small human, if I can call you that." I address to the Crank, trying to hide the fact that I'm scared not only for my life, but also Thomas'.

"I don't think you're the one in the position to make remarks. I heard you talking to that guy last evening about the water from Sand Creek. And he happens to be famous around us." he says and I roll my eyes. The last thing I want now is celebrity. "What, you really thought we forgot Thomas? He owes us more than his life. Because of his selfishness, we never found a cure. He could've chosen to give his brain for experiments that night, but he didn't."

"And what's your point? If you think I can give you the cure because I said some words that your limited mind couldn't understand, you're stupider than I thought." I jeer at him, this time completely confident. I can see the black veins pulsating on his neck and forehead. "Did I trigger your crankiness? I'm so sorry." I say and fake some pity.

"Thomas told me about you. He warned us about your stubbornness. Unfortunately, you won't have another option. You'll find the cure, whether you like it or not."

A guard comes to me to take my arm and lead me to the room where I was supposed to work for the cure, but I push him away. "I know how to walk, thank you." I follow the Crank to the room he leads me to. I think that's where they keep Thomas, but if he can't answer any of my calls, he's most probably not conscious. I hope it's just that and not something worse.

"To make sure you won't freak out, we didn't do anything to him except for the anesthetic." he tries to assure me as he opens the door.

"Liar. I know Thomas isn't sleeping, I would've felt it. What did you do?" I say, getting more worried with every second. If I didn't feel his connection and didn't have a nightmare, there's obviously something worse. The Crank doesn't answer, just pushes me into the room. Thomas was laying on a bed and a monitor next to him showed his heartbeat that was beating at an alarming slow pace. "What did you do?" I ask again, but this time my voice cracks from trying to keep the tears inside. In vain, the door already closed behind me.

"We slowed down the rhythm of his heart. Interesting things you can do when you have the right tools." I hear a familiar voice say from a corner and immediately recognize it.

"We?" I repeat. I pick up a bistoury and throw it at Isaac. It missed his heart, as I initially intended, but thrusted deep in his shoulder. "All this time you were with them?" I cry out.

"I thought I was pretty obvious. Come on, Tess, you really thought I was so stupid to drink water from that river? I knew your mind would've been led to thinking it's a potential cure." Isaac laughs as he pulls the knife out of his shoulder. "Clean this, we wouldn't want Thomas to get infected."

Normally, I would've jumped on him and beat him to death for what he did, but I saw the gun he was discreetly pointing at me. I know he's able to shoot me without remorse, he's a Crank. "What if I don't want to find your stupid cure? You can't make me do it."

"Actually, I think I can. Do you see this?" he says and points to a big syringe filled with a black liquid. "It's the Flare we extracted from a dead Crank. Well, he was alive when we did it, but he's dead now. If you don't start working, I'll personally turn Thomas into a Crank and force you to watch him lose his mind."