Disturbed Things, Shannon Sabotage [books you need to read txt] 📗

scanned the room.
“What other experiments have your mother and other professors done?”
Emma asked and Demetrius immediately replied back,
“Umm, only a few successful experiments, one with fish DNA, one with my DNA, and another with tiger DNA. Those, I’m guessing have been terminated, since I haven’t heard any other information from overhearing my mother and father talking about the base’s experiments. You both are going to be the first to be injected with avian DNA though, don’t be worried, my mother has studied this project for many years. She’s excited for it to finally come true.”
I nodded and sat down on one of the hospital beds. Emma sat down on the bed opposite of me and sighed.
“You two alright?” Demetrius asked in a light voice.
“Uh, yeah, we’re fine…may I ask you something?” Emma tilted her head in Demetrius’ direction.
“Anything.” He stood leaning against the doorframe and fiddling with some metal contraption in his hands.
“What happened to your friend?” there was a long pause and the sound of an uncomfortable choke down of tears. I knew that sound well.
“He died in an accident here at the base. He was also an assistant as my mother is. An experiment went on a rampage and threw a heavy door at him as he was walking down one of these many hallways. He was smothered under the heavy metal, crushed and bleeding heavily. This place has seen many hardships, but it has improved almost in a way to be seen as unrecognizable.” There was a short pause as he wiped his eyes and looked back at us. “He was a very good friend of mine, one I could never forget.” I heard a sniff from Emma’s direction and looked to see if she was crying but just saw her eyes a little red and irritated. I looked back at Demetrius and he was holding a pendent around his neck that I had not seen before. It must have been hidden beneath his shirt. It was a small vile, with some sort of liquid inside of it. It was a dark red blackish color. It was strung on a silver chain that matched his eyes. I arched my eyebrow and Demetrius looked down at the pendent with a surprised look on his face. As if he didn’t realize he was grasping it in his hands.
“I’d love to see some pictures of your dear friend. What was his name?” Emma asked sweetly.
“Ali.” He smiled lightly then dropped back into his sad expression. There was a very long pause that seemed to last forever before I broke the silence.
“Can you show us where our headquarters are? I’m sure Emma and I have both forgotten.”
“Oh, sure of course, Room 24,356.” Emma and I followed him out of the room. We stood in the hallway as he let the plate on the wall outside of the door scan his hand and the door closed slowly. He stared at it for a moment and turned down the hallway to where I guessed to be the direction of our headquarters. We followed him silently until he spoke.
“Where are you two from?”
“Syracuse, New York.” Emma answered.
“That’s a very small town isn’t it?”
“Yeah, how’d you know?”
“I’ve never heard of it that’s why.” He laughed lightly as we approached our headquarters door. He let the light scan his hand and the door opened. Emma and I stepped inside and Demetrius said his goodbyes. The door shut loudly and Emma sat on the bed quietly.
“There’s nothing to do here…” I said trying to break the silence.
“I know it’s boring.” I nodded and sat beside her. There really was nothing to do. We were cut off from the outside world, I wonder if Emma’s father is worrying about her. I wonder if he knows where we are. Minutes passed and then a hour went by and something banged on our door. I pushed up on my knees and walked to the door. I pushed in on it and it slid open toward me. Professor Demidov stood outside with the regular smile on her face. She greeted us and told us she and Professor Riggings were both ready for us to be injected with the avian DNA. Emma and I stepped out of our headquarters and walked down the long narrow hallway behind Professor Demidov. We followed her into the big room Demetrius had shown us earlier.


Complete Trust in Complete Strangers
“Lay down on those beds.” She pointed to two hospital beds about ten feet away from each other. I climbed onto the one closest to me and Emma climbed onto the other one. The back reclined a bit as I laid my head down. Professor Riggings walked in with a tea cup in his left hand and a briefcase by his side. I watched as he walked towards me, with his head down. His gray black hair bounced with each step. He lifted his head and looked at both me and Emma. A chill went down my spine from glancing at his expression. It was a grim smile showing equal dread in his eyes.
“Ready to be transformed into amazing creatures?” his grim smile faded replaced by a honest grin. I nodded lightly wondering what exactly it would be like to be an ‘amazing creature’. Anything could go wrong, the DNA infects me, attacks my blood cells, drives me insane. We’re having complete trust in them to do some scientific experiment that we don’t even understand. Complete trust in complete strangers. “Well here we go.” I thought as Professor Demidov pushed my sleeve up and wiped my arm with a cool liquid. Probably cleaning alcohol. A chill went up my arm as she finished wiping my skin, I leaned my head back trying to calm down. I hated shots this wouldn’t be any easier. I braced myself as Professor Demidov tapped the needle letting the liquid bubble a little at the top. She flipped my arm over so the inside of my wrist was facing up. She brought the needle down and stabbed me in the vein, I yelped in pain, it hurt way more than any shot I had ever gotten. A warm rush ran through my body causing me to break a sweat. I felt the most uncomfortable feeling and let my eyes close.
Professor Demidov injected me with the entire avian DNA and pulled the needle out fast trying to lessen the pain but sadly failing. She put pressure on the open mark in my wrist with a piece of white cloth. Blood soaked it quickly and she pulled it away getting my blood all over her arm. She gasped at the sight and dropped the cloth on the floor. Professor Riggings looked over and saw that Professor Demidov was having trouble. He walked over with another piece of cloth and put a lot of pressure on the open wound. I moaned in pain and tried to pull away but he wouldn’t let go and he wouldn’t lessen any pressure. Emma was watching intently trying to fixate on me as I moved around struggling. I couldn’t tell if she’d already been injected or not.
I struggled more and more knocking things over and breaking test tubes. A sharp pain went down my leg and I stopped fidgeting and just laid there on the hospital bed. I forced my eyes to stay open but they just got heavier and heavier. Soon I couldn’t hold them open at all. I slowly passed out.
I heard muffled voices and saw blurry figures passing by me so fast. Everything was going so fast compared to me. Where was I? I slowly moved my head side to side looking at my surroundings. I watched closer squinting my eyes and getting a fuzzy picture of Professor Demidov talking to Emma. My hearing was too stifled for me to understand. Emma’s face went blank from something Professor Demidov had said and she didn’t return the conversation. Instead, she walked toward me and sat at the end of the hospital bed I had been laying on. My vision slowly became sharper and clearer. There was a sign hanging outside of my room. Recovery. I was in recovery, recovery from what? Emma turned to me as I sat up propping myself up on my pillows. She smiled lightly and sighed in relief.
“What happened?” I asked quietly not realizing how dry my mouth was.
“You had an allergic reaction to the injection. You’ll be fine though.” I nodded. I didn’t know I was allergic to birds. I never was when I ate it when I was younger. Can you develop an allergy towards something when you grow older? I didn’t think you could, maybe you can.
“Will we have to call off the agreement about me being in their military?”
“No, they can’t get the injection out. It’s already gotten into your bloodstream. And your body’s supposedly adjusting to the changes quickly. Or so says the scientists here…” Something was wrong Emma was being too dreary and quiet. I leaned forward and rested my hand on her shoulder. She looked up at me and mouthed “I love you.” I smiled and mouthed it back.
Demetrius came to visit us after I was stable enough to leave. He greeted us outside of our headquarters and informed us that it had been three days since we had been ‘enrolled’ in this government base. We were really kidnapped but I didn’t want to argue with this new friend we had made. He brought us to the dining room where we had eaten dinner with Professor Demidov and Professor Riggings. He told us that they wouldn’t be joining us tonight that it would be just Emma, him, and me. I was fine with that after the incident with the injection I didn’t want to acknowledge Professor Riggings. But I did want the comfort Professor Demidov’s personality gave me. She was much like my mother in terms of personality and kindness, not the pink hair and purple eyes. Experiments probably had done that but I wonder about her son. Demetrius always kept his purple hair nice and neat not one time had I seen his hair sticking up in odd places like mine. Or his clothes wrinkled or bunched at awkward places. I wonder what gave him such striking features. He’s the type you can’t help but stare at. Even if you don’t favor those types it’s almost impossible to look away.
We sat at a long table in the middle of the dining room and waiters brought us champagne in tall wine glasses. Emma declined the beverage and took water instead. I took a sip of the champagne and it was tart and tangy. Even if Emma wasn’t pregnant, she wouldn’t care for this drink. My black outfit had smudges of gray and the boots were pretty scuffed up. Only wearing it for a day or two and it’s practically ruined. I’ve always treated my belongings harshly. If they didn’t stick through it all then it was goodbye. If they did it was a big surprise.
Soon, waiters with heavy looking platters filed out of the saloon doors from the kitchen. The fragrance of each and every dish swirled around in the room making our stomachs rumble. I ate myself sick with the delicacies and licking almost every plate clean. Demetrius scowled at my manners a few times but didn’t say any unwanted comments. He was a cross between his mother and Professor Riggings. I wonder if he’s Professor Riggings’ son. No, probably not. But it’s not impossible considering Demetrius’ personality.
About a hour or two later we were walking back to our headquarters. Slowly and tiredly making our