25. Ivy
The cords strapping me down were unrelenting and impossible to break. They didn’t cut into my skin but they would have if they were any sharper.
“Don’t struggle too much,” the Supervisor said. “They grow tighter the more you struggle. They’ve been known to snap the bones of even the most powerful creatures. Never mind a pathetic human.”
“You wouldn’t let them hurt me. Not with the baby in my belly.”
“I wouldn’t hurt your womb,” he said with a nod. “But I don’t care about the rest of you. Broken arms, legs, it doesn’t matter.”
He actually meant it.
I turned to the scientists busy working on their various projects.
“How can you keep working without helping me? I’m a pregnant woman and this guy is threatening to torture me!”
None of the workers looked up. I might as well not exist.
I struggled and the cords drew even tighter around my arms and legs. I hissed through my teeth. Any tighter and they would snap my limbs for sure.
I wanted to scream and shout and struggle but it was no use. If I did that, I would only put myself in a ton of pain. And for what?
I glared at the Supervisor.
“Why are you doing this? We had a deal.”
“A deal you were going to break. If you didn’t try to negate our deal, none of this would have been necessary. You have no one to blame but yourself.”
Sure. Great argument, asshole.
“Blaming me for falling in love,” I said, shaking my head. “You know, for a scientist, you aren’t very smart. Nothing can fight love. You don’t know, because you’ve never felt it before. And you can’t detect it with all your fancy machines and technology.”
What the Supervisor said next surprised me.
“Oh, I know love exists, girl,” he spat. “Even creatures such as myself have loved.”
I peered into his eyes and saw he wasn’t lying. He really had been in love once. But who could ever bring themselves to love someone like him?
“Then how can you do this? How can you keep Kren and me apart? We want to be together and raise this baby. He doesn’t know about it yet but I know he’ll do the right thing.”
“You can love someone as much as you want, but that won’t stop an aggressive alien species from breaking into your home one night, stealing your things, and killing the one you love. I vowed I would never let another alien species have power over me again. I’ve spent my life ensuring I kept that promise. And soon, I’ll have the ultimate weapon so no one anywhere can harm me or my people.”
So, that was why he did these experiments. To punish them for what one alien did to his wife.
“These aliens aren’t the ones that took her from you,” I said gently. “None of them are. Especially Kren. He’s not even a prisoner here.”
“The same instinct runs through his veins.”
“He’s innocent. The same way your wife was.”
“She wasn’t innocent. She did her fair share of killing. We all do. All we shrale.”
The blood drained from my face.
“Shrale? But that means… You can’t be…”
“Can’t be what? One of the species that wiped Kren’s entire civilization off the map? Sure I can. The truth is, we feared them. Some powers are too much for a single species to have. They needed to be wiped out.”
“But you kept one alive.”
“For research and learning. One of the neb isn’t dangerous. But more than one…”
He shook his head and I wondered what he meant by that comment. How could more than one be dangerous?
I filed it away for later.
“Now, hold still,” the Supervisor said, reaching into his pocket and retrieving another vial of yellow liquid. “You’ve had quite enough excitement for one day.”
He was going to inject me with it again.
It was fly by the seat of my pants time.
Come on. Think. Think of something. Think!
There had to be a way out of this. There had to be.
I felt that tingling sensation in the pit of my stomach again. I took deep breaths and found my center.
My hands gripped the armrests of the chair I lay on.
I can do this.
And then what was I supposed to do?
The golden light glinted inside me, glowing brighter.
That’s when the idea hit me.
That glowing light might as well have been a lightbulb going off.
I knew what I was going to do.
I knew how I was going to help Kren.