Chapter 11 #3
Two guards escorted me through more corridors to a different section of the facility.
Through reinforced windows, I glimpsed laboratories where scientists worked with equipment I couldn't identify.
In one room, a pregnant woman floated in some kind of suspension tank, monitoring devices attached to her swollen belly.
Finally, we stopped at a heavy door marked "High Security Containment." A guard entered a complex code, and the door slid open.
Inside was a large, barren room with reinforced walls. And there, restrained by massive chains anchored to the floor, was Redmon.
My heart clenched at the sight of him. Dried blood matted his fur, and he had one eye swollen shut. Multiple restraints bound his limbs, a metal collar around his neck connected to the wall behind him.
"Redmon," I whispered, moving toward him before the guards caught my arms.
His head snapped up at the sound of my voice. "Kalyndi!" He surged forward, only to be brought short by the chains. "Have they hurt you?"
"I'm okay," I assured him, struggling against the guard's grip. "What have they done to you?"
"Standard restraint protocols for non-cooperative monster subjects," Dr. Mercer said from behind me. "He killed two guards during capture. The security team was... thorough in subduing him."
Redmon's one good eye never left my face. "I tried to follow you. They were waiting, knew our plans somehow."
"Selene?" I asked, dreading the answer.
"Captured," he confirmed grimly. "They took her shortly after you."
Dr. Mercer cleared her throat. "You've seen he's alive. That was our agreement."
"Let me go to him," I pleaded. "Just for a moment."
She hesitated, then nodded to the guards. "Two minutes. No physical contact."
They released me, and I approached Redmon slowly, stopping just beyond his reach as the guards watched tensely.
"I'm so sorry," I whispered, my voice breaking. "This is all my fault."
"No." His voice was fierce despite his injuries. "None of this is your fault. We will find a way out."
I wanted to touch him, to tend his wounds, to feel the reassurance of his strength. Instead, I stood helplessly, just out of reach, trying to convey everything I couldn't say with my eyes.
"They want to create children," I said softly. "Using our genetic material."
"I know." His expression darkened. "They've been planning this for years. Using all of us."
"Time's up," a guard announced, moving to take my arm again.
"Wait," I begged. "Please, just another minute."
"Protocol is clear," Dr. Mercer interjected. "You've seen he's alive as requested."
As they pulled me away, Redmon strained against his chains. "Kalyndi! Whatever happens, remember what we discovered. About the northern… "
A guard struck him hard across the face, cutting off his words.
"Redmon!" I screamed, fighting against the hands that dragged me toward the door.
"That's enough," Dr. Mercer snapped. "Sedate her if necessary."
The last glimpse I had of Redmon was him rising to his full height despite his chains, blood dripping from his mouth, eyes burning with a promise.
I'll find you.
Days blended together in my sterile prison. More tests, more samples, more clinical discussions of my "reproductive potential." I pretended to cooperate, watching, waiting, gathering information. The data chip remained hidden in my hem, its secrets still unknown to me.
Maya visited daily, bringing meals, sometimes staying to ask required monitoring questions. Each time, she whispered fragments of information.
"Third floor. Security lighter at night."
"East wing. Maintenance access."
"Four days. Special transport."
Slowly, a picture emerged. In four days, a special transport would arrive to move me to another facility. During the transfer, security might be lighter. The maintenance access in the east wing could provide an escape route.
I memorized every detail, every scrap of information, preparing for when opportunity might present itself.
On the third night, Maya brought my dinner earlier than usual. Her face was tense, eyes darting nervously.
"They're moving up the transfer," she whispered, adjusting my tray. "Tomorrow morning. The Commander is scheduled for transport too."
My heart leaped. "To the same facility?"
She shook her head minutely. "Separate locations. Permanent separation."
The implications hit me like a physical blow. Once separated, we'd never see each other again. Whatever they planned for us would happen in isolation.
"There's a terminal in the medical bay," Maya continued, her voice barely audible. "The chip has access codes. Emergency protocols."
"Why are you helping me?" I had to ask.
Her eyes met mine briefly. "My sister was a match. She died during procedures. They said it was complications. It wasn't."
The door opened, and Dr. Mercer entered with two guards.
"What's this?" she demanded, looking at us suspiciously.
Maya straightened immediately. "Evening nutrition delivery, Doctor. Standard protocol."
"You're not assigned to this subject tonight." Dr. Mercer's eyes narrowed. "Return to your station immediately."
After Maya left, Dr. Mercer approached my bed. "Tomorrow you begin the next phase of the program. A transport will take you to our primary research facility where the fertilization procedure will be performed."
"And Redmon?" I kept my voice steady.
"Commander Razak's cooperation is no longer required for the process." Her clinical detachment had never seemed more chilling. "We have sufficient genetic material."
They were going to dispose of him. The realization settled like ice in my veins.
"Rest well," Dr. Mercer said, turning to leave. "Tomorrow is an important day forhumanity."
That night, I didn't sleep. I lay awake, planning, calculating, preparing for what might be my only chance. Dawn was just breaking when I heard it, a distant commotion, shouts, then alarms blaring through the facility.
I sat up, heart racing, as emergency lights began flashing in the corridor outside my room. The sounds grew closer as crashes, roars that could only come from one source.
Redmon.
The wall of my room shook with a tremendous impact from the corridor outside. Another crash, and the metal door buckled inward, tearing from its hinges.
And there he stood, magnificent in his fury. Blood streaked his fur, but his eyes burned with determination as they found mine. Behind him lay the unconscious forms of guards, the corridor in ruins.
"Kalyndi," he growled, reaching for me.
I flew into his arms, as he enfolded me, the safety I'd longed for these endless days.
"How?" I gasped against his chest.
"No time," he rumbled, already pulling me toward the corridor. "We need to move. Now."
Alarms screamed around us as we ran through the facility, Redmon clearing our path with terrifying efficiency. Redmon threw aside guards who appeared, and tore doors from their frames when they wouldn't open.
"Selene?" I shouted over the chaos.
"East wing," he replied, turning down another corridor. "Maya told me where they're keeping her."
Maya. She'd helped him, too.
We found Selene in a holding cell, terrified but unharmed. The reunion was brief, just enough time for a fierce hug before we were running again, following Redmon's lead through the labyrinthine facility.
"This way," he directed, pulling us toward a service corridor. "Maintenance exit leads to the loading bay. Transport waiting."
"Transport?" I questioned as we burst through a final door into the pre-dawn air.
A vehicle idled nearby, engine running, with a familiar figure at the wheel.
"Maya," I breathed.
She nodded tersely. "Hurry. Backup security arriving in four minutes."
We piled into the transport, Redmon barely fitting in the reinforced rear compartment. As Maya accelerated away from the facility, I turned to Redmon, questions tumbling over each other.
"How did you escape? How did you find me?"
His big hand engulfed mine. "The data chip you were given. Maya managed to get it to me after they moved you. It contained override codes for the security systems, facility maps, everything we needed."
"But your restraints… "
A grim smile crossed his face. "They underestimated mapinguari strength when properly motivated."
I leaned against him, exhaustion and relief washing over me in equal measure. "Where are we going?"
"North," Maya answered from the driver's seat. "To the resistance. There are others like you as matched pairs who escaped, who are fighting back."
"Others?" Selene asked, her voice small.
Maya nodded. "Dozens. And they need people like you as healers, warriors, those who understand what Magnus Terra is really doing."
I looked up at Redmon, seeing in his eyes the same determination I felt growing in my heart.
They matched us against our will, forced together by those who saw us as mere genetic material.
But what had grown between us with the trust, the understanding, the beginnings of something deeper, that was ours alone.
"We'll fight," I said simply, my hand tightening around his.
His arm pulled me closer, protective and sure.
As the transport carried us away from captivity toward an uncertain future, I realized that Magnus Terra's greatest miscalculation wasn't in our genetics or their security protocols. It was in forcing together two people who, once united, would become their most formidable enemies.