41. Chapter Forty-One Cam
Chapter Forty-One: Cam
I felt like shit for leaving Lakey on that couch, but Kyle wanted to hunt, and apparently he needed me to do it, so here I fucking was.
The crunch of leaves under my boots was loud as Kyle and I crept through the dense forest, or at least tried to creep.
The underbrush here was ridiculously out of control.
Every sense was on high alert. The sharp scent of pine, the rustle of branches, even the faint call of a bird in the distance.
My fingers tightened around the cool metal of my rifle.
We paused in a small clearing, scanning the area. Kyle's voice was low when he broke the silence.
"You know, Chimera's security was no joke. Like supermax on steroids."
I raised an eyebrow. "That right?"
"Oh yeah. Retinal scans, voice recognition, the works. Place was built to keep secrets buried six feet under."
The casual way he mentioned it made my skin crawl. I kept my face neutral. What kind of secrets needed that level of protection?
"Sounds intense," I said, voice steady despite the churning in my gut. "They expecting a full-scale invasion or something?"
Kyle chuckled darkly. "More like making sure nothing got out that shouldn't."
"Something like that," he muttered.
We fell silent again, moving deeper into the woods.
But Kyle's words echoed in my head, dredging up things I'd tried to bury.
I pushed them down, focusing on the hunt.
The last thing I needed was to get lost in the past right now.
The car ride back last week was more than enough playtime in the past.
Kyle's voice cut through the stillness again, low and deliberate. "You know, it wasn't just security they were obsessed with. The experiments... well, let's just say ethics weren't exactly a priority."
My grip tightened on the rifle, knuckles going white. "Yeah, like the bag babies." I kept my tone casual, but inside, my gut was twisting.
"Yeah. But not just newborns. Like how Rose was kidnapped or sold.
Who the fuck knows? I haven't been able to find out which, yet.
They just take the kids they want and give them to whatever branch they can match the kids up with.
Each sector is divided into different ideals they want to achieve.
Real fucked-up shit. I had no idea about the baby factory, so that might be new.
I was around right after you and Lakey were made.
I didn't have the clearance to know what they were doing to you but heard through the grapevine about the two most promising subjects they've had to date.
" He paused, letting the words hang. "But you don't wanna hear about that, right? "
I wanted to tell him to shut the fuck up, but curiosity won out. "No, go on," I said, my voice rougher than I intended.
As Kyle continued, his words vague but loaded, my mind filled in the blanks. Images flashed through my head, each more horrific than the last. Kids strapped to tables, skin splayed open, screaming...
Suddenly, I wasn't in the forest anymore.
I was back there, in that sterile room with its too-bright lights.
A little blonde girl sat at a table, her eyes wide and terrified.
Some egghead in a stained coat was shoving puzzles at her, barking questions.
I stood in the corner of my room, helpless, watching her through the plexiglass, her tiny hands shaking as she tried to please them.
"Patient X is showing promise," a cold voice said beside me. "Perhaps you'd like to assist with the next phase of testing?"
I blinked hard, trying to shake it off. But it clung to me, choking me with its intensity.
I could still smell the iron, still feel their expectations crushing me.
Lakey and I had been next-door cellmates.
The feeling that we'd known each other our whole lives hadn't just been happenstance. We literally had.
"Cam? You good?" Kyle's voice snapped me back.
I realized I'd stopped walking, my chest heaving. "Yeah," I muttered, forcing my legs to move. "Just thought I saw something."
As we continued, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched, evaluated. Just like back then. Just like always.
Kyle's voice cut through the lingering echoes.
"The physical conditioning was something else," he said, his tone casual but with an edge that made my skin crawl.
"They'd push these kids to their absolute limits.
Endurance tests that'd make Navy SEALs cry.
They did the same to me, but I was about twenty-four when I joined.
I thought I was joining some kind of private security sect.
I'd done some military work, and they'd asked me to secure their defenses.
After that, they kept me on retainer for when they needed targets eliminated.
I never asked questions. Until I met Sarah, that is. "
I nodded, trying to shake the shit that was swirling in my depths.
I didn't normally pay much attention to anything other than the blankness I usually operated in, but the longer I spent with these people, the longer those lock boxes had to crack open.
And nobody wanted to see the day I cracked.
But Kyle's words were hooks, dragging me back time and again.
My younger self, scrawny and terrified, running on a treadmill that never seemed to end. My lungs burned, legs screaming for mercy. But I couldn't stop. Stopping meant punishment.
"Faster, Patient Y!" a voice barked. "Push harder or we'll have to motivate you."
I knew what that meant. The electric shocks, the ice baths, the sensory deprivation tank. My body moved on autopilot, fueled by pure fear.
"They'd make us fight each other," I heard myself say as I remembered the cuts on my hands, the words escaping before I could stop them.
Looking down, I flattened my palm and stared at it, almost seeing the blood of my friend who'd been cowering in the corner, terrified of me.
"Winner got food. Loser got... well, you can imagine. "
Kyle whistled low. "Damn, man. That's fucked up."
I laughed, a harsh sound that scared a nearby bird into flight. "You don't know the half of it."
We continued our silent trek. Was I still that scared kid on the treadmill, or had I become the monster holding the stopwatch?
Kyle must've noticed my thousand-yard stare, 'cause he stopped dead in his tracks. I almost ran into him, my mind still a million miles away.
"You good, Cam?" he asked cautiously. His hand came up, almost as if to rest on my shoulder before he shook his head and let it fall.
I blinked, forcing myself back. The forest around us was quiet, peaceful even.
A soft breeze rustled through the leaves, birds chirping around us, oblivious to my plight, as if I wasn't about to go on a homicidal rampage.
It was about as far from those sterile labs as you could get, and yet I was trapped there.
In that plexiglass box, watching the girl do her puzzles or being forced to shit in a bucket.
"Yeah," I lied, flashing him my most charming grin. "Just listening for the damn deer."
Kyle nodded, but I could see the doubt in his eyes. He opened his mouth, probably to call me on my bullshit, but then thought better of it.
"You know," he said instead, his tone casual but his words precise, "they had this one test. Made the kids prove their loyalty."
My grip on the rifle tightened. I knew where this was going, but I couldn't stop him. Couldn't stop the flood of pain that his words unleashed.
"They'd pair 'em up," Kyle continued. "Best friends, usually. Then they'd give one of them a choice: kill your friend, or we kill you both."
And just like that, I was back there. Fourteen years old, staring into the terrified eyes of my best friend, Tommy.
Patient D, as they referred to him. God, I hadn't even remembered Tommy until now.
My stomach turned, thinking back to his gangly limbs and the smile he always offered after we'd been broken and bruised.
How many times had he protected me? Giving me his rations to keep me strong.
The scientist was laughing, pressing something into my hands as Tommy stood in front of me.
Looking down, I could see the knife, gripped tight in my palm.
Feel the cold weight of it. Touch the sharp end of the blade.
The even colder voice of the instructor: "Prove your loyalty, Cameron. Kill him, or you both die."
I could still hear Tommy's voice, shaking but brave: "It's okay, Cam. Do it. Better one of us makes it out than neither."
The sound of his screaming echoed in my ears.
My eyes closed and I saw it all. One minute he was standing there, offering me his life.
The next he was lying face up, his eyes staring at the ceiling, a neat line across his neck as his life spilled onto the cold, white floor underneath him.
Someone was patting me on the back, but I felt nothing.
Nothing but numbness.
The memory slammed into me, knocking the wind out of my lungs. I stumbled, my legs suddenly rubber beneath me. The forest floor tilted and swayed, leaves blurring into a nauseating swirl of autumn colors.
"Fuck," I gasped, reaching out to steady myself against a nearby tree. The rough bark bit into my palm, anchoring me to reality even as the past threatened to drag me under. I fought hard not to vomit.
Kyle stopped, turning to face me with those calculating eyes of his. He didn't say a word, just watched me. He could see right through the walls to the broken kid underneath.
I wanted to wipe that look off his face. Wanted to lash out, to make him hurt the way I was hurting. But the words wouldn't come. All I could do was stand there, chest heaving, as the memories of Tommy's final moments played on loop.
The silence stretched between us. Kyle didn't push, didn't pry. Just waited. Both of us predators, circling each other, waiting for the other to show weakness. I cracked first and I fucking hated myself for it.