All That She Can See(69)

Cherry ran for the door. She smacked her fist against it until she could feel the bruises forming. All the while Lonely simply watched her. Had her emotions not already been deadened and numb, she would have watched with amusement. Cherry kicked the keypad. Cherry thought of Chase in his cell and kicked it again. She thought of Peter running and hiding for the rest of his life and she kicked it again. This time she heard a sharp crack and the keypad broke clean off of the wall. The door, finally, slid open and Cherry ran.

‘SUITS!’ Lonely shouted without a trace of feeling. In her mind, she was only shouting to raise awareness, not because emotions were running high. ‘SUITS! WE HAVE A BREAK OUT!’

Cherry ran out of the room and along the window-lined corridor but four blue suits were already charging at her. She came to a halt, her bare feet slipping on the shiny green floor, and turned around only to see three more blues coming for her. Cherry backed up against the windows, Loneliness next to her, scratching the glass. Cherry looked at it but its fingers started to fade. They’ve turned the lenses back on, Cherry thought. Loneliness kept clawing and whimpering and fading, and Cherry kept blinking and rubbing her eyes, trying to stop the lenses from turning on again, not wanting to feel like she was losing her feelings. Not yet.

But it was no good. Loneliness had completely vanished. Cherry knew it was still there, but she hated not being able to see it. ‘Don’t do this,’ she said to Lonely, who had caught up to her, a syringe in her hand.

‘Like I said, 601.’ Cherry didn’t bother struggling as the needle was plunged into her arm. ‘Leave it to the professionals.’





23





Inside The Guild





Cherry sat bolt upright on the green floor. She looked around but with just one light working in the centre of the room, it was hard to see clearly. She knew she wasn’t in her cell, though.

‘Why do I keep waking up in different rooms?’ Cherry mumbled, her arm tingling.

‘I keep asking myself the same question,’ came Chase’s voice. He was sat a few feet away from her, still in his gown, looking at her in concern. ‘Are you all right?’ he asked.

‘Fine. I think.’ Cherry rubbed her arm, her skin cold. ‘You?’

‘My eyes are still stinging but I’m as good as I’ll ever be while I’m here.’ Chase then looked over his shoulder and mouthed, ‘They’re watching.’

Cherry glanced at the wall behind Chase and saw that there was a large rectangular mirror. She guessed that a whole host of white-clad, sadistic scientists were on the other side of it, watching them. A speaker in the corner of the room crackled.

‘598 and 601, please stand on the black Xs on the floor.’ It sounded like a woman’s voice but without inflection or tone, it was hard to tell. Everyone sounded too similar.

‘Best just do it,’ Chase said, standing up awkwardly and pulling his gown down, not minding if it slipped off his shoulders as long as it covered everything below the waist. Cherry held her gown closed behind her back and found one of the two exes just left of the centre of the room. Chase stood on his X and faced her.

‘Commencing Realisation in five…’

Their exes lit up beneath their feet. Cherry tried to move but she was rooted to the spot.

‘Realisation?’ she said, her heart thumping. Her legs felt like lead so she grabbed her knees to try and get them to move but something had her trapped.

‘Four…’

‘What’s going on?!’ Chase shouted.

‘Three…’

‘STOP!’ Cherry screamed, putting her hands over her ears, her vision starting to fade.

‘Two…’

‘Breathe, Cherry.’ Chase’s voice soothed her and she clung onto that feeling.

‘ONE!’

There was a moment of silence before the room filled with bright, white light and a gentle hum filled the air. Cherry felt a sensation in the base of her neck, like a beetle was burrowing itself into her brain. She scratched desperately and when the sensation became a sharp pinch she started to pull at her hair, tears streaming down her cheeks. The hum elevated to a crescendo and Cherry’s body filled with heat. As the sound intensified, so did the heat. It was a slow build-up at first and then all of a sudden Cherry felt she might burst into flames. She screamed. She squinted through her streaming eyes and brought her hands to her face – they were white hot and smoking. Chase had tried to hold in his pain for as long as possible but finally his voice barrelled out of him in a roar. Both of them tried to move their feet, tried to run but it was as though they were melted to the floor. They were trapped. The light disappeared and the two of them dropped to the ground immediately. Smoke continued to rise from their bodies but the fire in their veins was subsiding. Cherry moved in and out of consciousness, her vision fading until she finally gave in and let the darkness consume her.





Cherry stirred. Her skin was sore and tender but when she brushed a hand over it, it felt smooth and unharmed. However, when she reached up to delicately stroke her aching head, some of her hair came away in her hand, crispy and charred. She opened her eyes slowly but caught in her eyelashes was a thick piece of red string. She lifted her arm to find several strings were attached to her, trailing all the way up to her shoulders. Cherry sat up and looked down at her legs which were also tangled in red strands that all disappeared off into the darkness on the other side of the room.