So. Yeah. Hi. I'm late. By two days. But I'm going to catch up. (If only because I want to figure out Dechlan.)
This drabble may be a bit disorienting. I can't decide present and flashback, because both are equally important and just... yeah. You guys are smart, though, and should be able to work it out.
Drabble Challenge: Day 22 - mad
Word Count: 1,388 Minimum Goal: 1,320
“Sir! Listen to me!” The doctor grabbed the project’s overseer’s arm, unafraid of the consequences in her attempt to get her point through. “Letting 2-13 remember what we wiped last time she was here is eroding her neural pathways. Her mind is literally losing the ability to make that mental connection that makes her so valuable to you. So you either link her to somebody else now, before it’s completely gone, or you lose the other half of one of your strongest Dyad teams ever.”
His gaze narrowed as he pulled away from the woman’s hold on his forearm. “Your concern has been noted, Doctor Hummel. Please standby for further orders.”
Frustration was clear on her face as Warren turned on his heel and exited the spotless lab, working on his next course of action with 2-13.
//
//
“Come on, Jane. Come on. We’re going to be fine. Please, Jane,” Jandy begged, on her knees with her forehead pressed against the wall of her cell, feeling her sister only a few feet away. Feeling her pain that burned through her like fire and, because the link, through Jandy as well.
She knew Jane could hear her. Maybe not the words, but the sentiment, for certain. The emotion. The desperation for her to be okay. Because she had to be okay.
I can’t survive this without you, Jane.
Jandy slammed her fist into the concrete, feeling the rough, icy surface cut into her skin but not caring. It was nothing compared to what she was getting from Jane. She wanted to scream. Why wasn’t anyone in there, helping her? Didn’t they care? Didn’t they want their science projects to survive their experiments?
A foot nudged her leg, unsettling Jandy from the memory. She came back around with a sharp intake of breath, pushing herself back against the wall with hands planted on the ground as dark brown eyes flickered upwards. Black uniform, similarly colored beret, expressionless face. Another one of Warren’s cronies.
“What?” Jandy croaked at last, rubbing a hand over her features and through her hair. She needed a shower. There had been no forthcoming offer, predictably enough.
“Commander needs you presentable by oh-six-hundred.”
“Making now what time again?” Her sleep schedule was so messed up it could’ve been five in the morning or five in the afternoon and it wouldn’t have mattered. She’d have felt like she’d been run over by a truck either way.
His gaze didn’t move an millimeter from her. “Oh-five-oh-one.”
Lovely. Five in the morning. “And what does presentable include?”
“Just get up.” He turned back towards the door in one sharp movement, clearly expecting immediate obedience from her.
And she was too tired to do anything but, getting to her feet and making sure she was stable there before taking an experimental step forward. Her legs held true, but in the quiet, she could feel her head begin to pound, building with a pressure that she didn’t understand. Did it have to do with Jane?
Jandy gritted her teeth as merely thinking of her sister brought a fresh wave of memories—and pain.
“Move.” The soldier cut in, standing in the doorway.
Out in the hallway, another one was waiting, looking near identical to the disturber of her rest. Taking them both in for a moment, the woman moved to do as ordered, pushing aside everything else.
They didn’t speak at all during the long walk through endless gray walls interrupted by gray doors. Jandy didn’t think she could’ve found her way out of the complex if she spent the rest of her probably short life in this place.
Her steps were soundless compared to how the combat boots of her escorts, their heavy soles falling hard and echoing as much as possible in the enclosed space. Having long ago grown accustomed to the cool temperatures of the complex, walking in socked feet to their destination didn’t bother Jandy much. Her greatest thought was what the next hour would hold for her.
When they were met outside of what Jandy soon figured out was a locker room by a pair of women, who were also dressed in the same, unflattering uniform as the two men that handed her off to their counterparts.
The set of dark blue scrubs that were waiting on a bench next to a shower stall didn’t bode well. “What am I getting “prepped” for again?”
Nothing. Not even a twitch. They just stood, hands clasped behind their backs, watching her. Jandy gave up. There was no hope of getting through to the brain-washed toy soldiers. They were mad, obeying someone like Warren, but they had their orders that there were going to carry out, one way or another, and she wanted a shower, anyways.
Anything to distract her right now.
//
//
“What are you doing to her?!” Jandy shouted, yanking against the hold on her arms, watching with ever increasing panic as the man knelt over her sister. “Leave her alone! Jane!”
A blow came across her face, sending her reeling. She spat blood onto the training room’s floor mat, bent over with her hands on her knees, panting even as waves of pain washed through her, originating from Jane.
She’s dying.
Jandy squeezed her eyes shut, searching for her sister in their connection, but she wasn’t there anymore. She’d been fading for days, getting more and more indistinct.
Their trainer, the one who’d been holding her back but not the one who’d struck her, didn’t move to intercept when Jandy limped over to Jane. The soldier—one of the only constant faces they’d seen in all these months, but she had no idea why—was pulling a handheld device from his back pocket and removing a small, removable device from the bottom of it.
As she watched, he pressed it against her twin’s temple. The faint sensation of coolness and a prick of pain as it attached transferred to Jandy. Something in the soldier’s expression—the focus, the determination—gave her some hope that he had a clue in his head about what he was doing.
Hang on, Jane. Tears pricked in her eyes and Jandy could taste blood in her mouth. Hang on. I need you. You’re going to be okay.
But there was nothing. No reply. Not even an impression of a reply. She drew in a ragged breath, sitting next to Jane cross-legged and taking her little sister’s cold hand in her own. Ignoring the look the soldier threw her, his green eyes searching, the young woman tried to rub some warmth back into Jane’s hand.
Fading. Dissipating. Disappearing. Black.
“Her brain is shutting down.” The soldier reported, voice muted. “There’s nothing—“
“I know,” Jandy managed on a sob. “I know. I can feel it.” Please, Jane, don’t leave me here. I need you. I’m supposed to look out for you.
There was a kerfuffle in the background and she didn’t care. Not at all. The soldier sat back on his heels and Jandy reached to push Jane’s hair—brown and limp, so different from its formerly vibrant colors—away from her face. She didn’t look like she was in pain. Jandy guessed the pain she was feeling was from their splintering connection.
Easing one hand under Jane’s shoulders, Jandy supported her little sister as she raised her until she could hold her in her arms. It almost escaped her how the soldier reached out to keep Jane’s head from lolling to the side, then carefully eased it back so that her sister’s forehead was nestled under her chin.
“Is she still here?” Jandy asked him, not looking up, holding tight to Jane limp, thin body as tears escaped her eyes, mingling with the blood smeared across her cheek.
“Yeah. She’s still there.” The soldier murmured, remaining a respectful distance away.
“I’m sorry, Jane. I’m sorry for not protecting you.” Jandy whispered, her voice cracking as she began to cry, losing track of everything else except her little sister in her arms. “You’re going to be okay now. You’re not going to hurt anymore, I promise. Everything’s going to be okay now. It’s going to be okay, Jane. It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
The only pain left was hers when the remaining, strand-like connection broke and Jane was gone.
Yaaay for heartbreak.... I think my head hurts....
Brownie points to those who can guess who Mr. Green Eyes Soldier Boy is.
Thanks for the patience!
Ad astra per aspera.
To the stars, through difficulties.
Ooooooooooooh. Interesting.....
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