Final Truth

Chapter 32: Beasts Among Us

Julia's point of view:

A few days after my last meeting with Peter, I find myself back in the glass case being prepped for another test.

It hasn't been too long since Henley tried to test me on the power of truth, the tests seemingly happening in faster intervals. Almost as if she's rushing to get everything finished, rushing to end it all so she can finally dispose of Peter and myself.

The once blue vial strapped to the wall has finally begun its decent to a more purplish tint after all the blood samples from my previous tests. My heart rate picks up a bit every time I see it, a horrible fear in my core that screams at me how I'm running out of time. If I don't pass a test, then my citizens will have that vial implanted in them for their powers to corrupt them.

The end of harmony as I know it.

I've already been injected with the hallucination serum, prepped and ready for today's test. All that's left is for Henley to press a button on that panel outside the case, and my horror begins.

"Trying for truth again?" I ask Henley, my voice dripping with hostility.

"Nope; I'm going to test your agility," she replies, not even glancing at me as she walks over to the panel, about to begin the ordeal.

My breath hitches a bit, mind running wild with scenarios as to what this hallucination will look like. I could simply go through an impossible obstacle course, but I could also be fighting to escape someone. Or something.

"This test will terrify you. It'll be a wonder if you don't fail within the first few minutes," Henley says nonchalantly, so indifferent that she might as well have said that I had a hair out of place.

"And why is that?" I try, attempting to sound just as calm.

But Henley just looks up and smiles wickedly, tsking her tongue as if I had asked a very bad question.

"There are beasts among us," she says, pressing the button and causing pain to explode in my shoulder where I was injected.

The bright lights of the lab fade, and I find myself feeling like I am falling as darkness envelopes me.

***************

The descent out of reality seems endless, wind whistling in my ears so loudly and my stomach feeling as though it could slide up my throat as I tumble through the air.

But when the ground greets me by stealing all the air from my lungs, I would've preferred the fall again over the impact.

I land flat on my back, so stunned that I forget my name for a moment. I try to breathe, but it just ends up coming out as a desperate gasp for air. Numb tingles travel up my spine, my ability to move at all taken away from me.

Get up, you idiot, I think to myself. You are not paralyzed. Move it.

I spread my arms out slowly and drag my fingers across the ground, feeling the rough grass and hearing the crunch of leaves.

My fuzzy vision clears enough to see that I am also surrounded by pine trees, seemingly so tall that they could practically kiss the stars. A lonely crescent moon hangs over my head, giving me a small amount of light.

I'm in the heart of a forest.

I gasp again for air, relieved to find my lungs actually function this time around. Groaning in pain, I heave myself into a sitting position and squint against the darkness to try to make out anything hostile.

But after a few minutes of recuperating from the fall and looking around, still nothing comes.

"What do you want from me, Henley?" I mumble as I force myself to stand.