The Loyal Alone

Chapter Fourteen

When I wake up, I am still strapped to the bed by the chains on in my wrists, but the brace around my head and legs are gone. The room was dark, it stayed dark for a long time, and for a moment, I wasn't sure that I was still alive.

When the lights flicked on, I'd hoped for that moment again, to be alone, suspended in reality.

"I've brought food." I heard a soft voice ring around in my head and I flinched away from it. The lights, the sound. It was too much for me. He walked over to me and I did not look at him. Johnson slid into the tall chair beside the bed and poised a spoon at my lips. With the smell of food, I became sociable enough to eat.

"You'd been out for quite some time," he whispers.

I say nothing, I just open my mouth to allow food in. It was a watery soup, tasted like ham bones, there were a few potatoes, something vaguely like carrots. Just enough nutrients to keep me going.

"I don't blame you for not talking," He says knowingly. "I understand."

I turn to look at him full on, I hadn't even realized at this point that I was angry, but when he told me he understood, suddenly my feelings were validated. I was angry. In a flash I jerked forward, I was unable to move much, because of my bonds, but it was enough to make him jump and I felt victorious knowing I evoked some form of fear from him with my anger.

"Stop. Please. I am only trying to help you." He glances at the camera. "Keep quiet and eat. You'll need it."

"You killed her," I breathed quietly. I was speaking to him, but also to myself, "You made me change her when you knew it would kill her. Did you like it? Seeing her suffer? Is that the kind of thing you are into? If you're trying to reverse this curse, then why attempt to replicate what I am? I am nothing, a curse, why replicate it? Why?"

"We thought perhaps a bite from another female could trigger a sustainable change. We were wrong in our assumption, but there are other variables we didn't consider. More trials to be conducted." He pushed himself away from me, rolling back a little on his chair. "I saw the look on your face when you realized Candice was dying. I saw that same look on my daughter's face when she realized she was dying." He pauses, saying nothing for very long time. "I do not like that you are here, I've never liked what we've had to do in the name of our research, but there is purpose here. I swear it." He looks back at me and lifts the bowl, as an offering.

As hungry as I am, I cannot eat.

"I've spoken with Olly. He and I agree that it is not necessary for you to bite our subject to initialize a change. We believe that the same effect will be caused by a simple injection of your venom into a subject."

"Good luck getting it."

He sighs and sets down the bowl. He is quiet again, this time, I can see that it takes a lot of power for him to speak evenly. "If you will not cooperate with the extraction of your venom, then we will have to forcibly remove it from you- "

I go to speak, but he lifts his hand up to stop me-

"If," he continues, "if you do not cooperate, I fear that something worse will happen here and I may not be able to stop it. Olly is not a fan of challenge, he'd rather have all the answers then and there, not have to work for things, simply know and understand them. If you do not comply, if you keep resisting, he will snap. I've seen it before, with other subjects, pets, his own kids. But the amount of violence he is capable of when he thinks it will get him what he wants is astronomical. I would not be telling you this, because I feel as if the anticipation will make it worse, instead I say this because I hope it will speak to your reasoning, I'm hoping you will comply."