Shield - A New Species Fanfiction (Wild at Heart Chronicles, Book 1)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

                 The interrogation room was cold and dimly lit, somewhat bigger than Paige's holding cell, with bricked windowless walls and a single chair placed in its center. A woman paced the stark enclosure with a palmpilot in hand, tapping the screen with her stylus while she spoke into the headset device wrapped around her left ear.  Pushed into the room, the officer forced Paige to sit on the metal chair and tied plastic restraints to her wrists before he stepped out and closed the door. Ignored for the duration of the call, Paige clasped her trembling hands on her lap and decided to wait in silence as she studied the woman who was meant to interrogate her.

                This was the one who'd been with Dougal inside her holding cell; Paige had recognized her voice at once upon entering the room.  She was rather striking in appearance: tall and slender, with fair skin and sleek blonde hair pulled back in a French bun. Paige judged her to be somewhere in her mid-forties, though she couldn't be certain. Her face wasn't lined with age, but the confidence in which she directed orders to others implied years of experience with managing a work setting. Paige's mother held herself in a similar manner during an assignment. Beneath the lab coat, she wore a steel grey business skirt with a pleated white blouse, and a string of pearls on her neck. Pausing with her back to Paige, the woman tapped her black pumps on the concrete floor with impatience.

"I don't care if Nicolai's got a soft spot for the animal," she clipped. "His behavior is unacceptable. We can't afford to bring in more outsiders into this project, damn it! It's too risky.  Take Sanders to the infirmary, patch him up and assign him to the culture room for now. Who the hell gave him clearance to feed the test subject in the first place? I want a name." A moment of silence preceded the sound of incensed fingers tapping the headset device with impatience. "I'll have a word with security. If that thing maims one of my technicians again, punish him. What's one more scar? He'll heal before Nicolai sees him on his next visit, anyway. And cut his meat rations in half for a week." The woman paused, then her tone became glacial.  "Of course his aggression will elevate, but it'll motivate him to obey. If the canine breeds could respond to a simple reward system, then so can he."

Paige fisted her hands, feeling the restraints bite into her skin as the doctor's words fell into place. It had been a growing suspicion when Dr. Rosenburg had revealed Mercile was responsible for her kidnapping, but now she was certain.

A New Species was here!

Paige recalled the screams she'd heard while locked in the holding cell. The sound had been a cross between a snarl and a bellow, definitely not human.  Although his people had been liberated and lived as a community inside Homeland and Reservation, this poor creature was still trapped in a cage.

Tortured.

Degraded.

An 'animal' in the eyes of his enemies.

The thought of  seeing one of them still living under the horrid conditions the others had been subjected to years ago made her stomach roil. A distant memory surfaced the longer she allowed her unease to take hold. It was during her first semester at the university. Professor Walters had shared an article one morning before class began of the hardships New Species had endured under Mercile. He'd used it as an inspiration to his students when faced with adversity and the intolerance of man. Paige had been unable to contain her tears, as he'd read accounts from the few survivors who'd willingly shared their stories to be published. Their fears. The pain. Loved ones they'd lost. And their inability to give up on life, even when it seemed there was nothing left worth living for.

Paige had discovered on that first day of class, Professor Gareth Walters was a humanitarian to the core.

Within the music hall, he extended his lessons beyond the margins of a score book or the composition of a song.  As artists, he believed it was their obligation to encourage acceptance within their communities of people who'd been born different, but who no less deserved a place in this world.