ToxicHaven

by Gabriella Bradley

  She felt their enthusiasm through their connection until Isan picked up on her omission. You. How will you meet us?

  I can’t. Someone has to remain at the station to keep the gun from firing on you.

  She sensed Josias’ protest before he sent it to her mind.

  You will come with us or we will not go. They’re not going to blow up one of their drone ships. Also, if we do it right, they won’t realize we’re on the ship for quite a while, if at all. You’re the one in the most danger here, after all. You will excuse yourself to use the restroom and we will be waiting for you.

  Haven thought for a moment while shutting the men out. It was true. The day after tomorrow, they would remove her enhancements, which could inevitably kill her. Most did not survive the procedure, as the enhancements had become so integrated within their bodies during the growing years from child to adult. Removing them meant removal of much needed tissue, almost akin to a lobotomy.

  I suppose I could use my invisibility and leave the lav that way. Timing will be crucial. We have to make our escape as soon as I deactivate everything because within seconds, it will trigger an alarm and all floors will be on lockdown. We only have about five minutes to get to the ship. It’s happened before where the system malfunctioned, so I know what happens. Problem is, even at my fastest speed, there’s the elevator. It stays functional long enough for security to get to their destination. Will five minutes be enough? You two can get to level sixteen faster.

  The elevator is fast enough. It only takes seconds to get to top level. We’ll be waiting for you. Are we all agreed? This is the plan?

  She bit her lip. You haven’t told me, which tasks were you assigned after you were sentenced?

  I was an electronics engineer before I became a security guard, so they have me fixing various electronic problems that occur on a daily basis, Isan told her.

  They have me working in dispatch. I coordinate the loading of the ships, Josias said.

  Good, so tomorrow will be recon. I’ll find a list of planets the slag dumps are heading to. You can work on finding some kind of life support to keep us alive in one of those ships.

  Isan sighed and cupped her breast. Remember, Haven, you have to join us or we aren’t leaving. If you want to do penance for your sins, you’ll have to choose another time.

  With their determination to stay with her ringing in her thoughts, Haven snuggled between the two warm bodies. A kiss landed near her ear and a silent whisper, goodnight, love.

  Josias’s lips grazed hers fleetingly. Suddenly, the world she lived in didn’t seem so bleak or hopeless. Smiling at the feel of a hand on her belly and another on a breast, she closed her eyes although sleep didn’t come easy with her libido again stirring, yearning to be satisfied.

  Chapter Three

  Haven sat at her station and watched the ships come and go. She’d already gotten the information she needed and could only hope that incoming ships wouldn’t ruin her plans.

  She could get away from her station to use the lav, but only when the gun wasn’t needed. That meant incoming ships had to be more than half an hour away. If everything went according to plan, by this time tomorrow, she’d be preparing to run or die.

  The next few hours dragged. The plan roiled through her mind while she worked and she went over every detail, repeatedly. She could hardly wait to be with her mates that night so they could go over the plan together. She was relieved there’d been no need for the gun today. No more murders to eat at her soul and plague her nightmares.

  Her relief arrived and she quickly left her station, the guards falling in on each side of her. Instead of escorting her to her cell, they ordered the elevator to level twenty. “You missed my level.” Her heart had already sunk to the soles of her feet. The interrogation rooms were on level twenty.

  “We were ordered to bring you for orientation.”

  “That’s not until an hour from now.”

  “Not today.”

  She didn’t dare ask more questions but her heartbeat matched the firing of the guns she used almost daily. No bath. No food. Surely they hadn’t rescheduled the removal of her enhancements? It wasn’t in her makeup to be afraid, but she couldn’t stop the butterflies in her stomach. Their plan to escape would be blown to hell.

  Heavy-hearted, her stomach in knots, she took her place in the interrogation chair.

  “Prisoner one-zero-one-eight-eight, place your arms on the arm rests and your feet firmly on the footrest.”

  Why, she thought, but didn’t dare voice it. She did as she was told. Within a second, security braces appeared from both sides of the armrests clamping around her wrists and forearms. The same happened to her ankles.

  “Lean your head against the headrest.”

  A tight band around her forehead secured her head. She was utterly helpless. A robo-arm appeared from the ceiling with a large hypo in its mechanical claw. The thick needle pierced the skin in her neck. The liquid entered her main artery. From the corner of her eye, she noticed it was a different color liquid than what they usually injected her with. It was normally milky and the truth serum yellow, and they always used an injection gun. This time it was bright red, almost like blood and it hurt like blazes. She arched against the pain, stiffened. So that’s why they’d secured her so heavily. Had she not been attached to the chair, she’d have jumped off.

  Drowsiness overcame her, the pain becoming a dull ache. She fought like mad to keep her eyes open, to stay awake. Whatever they’d injected her with overpowered her enhancements and she couldn’t allow it. Her body felt like a huge block of metal weighed her down.

  Through a haze, she saw three people near her. They were dressed in white suits, medical gear. Even her thoughts were sluggish as she tried to make sense out of it all. She wasn’t due to have her enhancements removed and that was done surgically in the medical center, not in the interrogation room. And since they were removing her enhancements the day after tomorrow, why bother interrogating her? After the enhancements were gone, she wouldn’t pose a danger to them anymore. Well, except for what she knew, of course. They couldn’t remove that unless they brainwashed her. So what was this? Fear shot through her like lightning. Were they going to extract her memories? Brainwash her?

  Vaguely, she noticed the restraints unlock and slide back in their hiding place. She tried to lift her arms, but they felt like lead. Her body was frozen. Suddenly, she knew she’d been injected with some kind of paralyzing agent. But why?

  One of the figures took off her boots, followed by her suit. She was naked and helpless to do anything about it.

  “Prisoner one-zero-one-eight-eight, sit perfectly still while we perform a complete body scan in preparation for your removal surgery tomorrow.”

  Tomorrow? Tomorrow? No! Her vision cleared. One of the figures jabbed at an electronics board on the wall. The back of the chair descended until she lay prone. A large round tube slid out of the wall. The seat and back of the chair had magically turned into a gurney that slid automatically into the tube, encasing her within. A soft humming sounded as it turned. She’d seen the scanners in operation, but had never been in one. It was scanning her body for the exact placement of each enhancement and type of enhancement.

  The tube stopped rotating and disappeared into the ceiling. The whole procedure had probably only taken about twenty minutes, but it seemed like hours. The three doctors, if that’s what they were, conferred softly with each other while looking at a screen on the wall. The voices were male and she wondered if they were her usual interrogators. It didn’t sound like them, but the masks would distort their voices.

  Her entire body turned into a mass of pins and needles as sensation returned. She tried to stop it, but a soft groan escaped from deep within.

  “Secure her,” one of the men said.

  The chair slid out of the tube. Its back straightened. The braces reappeared and snapped around her arms, wrists and ankles.

  “Prisoner one-zero-one-eight-eight, yo
u have one last chance to tell us why you are here. The drug we administered also contains a much bigger dose of truth serum than we normally give you so your enhancements won’t help you now. Answer our questions and you’ll win back your freedom and won’t need to have the surgery.”

  Oh, they lied so well. As if they’d set her free now. No, their idea of freedom was to remove the enhancements, even if she gave them the answers they wanted. Very few knew of the extra enhancement implanted into her brain, deep enough that only a brain scan could possibly detect them. Concentrating hard, she fought to block the truth serum’s potency.

  “Tell us the name of your leader!”

  Haven remained silent. She knew the questions all by heart, and even though she could lie and name someone else, there was no way. They’d given her the stronger drug, but her enhancement still worked to protect her against it. They’d get nothing out of her.

  “Your leader!”

  A prod with the electro rod caused her body to jerk in protest. Grinding her teeth together, she peered at the masked men. She’d love to know who they were so if she ever saw them in the future, after her escape, she could knock their blocks off. Or more.

  “What is the name of your organization?”

  Another prod, this time right in the center of her belly. She arched against the pain while grinding her teeth together, refusing to give them the satisfaction of a scream.

  “One-zero-one-eight-eight, give us names, places, and we’ll let you go.”

  One of the men punched her in the ribs, then on the side of her face. Her ears rang with the force of the blow.

  “Go easy. We don’t want to kill her,” one of the others said.

  “Who gives a flying fuck, Nudris? She’s not going to talk. You know it. We all know it. She’ll die on the operating table tomorrow, anyway. So far, only one has survived the procedure and he became a zombie.”

  “Pity. She’s a delectable piece of flesh. Look at that virginal pussy.”

  “For God’s sake, get your fucking mind out of the gutter, Shory!”

  “What made you a fuckin’ priest all of a sudden?” the one called Shory said while he stepped forward and grabbed her breasts with both hands.

  Get your fucking hands off me, you piece of shit. I’ll remember you! She felt like shouting, but clamped her lips together tightly.

  Haven was mortified. The hands didn’t leave her breasts, or her nipples. She wanted him to lift his visor so she could see his face, wanted him to remove the damn helmet. The only reason they wore the gear was so she wouldn’t know who her interrogators were. They couldn’t be the same men who’d interrogated her daily. Those stony faces were engraved in her brain, as were their voices. Her hatred of them all grew, along with the hatred she already harbored for everything the powers that be did to the inhabitants of the other planets. I’ll come back and I’ll kill you for this, she vowed to herself while remaining perfectly still. All of you who play God with people’s lives.

  “Who do you answer to? What were your orders?”

  Another prod, this time too close to a very tender spot. Besides wanting to kill them, she was sure their act was illegal, against all protocol, and if caught, they’d end up in a cell themselves. Worse, they’d more than likely be sent to the mines. If she reminded them of that, they’d kill her, she knew it for sure. And what made them think she wouldn’t talk anyway, tell someone tomorrow about how they’d treated her? But by the sounds of it, they didn’t care how much they hurt her. They expected her to die tomorrow on the operating table. Tomorrow? Oh, my God! When tomorrow?

  “The two men in your cell, what have they told you? Answer the questions, one-zero-one-eight-eight.”

  That time she did talk. “Aren’t they the spies you planted in my room? What are they supposed to tell me?” She felt like reminding them of their cameras, the bugs in her room, but wisely kept her mouth shut. She wasn’t supposed to know they were there.

  Her questions were rewarded with another punch to the middle of her chest, knocking the breath out of her.

  “I’m of mind to smuggle her out of here and keep her for myself.”

  She recognized the man’s voice as Shory’s.

  “You’re out of your fucking mind. You’d never get away with it.”

  She’d never been treated like this during an interrogation. Neither did the voices seem at all familiar. Sure, they hurt her, smacked her around, beat her, but not this. Shory and Nudris, who was the third, she wondered. The one called Shory, suddenly lifted his helmet and threw it aside.

  “Too damn hot in this thing. Why do we have to wear them anyway? She doesn’t know who we are.”

  “You stupid bastard! Now she knows who you are!” the third man shouted.

  “Shut the fuck up, Duin!”

  Okay, now she knew all their names and the face of one. She studied him while he yelled at the other two. He looked to be in his forties. He was bald, had beady green eyes and an overly large pointy nose. His lips were thin, cruel. The face was etched in her mind along with the others she’d come to hate.

  “You guys up for a game of zenka tonight?” Nudris asked.

  “Maybe, after we’re finished with her.”

  “We’re done, as far as I’m concerned. Let her go. She won’t talk. I don’t even know why they wanted us to try. She hasn’t talked in all this time, why would she talk now? Any information she might have will be eliminated anyway tomorrow when they do the surgery.”

  “I don’t get it. That drug should have worked.”

  “Well, it didn’t. She’s obviously immune to it. It was a waste of time,” Duin told his coworkers. He picked up her clothes from the floor and dumped them on her lap. “Here are your clothes. After you get dressed, your guards will escort you back to your cell. Your surgery is tomorrow evening half an hour after shift change. Shower, wash your hair, and be ready on time.”

  The restraints unlocked, slipped back into their hiding places, and she was free. Bundling her clothes in her hand, she slid off the chair. The room spun for a moment and she felt a bit wobbly, but she soon regained her composure and balance.

  “Oh, my God, what a waste, what a fucking waste,” Shory said, his gaze devouring her from head to toe.

  One of his coworkers yanked his arm and pulled him out of the door. She was alone. Her ribs hurt, her stomach, her face, everywhere they’d prodded or punched her. Her breasts felt like ripe melons that had been squeezed too hard. Suppressing a groan, she put on her clothes, her boots, and pushed the buzzer for the guards to open the door. They led her back to her room. Even walking hurt.

  Haven saw the shock on Isan’s and Josias’ faces. She had to look a mess. As fleetingly as their expression of shock appeared, they disappeared. They controlled their emotions instantly. The walls had eyes.

  They messed you up good, Isan said.

  I wish we could help you, Josias walked closer to her.

  Don’t. Stay there. They’ll see if you fuss over me. All I want right now is a shower to wash their filthy touch off me. We’ll talk later. Can you guys get me some food? I won’t be long. It’s only fifteen minutes to lights out. I can’t believe I was there so long.

  She showered quickly. Thankfully, the water was good and hot. But even after her shower, she still felt the bastard’s touch on her breasts, her nipples. The hot water had eased the pain somewhat. Her enhancements would help her heal very quickly. By morning, she’d be as right as rain. While brushing her hair, she looked in the mirror and saw the bruised face staring back at her. It hardly looked like her, but the swelling would soon disappear, and by morning the bruises would be a mere shadow. She sighed. Tonight they’d have to plan their escape and move it ahead a day. One night and part of one day left to freedom. Freedom? If they were successful. If they survived.

  With a towel wrapped around her, she quickly left the bathroom to find a bowl of steaming soup and a sandwich waiting for her. She wasn’t really hungry but knew she had to eat. She needed all
the strength she could muster for their escape the next day. Five minutes to lights out. She quickly spooned the soup into her mouth and swallowed, drinking the last juices from the bowl. After two bites of her sandwich, the lights went out, but it didn’t matter. The sandwich wasn’t that good and she had trouble swallowing. She suspected some of the drugs were still in her blood.

  Dropping the towel on the floor, she headed for the bed and bumped into Josias.

  I waited for you. Quick, hop in, he said.

  Bed had never felt so good, especially with two hard male bodies snuggling up to her. Careful, I’m sore. No play tonight, boys.

  What did they do to you? Isan asked.

  You don’t want to know and I just want to forget it. Although I’ll never forget the face of the man who mauled my body. This interrogation was worse than any before.

  Who was the bastard? Josias asked angrily.

  There were three of them. I know their first names, but they wore protective garb. Only one took his helmet off. One day, I’ll find them and then I’m going to kill them for what they did to me today. Them, and the other bastards who’ve beaten me day in, day out, but these three have moved to the top of my list. On another note, they plan to remove my enhancements tomorrow, half an hour after I finish my shift.

  Mm, I wonder why they moved it up. It won’t matter. We’ll escape tomorrow and we’ll be long gone by then.

  I’ve got the info we need. There are not supposed to be any ships coming in from fourteen-fifteen until fifteen-fifteen I’ll go to the lav at two fifty four where I’ll initiate my invisibility. I’ll slip out of the door and head for the station where the monitors will be unattended for four minutes while reports are done. I’ll quickly disable them, run for the elevator and head to level eighteen, disable the equipment there, then go up to twenty. Then to the departure bay. A cargo vessel is set to depart at three zero five, another at three ten. One is headed to Anat, the other one to Astraea.