Dead Awakenings

by Rebekah R. Ganiere

  The only things she remembered were that she was from Nevada, her mom’s name was Phyllis, and she liked theater and music.

  “Can you answer a few questions for me?” she asked when they’d concluded that she had no passive mental abilities.

  “Sure.” Nate crossed his legs, giving her his full attention.

  “How did I get this way?”

  “All we know is that there’s someone out there who for some reason is experimenting on people without their permission. We’ve recovered some of the research from the computers we got from raids and rescue missions, but we aren’t quite sure what this person is trying to find out.”

  “Do the Feeders know anything?”

  Nate’s eyes widened. “Uh…I don’t think so. We’ve never really discussed it with Damien before.”

  She’d hoped that they would have at least a little more information for her than that. But they hadn’t.

  Evaine picked at the bedspread; butterflies beginning to wiggle in her stomach. They had refused to tell her about tonight’s impending testing.

  “It works better when you don’t know what to expect,” Nate had said.

  The butterflies moved to a fevered pitch when Nate opened the door, a look of irritation splayed across his face. “We’re going to start in about an hour, if that’s all right with you.”

  “Is Luca back?” She hadn’t meant for it to come out like that. But he was the one she was most comfortable with, and reasonable or not, she felt if he was there, everything would be OK.

  Nate’s back stiffened. “No. He had another errand. I’m sorry.”

  The way he said errand gave her the distinct impression that whatever it was Luca had been up to the last few nights was not making Nate happy.

  Evaine stood, nodded. Fine. She didn’t need him to be there. She’d done just fine on her own with Aron and Nate yesterday. She could do this. Together she and Nate started down the hallway and crossed toward the house area. Nate’s phone buzzed, and he glanced at the caller ID.

  “Will you give me a second, please?” He walked away a pace when she nodded.

  Evaine stood in the middle of the blank white cement hallway trying to find something important to divert her attention from the conversation. It suddenly became her life’s mission to count how many tiles there were in the corridor.

  “What? Yes, we are still going through with it… No I won’t wait any longer. It isn’t fair to her or the rest of us. We are starting within the hour whether you are here or not. This is not up for discussion.” Nate clicked his phone shut.

  So Luca had been trying to get them to put off the testing till he returned. Maybe she should wait. She shook her head. Screw him. If it was that important, he would have been there. What was the worst that could happen?

  Nate’s phone buzzed again. He pulled it out, hit the ignore button, and put it back in his pocket.

  Aron rounded a corner and met them. “We’re ready.”

  “Good.” Her voice was firm. “Let’s get this over with.”

  They walked down the dorm wing, past all the bedrooms, to a hallway she hadn’t been to before. Another small elevator at the end of the hall dinged as it came up from a lower floor. Nate, Aron, and Evaine stepped in and descended to the lowest level yet. The doors opened into a different hallway. The walls and floor were gray cement—no white paint, no tile. They walked silently to a door about ten feet down. A tangible tension permeated the air, setting her on edge. Nate led her into a room about forty feet by forty feet. The floor had been covered with what looked like blue gymnastics mats, as had three of the walls. With only an eight-foot ceiling and low-hanging florescent lights, the room pressed in on her. The one wall not covered by padding was mirrored. Like a lab rat, she envisioned a thousand eyes watching her. What was this room used for when it wasn’t being used for tests? She had a vision of straitjackets and chairs with torture devises.

  “So is now when you start beating me?” She gave a nervous laugh.

  “Not exactly.” She noticed for the first time Nate had dressed differently. He’d replaced his usual button-down shirt and nice slacks with a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt. Aron wore more casual attire as well.

  She swallowed a heavy lump in her throat. Maybe she should have waited for Luca after all. But it was too late now. Aron stepped past Nate, looked toward the mirror, and nodded. A second door, located on the mirrored wall, opened and Victor walked out. He was huge and shirtless, which made him that more intimidating. His wavy hair reminded her of a Viking. His muscular body rippled. He flexed his muscles and stretched, glaring at her.

  “Are you going to tell me what’s happening now?” She spoke to no one in particular.

  “No.” Nate backed against the mirrored wall and crossed his arms.

  They won’t hurt me, they won’t hurt me. But what if that wasn’t exactly true? Here was Victor looking like a raging bundle of muscles ready to break her in two; and Luca had called at least twice to get them to wait until he could get there. So maybe they really were going to hurt her. She removed her earbuds in an effort to hear better.

  Victor lunged, and she backed up. He paced in front of her, lunging and then backing up again. She swallowed again, her limbs beginning to tremble. It was just a test; they weren’t really going to hurt her. Her shoulder spasmed, and her neck ached from where she had slept on it wrong.

  A blast of energy hit her in the chest, as though a giant hand had knocked her down. She fell on her rear, but was up in a flash. Her eyes focused, and everything becoming much clearer. Energy surrounded Victor, rippling and swelling like water running over his skin. Thrusting his arms out, she saw the wave of energy blast toward her. She ducked and rolled. It ran over her head, slammed into the opposite wall, and made the room vibrate and lights flicker.

  “Fight back, little girl.” His command taunted. She saw fire in his eyes; his pupils had gone into slits already. A chill raced down her spine. He was serious; he really meant to hurt her. Again he slammed a wave toward her, and again she dodged it. Coming out of the dodge she was struck with another wave. This one threw her a few feet before she hit the ground. It took her a minute to get up this time. Her shoulder screamed in pain.

  When she got up, she saw the faint green tinge of the mirrored wall and heard the buzzing of the lights overhead. She could even smell the sweat dripping down Victor’s chest. He grunted in frustration. The game wasn’t going the way he had hoped. Evaine finally understood—Victor was used to getting what he wanted, either with his physical size or his ability. The fact that she was dodging pissed him off.

  “You need to reach inside yourself and find a way to fight back,” Aron said. “Find that place where you feel most vulnerable and pull from there.”

  She had no clue what he was talking about. For ten minutes Victor tried to hit her with his blasts of energy. Sometimes he missed, and sometimes he didn’t. They were never enough to seriously hurt her or knock her out, but by the end she was tired of falling on her butt in front of everyone. Every time Victor missed, he became more enraged. Finally he strode over to where Nate and Aron stood. They held a mumbled conversation that she only caught bits and pieces of.

  “She isn’t scared enough…”

  “…too adaptable…”

  “…extra persuasion…”

  There seemed to be a consensus among the three, and Nate flipped open his phone. After a brief conversation he clicked it shut. They all sat down and waited. Evaine sagged against the far wall, catching her breath. The workout was more exertion than she had grown used to in the last weeks of sitting and doing nothing. And who knew how long she had been strapped down in that hospital. Her shoulder muscles nagged at her.

  She leaned her head back on the wall. A knock came at the door. To her surprise, when Nate opened it, Abbey walked in carrying a large, heavy-looking metal bowl covered loosely in saran wrap.

  “Why did you bring it?” Nate demanded. “I told Karen to do it.”


  Nate tried to take the bowl from her, but she insisted on doing it herself. Abbey walked toward a small table in the corner farthest from where Evaine sat, but as Abbey got close, she tripped and stumbled. Nate caught her by the arm to keep her from falling, but not quick enough to keep the contents of the bowl from shifting under the loose plastic and splashing out.

  The smell hit Evaine like a wall. She was up on her feet in an instant. The scene played out in slow motion. Droplets of blood splashed on the mat. The sweet, warm smell of human food made her gut churn and her mouth water.

  Victor saw her move before anyone else, spinning around he blasted her with a huge wave. It knocked her off her feet, and she landed on her now very painful shoulder back where she had started. Evaine let out a scream of rage. Nate and Aron instinctively stepped between her and Abbey. Flipping to her feet she screamed again. The smell of food swirled in her head. Hunger gnawed at her belly.

  They were keeping her away from the bowl. She needed that bowl. Her arm was killing her now, and she needed the bowl to make it stop aching. Again she rushed them. Nate tried to get Abbey out the door.

  “Nooooo,” she bellowed.

  Abbey’s eyes widened with fright. She tried to lay the bowl on the floor, but Nate pushed her and she lost her balance again, going down this time. The bowl’s contents splashed on Abbey’s face and torso. Abbey screamed and gasped for air. Nate pulled her onto her feet. The moment he laid his hand on the doorknob Evaine felt it. That place of vulnerability and the need inside of her that Aron had spoken of. She needed that bowl.

  Nate gripped the handle but it wouldn’t budge. He tried with two hands. Again it wouldn’t move. Evaine sprang at them. In an effort to protect Nate, whose back was to her, Victor stepped in front of him and got ready to blast Evaine with the biggest wave she had seen yet. But he was too slow.

  She locked eyes with him. “Stop.”

  Victor flew through the air and hit the padded side wall a foot off the floor. He stuck there, suspended by an invisible hand. He yelled and thrashed but couldn’t get free. Taking a step forward Evaine prepared to advance on the bowl. This time Aron stepped in front of her with terror on his face. He put his hands up to show that he didn’t want to hurt her, but she wasn’t dissuaded. He was in her way.

  He reached out to touch her, but was thrown the full length of the room. Aron hit the padding with a crunch and instantly slumped to the floor, unconscious. A string of profanity poured from Victor’s mouth as he demanded to be put down. People banged on the outer door, yelling to be let in, but Evaine held it tight. Abbey slowly put the bowl on the floor at her feet and pushed it away. Nate stepped in front of Abbey protectively. His gaze lit on Evaine.

  “We know what you can do now. The test is over. You need to stop. Open the door and let Abbey out.”

  She shook him off and looked from Nate, to the bowl at his feet, back. He had tried to stop her from getting the bowl. She lunged at him. Something strange happened. She heard his voice again, but it wasn’t his voice. It was deeper and further away and echoed in her head.

  “Evaine, you are done with the test, and you want to stop. You don’t want the bowl. You want to go sit down until you are calm.”

  She felt the words swim around in her head, and for a moment she wanted to do exactly what he said. But in the instant that she was about to turn and do it, the smell of the bowl hit her again and she bared her teeth. Abbey let out a terrified cry right before Evaine was on them. Grabbing Nate by the shirt, she was ready to tear into him when a new voice hit her.

  “Evaine, stop.”

  Luca rushed through the door in the mirrored wall. Livid, she turned away from Nate and roared at him. Luca grabbed her in a flash, lifted her up and threw her into the far wall. Her head hit the padding lightly, and she landed on her hands and knees. She was up on her feet ready to attack. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Nate push Abbey through the door Luca had left ajar.

  She screamed, but was a second too late. They slid through the opening before she could close it. The distraction provided all the time Luca needed. He crossed to her, grabbed her by the arms, and lifted her off the floor, slamming her into the wall again.

  “Enough!”

  She let out a cry and struggled against his grip, but he was stronger this time. He had been getting what she needed, human food. They had denied her, but he had been having his fill of over the last weeks. She had to get free. She needed to get to the bowl. She tried to wrap her legs around his waist, but he pressed his body into her tight so she couldn’t lift her legs. Eye to eye, every inch of his hard body pressing into her. She could feel his chest on her chest, his cut stomach resting on her soft belly. Strong muscular legs loomed over hers pressing them into the stiff blue pads. Every inch of her lit on fire from the contact. Like fireworks were lighting off inside her skin.

  “Get off,” she wailed.

  “Stop!” he yelled. “It is over.”

  His eyes burned like fire. She wanted the bowl. Howling with anguish, she wanted to kill him. At that moment she wanted nothing more than to sink her teeth into his dead flesh and rip him to shreds.

  He called her name again. It wasn’t a yell this time; it was soft, a caress. “Evaine.”

  Her name echoed into her head. The way he looked at her made her stop struggling. She concentrated on his voice, his lips mere inches from hers, moist and inviting. The human food was no longer important. He was close, so close.

  “Evaine.” Cool breath hit her face. The contact between them made her want to drag him down onto the mats and bury herself beneath his weight. She licked her lips, desire leaking from every pore of her body. Moving closer to her, Luca pressed his nose to her hair and breathed in her scent. She shivered, and involuntarily her body relaxed into his. They stood pressed together, locked in the emotions of each other. Slowly her senses dulled. A door clicked open. To her left Victor hit the floor with a curse.

  Around her she was vaguely aware of several people entering the room. A pounding, like the beat of a drum, pulsed inside her head, the pain escalating at an alarming rate. Someone spoke, and Luca looked over his shoulder in reply. Her vision went beyond dulling to fuzzy. She could see the outline of Nate standing behind Luca, and she barely registered a pistol in his hand. A fine sheen of sweat covered her skin, causing her to chill in the cool temperature of the room.

  Replaying the last several minutes in her head, she thought about what had happened with Abbey, with Victor, and then Aron. She had done all that, thrown them around like toys, locked the doors and held them shut. Her knees wobbled, and her thigh muscles twitched.

  “Luca.” She collapsed. He caught her before she hit the mats. Something flowed down her cheek, putting her hand to her ear she felt warm sticky fluid dripping out. She held her hand out to him, trying to speak; no words came out.

  “Evaine.” He wiped her hair from her eyes.

  Luca held her close and pressed her against his body. She inhaled deeply, and all tension ebbed from her body. The scent of his skin overtook her and made her feel safe. Her vision faded.

  This was it. And, she realized, this was how she wanted to die. In Luca’s arms.

  “Evaine.” He whispered her name into her hair. “Evaine, I’m sorry.”

  Everything went black.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Evaine sat bolt upright in bed. She wasn’t where she should be. Something wasn’t right. The walls were a pretty yellow and the floor was clean and shiny linoleum. But her studio wasn’t yellow and linoleum; her studio had tan walls and crappy brown, threadbare floors. And she definitely did not have bright florescent overhead lights as there were here. Panic began to rise within her when her eyes rested upon a sleeping figure in a chair a few feet away. He had a blanket draped over him. His handsome face looked untroubled and free. She tried to stand but felt a tug in her arm, an IV stuck in her wrist. Needles, she hated needles. Without thinking she pulled the needle out and jumped from the bed, throwing it to
the floor. An alarm sounded and the clear fluid leaked onto the linoleum. Luca leaped out of his chair in an instant, switched off the machines, and grabbed her by the arms.

  “Are you all right?” It was more of a demand than a question.

  “I don’t like needles.”

  He looked at the fluid pooling on the floor and held up her wrist where her IV had been. “Not smart.”

  “Yeah, well, like I said, needles aren’t really my thing.” She pulled herself from his grasp and backed toward the wall. All the peace she had seen on his face was gone. All instinct to go to him gone as well. Now she only wanted to be as far away from him as possible. She narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing in here?”

  “You’ve been asleep for several days. We weren’t sure if you were ever going to wake up again.”

  “Well if you didn’t think I was going to wake up, I ask again, what are you doing here?” She knew her voice sounded harsh, but he’d acted pretty crappy. He’d left for days and then made some heroic entrance to save everyone. She was not impressed.

  “Nate wanted me to stay in case you woke up.”

  “I see.” Irritation seeped into her words. “Another errand, I suppose. One more chore you have to do?”

  “Sort of, yes.”

  She huffed and crossed her arms. “Well, why you? I mean you seem pretty busy of late.”

  “Because I told them about our strange connection.”

  “I don’t follow.”

  “Come on. Don’t tell me you don’t feel it when we touch.”

  “You mean the electricity thing?”

  “That and the mind reading and dream thing.”

  “So that isn’t normal then?”

  “No, it isn’t normal at all. Of course with you there seem to be several things we’ve never seen before, and that’s only one of them. Anyway, I told them and they thought that maybe I might be able to get you to come around. And I have been trying, for days, but you haven’t heard me.”