Period number: 90
Place: Terrarium
Oliver realized he was standing. He didn’t understand, what had just happened. At first, he caught them in the terrarium and a stunning shot hit him and he fainted. Then…then he saw those things. Those dreams. But they were so real. He was desperate about seeing Sophia getting cut by the Greys.
He looked around and saw he was still in the terrarium. He was standing above three corpses of Greys’. Their purple blood was everywhere around him and on him. In his right hand there was a ripped arm one of them. It was the right hand with a glove on it.
Oliver was confused, he didn’t understand anything. He didn’t know who or what killed the Greys, that were lying in front of him. But he was thankful for it. He knew it had to inject something into his body as he was able to break the aquarium with his own body, but he didn’t want to think about it. But how was it possible, he woke up standing over their bodies? Why was there a glove in his hand? And why did that thing kill the Greys but not him? Or was he really losing his mind?
He heard a movement on his right side. He turned around quickly and saw Darius standing up. “Oliver, what the fuck was that? Did you do this?” “No, when they hit you, they hit me, too. I fell unconscious. When I woke up, they were dead and this was in my hand.” Oliver showed Darius the glove with purple blood on it. Darius said: “Whatever had happened, I’m glad it had happened. You should clean yourself, their purple blood is all over you.” Darius leaned over one of the Greys’ body and tore down his white overall. He threw it to Oliver, who used it as a towel. “The thing with that hand isn’t a bad idea. We don’t have to carry his whole body with us.” Oliver didn’t manage to stop him and Darius was leaning over a Grey’s body, put his foot on him and was already tearing his hand off. The body didn’t take it for a long time and Darius suddenly had the Grey’s hand in his hand. Oliver looked away but he almost puked when he heard the sound of a hand being ripped off.
When he was cleaning his left hand, he saw a black substance on it. It made some black threads that were reaching to his elbow. He couldn’t get rid of it. Oliver hoped it wasn’t dangerous, so he let it be. Suddenly he remembered a black substance that appeared in his mad nightmares. He shivered.
“We still didn’t solve our gun problem,” said Darius.
Oliver thought about it. “I have an idea, it won’t help us when they are too far from us but it will help us when they come nearer.” He took a step to a metal table, where used to be the aquarium he had broken. He turned it over and pulled its leg. After a while it broke. “Sometimes I do fencing, it’s not really a sword, but it can be used as a club. I don’t think those beings are physically strong, this should help us to kill them.”
“Good for breaking limbs,” summed Darius up and ripped off one for himself, too. “I think we should be moving. I don’t think they won’t notice of this.” Oliver agreed and they went out of the terrarium.
“Which way?” Darius asked. Oliver looked around and put on the glasses he had put down before, when he was cleaning them from the Grey’s blood. Darius found another pair of glasses and put them on as well. Oliver couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the walls. “Darius, I think I can read their writing.” “No! How’s that possible?”
“I don’t know, minutes ago the only thing I could see were some signs and now I understand, what’s written on these walls. My cell says Subject #8 and under this is Present. This is Terrarium #24.” Oliver had no idea, what was going on around him. He was afraid it was just another dream or that he had gone crazy. Once again, he started to panic. Oliver went down on his knees.
“Get up, Einstein, we don’t have time for this. Lead us, when you can read that. We have to find other people, we can’t leave anybody here.”
Oliver didn’t know, what to do. You are not crazy and this is not a dream. GO! He had no idea whose voice was it or why he was hearing it, but he had to agree they had to move. He stood up and went straight.
He knew they were going the right way. They were close, some of the prisoners were really close, though he didn’t know which of them. Darius followed him. “Where are we going now?” “We’ll find the others,” Oliver silently answered.
“How? Are we going to go from one door to another to find another cell? That will take hours.” There was a bit of irritation in Darius’ voice that Oliver didn’t like as seconds ago Darius wanted Oliver to lead him.
“No, that won’t be necessary. I know where they are. One of them is close, very close.” “How do you know that?” “If I tell you that, you’ll treat me like a fool. I know where they are thanks to the same reason I can read their writings. I can feel them.”
“Dude, you’re totally insane.” Darius looked at him nervously.
Oliver knew if it went on like this, Darius would soon leave him and would go on his own. Or, what would be worse, he would first kill him and then continue on his own way. “You’re right, maybe I am. I’m not sure myself either. I understand, if you don’t want to go with me, but I won’t make it without you. Look, so far I gave us a chance of escaping and, as you said before, you want to help the others, too. We can go through these hallways at random, but I consider trusting my feelings more effective. Either I’m right and it will help us find them or we’ll wander those hallways trying to find the right door.”
Oliver saw Darius calmed down. He knew, he had won before he started talking: “OK, but if I have the feeling you’re leading us into troubles, I will have no problem leaving you here or even killing you, if I have to. Remember that.”
Oliver knew he would not forget a threat like that. He was leading them through hallways. They were going very slowly, because they had to look out for not meeting another Greys. While they were walking, he was thinking about why did he actually trust that voice. He was almost sure it was not a pipe dream. He believed it mostly because he wouldn’t be able to learn the language of Greys without its help. The feeling that was leading him to other people was also unnatural. Well, he didn’t trust it completely. What he was fearing the most, was that it could lead them into a trap. But now, that voice was their biggest chance of getting out of there.
They were going through one of the crossroads and Oliver felt the presence of two beings coming from their right. It was two Greys. He stopped Darius with a sign. Darius looked at him, Oliver stuck out two fingers, pointed to the right and rose his weapon. It seemed, that Darius understood it.
They both stood to the wall, so their shadows can’t be seen. They waited. They heard the Greys when they were near them. When they came out of the corner, Darius jumped on them.
The first one didn’t even realize, what happened, Darius punched him in his head so hard, that the Grey hit the wall with his head and started to bleed. The second one did realize, what was happening, but Darius acted as the first. The Grey didn’t manage to raise his hand with the glove and Darius got rid of him just as he did it with the first one. Now, Oliver appreciated Darius’ experience. Being a part of mafia really strengthened him. He was killing, when he had to.
“Darius, why do you actually want to save the others? Not that I don’t want to save them, too, but if I have got it right, you used to be on the other side of law in the past. I would say you’d leave them here. No offence.”
“You really think we got time for a conversation like this?” sighted Darius. “Lead us further and I’ll tell you.”
Oliver continued along the hallway.
“I really was living as a criminal, but that doesn’t mean I don’t value life. I’m killing people, who are standing in my way or are harmful to me. But I’m not letting innocent people suffer in a cage and I’m not letting a group of creatures having fun. People should be free and I’m not a monster, who’d let anyone suffer just for fun. I’m only doing what I have to.”
“Sorry, I didn’t want to insult you.” Oliver was so ashamed, he was scratching his head. “You didn’t insult me, you’re just prejudiced like the others. I, in fact, I’m not surprised. We must be respected, so that some our acts are being overlooked. But, let’s shut up, we don’t have to call attention to us.”
Oliver agreed. As they quietly continued walking, he was thinking. Knowing about those two Greys wasn’t normal. He didn’t want to panic, but he needed answers and he didn’t know where to find them. They were very close.
He stopped at the door marked as Subject 5 – status present. “Here it is, one of them is here.” “So, let’s open it.” Darius put the glove to the door and it opened.
Behind the door Lucas was sitting and eating his food. When they entered the room and the door closed, Lucas couldn’t believe his eyes. Oliver quickly evaluated the situation. “He was just given the food, which means we have about twenty minutes till they come for him.”
Lucas put down the food, stood up and was staring at them as if he was seeing ghosts. “Are you my hallucinations?” He laughed. “I’m totally messed up. Great, at least I won’t be alone anymore.” He didn’t stop laughing. Darius went to him and punched him in his belly. “We’re no hallucinations, you’re not mad. We’re leaving, are you coming with us or not?”
Even though Lucas got punched in his belly, he didn’t stop laughing. “What a stupid question, my old friend, I still have to arrest you and I can’t do it from here. Anyway, the food was brought here a long time ago, but I was lazy to get up.”
Oliver still wasn’t able to form his opinion about Lucas. Sometimes he was logical even though he was laughing at everything and sometimes he was just talking nonsense. “Listen Lucas, we can’t waste time. The device in your shoulder is not put in very deep, but we have to get it out. Quickly, drink your water, probably we won’t be having it for a longer time and I need that glass.”
“Having my shoulder cut by a licensed surgeon is a ticket to the Greys’ afterparty? Cool!” He took his shirt off, drank the rest of the water in his glass and laid on his belly. Darius took his blanket and tore it into pieces.
Oliver, just like before, broke the glass and took its broken pieces. When he took Lucas’ left hand with his hand, he realized, it’s not hurting him as it had been. Although Oliver cut Lucas’ shoulder without analgesics, he wasn’t screaming. He just continued laughing madly. Oliver got goose bumps when he saw that.
When he was done, Darius bandaged his wound. They stood up and in that second a sound came from the floor. The device released its paralytic poison. Oliver, who knew what that meant, reacted as the first. He ran to the door, which opened and one of the Greys wanted to go in. Oliver knocked him down. He cut his throat with the broken piece of glass he was still holding in his hand and several times hit the ground with his head. The Grey didn’t wake up.
When Oliver stood up, he realized, they dragged the Grey out of the room into the hallway. The door on Lucas’ cell opened and they both went out. Darius threw him the hand and the leg of the table. “You forgot your stuff, but…good job.”
Lucas was staring at his associates holding a torn hand and a metal leg of a table. He was staring at them, then at the dead Grey on the floor, at them…”Why don’t I have a toy?” He leaned over the dead body and, just like Darius, he tore the Grey’s hand off. “Do you know how does the rope get out? I could whip you with it as if you were my slaves.”
“If you prefer whipping the Greys instead…” said Oliver and pushed the button, which released the rope. Lucas started jumping as a little baby. “Cool, that’s going to be a party!”
“OK, Lucas, shut up, looks like the alarm didn’t set off and I want it to stay like this as long as possible. Oliver, lead us further.” While Darius was giving them orders, Oliver dragged the Grey’s body into Lucas’ cell. But he couldn’t get rid of his purple blood.
Oliver appreciated that Darius had silenced Lucas. He didn’t want to leave anyone here, but he had a bad feeling about this meeting. He was afraid of what Lucas could do. He calmed himself but after several minutes they met a group of five Greys. They started to fight, the Greys wanted to paralyze them, but Lucas jumped between them and was whipping with the rope, kicking, smashing everything around and jumping. He was moving very chaotically, the Greys weren’t able to hit him so Oliver and Darius managed to kill one Grey after another. All three of them cut and ran.
They were running along those hallways and Oliver was still in the lead. Suddenly he stopped and whispered: “I can feel two of them. But there’re at least eight. The door is marked Testing room 32. What are we going to do? Have you got an idea?”
Darius knitted his brows. “That’s no good. What about waiting for them to finish their work and take them away?” Oliver didn’t like that. “Others can come here and see us. And that can take hours, we have to act now.”
“I think, it’s clear we don’t have a choice, we have to go in and kill them,” Lucas smiled and went to the door. Before they managed to stop him, he opened the door and flew into the room. They didn’t have a choice and went to help him.
Three Greys were standing beside beds and doing something to the prisoners, who were Amat and Ewa. Lucas jumped to them and beat them up. Oliver didn’t have the time to look who was lying on the beds, because the Greys hiding behind tables were shooting at them. A minute later, everything was over.
“There’s four of them,” Darius shouted. “I’ve got three and two naked guys,” answered Lucas. “That means one is missing.” Oliver heard the door open and saw one Grey escaping. Darius went to get him. They heard a glove-shot and a dull thud. The door opened and Darius dragged a cadaver in. He threw him to the others as if he didn’t weight a pound. “What’s next?” he asked.
“Find something we can use to cut their tracking devices out. And I’ll find out how to get those collars and handcuffs down.” Oliver ordered and started to inspect the glove he had. He was pushing the buttons till he saw a picture in front of him. The glasses he had, showed him a menu above the glove. It was like using the glasses of extended reality. After several minutes of searching it over, he learned how it worked. The collar and handcuffs were sending a signal Oliver had to connect to and chose one of its options. He chose Disconnect and Amat’s handcuffs opened. He did the same with Ewa’s handcuffs. Their collar had the option Antidote C4464. He supposed it could wake them up, but he didn’t want to do it right now. “I think it would be better to cut out their devices first and then wake them up.”
Darius agreed. “You’re right, I found some scalpels, we should take them with us to help the others, too. The problem is we don’t have any pockets.” Oliver heard a blanket tearing into pieces and he turned around. Lucas was on his knees by the Greys’ bodies and was tearing their clothes off. His mates were looking at him. He looked curiously at them. “What? The clothes of these two are there by the door, we don’t have any bandages, so I’ll make some out of their clothes. I don’t want to look at their naked asses while running away. Amat and Ewa are not my types. I can make you travel handbags out of this and you can place your souvenirs in them.“
Oliver let him continue. He had a scalpel from Darius and asked him for help. Together they turned Amat around and Oliver cut the device out of his shoulder. When he didn’t have to use broken pieces of glass, he found out it was simple and fast. The device wasn’t very deep, even with his shaky hands he was able to make a small cut. They bandaged Amat’s wound with Lucas’ bandages and they did the same with Ewa. While cutting Ewa, Oliver was feeling a bit weird. Even though he knew he was trying to help her, he didn’t want to hurt any woman. Or cause her pain.
When it was over, Oliver pushed the antidote button, took off their collars and they waited. Smiling Lucas jumped up from the ground and handed Darius a small bag, that he had made. Darius took it without a word, put scalpels in it and tied it to his shoulder.
Ewa opened her eyes as the first, but this was the only sign of her perceiving the reality. Amat woke up, too. He was confused. He looked around and saw Oliver, Lucas and Darius. He sat quickly and touched his shoulder. “What…?” Darius threw him some clothes. “We haven’t got much time, we’re leaving, either you’re coming with us or you can wait till our friends come back. We’re not waiting for them. If you’re coming with us, dress your wife and yourself, we’ll tell you everything on our way out.”
Amat didn’t protest, he dressed up and went to Ewa. He was talking in Polish with her, but Oliver understood him. “Honey, come on, we’re going home. We’ll be free again.” But Ewa didn’t react. Oliver saw the sadness in her eyes. Despite that sadness, they couldn’t waste their time. Amat took the clothes and dressed his wife. She didn’t resist, it seemed she responded to a stimulus like this. When he pulled her hand, she stood up and followed him. Lucas, who was still standing beside dead Greys’ bodies, went as the last. Before leaving, he tore one Grey’s hand, lift up the glasses and gave everything to Amat. “I suppose your wife doesn’t need spare keys to the house but maybe you will need them.” He said it with his mad laughter and went to Oliver.
They entered the hallway and continued. While they were going, Oliver silently explained Amat using Polish-Slovak language what had happened. Of course, he left out the voice in his head. When he ended up speaking, he still needed to make some things clear. “Do you have this building’s plan or something like that?”
Although Oliver expected a question like this, he got nervous, because he knew how his plan sounded like. Ridiculous and dangerous. “Unfortunately, no, but I hope we’ll find something. So far, we didn’t find anything, what would look like a computer to use it to explore this place.”
“So how do you know, where we are going?” “I can read what’s written on the door, we are trying to find the others and then we’ll find our way out. I think I know, where they are.”
It was a poor explanation, but Amat probably understood, he shouldn’t be asking him or maybe he just didn’t want to. So, he remained quiet.
They weren’t walking quietly more than three minutes and Oliver stopped in front of a door. When they opened it, Yuna was sitting behind them eating her slimy food. She winced at the sound of opening door and saw someone coming in. “Has something happened? Are they taking us somewhere else?” Then she realized, the Greys weren’t with them. “How did you…?” “That’s a long story, honey.” Darius interrupted her and told her a short story of what Oliver told Amat minutes ago. She wasn’t very fluent in English and the biggest problem was to explain her it was necessary to cut the tracking device out of her shoulder. When she understood it, for a minute Oliver thought, Darius was going to leave her there. But afterwards she took her chance and let them do, what they had to. Oliver was cutting her and heard her screaming although she had the cloth in her mouth. He wasn’t feeling very well, but he couldn’t stop. When he was finished, he saw tears running down Yuna’s cheeks. Darius bandaged her wound and when she calmed down, they continued on their way out.
As Oliver and Darius, Yuna’s cell was next to another prisoner’s cell. Oliver read out loud, “Subject 1 – present. That will be Ales.” Darius opened the door and they all walked into the cell. Immediately they realized they had another problem. A Grey was standing right next to the bed and beside him a device, that was as long as the bed, was levitating. When they were coming in, he turned around and started to shoot at them. As they were going through the door all at once, they didn’t manage to step aside so Lucas was hit and fell knocked out on the ground. Darius, who was in the lead, rushed for their enemy, but he didn’t make it as he was hit and fell on the floor, too.
Oliver re-evaluated the situation and tried to get to the enemy otherwise. He knew, that it would be a disadvantage for him to attack him from distance, but if he attacked him first, the Grey would be an easy target. Just like Darius was. The Grey aimed, but Oliver jumped aside. The cell was not big enough for maneuvering and after the second shot Oliver realized he was standing in the corner. Amat yelled when the Grey was focusing on Oliver, used the situation to get near enough and knocked him down to the ground. He was beating him with his hand and with the glove he was still holding in his hand. “That’s for Ewa and me, you asshole!” Amat was shouting in Polish and wasn’t stopping beating him.
Oliver knew, what a feeling it was to get rid of all the frustration from all periods, they went through, and that was why he wasn’t trying to stop him. So, he checked on Lucas, while Yuna was kneeling by Darius. “He will be fine, he’s breathing,” she said. “Lucas, too,” added Oliver.
Ewa was standing still at the door, where Amat, who was still beating the Grey’s cadaver, left her. Her sight didn’t indicate that either the gunfight or the psychotic episode of her husband would have interested her.
Meanwhile Oliver went to that levitating thing and realized it was a folding bed. The Greys had been probably using it to get their prisoners to the target room.
He checked on Ales and shook with him. Ales did move, but didn’t wake up. Oliver heard a sound coming from his back, so he turned around and saw Lucas standing up. “I don’t remember my whole body would be hurting me after taking forty winks like a hundred thunders would had struck me.” Oliver ignored his joking. After a while, Darius woke up, too. “Why didn’t you wake him up?” he asked breathlessly. “I tried, but it didn’t work. Maybe we’ll have to wait.”
“Then let’s cut that thing out of him.” Darius caught Ales and moved him from his mattress. He tore his blanket into pieces, took his shirt off and gave Oliver a clean scalpel. “You’ve got experience, so you do it.” Oliver, as before, caught Ales’ left shoulder and started cutting. But this time it didn’t go like they thought it would. Apparently, his sleep in the cell wasn’t as deep as the one in the lab. Ales flung his eyes open and started to scream and shake. “Why? I’ve been good and obedient!” Darius jumped to them to help Oliver and flatten Ales to stop shaking. “Listen, we want to help you, we have escaped and we’re taking you with us. But we have to cut out the device in your shoulder so stop moving and shut up.” It seemed like Ales didn’t understand them. He continued screaming and asking. Lucas went to them and stuffed Ales’ mouth with a piece of cloth. The shouting ceased…to a normal level. With Darius’ and Lucas’ help Oliver was able to finish the provisional operation. They stopped cutting him, bandaged him, he calmed down and it seemed, that he started to realize, what had been happening. “We’re sorry, we thought you’re in an artificial sleep and you won’t be feeling anything. Otherwise we would have woken you up and explained it to you before we started cutting you,” apologized Oliver.
“So what about explaining it to me now?“ Darius sighed. “What do you want us to explain? We’re leaving, you can go with us or stay here as a good dog.” “Leaving? That’s all?”
Clearly, Darius was really fed up with Ales. “You’re not the brightest star in the sky, right? You think that cadaver appeared here accidentally?” He pointed at the Grey’s cadaver. Ales frowned. “I didn’t mean it. It’s just that…” “That you still think they’re gonna let you go, if you behave? Wake up! This is your chance to run away!” “And what if we don’t make it? What then?” “Either they’ll imprison us or kill us, there’s not much to do. In other words, we’ve got nothing to lose.” “Except for our lives.”
“I don’t know what this is according to you, but to me, this here isn’t a life! Not for me. If you want, stay here, they’ll surely praise you for wallowing here with a dead body of one of them.” Darius finished their talking and left. Oliver and Amat followed him. When they were at the door, Ales stood up. “OK, I’m going with you!”
Lucas jumped with joy. “Great!” He went to the cadaver and tore its hand off, he was enjoying it for sure. Ales puked himself when he was giving him the hand and glasses with a big smile all over his face. He took them both.
“So, now it’s your girlfriend’s turn, Oliver?” Darius asked. “She’s not my girlfriend.” “Oh, yes, she is. You’ve been asking for her during every single period.” Darius was teasing him. “I just feel guilty of her being here. It’s all my fault. We hardly know each other.” “Your fault? I don’t think, after being kidnapped by aliens, the question of how long have you two known each other is a real matter of fact.” “Hey, maybe if they stop experiments on people, they can open a dating agency,” answered Oliver. “You’re starting to have the same stupid jokes as Lucas has. I hope his stupidity is not catching.”
They were walking through the hallways and Oliver was leading them according to his feelings. Now, when he knew Sophia was the last one standing, he was moving faster. He realized, Darius was maybe right about what he said and Oliver just didn’t want to accept it.
Suddenly he felt something strange. Sophia was moving. He felt she was moving at the same level they were, but somewhere behind the wall, probably in the next hallway.
Oliver turned to Darius and quietly told him, what he felt. “So, let’s surprise them and attack them.” Oliver agreed and ran down the hallway. He felt Sophia was moving slowly, so they overtook them and turned right. He insinuated them to stop. They all stood near the wall and waited. When Sophia got near them, he felt the presence of the Grey, too. There was only one of them, so he showed it to the others. He hoped, they understood his willingness to be careful, especially Lucas.
At first the front of the folding bed appeared, followed by Sophia’s legs and then the Grey, who was connected to the folding bed with the same cable they were connected to the collars. Apparently, they surprised him, because before he died, he wasn’t even trying to fight back. Darius hit him with the leg of the table in the head and Lucas, just to be sure, kicked him several times. Oliver looked at a nearby door and saw it was Terrarium 12. He was focused, but it seemed like no Greys were inside. At least he didn’t feel any of them. He was dragging the cadaver behind, as it was still attached to the folding bed, which followed him.
Oliver took them into the terrarium. “I don’t want to cut her in the hallway. It wouldn’t be very appropriate, if they start to shoot at us right there.” Nobody said a word. Ales and Amat were fascinated by the creatures around them. In the cages and glass aquariums there were lots of strange beings, that surely didn’t come from the Earth. Although some looked alike. While they were locked inside, Oliver didn’t care about them, he was trying to wake Sophia up. He shook with her and she woke up. She looked around and was very confused. At first, she didn’t get it and was trying to escape, but then she realized she was looking at Oliver, Darius and simpering Lucas. “What…? Where…?”
“Calm down, girl,” said Darius as the first. “We just want to have a party and we wanted you to come over, too,” added Lucas. None of them was helpful, Sophia was still sitting on the folding bed staring at them like they were totally insane. She turned to Oliver and stared at him. Just for a second, he stared at her, too, smiled and then answered, “We have escaped, picked up everyone and you are the last one. We know how to get rid of that device in our shoulder and we killed all the Greys, who were trying to stop us.” According to Sophia’s face, he wasn’t very helpful either.
“Oliver wanted to say, he cut his shoulder with a broken glass, then he cut mine and Lucas’ and afterwards we went to find you,” Darius continued in explaining. “Thank you, Darius, that was very helpful,” Oliver stopped him.
Sophia laughed. “I absolutely don’t understand you, could you try it one more time and slowly. What do I have to do to run away with you?”
“Listen, your girlfriend reacts much faster than Ales did. I don’t know, if it’s a compliment, but at least she’s not stupid.” Darius was teasing Oliver once again.
“Stop it, I told you! Considering how old you are, you’re vicious in teasing people like a teenager. Sophia listen, in your left shoulder, there’s a device that’s paralyzing you. I think there’s also a tracking device in it, too. We have to cut it out. We found some scalpels, so it’s gonna be quite fast, but it’s gonna hurt.”
Sophia hesitated for a moment, but then she gave a slight sigh and laid on her belly. “It can’t be worse than being captured here, do it.” She unzipped her shirt and uncovered her shoulder. Oliver was surprised how simple it was to persuade her.
Lucas undressed the Grey, who was lying on the floor, and tore his clothes into pieces. He also made a bigger piece, wrapped it and put it into her mouth. “I don’t want you to bite off your beautiful tongue. A sharp tongue like this is hard to see.” Sophia wanted to thank him, but with the wrapped piece of cloth in her mouth the only thing she was able to say was something like “Hen hu”.
“Gentlemen, please, hold her, I don’t want to hurt her more than I have to. If she shakes as Ales did, it can end up badly.” Lucas and Darius held her from both sides. Oliver wanted to do it fast, so that she suffers as shortly as it was possible. “Let’s go.” Sophia was watching Yuna staring at aquariums, which contained the weirdest kinds of fish. But, as a distraction, it wasn’t enough. With the first cut Sophia screamed with pain and her eyes were filling with tears. Oliver saw how much she was suffering, but he couldn’t stop. The whole thing lasted for a minute. He threw the device on the floor and Darius bandaged her shoulder. Sophia sat and her eyes were still filled with tears of pain.
“You made it great,” Darius tried to cheer her up.
For a while she was just staring at them and then said. “That was horrible. It reminds me of how Oliver and I woke up after being kidnapped and were lying on those beds. I don’t ever want to undergo a thing like this.”
Only now Oliver reminded himself of that moment. Both of them lying next to one another cuffed to the beds, mechanic sound above their heads and then the pain in their shoulders. He realized, that was the moment when they put the devices in and also the moment when, for the first time, he felt how it was when someone was cutting him while he was conscious.
Oliver helped Sophia to come down from the folding bed and he led her to the door. Behind them, a very known sound of tearing off alien limbs came out and then Lucas’ voice. “Hey, Sophia, do you want a VIP key to the party?” He asked her and handed her over a ripped off arm and glasses.