Final Extraction by Julie Trettel

Vada

Chapter 4

 

 

 

There seemed to be more activity than usual in the hallways.

When Jake stopped by to check on me, as he did every morning, even he seemed distracted or maybe a little worried.

“Is everything okay?” I asked him.

“No. Trevor has us packing up for relocation again.”

I sighed. I knew what that would mean. He’d start culling the weakest who either wouldn’t survive the move or slow him down on exit.

“How soon?”

“I don’t know, but breakdown has already begun.”

I sighed. If I didn’t do something quickly, I knew exactly what my fate would be.

“Hey, don’t worry,” he said quietly. He came over and seemed to be checking my vitals. He lowered his head like he was reading my chart, but his eyes darted around the room, and then I realized he was hiding from the cameras. “Help is on the way,” he whispered so softly that if it wasn’t for my enhanced hearing, I never would have heard him. He looked up from the clipboard and smiled. “Everything looks good here.”

I knew better than to ask questions, but one thing was clear to me – Jake wasn’t just a nice guy, he was a traitor to my captors. I instantly loved him for it.

There was always a chance it was a trap, but I would not react or give into it in any way. There had been others that liked to play mind tricks and give false hopes. I didn’t want to believe Jake was that kind of man, but I couldn’t be absolutely certain either.

Regardless of whether help was really coming, I knew I needed to get my strength back once and for all. They had started letting me get up to take myself to the bathroom over the last few days. I’d spent some time searching for any signs of cameras in there, and I was pretty sure there weren’t any in there. It was worth taking the chance.

I waited until the nurse came in to run my vitals. I had their schedule memorized by now. It wasn’t like I’d had much else to do while laid up.

“May I take a shower?” I asked her.

She huffed and rolled her eyes. “I really don’t have the time.”

“I can do it myself. There’s a chair in there,” I added with a sweet smile.

“Fine. Do what you want. I don’t care,” she said absentmindedly.

“Thanks,” I yelled after her retreating back.

I waited until she was out of the room and the door closed before I slowly got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. Once inside I did another thorough check and still couldn’t find any sign of cameras.

It disgusted me to think they could still be watching but I was confident enough to risk it.

I locked the bathroom door, surprised it even had a lock, but grateful for it.

I knew I was on borrowed time, so I quickly removed the thin hospital style gown they’d allowed me to wear and shifted. My gorilla stretched working out all the kinks of being cooped up for so long.

The bathroom was suddenly cramped. It was hard to move. I fumbled with the faucet knobs wishing I had turned on the shower before shifting. I stood under the water letting it refresh me and wash away the funk. I knew I would need to bath after transforming back to my skin, but in that moment all I did was sit there letting my body heal.

I had never really had much use for the healing properties of my gorilla, until now. Sure, I knew that daily bumps and bruises healed quickly even in my skin, but despite my years in captivity, I’d always avoided getting myself into situations that I would require such a need.

There had been times when I’d intervened on the behalf of others. Countless times I had physically put myself between them and our wardens to save others. But a black eye or the occasional broken bone was nothing compared to this.

My body required a full healing. I just prayed I had time for it.

I looked down at the floor, noting the black hairs now covering the white tile.

I groaned. I hadn’t considered the fur. I was going to need to clean it up. I had no doubt that if they saw any signs of my animal fur that they would collect samples and test to try to determine my animal spirit. Gorillas were far too rare.

Just thinking about gorilla shifters brought to mind that guy.

Mate, my gorilla protested in my head as she grunted.

Shh! Do you want us to get caught?

She whimpered but settled down some.

There was no clock in the room, and I was worried I’d overspent my time in my fur. I was already getting anxious about the additional time I would need to shower in human form and clean up the mess left in the bathroom.

I’m sorry. We can’t chance it, I thought. Someday we’ll be free again.

My gorilla didn’t try to communicate with me through the few words she constantly thought, instead, as soon as I shifted back, she flashed images of our mate in my mind.

“Not helping,” I grumbled as I first got to work cleaning up every fiber of gorilla DNA from the bathroom. It didn’t take long really.

They left cleaning supplies under the sink. The stench of the chemicals was terrible, but I forced myself to use it anyway. My eyes burned and my nose ran from the fumes, but in short order the place was spotless.

I stopped and did one more thorough check to satisfy my neurotic fears of being caught. There was nothing remaining. I had washed everything down the shower drain.

Feeling a little less stressed and a million times stronger and healthier than I had since I had awakened, I set to work cleaning myself.

I had taken so long between my time in my fur and my time cleaning that the water was starting to run cold, but I didn’t care. I still made sure I washed the grime from my body and massaged my scalp to get my hair as clean and shiny as possible. I had no idea when the next time would be to enjoy such a luxury.

My long, thick, black hair was shedding now. It stopped up the drain, no doubt compounded by the additional gorilla hair.

I started to panic as I dropped to my knees to pry up the drain cover in the floor and remove all traces of hair. I collected a handful of it, but water was flowing as normal again.

I looked around unsure what to do with it. I smiled when I saw the toilet. I dumped it in and flushed, praying it didn’t clog that too.

When the water fully cycled, I flushed it again just to ensure it was all really gone this time.

A knock on the door had my heart thumping in my chest.

“Yes?” I asked.

“You’ve been in there for a while. Everything okay?” the nurse asked.

“Yes. Almost done.”

I rinsed my hair one last time before shutting off the water. There was one small hand towel in the bathroom. I used it to wipe the worst of the water from my body and then redressed in the dirty gown I had been wearing since I woke up, wishing I had something clean to wear.

It was an empty wish because I knew they wouldn’t bother or even think about offering a fresh gown.

I opened the door.

The nurse peeked her head in, and her nose crinkled slightly at the fresh scent of the cleaning products I’d used, but she didn’t comment so I certainly didn’t bring it up.

“Everything okay?” she asked looking around the tiny bathroom like she expected to find someone, or something hidden in there with me.

“I’m very tired,” I lied. “I think that wore me out more than I had hoped.”

I didn’t want to appear weak, but if I improved too quickly it could tip them off to what I had done. Not having ever seen my animal, they not only didn’t know what I was, they also weren’t one hundred percent certain I was even a shifter.

I had a gene that left me predisposed to being a shifter. That much I had learned from watching and listening in on so many horrific experiments over the years.

The hypothesis was that some humans may carry the gene without ever shifting. They wanted to confirm it, but they weren’t sure how. I had admitted that I was a shifter, but regardless of all their tortuous methods, I’d never revealed to them what I shifted into. That left many curious as to whether I really was a shifter or just raised with shifters and carrying a recessive gene.

I remembered the excitement in Trevor’s evil eyes when they couldn’t get me to shift. I had told them I was a half-animal just to get them to stop the testing, but Trevor had never been fully convinced I was telling the truth.

It hadn’t granted me a release, but it had given me an easier stay on the inside than most of the others. I had used that to help others however possible.

The nurse helped me back to the bed, checked some vitals, documented her findings, and then left without another word.

I knew that the only reason she was even corrigible was because Trevor was still curious about me.

I really was a little tired, but at the same time, my body was buzzing with restored energy. I closed my eyes. The nurse hadn’t even seemed to notice my lack of pain from the broken bones in my body that they hadn’t bothered to fully set.

My gorilla had taken care of all of that. I only prayed the bones had set properly in the healing process.

I started to doze off with visions of the man running through my mind.

“Don’t leave me!”

“I’m right here,” he said with a smile. “I’ll always be here to protect you.”

“But you didn’t.”

“I tried.”

“I know. I didn’t let you.”

“Why did you do it, Vada?”

“I had to. She would have died.”

“You could have died.”

“But I didn’t.”

“And now you’re in danger, Vada.”

“I know. But I’m getting better.”

“They’ll kill you,” he said coldly.

“I won’t let them.”

“Hang on, Vada. I’m coming….”

The image faded slowly. “Come back,” I whimpered in my sleep as I tossed and turn. “Don’t leave me again.”

“Vada?” a voice said jolting me from my dream.

The room was fuzzy as I slowly opened my eyes. It took a moment to focus in on the voice. I smiled when I saw it was only Jake.

“You have to be more careful in here. You were talking in your sleep.”

“I was?”

He nodded.

“Did I say anything?”

“No, you were just crying and saying don’t leave me.”

My hand flew to my dampened cheek.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

He frowned. “You were injured in a building collapse. Have you forgotten that?”

Sounding concerned he got up and walked to my bedside as he started shining a bright light into my eyes. I cringed away and closed my eyes instinctively.

“Of course I remember that.”

“We’ll be moving soon. Trevor is pressing to be gone by noon. I’m not sure our help will make it in time. I need you to be strong, okay?”

He was talking below human radar again. I discreetly nodded.

“Why do you care?” I asked him softly.

“I don’t want to see any more of your kind hurt.”

“The experiments you run hurt us.”

“I know,” he said softly then lowered his voice further. “But not for long.” Louder he said. “You’ve been an asset around here for quite some time, Vada. I hope you continue to regain your strength and can return to your regular duties soon. I would hate to lose such an asset.”

His words were snarled, and no doubt sounded somewhat menacing to anyone listening in, but his eyes were kind and his words spoken for only me to hear were ensuring.

Still, I knew that I wasn’t healed enough to stall our departure. I could only pray that whoever his help was on the outside would arrive in time to save us, save me.

I’m coming… the voice from my dream echoed in my head.

Hurry, I thought.

 

*****

 

Jake’s intel seemed spot on. Within the hour I could hear the commotion outside of everyone preparing for relocation.

We’d arrived here this time by train and as we weren’t far from the tracks we’d arrived on, I could only assume we’d be heading out that way again. Though it was always different.

I’d relocated probably more than any other shifter in here. Sometimes we were loaded up on buses, most of the time it was in cargo shipping containers. Once I got to ride in an RV with five other shifters. We were crammed into the back bedroom but while it was tight, we had a real bed to sleep in and it was by far the best relocation experience I’d had. Vans, trucks, airplanes, even a boat. We just never knew for certain how we would be transported, but once the process began it was always done quickly.

I stayed in my room, hoping that maybe this time they’d just forget me and leave me behind. I knew it was wishful thinking, but even in here a little hope like that went a long way.

When I heard yelling down the hall, I knew that my recovery time was over. While the idea of being forgotten was a happy one, I knew in truth if they left me behind it would be because I was dead. To keep that from happening, I needed to step up and prove my value once again.

With every relocation there were shifters that would freak out and cause trouble. Most of them ended up dead. Those stuck in their fur often became particularly problematic. My job was to comfort and calm them. I reassured them that everything was going to be fine even though our standard of “fine” was a very low bar.

They needed me. I could sense it, even from the safety of a private room.

I forced myself to get out of bed. Fortunately, the nurse had removed my IV several days earlier as I stayed awake longer and was able to eat and drink on my own.

While my muscles were still a little stiff, I felt a lot stronger after the time in my fur. I easily walked across the room and let myself out. If they were watching and didn’t like that, then they would rush to stop me. When I walked down the hall towards the commotion and no one approached, I knew they were too busy packing up to care.

Three people surrounded one man, a boy really, maybe twenty at most. He was tall and lean and was standing on top of one of the cages in the corner taunting two men and a woman who were threatening various ideas for getting him down. I had never seen him before, but actions combined with his spikey black hair told me he was a shifter and just the type of outcast the Raglan preyed on.

“This is your last chance. Get down here now,” the woman yelled.

One of the men pulled out a tranquilizer gun and I saw panic flare in the boy’s eyes.

Without thinking, I pushed ahead of them putting my body between the Raglan and the shifter.

“Vada, move. You should be in bed,” one of the men said.

“No. He’s just scared. Let me help and no one needs to get hurt.”

He looked at the others for guidance. The woman shrugged. Slowly, he put the gun down.

“We’re getting ready to move out. Get him in the cage or I will.”

The three of them didn’t wait around to see if I would do what they asked because they knew damn well I would.

“Hey, I’m Vada. What’s your name?” I asked him once the others were gone.

“Jax,” he said. His chin lifted in defiance. “I’m not getting in that crate like some animal.”

“Jax, I know this isn’t easy, but I’ve seen what they will do if you don’t cooperate.”

He spat at me.

“Hey. What was that for?”

“Filthy scum. You can’t treat us like animals.”

“I’m one of you, Jax. I’m a shifter too.”

He looked surprised, but still skeptical. “Then why aren’t you in a cage.”

“I was injured so I was in the medical ward. They haven’t cleared it yet, but I can guarantee I will be soon. Please, just do as they ask for now.”

“Look at this place. Everyone is doing what they ask, but we far outnumber them. Plus, we’re stronger and better than any human. Why are we allowing this?”

I would be lying if I hadn’t thought the same thing many times over. The answer was simple — control. They controlled us. They had the weapons and the locks, and well, everything. Maybe if we all united, we could overtake them, but that would require all of us working together. The truth was, they kept us apart just enough to keep that from happening. They weakened and tortured just enough to kill the fight in each of us.

If I had a room full of Jax’s, then I would gladly lead the charge.

“Then do it,” he said.

“Huh?”

“Lead the charge. Let’s make this happen. Get us all the hell out of here.”

“How did you know what I was thinking?” I asked him.

“Does it matter?”

“It matters to me.”

He suddenly looked paranoid and far less confident than only seconds earlier. “I’m just saying, it’s a good idea,” he mumbled as he jumped down from the cage and begrudgingly went inside.

I couldn’t bring myself to close the door on him. Instead, I sat with him until the three humans returned.

The woman smiled. “I told them you were far too valuable to dispose of.”

“I appreciate the vote of confidence,” I grumbled.

She locked the cage Jax was sitting in and then motioned for me to get into the one beside him.

I sighed but obeyed. I despised the cages as much as anyone. I just hoped we weren’t going far. Transport in a cage was not only demoralizing, but beyond uncomfortable.

I knew I was in for a long day.