No longer alone in her prison the woman was chained down heavily, her face covered by thick metal sheet which curved around her small head. Blocking out any ability to see. Normally a second one would cover her mouth but it lay discarded on the floor next to her screaming and writhing body.

“Fuckin’ genetic mutation of a bitch.” The voice growled. Esther felt a hard kick to her stomach. Her scream died down into a choked cough as she curled over and tried to pull her hands to her stomach but they were chained down and she was left without relief. She felt a boot press on her abdomen. “The fuck you doin’ prying into my fuckin’ life you cunt? What do you know of my wife?” Esther wheezed and tried to speak through dry cracked lips but no sound came out; only a series of gasps and squeaks. “Fine. More shock therapy for you..”

She heard the telltale crackle of electricity before her body jolted and she screamed again, a loud shrill scream that echoed through the darkness.


“Hey, stop. Her flowers getting all brown. Didn’t they say that meant she was dying?” The second voice was calmer. It was one Esther recognised. Jira, that was his name. He was what was called a ‘scientist’ and he was the one who’d come in and often ask her questions and feed her vile concoctions. He injected her with things that her feel both violently sick and completely numb. He sounded like the calm voice of reason.

“I don’t fucking care. Let the bitch die!”

“Reign yourself in Mark! We’ll be next to die if she expires here. She’s due to be shipped out tomorrow.” There was the sound of a pen tapping against a clipboard and the shuffle of papers. “Experiments 1-15 have expired. 16,17 and 19 are currently recovering. 18. Expired. 20 through to 23 are already on the cargo bay. 24 is being packed up and we need to get 25 suited and ready to go before nightfall.”

“Tch..” Mark spat toward Esther, a glob of spit landed on her exposed abdomen.

The pain stopped and her body fell limp on the floor. A pool of bloodied drool fell from her lips to the floor. She could smell a faint burning and knew it was her own body. The pain was horrible, she wanted to die to cry out but her voice was gone.

’Ron...Ron...they’re ta-taking me somewh-’ Her link to him began to fizzle out then it broke and Esther hiccuped. The one friendly voice she had spoken to all these years...it felt like it was gone. Instead of a warm familiarity there was what felt like static.

Had….had she made this Ronnel character up this whole time? Where all those years of everything just figments of her imagination? Esther hiccuped. Her eyes stung with tears that she could not blink away. All this time she had been raised to serve them.

She didn’t remember her family or where she came from. And now she didn’t have his voice. Tomorrow - she’d be shipped off, to who knows where. All she knew was darkness, pain and the feeling of blood against her skin. She knew she’d have to hurt again.

A cold feeling of acceptance began to settle in the pit of her stomach as she realised this is all she’d ever truly know.

She felt two sets of hands drag her nearly nude body upward and felt the cold metal press against her mouth once more. Silencing her. Not that it would matter. She barely had a voice to begin with.

“Hold her there while I prepare the sedation.” Came the soft voice of the scientist.

Sedation. That meant that she would fall into blackness. A timeless void where she lost consciousness and would always wake up groggy, but it was one of the only reprieves she ever got from her eternal hell. Esther remained still and compliant as Mark and Jira muttered quietly to one another. If they wanted her to fight for them… she’d continue to do so - and if she showed some sort of exuberance for it maybe…. They’d offer her more freedoms. Like being able to see again. A proper meal. Anything but this crushing reality.