I can feel the cold, hard floor beneath me as I lay my back against it. I covered my eyes with my left arm as I can hear the rain that’s been pouring nonstop outside. At the same time, the sound of dripping water can be heard inside the cell every three seconds.
‘Drip’
“One, two, three.”
‘Drip’
“One, two, three,” I mumbled to myself as I continued to count after every drop.
Darkness enveloped me, but I did not mind. Oddly enough, the dark has been my only escape from everything that had happened in my life, my only comfort while I’m alive.
“If one can even call this being alive.” I sighed to myself and sat down as my hair touched the floor.
I tucked my hair behind my left ear as I looked around the cell.
“Other than the rain, it’s quiet. Too quiet.” I started to bite my nails while I can hear my heart racing.
“Something’s weird. It’s too quiet.” I whispered to myself as I crawled towards the farthest corner of the cell.
I tucked my legs in and wrapped my arms around my knees. I can feel myself shivering, not from the cold but from something else. Something far more dreadful than the coldness from the rain. I closed my eyes tightly while I covered both of my ears.
“Calm down. Everything is fine, it’s a little quiet than usual that’s all.”
I calmed myself down as I tried to keep my thoughts blank – a plain, dark blank, but all my focus went down the drain when someone banged the door open.
“Number Zero, you’re up!” A booming voice greeted me as two men dragged me away from the corner as they held on tightly to both of my arms.
My mind kept on telling me to struggle, to oppose, but my body does not seem to respond. I wanted to scream and kick the two men holding me but nothing happened. Instead, I feel like a ragged doll that’s been dragged away, feet scraping against the floor as they took me outside. The harsh light of the hallway greeted me as I closed my eyes. It may take some time for my eyes to adjust.
“Can they not walk?” The man from my left side complained.
“No. They cannot unless commanded to do so.” The man from my right responded.
“Then can they not just command them to just walk by themselves?”
I opened my eyes slowly and saw the man who called me earlier and is now walking ahead of us stopped and looked at the man on the left as if warning him to shut up, then continued to walk.
The man on my left gulped as if he forgot to breathe for a moment.
“It’s best to keep your mouth shut.” The man on my right told him.
Compared to what’s inside the cell, the hallway is the exact opposite of it. The cell is too dark, while the hallway is painted in white and the lights on the ceilings are too bright. The walls contained portraits of people. The founders maybe? I could not care less, they’re all lined up along the white walls.
“One, two, three, four…” I looked up at the ceiling and started to count the lights we passed by quietly.
“What is she mumbling?” The man on the left asked first again. I could not see his expression since I’m looking up but I can feel that he was creeped out by my behavior.
“She’s just counting, man. Relax.”
“I swear, all of them are crazy. Every person inside these cells is all crazy.”
The two of them suddenly stopped and I looked at the man in front of us. He stood there and faced us.
“That’s why we use them. We use them because they are all crazy. Now stop talking or do you want to be one of the people inside these cells?” The man in front of me raised his right eyebrow while the man on my left shook his head.
“No, sir.”
We continued walking again, this time, I’m now staring at the back of the man in front of us. He’s tall with clean, grey hair. He’s around 50-60 years old I guess. He’s wearing a black suit as if he’s going on a business meeting, not a meeting about killing someone. Although, I guess it can still be called a business meeting, since everything that’s been and will be discussed inside the room is purely business. Someone pays the organization and tells the organization who to kill and we kill that person.
I tried to remember his name. He’s been handling this branch of the organization since I came here. What was it again?
“Rey. Reynold. Ryan?” I chuckled to myself feeling the gaze of the man on my left.
I remembered how he treated us – he treated me, ever since I came here. He treated us like machine dolls. Like something disposable, when he had no need for us he’ll just let us rot inside our cells or on the field. I remembered how they experimented on us with this drug. Even trained us to kill, and the worst part of all is when one is a girl.
“The girls had it hard,” I mumbled to myself once again.
“Hey, where are the others?” I asked no one in particular.
“The cells are quiet lately, where are the others?” I asked again.
None of them answered me.
“Can anyone not hear me?” I chuckled to myself and I ducked my head and looked at the floor, still chuckling to myself.
“Filthy,” I commented. “Everyone inside… filthy.” I then spat on the floor.
“Hey!” The man on my left held my chin tightly forcing me to look at him.
So I spat at him.
“Ugh!” He pulled my shirt and punched my face.
I let him be and let my head sway as if I no longer have any control of myself. I remained looking at the floor still chuckling, spitting out blood on the floor.
“That.. does not even hurt. Why does nothing even hurt these days???!!!” I shouted and laughed.
My voice echoed all the way towards each end of the hallway.
“STOP THAT!” Rey? Reynold? Ryan? I forgot his name, but he looked at the man on my left while massaging his temples.
I looked at him and smiled brightly while blood is dripping from my nose.
“We’re here. Bring her inside.” He went inside first and we followed him.
They sat me down on a steel chair as they put straps on me. My head against the back of the chair, my hands on each side, and my two legs on each side of the chair’s legs.
I sat there looking at the screen in front of me.
“You got a week to prepare. You’ll be cared for, be trained again as a sort of review. Your vitals will be checked and meals will be given to you accordingly.” Ryan told me as he turned the screen on and show a picture of a man or a boy? He looked young.
“The cells are mostly empty since most of them failed to carry out this mission.” He continued.
He handed a syringe to a woman in a lab coat.
Great. I rolled my eyes since I know what will happen next.
The woman moved towards me and stabbed the syringe on my neck with much force.
Again, nothing hurt but my body began to shiver as it reacted to the substance.
This is tiresome, I can never feel pain but my body still reacts the way it should towards pain. There was even a time that I cut my hand but I never noticed it until I saw blood pouring down.
“I guess… just because I stopped feeling pain, doesn’t mean I stopped living eh?” I whispered to myself as my body trembled.
The chair is now rattling as my body is trying to rip itself out of the steel chair.
My vision became blurry but I forced myself to be conscious.
“She’s too strong. It’s almost as if she’s starting to be immune to the drug.” The woman told Reynold.
I should probably ask him his name. I’m still confused. Or maybe I’ll just call him R? I chuckled to myself.
“She’s insane.” I heard the man that punched me earlier somewhere behind me.
“Give her more,” Rey ordered the woman.
“But sir, she may become overdosed.” The woman told Ryan.
“No buts. Give her more dosage. And instead of a week, give her two weeks to freshen herself up. She can’t go into the field being like this. Also, we’ll just instruct her after all of this. I’m guessing she’ll be unconscious for a while.” He eyed me in disgust.
The woman again gave me a second dosage, this time my body trembled even more compared to earlier. I started coughing out blood.
“Her body is not going to endure it!” I can hear the woman as she raised her voice as if it was an emergency.
“Call the medics!” Reynold shouted.
“Stabilize her!” He then added.
I can feel my consciousness slipping away.
Ahhh, I wish I could feel this pain. It’s been so long since I felt pain. Life is boring without pain.
I chuckled as the medical team burst through the door and started to loosen up the strap against me.
“Hey! Old man. What’s your name?” I asked the man in front of me as the medical team lifted me up and placed me on the stretcher.
I waited but got no answer. My body did not stop trembling and little by little my eyes are shutting.
“Old man… name” I tried to shout, I’m not even sure if someone heard me.
“I guess this is my limit,” I mumbled to myself and felt like drowning.
“She needs oxygen!” I heard someone shout. “We’re losing her!”
Ahh, so that’s why.
I chuckled one last time.
“Let me die tonight,” I mumbled to myself as darkness greeted me.