Juliann

Chapter 6- Rebecca Who?

Rebecca worked hard to try to get her arms free of the super strong bonds. She figured that if she could free up her hands then she could get the rest off pretty quickly. She could clearly feel the pain of a stinging rope burn and the vicious cuts that they must have been making in her skin. She didn’t care. She knew that this was her only chance and she needed to use it wisely.

Albert had to make one stop on his way back to his duty. He needed to get some more Catplait. His stupidity had caused him to drop and break a full dosage of the green drug. He knew that he was not approved for an extra dosage but he would just lie and place the blame on his zombie-like nurses and their inability to anything right.

Albert carefully placed his slightly wrinkled hand on the glowing red palm scanner on the outside of the closet-sized steel walk-in refrigerator. It was warm to the touch and made an odd beeping noise as it read his palm.

Within 5 seconds, the highly-advanced mechanical lock sounded a low tone approving chime. With a slowness that he only thought happened in the movies, the massive solid metal latch slid to the right. Albert tapped his foot impatiently as the latch took it sweet time.

Rebecca kept moving and stretching the solid straps that held her hands tied down to the horrid medical gurney. She had no idea of the passage of time but she did know that he was due back any second now. She could feel the sticky warmth of what could only be blood trickling down her arm but she was so determined to break free, she didn’t feel the pain anymore.

Suddenly, Rebecca’s hand slipped easily out of the strong fibrous loop. As quick as possible, she attacked the Velcro straps on her neck brace with a vengeance. It was choking her but finally it came off quickly with a loud scratchy sound as she ripped at it. It was so loud that it made her squint reflexively. Next, she began to try to free up her other hand.

Albert finally got inside the large morgue-like refrigerator. After a loud hiss of air, it swung open automatically but slowly in front of the impatient doctor. Finally after what seemed like a lifetime, he was able to walk inside and straight to the back. He carefully slid away a glass sliding door. The green Catpalit sat on a thin glass shelf second up from the bottom. It glowed a deep forest green under the brilliant glare of the bright florescent lights.

He grabbed two just in case and then slammed the sliding glass door closed as he made his way out of the cold storage room. Once he was outside of the massive all metal appliance, he smacked a large red button on the wall next to the huge metal latch. He didn’t stick around to see the results because he was rushing back to the medical bay. The massive door would automatically slide back into place with a loud thud.

Somehow, out of pure luck, Rebecca managed to unlatch the slip buckle on her other hand. As soon as her other hand was free, she began to frantically work on the strap across her head. Her heart was pounding a hundred miles per hour as she fumbled with the big slip buckle located just slightly left of her head. Her fingers were now wet with sweat and a thin coating of blood. So her grip kept slipping. Finally, she got a good grip and the stubborn buckle slipped away freely.

“Congratulations.” A very familiar baritone voice echoed in the surrounding darkness.

Rebecca gasped in fright. She fearfully scanned the room but couldn’t see anything beyond her small circle of light.

Albert hung back in the shadows like a predator stalking his prey. “You have accomplished something your father could not.” He teased viciously.

“Where’s my Dad?” She yelled painfully at the immense darkness as she began tearing at the massive chest strap holding her down. She needed to get it off NOW!

“Martin Hartman doesn’t exist anymore.” He laughed evilly. “Does your current freedom indicate that you are not going to cooperate with my procedure?”

“Where’s my Dad?” She screamed out again in panic as she feverishly yanked on the metal buckle.

Albert took a half a step into the blinding light. He stood on the very edge of where the bright light met the cast darkness. Only the very front of him was illuminated and that didn’t even include his eyes. They remained shadowed in the menacing depth of blackness. “Lost in this and you shall be also.” He teased maniacally as he held up a small bottle of green liquid in the bright light.

Rebecca smiled slightly as the large buckle centered directly in the middle of her chest loosened and then slipped away. She still had 3 straps to go before she would have any true freedom.

‘Was he really going to let her free herself? If so, what was his intent if she was free?’ Rebecca thought as she quickly sat up.

Then all of the sudden a wave of calmness and confidence washed over her as she realized it didn’t matter what happened once she was free. She would at least be able to have a fighting chance.

He smiled evilly as he pulled out another glass syringe out of a small metal drawer that was located under the shiny aluminum tray. He quickly plunged the 2 inch long needle into the top of the small vial of green liquid. He held both the bottle and the syringe high up in the bright light as he carefully filled the empty syringe with the slimy Catplait. At the same time, he kept a watchful eye on the progress of his escaping patient.

Rebecca yanked the restraining strap that was across her thighs away fast. It must have been only 5 seconds at the most. Her heartbeat began to increase again just due to her anticipation of freedom.

She stopped looking at the evil doctor all together. Whatever he was doing, she really didn’t want to know. But she did wonder why he wasn’t trying to hold her down or hamper her escape in some way.

Rebecca scooted down the length of the metal gurney so that her knees were up against her chest. This made it easier to attack the 2 slip buckles on the restraining loops of her feet. She could now taste her freedom. It was great. She grabbed the right with both hands and slipped it loose in 2 seconds flat. Without even breathing, she nailed the second slip buckle. It gave her a bit of a fight. The nurse that had tightened this one secured it well. It wasn’t easy to slip her teenage fingers under it and it wasn’t budging as she shook it to loosen it. Rebecca growled and huffed in some air as fought the stubborn buckle.

Albert sighed as he knew the next course of action he had to take with this one. He didn’t want to do this but he knew that she wasn’t going to stay perfectly still for him while he administered the Catplait into the center of her forehead. He quietly dug into the metal drawer once again. This time he searched it for a weapon.

Rebecca finally got the nasty buckle to cooperate with her and slipped out of the last of her bindings. With a short suck in of air, she leapt off of the medical gurney at a full dash.

She didn’t make it more than 2 feet when her whole body screamed in pain. Every inch of her skin burned like fire and she yelled as her knees buckled and she fell hard against the blue tiled floor.

Albert stood smiling at the opposite end of a stun gun. Its long metal filaments led straight into the darkness where he knew that they had made the mark where he had aimed them.

“You will cooperate.” He said coolly as he walked calmly over to the shaking 16 year old girl still huddled on the cold floor.

Rebecca curled up defensively into a fetal position but managed to argue back, “Not if I can help it.”

“One more chance, you will cooperate.” He warned lowly as he prepared to use the tazer again.

Rebecca stood up defiantly. “I will not. You have killed my father. Now you will have to kill me.” She spoke it as an ultimatum.

“Then so be it.” Albert answered with a sigh as he activated his weapon again.

Rebecca shrieked out instantly as she felt the stinging burn rip through her like she was made of jelly. She crumbled to the floor as it continued to sear through her. Finally, the burning fire died down, leaving her to cry pitifully in pain on the floor.

Albert jumped instantly at his opportunity. The girl was practically immobile in pain and would be unable to put up much of a fight. So he quickly grabbed her by her shoulders and flipped her onto her back. To make sure that she wouldn’t move, he sat down hard on her chest. With his left hand, he stabilized her head as much as possible. With his right, he jammed the needle directly into the center of her forehead.

Every single muscle screamed out in pain as Rebecca lie on the cold tile floor. She couldn’t move without at least 5 or 6 muscles complaining in pain. And when she was rolled over by the mean doctor, she whimpered in protest. Then he had the audacity to sit on top of her. If she didn’t hurt so much, she would have fought him but she just couldn’t find the will to fight the pain.

Rebecca hadn’t expected what happened next. She had been keeping her eyes closed because even they hurt. It surprised her when she felt a bee sting like bite right in the center of her forehead. She tried to shake it off a bit but the doctor had had his hand over her head preventing her from moving it. Also, her muscles were stiff and they hurt like someone was pulling them like taffy.

Albert waited a full 2 seconds after he stabbed Rebecca with the needle before he administered the drug. He knew her reflexes would fight the instant pain of the needle prick but that not long after that he would have her under his control again. He was right. She settled down quickly. So he carefully plunged the Catpalit into her brain.

Rebecca was just starting to regain some of her motor functions when she felt an odd sensation. She opened her eyes to see the middle-aged doctor get up off her. He was holding an empty needle and staring down at her expectantly. She tried to stand up and that’s when she felt it.

Her pain from the stun gun had blocked the pain from his drug until now. Her mind began to swim and it began to burn. She tried to stay calm and conquer the pain through peace. It didn’t work. It began to tear into her like a freight train.

Rebecca was still trying to stand up. All of the muscles in her body protested as the drug began to tear a hole in her brain. She managed to get up on her hands and knees as the pain from the green drug overcame her. Rebecca tilted back her head and let out a guttural scream as she lowered into a painful ball in that position.

Albert was so mesmerized by the whole scene unfolding before him that he nearly forgot the second dosage. This dosage contained the limitation of what could be erased from her mind and what stayed. That was why it was so vital. Without it, Catplait could, in theory, cause the patient to forget how to breathe.

He dashed over to the silver tray and snagged the glinting needle off of it while still moving. He whipped around quickly and purposely fell onto his knees next to the shivering and moaning girl. As he carefully lined up the needle, he asked softly into her ear, “Who are you?”

Rebecca lost all connections with the outside world and even with her own body as she fought the pain and confusion that was swimming around in her own mind. Everything burned as it hit new levels of pain that she had never imagined in her whole life. Then she heard a distant voice ask her something. Something she should have known. Something important. She groaned.

Albert quickly administered the second dosage. The girl didn’t flinch or react to the outside stimuli. At first, that pleased him. She had been easier than he thought. But then, he realized that she was already succumbing to possible brain numbing.

He quickly flipped her onto her back and drug her into the bright light. Just the light alone could help keep some cognitive function. Then he began the interrogation, “WHO ARE YOU?!” He yelled at the top of his lungs into her ear.

She didn’t move or react.

He grew worried and checked her pulse. It was rapid but still beating.

“WHO ARE YOU?!”

That’s it. Rebecca gave up. It hurt to much to live. She was done. If life was like this, then there wasn’t much purpose to it all. Every time she would manage to wrap herself around a memory to help herself stay strong, it would slip away and leave her with just a horribly violent painful hole.

Then she heard the words, ‘who are you’. She didn’t know. She didn’t care. She was ready to die.

Albert could see his patient dying. He needed to get her on the gurney and get her to the recovery room. She needed the fever drugs, NOW! And, she needed to be hooked up to a brain wave monitor immediately.

As if they had read his mind, the two emotionless nurses appeared next to him in the blue tiled medical bay. They stood silently over the body of the 16 year old.

“Get her onto the gurney and rush her into recovery!” Albert barked as he helped lift her up. “Hook her up to the brain wave monitor, STAT!”

The nurses nodded in comprehension as they rushed her out of the silent medical bay.

Albert sighed in exasperation as he stood silently hunched over in the brilliant white glow of the florescent light. He would not admit it to anyone but he didn’t like what he just did and he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if the young girl died.