Interrogation

Feeling the soldiers grip tighten around my arms as they dragged me down the hall made counting the steps hard. I could barely think straight with the shock they put me through. The sound of a keycard being scanned for a door to open told me I was in some deep shit now. The ceiling was covered with high volt light bulbs beaming down on me. I could barely see a bed in the middle of the room.

With a quick turn and a hard push I landed on the stiff bed. Within a second all of them started to strap me down. I could barely move let alone breathe due to the restriction that's being placed all over my body. The sound of them leaving was replaced by one of them speaking to someone else with authority, "You've got until tomorrow morning to make her talk". The lights went dark as the door closed behind him. The sound of high heels coming towards me set my nerves on fire.

Feeling a sense of dread creep into my stomach I remembered the look in both Ed's and Mat's eyes. They've been in this room before and were afraid for me. I inhaled deeply focusing on Mat's command. I repeated it a few times until the sauntering foot steps stopped close enough to the bed for me to smell a sickly sweet perfume. Opening my eyes carefully I saw a young female figure wearing a white dress with red crosses at the bottom. A Nurse?

From what I could see she's too young to be wearing the old fashioned uniform. That's when I noticed the bloody hand print and stains covering the dress. The stains looked to be old and older in some areas. I took a long look at her mouth; while she had thin lips her mouth didn't end where it was supposed to. Even with the Glasgow smile she was still very pretty.

"Hello Tamara", she said in a soft spoken voice. I looked at what I could only assume where her eyes, they were hidden behind night vision goggles to say, "My name is Z". Seeing her malicious smile widen past her lip line sent an icy chill down my spine. That's when I noticed her teeth weren't human anymore, they were half the size and all were sharp. "Apologies Z, I know that you're the new comer here", she used the same voice all the while smiling.

I watched her carefully until she removed my glasses. "I've heard that you're one tough cookie from the soldiers. It took them 10 years to bring you here all the while I've been reading your records each and every time they were updated. You see, I'm here to get some answers."

Seeing my chance to change the subject and get under her skin I said, "I'm not a canary Nurse Ratchet" She shook her head and said, "Oh I know you're not Doll." "Ask away then Nurse", I said mockingly. "Well the first question would be how does your ability work? Every report I've read about you said when they were hot on your heels you found a way to disappear. Almost like you could turn invisible whenever you wanted."

"Well Nurse, as I'm sure you know a good magician never reveals their secret", I said jokingly. The sound that came from her lips must've been a snicker, although it sounded more like nails on a chalkboard to me. She must've seen me shiver under all the straps and said closely to my ear, "Keep the jokes coming Doll, it'll only make hearing the answers even more satisfying." Within a split second I felt pain radiate from my left earlobe.

She made sure I could see her properly as she licked her lips with a severed tongue. I didn't make a noise while watching her this time. "Tell me Doll, just what can you do?", she asked again. After taking in a deep breath I yelled, "I can't do anything with this goddamn collar around my neck". She wasn't amused by my tone as her nails dug into my left upper arm. "Answer the question properly now", she said with an edge to her tone.

I felt her nails dig past my skin, muscles until they scraped the bone. I had to bite down on my lower lip to prevent myself from answering her, all the while Mat's command rang in my head. I glared daggers at her and said with gritted teeth, "GET FUCKED YOU UGLY BITCH!!"

Nurse Ratchet stopped smiling after that comment. In retaliation she drove her nails down my arm until they reached my elbow. I'm sure she would've taken it further if not for the straps holding me down.

Feeling the tears stream down my face matched the pain in my arm. "Just so you know Doll, they gave me an all pass card to do with you whatever I want and I've got until morning to make you talk", her tone never changed. With Mat's command ringing in my head I looked at Nurse Ratchet and said, "Do your worst Smiley".

~

I had no idea how long I was being tortured by Nurse Ratchet until the door opened. The smell of cigarettes' hit me like a train, I knew it was Aunt Patty coming in. Feeling the lights beam down on me I smiled knowing that I had one this round.

"Well, well, well, isn't this a rare sight", Patty said to Nurse Ratchet. I exhaled my last deeply, for the first time I felt my body relax on the table beneath me. Knowing that Patty was her for a reason I waited until we were alone. "You've done a great job Nurse Ratchet, I think you earned yourself a nice day off for your hard work", I scoffed at that remark from Patty.

"I, I, I did everything I knew and more and she still didn't say a word", hearing Nurse Ratchet rattled made my smile stretch into a grin. Smelling Patty getting closer I said, "They don't call me a tough cookie for fun you stupid bitch". Feeling my head move slightly I assumed that one of them had slapped me, my whole body was numb to any kind of pain by this point. Even if my body was healing itself I would be non the wiser.

"I see that you took my advice about braking her glasses", Patty said. Nurse followed with, "I had a lot of fun rubbing the broken shards into her eyes, just like you suggested". "Humph", was the sound that escaped my lips after hearing that little tidbit.

I had a sneaking suspicion that Patty was watching me being this whole time. "I thank you for your time Nurse, although now it's time to send Tamara back to the others", Patty said. "No thank you Director, I haven't had a good feeding like that in so long", Nurse said before leaving the room barefoot now.

Once the door was closed she said furiously, "I bet you're real proud of yourself for holding it together for as long as you did Tamara". "If you keep complimenting me like that I'll end up getting a big head Aunt Patty", I said with a snicker. I could feel the malicious intent fuming off her. "I know it was you who caused that spill in the surveillance room", she said with same tone. Looking in her direction I said with a smile, "I plea the 5th". I felt the sting of a slap hit my face this time. "Take her away!", she shouted. The door opened for soldiers to come in, remove the straps, only to drag me out.

They didn't have to subdue me with the shock collar this time. Even though I wasn't able to count their steps, I did count the the turns they made. By the time they stopped to scan a keycard for the doors to open the breakfast bell rang. The soldier holding me in their grasp brought me past the threshold only to let me fall to the floor. I heard them march to their assigned area for the day.

The sound of a couple pairs of feet running towards me brought hope for the first time in over a decade. I didn't need to hear their voices to know who they were, "Z!" They both said crouching around my crumbled body. I felt Ed gently tuck his arms under my neck and the back of my knees. "I'm so glad you're back", Mat said. I smile gently and said, "Thanks Mat, I couldn't have done it without you". Feeling Ed lift me as if I was a feather I let myself relax against his warm body. As he carried me to what I could only assume would be to his room I thought to myself soon.