Shadow's Turning- Part 17

I was left alone in the room.  The back of Officer Alvarez’s head was visible through the small window in the door as he took up his apparent guard station.

I stared at the bars of my cell.  Reaching out carefully, I touched the back of my hand to one of them.

Pulling back quickly, I shook out my hand.

Okay, definitely charmed.

I could try kicking at the bars, but even if I could break them (which I doubted- they were most likely reinforced with steel), I’d still be in a guarded room in the bowels of the police station.

And then they would simply increase security on me.

I lay back on the cot, my head swimming with exhaustion.  There was nothing I could do right now about my situation.  Might as well catch some sleep.

I closed my eyes and started counting backwards from a hundred.

I didn’t reach eighty before I fell asleep.

The sound of the door opening woke me.

As I sat up groggily, Detective Patel came in with another man.

His hair was so blond it was almost translucent.  It was cut short and parted to the side.  Average height and build with pale blue eyes set in an unremarkable face.  He was dressed similarly to the detective in a button down with a tie and some slacks, though his were obviously more expensive.

“Ms. Evans, this is Dr. Holm.”

Holm nodded at me and went over to a closet in the corner of the room that I hadn’t paid much attention to.  He pulled out a white lab coat.

“I trust you’ve had enough time to think about our conversation,” Patel continued as he walked over to stand directly in front of me.

“Where is Birch?” I asked quietly.  I wouldn’t believe he was okay until I actually saw him, but any news was better than none.

“Mr. Birch is making a remarkable recovery.  You’ll be seeing him soon enough.”  He looked over at the open door and waved Alvarez in.  “Now, do you want to cooperate?”

I licked my lips nervously as I looked over at Holm.  He had set some kind of case on top of the table and was in the process of opening it.

“What, exactly, do you want my cooperation for?”

“For now, just a simple sensitivity test.  We can always just secure you and do it anyway.”

“Yes, but damage could be minimized with help from you,” Holm interjected.  He was laying out a series of foot long rods with circular bits of wood attached to the ends.

Okay, it was obvious where this was going.

Resist and be tied down, or submit willingly to being burned.

Choices, choices.

In the end, I came out of my cell willingly and sat down on a stool with Alvarez at my back.  Holm had a clipboard next to him as he picked up the first rod.

My forearm was on the table with the paler inner side facing up.  The sharp scent of alcohol lingered from the little square Holm had swiped across my arm.

“Alvarez, if you could please brace her.  Ms. Evans, please try not to move.  As soon as you feel any pain, let me know.”

Alvarez took a hold on my wrist and my elbow, pushing my arm down on the cool smoothness of the table.

Holm pressed the end of the rod firmly against my skin.

I jerked involuntarily and Alvarez pressed down harder.

“Feel it,” I gasped.

Holm let up, leaving a perfect red circle.

I gritted my teeth as he made some notations on the clipboard and took some close up photos of the mark.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?  Just five more to go,” Holm said absently.

Sure.  Why don’t I brand you and see how you like it?

It didn’t get any easier.  By the end, Alvarez was using all his considerable bulk to hold me still and I had sweated through my clothes.

“Excellent, excellent,” Holm muttered to himself, writing furiously.

He sprayed something on the throbbing burns that took away the sharpest edge of the pain before I was locked back in my cage.

I couldn’t really refer to it as a cell anymore.  Cells were for people.

And they clearly thought I was an animal.