Catalyst (4 page)

             
“She hasn’t been
processed
yet. She needs to be handled before he can have her.”

             
I worried about that word ‘processed’.

             
“Where did this one come from?”

             
They talked like I wasn’t in the room
. Like I was nothing, n
obody.

             
“No idea. Who cares?
She’s not a loyal, right? Out there way back fr
om town? Only rebels that way, and if not, well then
Malachi gets a nice new plaything.”

             
“I guess. Well, take it easy on the face anyway. He likes them pretty.”

             
I saw the water beneath me was red in the sink. I looked up to the mirror on the wall above it and there was blood running down my nose and chin. From the slap I guessed. I also noticed that I looked absolutely horrible.

             
My eye and cheek were swollen, red and bluish. I remembered the elbow to the face in the car and the car window. The rest of me was paler than usual. I had bruises on my arms and neck. I had no idea how they got there, must’ve been from when I was passed out and they dragged me. My pant legs were ripped and bloody, as were my knees. They were crusted with dried blood and new blood and dirt. I hurt so much all over I could barely stand up.

             
The Lighter who had me by the hair dragged me with it to the same room I was in before. I felt the heat on my skin from the hall, then he pushed me in and let me fall to the floor from the release of his hand.

             
“Stay awake or you’ll get another dunk. They’ll be in soon enough to ask you some questions.”

             
He slammed the door.
             
I lay
there, waiting for- what? I knew I wasn’t going to die. I could see that now. They wouldn’t kill me, yet. Not until they’d tortured me for information. I blanked my mind and hoped beyond hope th
at I could withstand the pain. That I wouldn’t cave, wouldn’t
give them what they want.

             
What I thought was a few show tunes and a couple hours late
r, they came in. Five of them; t
hree Lighters and two enforcers. They all looked so normal, so human. Even with the dark hair and eyes. The two enforcers were blond and tall and regal looking. They refused to meet my gaze. I did recognize one of the Lighters as the on
e who’d said he would help me, w
ho brought me food and water.

             
Daniel.

             
Right now, he didn’t look like he’d be much help. He stared blankly at the back wall.

             
They closed the door and gathered around me in a loose circle as I still sat half sprawled, my legs under me, on the floor in the middle. I tried to keep my breaths steady and not show them how scared I was. They had two five gallon red buckets and I wondered what was in them.

             
My hair was still wet from my dunk and scraggly all over my head and face and shoulders. My pants and shirt had blood that had dripped down from my nose. And though I was so hot I felt like I’d pass out, I wanted to shiver from fright.

             
This was it. Whatever their end game plan was, they were putting it to action.

             
The two enforcers grabbed the buckets and came one after the other and dumped them on top of me. The water was freezing cold. There were even some ice cubes that fell beside me but melted quickly on the hot concrete. Then I felt the air change. They were no longer heating me, they were freezing me.

             
The air vent directly above me blew in frigid air in a fast current. I tried to inch over so the air wasn’t right on me but one of them kicked me in the leg to halt me.

             
“You’ll stay right where you are.”

             
I shivered and my teeth chattered. I wanted to tell them they didn’t have to try so hard to freeze me. That I g
ot cold really quickly anyway b
ut I knew it didn’t matter. My head seemed to float and my ears were waving in and out of hearing. The lightheadedness made my vision swim. I blinked to stop it but I felt myself slip, I couldn’t stop it.

             
I blacked out.
             

             
I was awakened with another slap across the face. I gasp
ed
and focused with everything I had in me. This time it was the enforcer. I looked him right in the eyes. It wasn’t the Lighter that hit me. This was the human.

             
He held my shirt in his fist and waited for me to steady myself. He didn’t even flinch when I felt the hot tears stinging the flesh of my frozen cheeks, which made me wonder how long I’d been unconscious to be so cold. He just watched. This was his job. He’d been made to believe he was doing good. I guess
ed
I shouldn’t blame him
for it. It wasn’t the enforcer
s
'
faults. They didn’t know any better.

             
He let go once he saw I wasn’t going to pass out again and I laid there, freezing, shaking and hurting. I wiped my face to remove all traces of crying, my fingers were white and stiff. 

             
“Now that we have your attention, we want to know all the names of the people you live with,” one of the Lighters asked me, bending down on his haunches to be at my level.

             
I blanked my mind, though Daniel told me he’d block me, I was scared to believe. I said the first thing that came to mind.

             
“My brother Richard and I l-live with my grandparents. I w-work at the store you found me at,” I chattered.

             
“Wow. You are an absolutely horrible liar. It’s like you’re not even trying.” He laughed humorlessly but the others stayed silen
t. “Why don’t we try this again?
Who do you live with?”

             
“I t-told you,” I said quietly and looked up at Daniel.

             
He was watching me now and nodded, a small movement that no one else saw. He was telling me to keep it up. I looked away before someone saw me staring and pulled my knees up to my chest for warmth.

             
“I don’t believe you. Do you know what we are going do to you?”
             

             
“N-no.”

             
“Lot’s of bad things if you don’t tell us what we want to know. We can keep you in here as long as it takes. Or until the lack of food and water kill you. Either one ends badly for you.”

             
“There’s nothing else to t-tell.”

             
“Tell me the truth.” He looked at me directly and spoke slow and steady. I knew he was trying to use the Lighter speak. “Who do you live with?”

             
“I told you already,” I answered softly.
             
I tried to think of inconspicuous things while they all just sat there and watched me. A cheese sandwich. My high school prom. President T. Roosevelt. When no one’s expression around me changed, I decided to test the theory. I pictured myself sticking my tongue out at the jerk Lighter in front of me.

             
Nothing, but I did see Daniel crack the tiniest smile and he shook his head just a bit. I sent him a thought.

             
I guess you w
eren’t lying about blocking me.

             
He gave me a look that said ‘I told you so’.

             
What’s gonna happen to me
?

             
He looked sad and shook his head slightly and we all sat there as they continued to study me. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to say something.

             
“If I knew anything about rebels, I’d t-tell you. That’s what you’re looking for, isn’t it? I’m not one of them,” I said and saw my breath like a fog in front of my mouth.

             
“What do you know about it, little girl?”

             
“I saw it on the n-news. You’re offering a reward for them. If I knew I’d t-tell you. I c-could use the money. Believe me.”

             
“Why?” he asked and stood up looking around at the rest of them. “How are they all so blank and unresponsive? It’s like they know what to expect from us.” No one answered. It wasn’t really a question, he was just venting. “I’ve had it with this.” He bent down, grabbing my shirt and slapped me across the cheek again, much harder than the other two had done. When the stars cleared I wondered if my cheeks would ever feel the same again. “You will tell me exactly what I want to hear or you will die, understand?”

             
I didn’t. I didn’t understand anything. I was in a haze of p
ain and miscomprehension. I lay
limp in his grasp, waiting for him to slap me again and wake me from my stupor.

             
“I-” I heard myself stammer.

             
“They’re all dead you know. We found the
m a
nd they are all dead.”

             
I knew he was lying. Not only could I tell but I also knew that if that were true, he wouldn’t be asking me for information that he already had. I tried to keep my face blank, which wasn’t too hard since I was on my way to passing out anyway.

             
“Alright. Times up,” Daniel said and strolled forward. “Let’s go get lunch. You’ll get nothing from this one today.”

             
“It’s not time,” the jerk said looking at h
is watch. “We still have five
minutes.”

             
“Mine says time. Let’s go.”

             
The jerk picked me up from the floor in his grasp. Both hands fisted my shirt front, my head lulled back as I was unable to hold it up. My feet were at least two feet off the floor. I was so cold, so utterly numb but painfully aware at the same time. It seemed to be worse than the heat.

             
“Tomorrow. The time will not save you, little girl, and I will get my answers.”

             
He dropped me all the way to the floor and I crumpled under my own weight like a doll. My head and back hit hard on the solidness of the floor and I gasped and tried to roll over but couldn’t. I couldn’t make my body move.

             
I don’t know if it was the concussion, or the heat and then cold or all the hits but I was molded to the floor, uncomfortably laying there, watching through barely there slit eyes as they all made their way out of the room, leaving the freezing blowing air and violent shivering to be my only constant reminder that I was even alive anymore.

             
Daniel was last to leave, holding the door. He looked at me but I fell into a sleep or blacked out again. Something. The last thing I remember was his boot and then the door closing behind him with an audible final click of the lock.

             
I woke up with a warm hand on my cheek and I immediately grabbed at it like a lifeline.

             
“Merrick?” I said but my voice was scratchy and rough.

             
“No, Sherry, it’s Cain. Open your eyes.”

             
My eyelids fluttered opened slowly and unsteadily at the request and I saw Cain leaning over me, looking distraught and angry.

             
“C-Cain,” I squeaked and stuttered and when I tried to reach my arm up to him,
but
it wouldn’t go.

             
“Shh. I’ve go
t
you. Gah, you’re ice, Sherry.” He gathered me up in his arms and I moaned out loud at the warmth of him. My fingers wouldn’t bend as I tried to grasp his collar and pull myself closer. “Hang on, sweetheart.”

             
I heard someone else murmuring in the room. Lillian.

             
“Lillian?”

             
“I’m here, Sherry. We’re going to take you home, ok. Just hang on.”

             
Then other voices, one I knew but couldn’t put a face to it and the other was Daniel. I wanted to look but couldn’t, not just yet. My head was muddled and tired, uncooperative.

             
“Come. We’ve got to get out this way-” Daniel said but was cut off by a yell.

             
“Hey! What are you doing?”