Chapter 112: Chapter 8.1
I was taken further into the facility; it was much bigger than I first thought, what we'd already seen was only the tip of the iceberg. We twisted through many corridors and went up a few flights of stairs I was sure I wouldn't be able to find my way back. I thought maybe it was intentional, but I wasn't sure.
I was shoved in a bare room with only a desk and two chairs, one on either side. On one end there was a large black window that I thought might have been a one-way mirror. Time passed and I wondered if they'd forgotten about me; I sat on the far chair, looking at the back mirror as if watching whatever it was on the other side. It was fear tactics, and I wasn't going to let them win. Did they forget I lived in Garlantia for three years with the most ruthless men on the continent?
I felt Shadow appear behind me at some point, but I don't turn to check he was there. I continue this invisible staring contest with the nameless characters on the receiving end.
Maybe a few hours pass, and I hear the click of the door opening. My gaze follows a man I didn't recognise, but the FDD was huge, so it wasn't surprising that I hadn't seen him before. He wore a white lab coat over a smart grey suit, even though I highly doubted he ever did any of the front-line experiments.
I watched him lazily, with little interest as he slid into the seat opposite. "Sorry for the delay. My name is Dr Linderman." He gave a business-like smile that said he wasn't sorry at all.
"It's fine. I understand you must be busy." I didn't.
"Why don't we get down to business then?"
I nodded curtly.
"We want to understand the creatures that have attached themselves to you and the other children so we're planning a series of experiments. We're going to start with some brain imaging and then move onto some more physical experiments."
"Creatures make them sound like monsters, don't you think?" I gave him a tight smile.
"Okay, so what do you call them then?"
"Shadows. They're black like a shadow, it's not very creative but the name has stuck."
"Okay. From now on I'll make sure we'll refer to them as shadows. Shall we start?" he asked, but he doesn't wait for a reply before standing and opening the door. Several other people enter with equipment. A strange-looking cap with giant plastic eyelets at regular intervals is stretched over my head by silent expressionless suits. A clear sticky liquid was squirted in the gaps left in the eyelets, which were about fifty in total, meaning my hair quickly adhered to the cap in gummy clumps which felt disgusting on my scalp. Then for each eyelet, an electrode clicked into place. Two people on either side of me worked on the cap, blocking most of my view, while a few others beyond that set up more equipment. When all that was completed, my head was attached to several wires that ended on a large box on my left, there was a bucket to my right and a large black target pinned to the adjacent wall.
Dr Linderman watched my reaction from across the table, I watched him back until he relented and leaned forward. "The first part of our experiment is easy. You see these?" he pointed at the bucket, inside it contained small brightly coloured balls; they shined as if they were plastic but when I touched them, they felt gelatinous. "Chuck them at the target."
Confused, but not wanting to appear so, I cautiously grabbed the nearest ball and threw it at the target, it burst on impact, somewhere slightly off centre, leaving a bright red splatter on the black backdrop.
"Do it until you run out." He ordered, and he watched as I did as I was told. Slowly at first, but it quickly got boring, so I started throwing them without much care. I missed the backdrop with a few, leaking the brightly coloured paint onto the plain white walls. By the time I got to the bottom of the bucket, the black target was awash with a horrible mixture of reds, blues and yellows that combined to make vile brown, but I was pretty certain they weren't much concerned about my artwork.
Without prompt, a suit enters and replaces the target with a fresh one and replenishes my bucket of balls. "Is your shadow here right now?" He asks.
"Yes." I nodded. Shadow continued to hover over my shoulder, like a bodyguard.
"Get it to throw them." He wanted Shadow to throw the balls at the target? Irritation prickled my mind, but I nudged Shadow with the thoughts. Immediately, Shadow reached out and grabbed the ball then launched it across the room with such extensive force that the paint splattered back onto the floor. It hit dead centre.
Dr Linderman blinked with shock as the second and third ball was propelled towards the wall. He quickly recovered, and then searched for the source even though it was impossible for him to see Shadow. Shadow was much quicker and much more accurate than I was; the bucket was soon empty once again and the centre of the black target had ripped through staining the wall behind it.
Dr Linderman's cool impassive façade forgotten, his expression was alight with the passion of a researcher, "I heard that you could make it visible as well."
He could have heard that from numerous sources, Sargeant or Raven herself, but it vexed me that he was so well informed. He wouldn't let any rumours fly untested.
"What if that is true?" I kept my expression neutral, but I know by asking that I'd basically answered his question.
"I want you to show it to me."
I didn't want to expose all the tricks I had up my sleeve, but it seemed like I'd exposed most of my hand anyway. He noticed the reluctance in my demeanour and the smile vanished from his face. His eyes narrowed and he added, "I have twelve other subjects I could try if you don't cooperate."
The other children couldn't show him- at least as far as I knew- but it wouldn't stop him from trying.
I sighed, tired of all the threats. Then I tugged at our connection, elevating it until I could feel our minds slipping into each other's and my vision turned red. Our minds buzzed with more energy than either did alone, and I tried to rein in the exhilaration I felt. We concentrated on the man gawking at us at the opposite side of the table. I watched him get up and walk to our side of the table, the red image slightly before my normal vision. He reached out and I quickly warned "don't touch us!" it felt wrong for someone else to touch Shadow, and in this state, I felt he was equally defensive of me. With our connection as elevated as it was when he was visible, the sensations we both felt were shared by the other.
"Okay!" he held his hands up defensively and backed away and sat back in his chair. "I heard the kids name their shadows. What's yours?"
"I just called him Shadow. When he first appeared, I didn't really have time to come up with any creative names."
"So you had Shadow when you were a child soldier in Garlantia. When were you first aware of him?"
I remember the first time I thought I saw him; it was in the minefields between Garlantia and Reagen; back then I had these feelings in the pit of my stomach that guided me to the other side of the minefield safely- looking back, I think that was Shadow helping me across with his ability. Back then, I couldn't share his vision like I can now, but those painful shots of anxiety must have originated from Shadow. "It was just after I was sold."
"Did they do anything to you?"
I shook my head, "they didn't know I had a shadow."
"So, you're saying that it wasn't something that Garlantia did to you?"
"It wasn't."
"What about the other kids? What about Tommy?"
"I don't know." I knew Shadows weren't Garlantia-made, and they weren't bad. I didn't like where he was going. "We've been at it for hours. I didn't tell my friends where I was going so, they'll be worried."
"Don't worry, your friends have been informed of your decision."
"I think I should talk to them." I rose, feeling uneasy, my hand reaches for the cap to pull it off.
"You've agreed to my experiments so I'm in charge of what you should do. Sit." Anger prickled my mind and Shadow tensed. Dr Linderman observed this but didn't move. It was a power play; he probably had guns on the other side of the one-way glass ready to shoot if I made the wrong move. Seconds trickle by and I decided to sit. "How did Shadow help you survive? I heard that you kids said that they helped you survive." He continued the interview as if there was no interruption.
He was my only friend sounded lame, but it was true. He was the only one who was really on my side. Putting the danger sense aside, he helped me keep calm in dangerous situations which was just as helpful. Plus, I could see through his eyes, and Tommy can use Rex's hearing, as for Tasmin, God knows how Miki set fire to the drone in the tunnel. But how much detail should I give? How much could I gloss over and get away with? "In the bleakest moments of our lives, we had companions that wouldn't betray us."
"Is that all?"
"Don't you think that's valuable?"
"Don't go holding out on me."
"Shadow is a good fighter. Ever tried to fight an invisible man?"
That wasn't the response he was looking for "I heard you can share his vision." My mind raced, how did he know that? I could count the number of people who knew that on one hand, and I trusted all of them. Who else knew? "Is that true?" he added, studying my expression.
Reluctantly I agreed, "it is, but I couldn't do that when I was younger, and neither can any of the others."
"Interesting. When did it change?"
"When my brother died. When Garlantia invaded."
"Interesting. Do you think it has anything to do with emotional pain?" he asked coldly.
I tried to ignore how nonchalant he was, it was difficult not to take offence, but it would do me any good if I did. "I don't know."
Truth be told I was sure it was something to do with the empathy we felt for one another, but I didn't want him to know that. With the stories Tommy had told me, Garlantia had also come to that conclusion and purposefully tortured them, so they'd developed a stronger connection. Given my relationship with Raven, I didn't trust her not to do the same if she had the opportunity. What I told him and the experiments we did, would decide what happens to the twelve others they held as hostages. Even though I was cooperating, there was no guarantee for their safety. I had to give them enough to satisfy their curiosity but not enough to prove we could be utilised for their gain.
He nodded slowly, "I would like to test your ability to see through his eyes, but..." he looked down at his watch and then at the small device in his pocket. "You're giving off too many theta waves, so we'll stop for now."
"Great so I can go back now?" I asked, I was tired, and I thankfully released my connection with Shadow.
Dr Linderman rose and someone on the other side of the door opened it as he approached, then shut it behind him. I heard it lock. My shoulders sagged, was I a prisoner now? I thought about how pissed Theo must be right now. I bet she stormed right into Raven's office when she found out, not caring at all what important meeting she'd be in. I tried not to think about it, but it made me feel lonely… I felt powerless.
After a while, I heard the doors unlock and I readied myself. Two researchers entered and told me to follow them. I did, and I found myself in a bare room, much like the room I was in before but instead of a desk, there was a metal bed, a stall, a toilet and a sink. Thankfully, there wasn't a one-way mirror so at least I had some privacy. On the stall, was a tray of food, stone cold. They locked the door behind me without saying another word.
Did I make a grave mistake coming here? I thought, as I shovelled cold potato into my mouth and swallowed without tasting it. Minutes after I finished eating, the lights flickered off.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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