Chapter 4: Change of Plans

 

        Everything was dark, no sound could be heard. You couldn’t move, not even your eyes, neither could you remember anything, or do anything besides stare at the black the void in front of you. You regained some feeling, and felt something metallic on your wrists and feet, and you could tell you were on your knees. A smell of dank, cold, and something a little musty hit your nose. Am I in a cellar? Even your thoughts were groggy.

        Footsteps in the otherwise quiet place were getting louder and closer, along with soft voices coming from them. You were too hazed to figure out who they were or try and get away from them.

        With a splitting headache, you opened your eyes a quarter of the way. You saw a dark green stone floor with two pairs of black shoes in front of you. You groaned as your headache became more excruciating and you shut your eyes due to the pain. A hand grabbed your chin and pulled it up, forcing you to open your eyes halfway.

        “Good evening, Fräulein.” That voice. That’s when your memories came flooding back, and you recognized Schrödinger. You tried to pull away as best as you could, twisting your head to the side, but he tightened his grip and pulled your head right back to his. “Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you.” He purred. You wanted to tell him that you weren’t afraid of him at all, but you couldn’t move your mouth. You were too weak at the moment.

        He let go of your chin, causing your head to hang, and took a few steps back to yet another man you didn’t want to meet. You caught a glimpse of him and saw a few features: parted long blonde hair, multi-lensed glasses, a blood stained white lab coat, and a shirt that revealed some of his stomach. As they started to talk, you tried to regain more of your consciousness and figure out where the heck you were exactly.

        “So Doctor, now that she is awake, are you going to take that sample of blood?” My blood? You stopped paying attention to their conversation, as you were now too focused on trying to wake up.

        “As I’ve said for the thousandth time Officer Schrödinger, she has to fully regain consciousness first. We’re just checking on her to see if she is ready or not.” Wake up mind! I have to escape! I’m NOT giving my blood to these people!

        “To which I still don’t understand why we have to wait. Besides, she was just unconscious before, why couldn’t we do it then?” Doctor sighed.

        “To the first, the blood is more alive, powerful, and flowing if she’s fully awake. The more the blood acts, the better we can study it, and the faster the procedure can be done. The second is she could wake up during the procedure, and that wouldn’t do for… many reasons. Don’t waste my time with such questions little cat.” This is not good! What are they even talking about! You were more awake and struggling to get out of your chains now. You had to get out of here and figure out what they wanted with you. ‘Doctor’ noticed this, and walked up to examine you. He put a hand on your forehead in the same way a person would feel for another’s temperature, only much harder to keep you in place. He stared into your half awake yet blazing eyes, and put two fingers to where your pulse was on your neck, to which you quickly snapped at them, and continued to try and break free.

        “Is that awake enough for you, Doctor?” Schrödinger snickered.

        “Don’t play with me, cat. And if you must know, yes, she’s perfect right now.” You struggled more as he pulled out a knife. “I just have to hold her still…” He appeared in front of you and shoved your forehead into the wall. You whimpered and stopped your retaliation as he sliced a horizontal cut on your cheek with the knife, a little too deep and wide for your liking. You hissed at all the new sudden pain. He put the knife away and pulled out a sample bag and let the blood flow down into it. After he supposedly had enough of your blood, he left without another word.

        You looked down growling, ashamed and angered what happened. You felt something slippery and wet on your cut, and you looked to see Schrödinger licking it. He apparently hadn’t left yet, and decided to ‘clean’ your wound. It wasn’t stinging as bad as you thought this should, and you blushed at the strange contact. He had probably felt the heat rising to your cheeks and yet he still continued to lick your cut, which made you blush a little more. You looked at him with worried and pleading, yet relaxed, eyes. However, still not trusting him, you started to growl as a warning to back off, which was all you could do at this point. You didn’t even have the strength to speak. He didn’t seem to care or decided to ignore it, and continued licking, and you were too flustered and weak to bite at him.

        Schrödinger was a little mysterious to you. The way he acted around you in general was ‘different’, so to say. You couldn’t explain it, but you remembered that he somehow used your dog, or at least the form of him, to spy on you for who knows how long. Your blush grew darker as you recalled this, realizing that he had seen you in your sports bra and PJs. It was then that you realized that you were only in your black sports bra and baggy pants right now. Your blush reached maximum redness as you tried to cover yourself up, failing because you were stuck firmly in one position by your chains.

        Schrödinger stopped his ‘cleaning’ and saw you trying to do this. He smiled, or rather half smirked, and ruffled your hair. He leaned in and whispered in your ear. “Don’t be ashamed of yourself, Fräulein. No one’s complaining about it.” You were a little startled, and embarrassed, so you blushed and growled lowly again. He chuckled at this and stood up. As he turned he called back to you. “You will be out of here soon, don’t worry Fräulein.” And with that, he vanished, leaving you alone to your thoughts. Tired from the recent events, you slowly fell back asleep, unaware of a certain pair of eyes still watching over you.

(Timeskip to next morning)

       You woke up the next morning, a little groggy and parched. You felt like you could barely speak. If you didn’t drink something soon, you would eventually feel the actual pains of dehydration, which were unbearable streaks of pain at the front of your body. You’d have to worry about that later though. The sun was just rising, and you only knew this because there was a small window in the cell you were in that showed a faint amount of the outside.

        You didn’t try to struggle, even though you were aware of where you were and who had placed you here. You were instead saving your energy and thinking of a plan to escape. The problem was, there were too many unknown variables to consider. How many people were here in this place? Where exactly in the world were you? Would, or how would, they track you down? Where would an exit even be? You were just going to have to improvise along the way, unfortunately.

        You would focus on getting out of this cell first. ‘I have to go to the bathroom’ is obviously not going to cut it. You looked at your shackles and searched for a lock. You eventually found it near your head, and stuck your canine tooth in it. There was nothing else sharp around you, and you had to do something, you were desperate. As you tried in vain to work your canine into the lock, you heard footsteps approaching and immediately stopped. You would not risk getting even more locked up and never being able to escape.

        You prepared a glare as figures made themselves clear at the door of your cell. There was Major, Doctor, and one of the lieutenants personally nicknamed by you, Spikey, because of her spikey orange hair. Note to self, figure out all of their real names so I can distinguish them. You snarled at them, they were your least favorite of the maniacs you’ve met so far. 

        “Greetings to you as well, Fräulein.” Major smirked. You let out a snort of hot breath, signaling hostility if they got too close, as a dragon would guarding its treasure. It didn’t matter to them though. You were chained up, and basically harmless, you were no threat to them.

        “No need for such brash behavior. You have nothing to fear. We just need your help with something-“

        “I’m not stupid, don’t touch me you freaking swine!” You croaked out, still parched. Now they all smirked, and appeared to be on the verge of breaking into loose giggles.

        “A swine, you say? Seems you still have the same sense of humor.”

        “…”

        “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue? I don’t remember Officer Schrödinger following us.”

        “That’s a good one Major.” Doctor said. 

        “That’s really funny.” You stated sarcastically. “That’s got to be the funniest damn thing I’ve-” You coughed, your dry throat making it too hard to talk anymore.

        “It seems your own body has solved your little mouth problem for us.” You glared, but still couldn’t say anything back. You haven’t given me water on purpose!! I bet on it!! Ignorant little- “Now that that’s out of the way, Zorin?”

        “Yes, Major.” The lieutenant devil-smirked. So Spikey is Zorin and that must mean the other blue-haired woman is Rip Van Winkle, if I remember correctly.

        “Would you be so kind as to hold her down, while Doctor here does his…experiment?” Hell no!! You were scared, and started struggling and trying to fiddle with the lock. Zorin was on you in no time though, and you could only move your head as she pinned you to the wall, and her arms were spread apart so you couldn’t bite her to get free. A slight whimper escaped your lips, and you closed your eyes. You were a caged guinea pig and could do nothing to stop whatever they were going to do to you. You felt a needle being shoved into your shoulder and it stung and burned like nothing else before, and it was only shoved in deeper. 

        You turned your head and tried biting the needle to get it out, but you couldn’t reach it. Then, you felt another inserted into your other shoulder and a third one in your stomach. It hurt so much, but no matter what, you couldn’t get away or pull the needles out, since Zorin was holding you against the wall, restricting almost all of your movements. So that’s why Zorin is here. She’s the muscle that’s supposed to keep me still while they inject whatever this stinging liquid is in me. What is this supposed to do anyway. It just stings like crap! 

        Doctor frowned after a few minutes of just watching you writhe in pain, seeing that whatever you were injected with didn’t have the effect he wanted. He pulled the needles out, which left a burning sensation where they had been, and turned to Zorin.”Lieutenant, you can let go now.” She released you, but not before slamming your head farther against the wall, and leaving the cell with a smirk. “Major, the ‘special’ anesthesia had no effect at all! She is more powerful than we ever imagined!” Anesthesia? Are they trying to put people down with deadly medicine? What do you mean by I’m more powerful than they thought???

        “Excellent. You may need more blood for testing then, perhaps you didn’t get enough last time? Hm?”

        “To be fair, Major, she did give us trouble. She almost took out my hand-“

        “To be fair, Doctor,” Major countered, “I did warn you before you went down here that she does not give in so easily.” You wanted to growl, but your throat was too dry and you would end up semi dry heaving again. Instead, you merely glared at Major. “I wish you goodbye then, Fräulein. Rest well tonight.” He started maniacally chuckling, and stalked out of your cell into the darkness beyond.

        You hung your head in sadness and anger. Tears slid down your face, no other sound heard except the salty drops of water hitting the floor of your cell. At least you knew you still had some water left, right?

        You questioned if there would ever be a chance to escape this living hell-hole. You wondered if they were just going to keep testing this anesthesia stuff everyday, and if it would only get worse. Was there any hope left at all? You couldn’t bring yourself to try and pick the lock to your shackles as more tears began streaming down your face. You didn’t even realize a figure approaching with the very liquid you needed.

        Your chin was lifted up to the face of Schrödinger. Embarrassment, a sense of distrust, and the will to show no weakness made you jerk your head away from his prying pink eyes. You braced yourself for a possible attack, but none ever came. Instead, you heard the swish of a liquid being brought up in front of you. He grabbed your chin again and wiped your remaining tears away. He looked at you with a smiling cat face. “I brought you a gift, Fräulein.” He said. He held the pouch up to your mouth for you to drink, and you reluctantly gave in to your desire. You took sips so as not to gulp too much down at once, no matter how tempting it was, because it was bad to drink too much all at once.

        You were sure Schrödinger was doing this because he had to, and most likely enjoyed seeing you suffer as much as the others did. A tiny part of you doubted this, and thought that he may actually be ‘nice’. No, it couldn’t be. He was, after all, one of them, the ones who kidnapped you and took you away from the family and friends you once had; he was the one who spied on you in the form of your dog, and even earlier than that when you saw him in the orchestra room.

        You finally finished the water and your thirst was quenched, for now. You averted your eyes back to the ground as soon as you were done, avoiding his gaze. This felt so out of character for him, and you didn’t know why you could know something like that when you barely even knew him at all. You guessed he was mainly playful and devious, not serious and generous. He grabbed your chin once more, forcing you to stare into his eyes.

        “It’ll get better, trust me Fräulein. This is the hard part, but once you survive this, you’ll be one of us.” That will never happen in my life. You growled and he let go with a small chuckle. Then he ruffled your hair, making you close your eyes. When he stopped you opened them, and he was gone, leaving you alone once more. 

        There was no way in hell that you were going to become one of them. Ever. You wouldn’t allow it. Is this why they were giving me anesthesia? Are they going to test something else on me that’ll make me their slave?? That will never happen, because I will never give in! I have to escape before they can develop a more powerful anesthesia. I will never give up, I swear it. You then let your head rest on your chest, trying to think of new escape plans, and drowned in your own thoughts for the rest of the day. You fell back asleep sometime in the afternoon, your last thoughts on what Schrödinger had for you, whether he was forced to, or if it was something else.

 
Schrödinger POV

        I saw the whole thing. I saw them testing the anesthesia and the pain it caused her. I saw her losing her voice trying to yell back at Major. Her rebellion behavior was hilarious! It was so amusing and hysterical, because I knew I would not be the only one to play my little types of games anymore. There was going to be a new double-trouble team! The pain though, was another story. It brought back old memories from my past… I know how she feels.

        Everyone left, and I saw her hang her head in defeat…wait no. She was just sad, angry, but still had that spark of determination and perseverance. That, Fräulein, is how you will survive. Don’t lose it. If you do, there would be no more entertainment. I felt a certain, strange pity towards her, and another strange feeling where my heart is, but I ignored it mostly. I quickly got some water in a pouch from the fridge, and reappeared in her cell. What I saw made me feel worse. She was crying.

        I walked towards her and grabbed her chin. She must’ve felt embarrassed, or scared that I was going to do something else to her, because she tensed up and braced herself for something and pulled away before I could do anything. I just smiled and mad a kitty-grin face and shook the water pouch in front of her. I grabbed her chin with my other hand again and wiped her tears away, and she opened her eyes at this. Still grinning I said, “I brought you a gift, Fräulein.” She recognized what I held in my hand, and reluctantly started to drink.

        Such patience. It must’ve been so tempting to gulp it all down and get sick. She took her time and had so much self control, and I could still see distrust and hate in her eyes, yet a sparkle of hope. Me and First Lieutenant Winkle don’t actually mind her, we both feel a little bad for her. It seems that both of us are out of character these days. We may just be becoming soft-hearted, we don’t know. But at the moment, I changed my playful and childish personality for a more sympathetic and happy one.

        She finished the water, and looked back down, trying to avoid my gaze. This girl is so stubborn. I grinned, and I grabbed her again to make her look at me. “It’ll get better, trust me Fräulein. This is the hard part, but once you survive this, you will be one of us.” Of course, that got her going again, and she growled that growl I was starting to enjoy. I ruffled her hair, which she didn’t snap at me for surprisingly. I think she likes me. I chuckled at the thought and let her go, then disappeared to go handle some ‘business’. 

 
3rd Person POV

        Doctor walked to his lab, not expecting the surprise in store for him. He opened the door, turned on the lights, and disposed of the needles he used on you. He turned around only to find none other than Schrödinger sitting on his lamp on the lab table.

        “Get off of my lamp, you annoying furball!!!”

        “Not until you answer some questions, Doctor.” Schrödinger devil-smirked.

        “What do you want this time, Schrödinger.” Doctor grumbled.

        “How many more times are you going to test those needles on her?” Schrödinger questioned with all seriousness, frowning towards the end. Doctor chuckled evilly.

        “Don’t tell me you’ve grown attached to her, Warrant Officer.” Doctor smirked.

        “Who says I am.”

        “Says the furball who won’t deny it.” Schrödinger didn’t respond. “You have gotten soft, Schrödinger, you should’ve just-“

        “Come now Doctor, don’t be so hard.” A maniacally grinning Major interrupted and stepped into the room. “I think it’s actually good that he’s gotten attached to the little Fräulein. For the plans we have in store for her are now more… exciting.”

        “Ah, Major. Finally took your fat self long enough to get here. You should really lose some weight-“

        “Show some respect furball!!!” Doctor grabbed Schrödinger by the back of his shirt and lifted him up in the air. Schrödinger merely grinned childishly and stuck his tongue out a little at Doctor, knowing that he wasn’t going to get in trouble. Major held up a hand and laughed.

        “It is quite alright, Doctor, you can set him down.” Grumbling, Doctor set the feline boy down.

        “Major, what are these new plans you speak of? I thought we were just going to kill-“

        “Major never tells you anything anymore does he? Maybe he is going too slow to keep up with you, Doctor.” Doctor cursed under his breath and spoke.

        “So there has been a change of plans, Sir?”

        “Yes, not too much different, but they will serve us better than before.” Everyone smirked devilishly.

        “What are your new orders then… Major?”