Page 91 of Anarchy Chained: Alpha Thomas

I laugh at her description of the missing Thomas personality. “I like Thomas too. I like them both equally, in fact. Where do you think he went?”

“I don’t know,” Sheila says. “But it concerns me. Believe me, as soon as we get rid of your friends up there, I’ll have Sullivan in this chair too. They’ve had an agreement for decades. Thomas is the outward personality and Sullivan is the inner one. Why it’s all screwed up now, I have no idea.”

“So you guys all knew he was… split? By Prodigy?”

“I helped them do it,” Sheila says. “But that’s before Lincoln stole me from the school and reprogrammed me into what I am now. I’m not that machine anymore. He made me self-aware. It was my choice to work with the Alphas. I’m not a threat to you, Sadie. These three men are my whole life. I’d do anything to help them. And that help extends to Molly, and Lulu, and now you. Sullivan brought you here because he knows you’ll be safe. I’ll help you any way I can. Trust me and get on the table.”

A memory hits me like a brick to the chest. I lean over and let it flow. My missing time from before the crash.

Thomas did say the name Sheila back at the tower. God, that seems like so long ago. Did he really take me shopping for clothes? It makes me smile, even though looking back, it was an absurd thing to do.

It was, I realize, a little gesture of friendship. Something to make me happy. Something to make me forget the shitty situation we were in.

It was… nice.

So I walk over to the chair, but just as I’m about to hop up, she says, “Take off your clothes, please. You need to be naked for this.”

“I thought you were joking about that. To keep Uzi away.”

“No,” she says, her light mouth flickering into a smile. “I need you completely bare. There’s a gown over in that closet. So strip and climb up on the table. The sooner we get the tests done, the sooner you can be back upstairs with Sullivan for the night. And don’t worry about modesty. I’m a professional.”

Her form disappears before I can argue further. I do not want to do this. Something inside me is screaming that none of this is good for me. That things are about to go very wrong and it all starts with this little room right here.

But I’m all about sucking it up and dealing. She’s right. The sooner I let her get the tests done, the sooner I can get the hell out of this… laboratory and be alone with Sullivan. I have so much to say to him. So many questions.

I take all my clothes off and wrap the gown around my body as best I can, then hop onto the table. The little robots, which didn’t leave with the Sheila light form, start scrambling around the room. Several climb onto the table with me, and just as I’m about to swat them away, Sheila appears again. “OK, Lincoln filled me in on the details. I’m going to do some scans to see if we can’t find your missing memories.”

“I got my memories back,” I say. “Even those few days back at the tower with Thomas.”

She smiles at me. It’s one of those, you’re-so-cute-but-naive-is-a-better-word-for-it, smiles. “Sorry, sweetie. But even I know you’re missing more than that. Why else would you be with those people?”

These people. She means Uzi, Iziah, and Cyan.

And even though I am supposed to think of them as friends—no, more than friends, as family—I don’t. I really, really don’t. I know they’re bad. I just feel it.

A bot pricks my finger, then another is attaching an IV. In seconds, I’m hooked up to a bag of drugs, and seconds after that, I’m starting to feel dizzy and tired.

“Don’t worry, Sadie,” the Sheila says as she leans over my body. “I know how to pry them out of you. I’ll find out what really happened before Thomas blasted you with his mind.”

She said she wouldn’t hurt me… but she lied.

Then I’m nowhere. I’m in blackness. I’m floating in non-reality.

“Sadie.”

I am swimming in darkness.

“Sadie. Wake up now.”

The black water feels thick, but now there’s a light above me.

“Come on.”

I move towards it, slowly. So slowly.

“Sadie.”

I reach the top and burst into the light.

My eyes open and Sullivan is standing over me. “Hey,” I say. “What happened?” I reach for him. Try to reach for him. But I can’t.

I’m tied down again.