Page 16 of Juniper Unraveling

“You’re very clever.” He rounds the bed, and stands at a counter. A sound reaches my ear, like a steady stream of water.

It’s then I notice how parched my mouth is, and I swallow a harsh gulp, clearing the sticky saliva at the back of my throat, but cough.

A tube-like object is set to my lips that I recognize as a straw.

“Drink,” he says.

The cool fluids are heaven against the scratchy burn, and I don’t stop sipping, until the fluids arrive too fast to swallow, and I sputter a fountain of water on another cough. Alarms beat inside my head when I can’t take a breath. Again my head is slung to the side, while I hack up the small bit of liquid locking up my lungs. I’ve never had so much water without having to share with my siblings.

It’s while staring at dark hair’s chest that I see the badge, with his picture and name printed in big black lettering. Josef Falkenrath.

“Where am I?” Weakness claims my voice with the woozy sensation that has the room tracking after my eyeballs.

“My laboratory. Tell me, what is your name?” Josef sets the glass of water off to the side.

“Daniel,” I rasp, noticing my throat still carries a scratch.

“Daniel, huh? Odd name for a girl.”

Panic blossoms in my chest, clenching my ribs, and I choke back the urge to throw up again. They only take boys. It’s then I notice the cool cotton sheet that dances over my thighs and breasts.

He’s unclothed me.

“Where are my clothes?”

“When the drug wears off, you will be issued a uniform.” His eyebrow wings up, as he crosses his arms, leaning back into the chair. “There’s never been a girl at this facility in all the time I’ve been here.”

“Please. My mother. She wanted me to look after my brother. To keep him safe.”

“And you’ve already failed her in that.”

His face widens and stretches behind my tears, and a tickle hits my temple as the moisture finally leaks from my eye, sharpening my view again. A childish urge tugs my chest, and I gulp down the sob cocked at the back of my throat. “I want to go home.”

“You no longer have a home.” The cold tone of his words as he lifts my arm, while staring down at my skin, bites at my ability to keep it together. “Everyone you knew from your hive is either assigned in a cell block, or gone. There is no other option. And you will find the line between those two thins quickly here.”

“My brother?”

“Your brother is in another cell block. He will be observed. For a time.”

“What is this place?”

“A research facility.” He releases my arm, allowing it to hit the cold metal beneath me with a thunk. “A bit more time, and you should regain muscle control.”

“Are you a doctor?”

“I’m a scientist.” He seems to move about at my side, but holds up a needle, that has me feeling queasy.

A faint sting on my forearm leaves me squinting. I hate needles. Once, I was really sick, and my mother took me to a woman who pushed a needle into my arm. It was attached to a bag that my mother said would make sure I had enough fluids, and they had to strap me down to keep me from pulling it out.

“Are you going to send me back because I’m not a boy?”

“Sending you back would mean certain death for you.” He holds up a tube filled with what must be my blood, twisting it in front of his eyes, before setting it down somewhere beside him. “No. You read, and you write. You’re useful. You will assist me by taking notes and labeling samples, as you saw me do with the cup.”

Anger gets the best of me as I remember that this is the man who denied my brother. The man who allowed the creepy blond to drag him from me like an infected coyote.

They’re all wolves. Predators. And hell, if I’ll do anything to assist these sadists.

“No. I’m not some slave secretary to a bunch of murderers. Go to hell!” I’d spit in his face, but my mouth is bone dry, even after the water.