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Girl In A Cage
Tom
A guard meets me on my way down. He reaches out a hand to stop me in my tracks. “Do you have clearance, Doctor Ares?”
“I think I just got it. Head asked me to take a look at Electra.”
“Wow,” he says, his brows rising. “So I guess she’s cutting out the middle man. Instead of having casualties sent to you, you can be the next casualty.”
I smirk at the joke. This guard is a nice guy. Most of the people here aren’t so bad. “She’s never been aggressive with me. I’m sure we’ll get along.”
“Not possible. I’ve seen her down here for the past month. Girl can’t help herself. She’s not normal. She attacks everything that moves.”
“If you can find me someone in this place who is normal, I’d love to meet them,” I reply dryly.
The guard’s concern is not entirely misplaced. Instead of worrying about her hurting me, I’m trying to think what comes next. I’m still not entirely sure what the Head expects me to do with Electra. I’m a doctor. I don’t handle the training side of things, though Ken does, and I guess he owes me a few favors. I don’t have any training slots in the facility. I don’t know where she’s supposed to stay. The Head has just basically waved her hand and expected everything to fall into place.
The guard smirks. “Your funeral, Doc. If I were you, I’d be asking for another assignment. She breaks men.”
“Consider me warned. Where is she?”
“Third on the left. I’ll open the outer cell door and give you the key to her shackles. I don’t suggest you use it.”
I thank him for his concern and the guard takes me down to her cell. I stop, shocked at what I see.
They have her trussed up like Hannibal Lecter. A thick black rubber mask covers most of her face. Her golden curls are escaping the rubber ties on all sides. Her hands and feet are shackled to the floor and the wall. She can barely move. I would put money on it being pretty difficult for her to breathe.
This is the most shameful display of abuse of power I have ever seen. This is how they treat a lady? And they expect her to behave in a sane way? Sometimes the way this place runs leaves me shaking my head. Other times, it makes my blood boil. This is one of the latter times.
I go to her and pull the mask off her face. It comes away, leaving a pink line around where it was pressed against her skin. She looks pale and stressed, hardly surprising given her situation. She’s running on adrenaline. I need to calm her down, get her out of flight or fight mode.
“What happened?” I ask the question with a calm sympathy. I know she hurt Tyko. I know she’s dangerous, but the fact remains she’s maybe a hundred pounds of female and I’m more than twice her size. If she gets the better of me, it’s my own damn fault.
“I got angry,” she says, her voice small and incongruous. “Did I kill him?”
“You didn’t kill him.”
She sniffles and nods. “Good,” she says. “He didn’t deserve to die. I just couldn’t help myself. When I get angry…” she trails off and looks away. “They make me so angry.”
“I know,” I say. I can see the rage in her. Even now that she’s subdued and perhaps even sorry, it simmers inside her. I can feel it, a sympathetic ache in my chest.
“Do you?” She looks at me, those blue eyes searching mine. “Do you know what it’s like to want to kill people all the time? Do you know what it’s like to be made…” she chokes up and stops. “Why are you here?”
“I’ve been asked to take care of you,” I explain gently.
“You mean they’re going to have me put down. Not surprised.”
“That is not what I mean at all. I mean, I’m going to be in charge of you.”
“What does that even mean?”
It’s a good question.
“For starters, it means I’m unlocking these cuffs and shackles.”
“You shouldn’t do that. I might hurt you.”
I cock my head to the side. “Do you want to hurt me?”
Electra
I don’t want to hurt him. I don’t want to hurt anybody. But I do. I can’t help myself. I was angry at Tyko when I attacked him, but the truth is I might have attacked him anyway even if I didn’t have a reason. I do things like that from time to time. It’s like there’s an animal inside me and it wants blood.
I shake my head. “Don’t take the cuffs off. You’re too nice to be hurt.”
He gives me a look which might be sympathy or pity. I can’t really tell the difference between the emotions. Not many people have sympathy for me, but many pity me. Tyko pitied me once. I doubt he does anymore. I eradicated that emotion when I wrapped that chain around his neck and made him face shameful mortality.
