Day's End by Colleen Vanderlinden

Author:Colleen Vanderlinden [Vanderlinden, Colleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-05-06T23:00:00+00:00

I don’t know how long I sat there, those images flashing across my vision, words I hadn’t even noticed being whispered in my ears, over and over again, those memories from whatever they’d injected me with crashing across my mind. Time stopped mattering.

Eventually, the images and sounds stopped. The world went black. I was aware that my eyes were still forced open, but the darkness was so complete they may as well have been tightly closed. I wondered, idly, if this was another part of my programming or whatever Connor, who I also now knew was called Killjoy, had called it. Sensory deprivation or something like that.

I felt strange. There was rage there, purpose, but over everything I still felt numb, empty. Maybe this was what made me so good at what I did, the fact that I seemed to feel nothing at all.

I became so used to the darkness, the silence, that when footsteps rang out, crossing the linoleum floor, I had to try to remember where I was. The mask was pulled off of my face, and I wanted to close my eyes against the glaring white light that replaced the darkness, but my eyelids were still being held open, my eyes dry and painful.

“We’ll get those off of you. Hold on,” Lorne said quietly. I waited patiently while he removed the things holding my eyes open, and then I moved my arm, jerking it hard, and I heard the shackle snap. I grabbed him by the front of his checked shirt.

“That fucking hurt,” I snarled at him, and he whimpered. I wrenched my other arm out of the shackle.

“Help!” Lorne screamed. I picked him up higher, hoisting him above my head, then I drew my arm back to throw him.

“Jolene, no,” I heard Connor say.

“Jolene, yes,” I hissed, and I threw Lorne. “He hurt me.” I watched with more than a little satisfaction as Lorne crashed into the cabinets on the other side of the room, sending bottles and vials and other medical-looking paraphernalia flying. Connor went to him, and Lorne waved him off with a grimace.

“Well, you got what you wanted, boss,” Lorne said.

“Almost,” Connor said. Then he looked at me. “When I tell you to do something, or not to do something, I expect you to fucking listen.”

“This isn’t on her. Aftereffects of the conditioning. I should have waited for you before I undid the shackles. I forgot how strong she is,” Lorne said, rubbing the back of his head. “She couldn’t have listened just now even if she wanted to. Her mind is raw, her emotions are a mess, she’s in pain and her senses are still new to her. I know you expect compliance, but believe me when I say that this isn’t the time. She needs to adjust.”

Connor nodded and patted Lorne on the back. “Okay. That makes sense.” Then he looked at me. “But in the future, when I tell you something, I mean it.”

“Yes, sir,” I snarled.

“You can’t show her all of that and expect her not to be super violent when she comes out of it,” Lorne said.

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