• The song fits perfectly and it's sung by none other than ours truly ClarisseFon . You don't want to miss it, trust me. Above and beyond, thank you, darling •

I woke up to a pounding headache. Everything in my body felt... heavy. Nearly numb, everything throbbed, but I just couldn't move. My thoughts were a blur, but faint memories started to replay. Once the hazy movie ended, though, I wasn't numb anymore. All the pain from before flooded back and made water fill up my eyes.

I tried to open them, but couldn't find the strength to. Instead I tried to move my lips, my head, attempted to swallow to get the hairball in my throat out. It felt like I had swallowed a cloth, and now that I came to think of it, my lightheadedness could have something to do with the drugs they shot me up with. I quickly decided they were still working. Or perhaps they had given me more.

It was then that I heard a monotone beeping and quickly became concerned about something else; Where I was.

I attempted to open my eyes again, a low whimper making it past my lips. Finally, I managed to crack my lids apart, but everything was swimming. Blurry shapes moved; figures in white that in no way contrasted the light that blinded me.

"She's waking up," A female voice said.

"Sedate her again," Another one replied.

No! Stop! Don't do it! I wanted to scream. My head started jerking from side to side as I fought to shake the drowsiness away to talk. I struggled to find my voice, but I couldn't string anything together. All there came were more whimpers. Stop. Please, don't. You can't...

I started to feel drowsy again and that's when I knew they hadn't listened. Darkness pulled me down and I lost against it.

~~~

I slowly started to stir again. It could've been minutes, it could've been days, or it could most likely have been a few hours since I was last awake.

Careful this time, I didn't move too much. I focused on peeling my eyelids apart instead, trying to get a clear view of where they were holding me.

The only thing I knew was that they had taken me to the C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S facility. Where in the facility, I didn't know. From the sound of the machine beeping next to me again, it was most likely a hospital wing of some sort, or a lab. My eyes confirmed that once they opened.

Lying on a bed, strapped down by my hands and feet (this explained my inability to move), I was trapped on a white bed, hooked up to seven different tubes and machines that I could see. I felt wires underneath the standard hospital gown they had dressed me in, and wires were attached to my stomach, my heart and my ribcage.

They were monitoring me.

From a drip in my hand they were feeding me a saline solution and from another drip in my arm, some kind of golden liquid was being pumped into me. My eyes followed the tubes up to the bags and saw them hanging side by side like in any normal human hospital.

But I knew what they were doing or were going to do to me was the opposite of human and normal. It was inhumane and repulsive.

Gritting my teeth, I let it all hit me again. The lies. The deceit. The double crossing. More lies.

And Charlie. He had been a part of it all along.

My bottom lip trembled, but I refused to let him break me again. My eyes welled up, but I didn't let the tears fall.

Some part of me wanted to believe he hadn't had a choice. That his plea of forgiveness had been because he had been coerced or blackmailed somehow into doing this.

But, the smarter part of me knew better. He could've told me at any moment, unless... unless he didn't want to. He was smart and I was smart and we could've come up with a plan to prevent all of this. But he didn't tell me. Instead he played along and kept sleeping with me until...

I swallowed and glanced down at my stomach. Covered in my gown and the white sheets, I couldn't see it, but I also didn't have to. It was enough knowing what was growing inside it, what had been growing inside it for a couple of weeks.

A baby.

As much as I wanted to give Charlie all the blame, I couldn't. I had consented, I had participated – hell, I hadn't even bothered trying a different condom after the first time. I called myself smart just seconds ago, but what part of my 'brilliance' did this fall under? Charlie had impregnated me, and I had let him, so in a way you could say I had let this happen to myself.

Did I think they wouldn't find out? That I would be able to hide my pregnancy, or that they on the off-chance just would shrug and say 'whatever' to me having sex with their Creature? Yeah, I was partially to blame in this. The only thing I didn't take credit for was how I let it happen.

Because, if I understood correctly, Charlie's mission had been to make me fall for him, and if I had learned anything from the three months I had spent with him, it was that he didn't quit until he got it right. I hadn't stood a chance against him and his abilities.

I was just a... a fragile little human.

I squeezed my eyelids shut. Fragile or not, I wasn't going to spend the next nine months in this bed, being poked and prodded by scientists. I was going to fight every second of it, for my own life, and for the innocent one growing inside me.

Charlie may have hurt me, but this fetus was innocent of his deceit. It's only concern at this point was growing arms and legs and deciding whether or not it was going to grow anything between those legs. It was innocent, and I wasn't going to let it go through what they'd put Charlie through.

Stirring quietly again, trying to move my stiff limbs, movement suddenly caught the corner of my eye. The door to my room got opened and a tall male (nurse?) scientist walked in, carrying a tray. My teeth gritted at the sight as he approached, all clad in white scrubs, net on his hair and mask over his nose and mouth. What, did he think I carried some disease?

He came up to my bed and laid eyes on my awake condition, whereafter he set the tray down on the hospital table by my feet. He then turned to the monitors on my machines and clicked a few things, checking on my bags.

"Are you going to sedate me again?" I hoarsely asked. My voice was dry from lack of water.

The man regarded me with a glance. "No. Not unless you struggle again."

"Why wouldn't I?"

The scientist turned to the table and now poured some water from a small pitcher into a plastic cup. He bended a straw in it and then brought it to my lips. "It might surprise you to learn we're not actually interested in harming you."

"Just the fetus." I glared at the cup of water and watched as he held the straw out for me.

"Drink." He said, not a command, more of an advice. When I didn't, he added irritably, "It's not drugged. That's what all these tubes are for."

I hadn't been scared of that, I was just being uncooperative because of this whole thing. Still, I was thirsty, and if I was going to fight them, I was going to need my strength. I therefore slowly took the straw between my lips and sucked down some of the water. I ended up drinking the whole thing.

"How long was I out?" I wanted to know after he had set the cup down again and turned to his machines.

"Sixteen hours. You kept waking up and tried to lash out, so we had to restrain you."

I had? I couldn't even remember that. I wasn't regretting it, though. "That tends to happen when you take a person's free will. They fight back."

He didn't say anything to that, only kept his focus on the machines. He wouldn't even meet my eyes.

I sighed. "So what happens now? You just plan on keeping me in this bed until the fetus is fully grown and delivered?"

"No," He replied, turning to my IV bags once again, writing something into the computer attached to all the machines. "Not on this bed."

Not on this bed. I scoffed lightly. Then pressed my lips tightly together before reeling in my thoughts. "So what then?"

"Well," He tapped a few keys with his gloved hands before turning to the tray he brought in, rolling the table up to me and pressing a pedal on the floor I couldn't see that wheeled me up into an upright, almost sitting position. "For now, all you need to do is eat. We're taking care of the rest. We've been keeping you hydrated and healthy while you were unconscious, giving you the supplements you need, but since your body isn't used to it, you'll need real food as well."

"You mean my body isn't used to it like the Creatures are?" I bitterly corrected him.

"The Creatures have adapted to take their supplements and foods in all sorts of ways, but we found they absorbed it faster through the liquified version. Your body, however, is used to solids, and any change in your dietary habits could damage the fetus, and we don't want that. So..."

He lifted the lid on the tray and revealed a bowl full of... "Porridge."

"It's a specially made protein porridge that—"

"That contains all the vitamins and nutrients I need to keep me alive and healthy." I finished. So this was the porridge Charlie had talked about. At least he had been honest about that.

The male scientist didn't react to my knowledge of it, only begun freeing my right hand from the restraints so I could hold a spoon. "Eat up. It'll help the fetus."

Again, I felt compelled to scoff and couldn't repress it as I lifted my hand and picked up the spoon. "Like all those drugs you're pumping into me are helping it?"

"These fluids are supplements the fetus need," He replied back, hardening his voice, like I was criticizing his respectable work. "The fetus is part Creature and needs the same subsidies in its development as Creature 6402-C did. Without these, it could die. It can't sustain itself without 6402-C's essence."

I halted in my process of scooping up a goop of the goo in my bowl. I replayed his words and then repeated; "His essence?"

"Every Creature is made differently," He patiently explained. "Some have gene pools from other species, while some are closer to the human breed. Creature 6402-C is a concoction of a lot of things, therefore we have to use his own DNA to help sustain the fetus, as he is the father."

I suddenly found it hard to swallow. I hadn't even considered the fact yet that Charlie was going to be a father. I had been too preoccupied with dealing with everything else to really take it in.

He was going to be a father and I was going to a mother. A beautiful little baby was growing inside of me and I was going to be the mother it. Holy shit.

If C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S got their way, they would probably never let me see it.

I looked into my porridge and watched how it blurred out. Tears messed with my vision and I quickly blinked them away. I had to be strong for the baby. I had to stay strong so I could find a way out of here somehow. I knew it wouldn't be easy. I knew it would be close to impossible, but even the most secure places on earth had loopholes somewhere. This facility had to have one as well; I was going to find it and escape through it.

"Eat," The scientist commanded again when I hadn't touched the porridge yet. "You haven't eaten in almost a day, you need the sustenance."

"And who's fault is that?" I growled out lowly before I picked up a mouthful of the porridge and ate. He didn't say anything to my snide comment, but I could picture him grinding his teeth. He stayed throughout me eating, watching me consume every last bland bite of it. It was like consuming unsalted, overcooked rice; there was no taste, only a clingy, slightly nauseating flavor lingering on your palate.

But I didn't argue the food. I swallowed it down and washed it away with another cup of water before the tray was removed and my bed was rolled back down again. I sighed and looked up at the ceiling, already starting my stream of thoughts on how I could escape. There was always a way...

But then, just as the scientist strapped my arm down again and tightened the restrainer, a thought invaded my mind and spilled out of my lips before I could stop it.

"Where's Charlie?"

The scientist double checked my other restraints, then straightened out. "He's in his cell."

My eyes closed for one second while I tried not to picture what he was doing down there. Was he strapped down as well or was he allowed to move around? Was he more free than me?

I sighed and opened my eyes, just in time to see the male scientist load a syringe up, flicking the tip.

"You're putting me under again?" I silently asked. I already knew the answer.

"It's for the best."

And then he injected the needle into the pass in my tube, and not seconds later, the world faded away from me.

~~~

I was tired of waking up drowsy. Disoriented, I couldn't figure out what was up and down the first few minutes that I came out of the anesthesia. I didn't care what they were giving me, it couldn't possibly be healthy for the baby or for me. If all they did was keep me drugged throughout my pregnancy, I was going to grow the opposite of healthy. I might just go clinically insane mid-trimester.

Finally, when my eyes and ears started to lose the vertigo, I heard someone speaking. Hushed voices were mumbling together, but then one broke through.

"She's waking up."

"Finally." Another one said.

The sound of footsteps approaching made me open my tired eyes, blinking slowly a few times before everything sharpened. It was a female scientist who stood in front of me this time, and even though she was covered in masks and hairnets like the male one, something about her seemed strangely familiar. My tired brain couldn't place it.

Not until she spoke.

"Good morning, Ms Bloom."

It was her. That fucked up scientist from one of the videos. The one who jerked him off. Standing right in front of me, the crinkle of her eyes telling me she was giving me a smile behind the mask, she stood before me like she hadn't violated an innocent man.

"We're sorry to pull you out of your sleep, but there's something we would like you to see," She said, oblivious to the way my blood was boiling up a storm. The heart monitor started beeping like crazy, or that could have been my pulse, I didn't know, all I knew was that she mistook my heart palpitations as anxiousness.

"There's nothing to be nervous about, it's just a small video," She said, thinking she was probably calming me down, but on the contrary; I didn't want to see any more videos if they contained her or Charlie.

"Leave me alone," I gritted at her, clenching my fists. I wanted to jump out of this bed and stuff one of the many needles in my body into a part of her body. Maybe then she would know what it was like to be subjected to something she didn't want. "Get out. I don't want to watch anything."

She looked perplexed for a moment, but then turned to my table which I now noticed had a laptop on it. "I'm afraid you don't have a choice. We need you to take a look at this and help us clarify something."

"Like hell," I snarled as she begun clicking on the keys, pulling a video up. "I don't want to watch anything, do you hear me?! I don't care what it is, I'm not helping you! Isn't taking my freedom enough?!"

The scientist paused for a second to look at me. "We're only doing it for the fetus. We're protecting it and at the same time protecting you. You have to believe us on that."

"Believe you like I believed you before?" She had to be mental.

"That's not what we woke you up for to discuss today," She said, turning back to her screen and brushing me off like that. "This is what we need you to watch. A video of Creature 6402-C—"

"I don't want to watch it!"

"—before he was let out into the outside world. We asked him a few questions while he was under the influence of a potent truth serum and these were his replies."

The screen came alive, and even if I didn't want to look, I could still hear him. His voice that broke my heart, though slightly droopy and affected by the drugs.

"So, Creature. Can you tell us your name?" The man in charge of the questioning said. I quickly recognized his voice, too; It was Dr Jacoby.

I dared to open my eyes and looked at the screen. Charlie sat in a simple chair this time, in his white jumpsuit I had first seen him in when we met. There were a few electrodes attached to him as well, but nowhere near the amount I had seen in the other videos of him. They were hooked up to a computer which was running a line that looked like one of those on a lie detector.

Funny thing, though. He looked exactly like he did the day I met him, and only after glancing at the time stamp did I realize it was from the day we met. The time said 6.55am and we had met each other at 9am sharp. This was only two hours before our first meeting.

"My name..." He slowly spoke. "Is 6402-C."

"And can you tell us what you are?"

"A Creature."

"Now tell us a lie for a baseline."

"I am not dangerous."

"Excellent. Today we're going to be making a pop quiz. We say a word and you'll reply with the first thought that pops into your head. Are you ready?" Dr Jacoby asked him.

Charlie nodded drowsily.

"Alright. Let's begin; Cell?"

"Home."

"Food?"

"Requirement."

"Tests?"

"Necessary."

"Science?"

"Purpose."

"C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S?"

"Creators."

"Creature?"

"Me."

"Knowledge?"

"Everything."

"Exercise?"

"Stimulant."

"Heart?"

"Organ."

"Love?"

"Chemicals."

The female scientist stopped the video at that and then begun typing and clicking on the keys again. "That was from almost three months ago. Two days ago, right after you were both brought back here, we ran another test on 6402-C where we repeated the same questions to him. These were his new answers."

I had gone completely mute as a new video popped up, one much different from the other. For once, he wasn't calm. In fact he was anything but.

"Carly! CARLY!" He was screaming and writhing in the chair he was strapped to, thrashing violently to try and break free. He was close to succeeding. His face was twisted in agony, and he kept screaming out my name like he was expecting me to shout back. "CARLY! What have you done to her?! CARLYYYY!"

A scientist zapped him and he went into a rigid seizure, shaking uncontrollably, but still crying out my name. I almost couldn't keep watching when the scientist then injected him with a drug. The camera glipped and the next scene showed a very drugged Charlie sitting in the same chair, barely able to keep his own head up. Dr Jacoby's voice entered the room and then it begun all over again. He started with the same as before.

"Alright, Creature. State your name."

"My name," He groggily said, "Is Charlie."

"And what are you?"

Charlie's eyes closed. "Carly's..."

There was a pause. "State a lie for the baseline."

"I am dangerous."

Another pause followed, but then Dr Jacoby spoke up again, his tone much different. I thought I detected bitterness. "Very well. We begin the questioning immediately. The machine says you're speaking... truthfully," He groveled on the word, "so we will have to believe that you are. Let's begin; Cell?"

"Prison."

"Food?"

"Good."

"Tests?"

"Torture."

"Science?"

"Hobby."

"C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S?"

"Bad."

"Creature?"

"Misunderstood."

"Knowledge?"

"Fun."

"Exercise?"

"Sex."

"Heart?"

"Feelings."

"Love?"

"Carly."

The female scientist stopped the video again and then turned to my shellshocked expression. "Care to explain that?"

• • •

"Well, Ms Scientist. Sometimes when a mommy and a daddy loves each other very much—"