018

— waking nightmares —

June 28, 10:32 am
CADMAS Laboratories, San Francisco

TERROR FLOWED THROUGH HER LIKE A WAKING NIGHTMARE. Hazel exhaled softly, her eyes threatening to drop as the doctors moved around. IVs connected to her arms, patches that monitored her heart and vitals stuck to her chest. She couldn't remember when the soldiers came and grabbed her, but they did. They injected her with something that made her so weak she couldn't move her limbs. They pulled her down halls and to a stark white room and strapped her to a table.

She couldn't tell how many doctors moved around her, their voices melding and echoing into one another it sounded like hundreds of people. She didn't even have the strength to struggle as a doctor grabbed her arm, sticking a long, thick syringe into her arm, a thick gooey, blue substance injected into her blood and in a few seconds, her mind went foggy.

Her heart sped but she felt numb. She wanted to panic, scream in protest but she couldn't move, her voice barely a whisper. "Gar..." Hazel mumbled, her eyes closing for a moment. Please, for the love of God, don't hurt him like this. "Terran..." A second syringe was picked up and added to her blood. Hazel's eyes closed again, and her heart dropped, and it felt like her ribs cracked.

The beeping of her heart rate slowed, and the doctors started to panic. "What did you do?" A British questioned, stepping closer to Hazel. Hazel's hands gripped the side of the table.

"I'm not sure," The doctor answered, looking over the different drugs that were administered. "There's something in her body reacting to our drugs."

Hazel's heart rate slowed to a stop and Hazel let out a final shaky breath as the flatline echoed through the room. "Congratulations doctor, you just lost one of our biggest assets."

At first there was nothing, just a profound silence that enveloped her, a void where no breath or wind stirred, just a vacuum of empty nothingness. Suddenly, like she was forced, she was torn from the void, sitting upright, gasping for air as her eyes snapped wide open. Suddenly all her senses were back, crashing into her with such force it made her shake.

Once the feeling in her bones returned, she scrambled to her feet, a wave of awareness flooded her senses. She was warmed from the sun; blades of grass brushed her fingertips and the soft breeze hit her cheeks.

Hazel took a shaky breath as her eyes focussed on her surroundings; long, endless lavender fields.

A surge of panic gripped Hazel, constricting her chest as her breath hitched in distress. "No, no, no, no..." she whispered to herself. Fighting the rising waves of fear, she drew in a shaky breath, determined to steady her trembling hands.

She pulled back the sleeves of the grey shirt and with rapid, anxious movements, Hazel sought any sign of injury, any indication of the needle marks. There were no marks, her skin was clear of any injury. A glint from the ground captured her attention, a subtle flash of something that caught the sunlight.

Kneeling into the soft grass, her fingers delicately traced the shape of the object that had reflected the sunlight. The discovery sent a chill down her spine—a long, empty syringe lay in the grass. Its hollow form spoke of a recent encounter, an encounter Hazel had no recollection of. Dread settled within her.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck," Hazel stammered, dropping the syringe. "Let me out."

The wind picked up around her and Hazel stepped back, straining to run down the lavender hill. "Let me out!" Hazel screeched into the wind. "I don't wanna be here! Please!" Hazel crumpled to her knees, her hands fisting the dirt as her eyes desperately looked over the lake. The memory of its crystal blue water, where birds would bathe in had completely transformed. The blue water had been stained a blood red, the trees and flowers growing from it had wilted, the very incense of life had been drained from everything surrounding it.

10:56 am

Hazel opened her eyes, a soft glow of green fading as the light hit her irises. She wanted to tear her skin off, claw at her eyes and scream until she couldn't speak. But instead, she lay still, stuck between wanting to go back to the empty nothingness and wanting the doctors to feel her pain. Her breath came out in soft breaths as she stared at the lights above her. A doctor gasped and dropped the files she had been holding. "Mr Tarves..." The doctor mumbled.

The sound shot through her, and she was sure her skull would burst. She could feel the blood in her veins and run along her skull, moving through her. Hazel breathed deeply and the doctors sprung to connect her to the machines, watching her vitals again.

Micheal stepped closer, his hand moving to check Hazel's pulse. "How long was she dead?" Micheal questioned moving an oxogyn mask over her mouth. Hazel's eyes snapped up; his accent had changed. Instead of the proper American he had been speaking with was now a thick, familiar British accent.

"Twenty-four minutes," the doctor answered.

Micheal smiled and looked down at Hazel, as he removed her hand. "Miss Lillis... You just get more interesting as the days unfold."

"Liar," Hazel whispered. Micheal tried to step away, but Hazel gripped his wrist. "I am going to kill you."

01:07 pm

ASIDE FROM THE BEEPING ON THE COMPUTER, THE TOWER WAS SILENT. Gar sat on the living room couch. Mumbling to himself as he faced the enemies in the game. A door slid open, then closed as Hazel stepped through the door. She walked up the small stairs, smiling as she saw Gar hunched over at his computer. Gar looked up from his computer when he noticed the footsteps. "Hazel?" He said in surprise, chuckling softly. "Jesus. Are you okay?" Gar stood and pulled Hazel into a tight hug.

Hazel stepped back, her eyes darting over Gar's face. "I'm okay, but what happened? After everything, I couldn't find you," Hazel spoke up, taking a seat by Gar.

"Uh..." Gar scratched his head, hesitating.

Mercy stood in front of the windows, watching Gar in a hypnotic state speak with a doctor. "Move closer to the subject," Mercy ordered. The doctor shuffled closer.

Hazel shuffled closer to Gar looking at him with soft eyes. "Gar, you can tell me," Hazel promised. "It's just me and you."

Gar clenched his hands and shrugged. "When we were at CADMUS Labs, they were doing brain surgery on me," Gar admitted.

"That's awful," Mercy spoke up.

The doctor took a soft breath, "That's-"

"-awful," Hazel said softly.

Mercy clicked a button on the remote and soft violin music started to play through the room's speakers.

Gar's eyes shifted off and his arms went limp. "Gar? Are you alright?" Hazel asked softly. Gar's eyes shifted to green, and a low tiger snarl rumbled from Gar's chest. Gar's neck cracked to the side, his skin turning green as the bones in his face started to crack into the place of the tiger.

Gar growled and jumped from the chair, his clothes and collar tearing off as he transformed. The doctor gasped, frozen in fear. The tiger roared and pounced on the doctor tearing at her face. She tried to crawl away but the tiger bit into her shoulder pulling her back. He bit into her ankle and threw her into the wall. She groaned as she tried to stand but the tiger knocked her down and tore her hand off.

The doctor slammed her hands against the glass window, blood splattering everywhere. "Let me out!" She screamed, but the tiger bit into her shoulder and pulled her back, ripping into her ribs. Mercy smiled, the violin still playing, louder than the tiger growls.

"We'll, that was a success," Micheal said, biting into an apple.

"Having no luck on your end?" Mercy asked, turning to him.

Micheal hummed softly watching the green tiger tear the woman to peices. "Our little ray of sunshine can resurrect herself," Micheal informed, and Mercy's eyes widened. He nodded, biting the apple again. "She was out for twenty-four minutes, then boom... she was awake, threatening to kill me." Micheal handed Mercy the tablet, all of Hazel's records uploaded. "I'll let you know when we're ready for a test run."

"Are you using Mr Logan as leverage?" Mercy questioned, handing the tablet back.

"Started with Mr Tood, then Miss Roth," Micheal informed. "Using Mr Logan this early will just enrage her; she'll break out to easily."

June 29, 01:03 am

HAZEL'S HANDS WERE STRUNG UP ABOVE HER, HER FEET BARELY GRAZING THE GROUND. Micheal sat across the room, picking at a salad with a chilling detachment. His gaze, however, bore an unsettling intensity as he orchestrated the torment, instructing the two burly men to beat Hazel. The sound of the firsts meeting Hazel's skin made her scream out in pain.

Blood dripped from her wounds, painting the ground below her as it spilled from her broken nose, staining the cold concrete floor beneath her. The chained holding her wrists together rubbed and bit into her skin, blood dripping down her arms. The air hung heavy with the metallic scent of iron. Hazel tried to thrash around in protest, but one man simply slammed his first across Hazel's face, cracking her jaw. 

"Do you know what I'm doing to you sunshine?" Micheal questioned, he knew Hazel wouldn't be able to answer her, but he enjoyed taunting her. "I'm killing you, and I'm going to continue killing you until you're insane." He set his food aside and stood, the two men stepping back. He gripped Hazel by her broken jaw, making her whine. "They'll pay good money for you."

He stepped away but stopped when Hazel wheezed, "What?"

Micheal turned back to her and smiled. "Let me tell you a secret Hazel. This workshop doesn't make superheroes, we make super slaves. We're gonna fit you with a control collar and ship you off to the highest bidder. Who knows what they'll have you doing. Terrorising citizens, putting down freedom fighters... maybe just mow the occasional lawn."

He stepped away and grabbed his salad. "But a young thing like you... Well, I think you understand." Absolute terror gripped her, a suffocating vice that silenced every rational thought and left only the primal scream of fear echoing in the caverns of her mind. A man walked to Hazel and pressed a pun to her forehead. A bang, then the bullet pierced her skull. Her head rolled forward and Micheal sighed watching the blood drip down her skin. "You couldn't have been cleaner about that?"

Terran's pained scream shattered the quiet, a raw outburst that cut through the air as she jolted awake, Donna slamming the brakes with an abrupt urgency. Dawn and Donna barely had time to register Terran in the backseat fumbling for the handle. "Terran?!" Dawn's voice held a mix of concern and confusion.

In a frenzied scramble, Terran propelled herself out of the car, her limbs unsteady as her feet met the solid ground. The world seemed to sway around her as she desperately scanned the empty roads and the desolate landscape stretching into the distance. Panic etched lines on her face, her eyes wide with an unspoken terror.

"Terran! Hey..." Dawn's urgency propelled her to Terran's side, reaching out to steady her. Dawn's hands found their place on Terran's shoulders, grounding her with a gentle but firm touch. "Take a breath, you're okay," Dawn reassured, her voice a steadying force against the disorienting aftermath of the nightmare.

Terran's hands pressed hard against her temples, attempting to ease the sudden, searing pain that radiated through her skull. "What happened?" Donna's voice cut through the silence that settled over Dawn and Terran.

"I- I don't know," Terran stammered, her voice trembling with the remnants of shock, a desperate attempt to steady her racing heart. "I was fine, and then..." A pause lingered in the air before realisation struck her like lightning. "Hazel. Someone shot her."

Donna's eyes widened, disbelief and worry etching lines across her face. "How do you know?"

"I felt... I felt her die," Terran confessed.

— pain —