Free Exposed by Andrea Maller Page B

sample from Alyson. He stood above her, trying not to make eye contact.
         “Nooo!” Alyson screamed, causing Leonard to drop another scalpel.
         Thrashing her head side-to-side, she fought against the restraints, but was bound down too tightly to move. All her efforts were futile.
         “Step aside.”
         Howard placed an ether mask over her face. Screeching until her throat was raw, the vile taste of gas lingered on her tongue with each labored breath. Her head spinning, she saw darkness as her eyes were forced shut. Slowly, her hands and feet stopped thrashing about. She succumbed to the gas and fell unconscious again.
         “Okay, she’s quiet now. Get me the sample,” Howard demanded.
         Leonard opened a new package and removed the scalpel. He brushed Alyson’s hair aside and took several scrapings from her forehead. He smeared them on the glass slides and labelled them -- Alyson, forehead. Howard grabbed the slides, then carefully placed them in his lab coat pocket. Before he could say a word, Leonard handed him the two pints of blood.
         “I’ll be running tests on these samples if you need me. Try not to have any more calamities. At least not until I return.”
         Leonard slunk into the chair beside Cassie’s bed. He looked at her, laying there, barely able to breathe on her own. She looked so frail, tubes protruding from her mouth and nose.
         “What am I doing? Have I lost all sense of decency? How can I do this? How can I keep her here? Them here? This isn’t who I am. I’m a scientist, yes, but at what cost? Haven’t they been through enough? I should let them go. I should free them both right now. It’s the right thing to do. But I can’t. Howard’s right. This is once in a lifetime.” 
         He rose from his chair and checked the vitals monitor. Everything looked normal. Back and forth, he ambled between Alyson and Cassie’s bed, anxious for Howard’s return. Leonard hated being left alone with the girls. He didn’t want to stay, but was afraid to leave them unattended. He sat back down, turning the chair away from Cassie.
         The beeping of the monitors droned on. Exhaustion crept upon him as he stretched his back. He closed his eyes, but listened for any irregularities in the pattern of the beeps. After a while, the sound lulled him into a deep sleep.
         Cassie’s eyes darted back and forth across the room. Just a few short weeks ago, her life was simple. She had friends, knew who she was, or at least thought she did. Now, she was strapped down and hooked up to a machine with tubes up her nose and down her throat. She couldn’t understand how her life could get so complicated so quickly.
         She missed her friends. She missed her father, even if he did lie to her. She even missed school. But most of all, she missed her freedom. Cassie never felt so helpless before.
         She was afraid to close her eyes, but being on the ventilator drained her energy. She used her last bit of strength to force her eyelids open. Her forehead, still sore from where Leonard took the scrapings, was starting to scab. She watched him, peacefully sleeping in the chair beside her bed.
         How dare he! I’m laying here, looking like an after photo in a horror movie and he’s sleeping like a baby! If I wasn’t tied down like a mental patient, he would be so sorry. I’ve got to find a way out of here. I can’t count on Alyson now. She’s still out cold. When I figure out how to escape, I’ll get both of us out of here and far away from this place.
         The monitors beeped on as Leonard slept. Cassie stayed quiet, patiently waiting for Alyson to awaken, hoping Howard wouldn’t return. She wracked her brain for ideas to escape. Faint moans from across the room broke her concentration. She turned her head to see Alyson coming out of her drug-induced sleep.
         “My head. Why is it throbbing? Where am I?”