Free Judgement 8 (Subject Alpha #1) by D. H. Sidebottom Page A

you. Loyalty is everything in this life, Princess.”
    I glared at him, cursing when his words brought memories and tears. “But there’s no one left to hurt me with, Ruben. So this time you have no choice but to take me.”
    “Oh, I’ll take you alright.” He chuckled. “Just how I know you like it!”
    And that was the vision I needed, the pictures of him and his friends’ cruelty breaking the barrier inside me as I, for the first time, allowed the hatred to surface. My soul seemed to fracture into millions of pieces as the power inside me surged towards my prey. My eyes snapped from Ruben to the soldier beside him, then to the next and the next, linking their T4’s with the stream of lightning bursting from me.
    I moaned with the pleasure that rode me, my body trembling with bliss as each of their screams filled me with rapture, their agony feeding my delight. The feeling was euphoric and energising as my power stopped their hearts, my wrath taking from them what they had taken from me so many times.
    I was beyond the realms of sanity now, my system invigorated and relishing in the pleasure of death and destruction as I gave myself over to it and permitted what I had so often denied.
    I blinked when my mind tingled. Shaking my head, I refused him access but my concentration was taken by the devastation I was generating, my mind not alert enough to deny him.
    “Elina!” His voice soothed me, the pleasure he seeped into me making me shiver. A huge sigh echoed from me as he poured more and more ecstasy into my nervous system. “Let them go, baby. You saved Jonah. You saved me. You did so well, Elina. I’m so proud of you. But you need to stop now, you’re endangering your own life.” Ishivered when he soaked my brain in warmth. “Let them go. Good girl.”
    I gasped when everything snapped back into place, my body jerking as small jolts still fired randomly.
    “Good girl,” Reid said softly from behind me. I didn’t turn to him though, my eyes were fixed on the nine dead men. The nine dead men I had killed.
    “Oh my God,” I whispered, horrified at the evidence of my lack of control. “I only meant to stop them,” I choked out. “I . . . I didn’t mean . . .”
    Reid caught me before my body hit the floor, my legs giving way when the realisation of what I had done hit me. “Oh God, Reid. Oh God!”
    “Sshhh, Sshhh,” he muttered as he scooped me up into his arms. “It’s okay, Elina. I know, I know you didn’t mean to hurt them. It’s okay.”
    I fought with the need to sleep as tears tore from me. Exhaustion won and took me from my devastation, providing me with the bliss of nothingness.

6 months earlier
     
    I PALMED THE WALL when a split second aftershock tore through my skull, my brain still jolting and firing shots of agony around my system. I swore I could actually smell it cooking; the organ some liked to call a delicacy fried to mouth-watering perfection.
    Blowing out a fortifying breath, I pushed off the wall and struggled down the corridor to my room. It was late afternoon and quiet, the rest of the lab rats were in the dining area but tonight, like any other night Janice had me for the day, I couldn’t stomach even a sip of water.
    Nausea threatened sickness before I reached my room and I bent forward, grasping my knees as I fought against its need for release. Oh God, not here, Brenda would make me lick the floor clean. She was a mean bitch; the supervisor for the dorms, and nothing gave her greater delight than when she could rain her unique punishment on me, The Princess, as they liked to call me. Everyone in the building hated me, blamed me, and to a certain extent, they were right. However, their spite had no limits and many times they’d hurt me more than my mother ever could. They all presumed I got off easy because I was Janice’s daughter. If only they knew the truth.
    A whimper caught my attention and I tilted my head to listen. My eyes widened when I heard it again, my