Trapped

“Rebellion?” Ryker asked, voice choked as the word slipped out. He was already trying to hard, trying to prepare for that time, but everything was taking so long. The preparations for the preparations weren’t even finished and he felt like he’d be dead long before it could truly begin. He couldn’t tell Zalen that though, couldn’t take the risk, even if Zalen didn’t have much of an opportunity to betray him. If the elf became too angry, too vengeful, he’d need only to let word of a rebellion slip out and Ryker would find himself the subject of the Cleansing the next morning. “No. No, a rebellion would never work.”

“So you won’t even try? Coward,” Zalen snapped, eyes darkening. His glare was so accusatory, but not quite bitter. He looked as if he had lost all faith in Ryker though.

“I always have been,” Ryker said quietly, turning away from the elf and taking a deep breath, trying to calm his emotions. He loved working with Marcus and the twins, learning the secrets that would help them all destroy Khal and his superiors, but when the time came, he didn’t think he’d be strong enough to follow through. Marcus had already found him so many times in their shared bathroom, pills in a cup together, razor in his hand, or a gun resting against his temple or in his mouth. Marcus would watch him then, for weeks after, sagging in relief whenever he saw that Ryker hadn’t given himself up to the guards. But Ryker knew he wouldn’t, couldn’t, just as he could never actually pull the trigger.

“Then change it!” Zalen snapped, completely sure of himself, and Ryker gave hima small, weak smile. He wondered who the elf had been, before his capture. When he actually asked Zalen’s eyes narrowed and he laughed, low and dark. “As if you need to know.”

“No. No, I’m sorry. I didn’t- I just figured- I have to go. Lunch,” Ryker stuttered out, hating how unsure he sounded. He was so afraid though, of Zalen mentioning the rebellion again. He was a good liar, when it was to someone he genuinely didn’t care about, but with Zalen, he didn’t want to lie, and it made it so much harder. He couldn’t even tell Marcus about his dilemma. His friend would have the guards executing the elf before the end of the day. It would be safer for them both, and for the rebellion.

Zalen didn’t fight when Ryker went to chain him up and Ryker couldn’t help but feel greatful. At least the elf seemed to understand why he had to be bound before being left in the cell. He refused to speak to Ryker and the only sound between them was the jingle of chains and the ringing of the cafeteria bell. Before he could even shut the door between the lab and Zalen’s cell the lab door swung open.

A guard stood there, hand tight around the bicep of a female elf. Her eyes were red-rimmed and terrified, body bruised. Handprints littered her entire body, and a deep purple bruise on her cheek was slowly getting darked. Ryker found himself praying Zalen couldn’t see all of this.

“Can I help you?” the scientist asked, confused. He didn’t know why she had been brought to his lab. It was rare the two patients were ever brought in at the same time. The guard didn’t answer, hand striking out, and before Ryker could react he felt the stick jab at his side. As pain shot through him a scream fought to escae the scientist, the pain making it die out into a gasp before it had even touched his lips.

“Idiot,” the guard hissed, grabbing Ryker’s arm with a smirk and pulling him out of the room.

When Ryker finally stumbled into the lab again he could hardly walk, hands fumbling with the lock entirely too long before he succeded. He wasn’t even entirely sure of the time, only knowing that it was well past the end of lunch, and that likely the entire wing of scientists had heard his screams. They wouldn’t have known it was one of their own though, thinking it was just another elf. The guards wanted to keep it that way, so the scientists didn’t know the threat they were truly under.

The door between the lab and cell was still open on a small gap, relieving Ryker in the slightest. It meant Zalen hadn’t been punished even if they had come for his tester. The keys next to the door felt almost too heavy when Ryker picked them up. It threw off his balance even though there were only a few of the iron ones.

“Ryker?” Zalen called out when Ryker made it to the lock on the cell. He couldn’t actually see to focus on him, or the lock, though and the entire world seemed to be spinning. The scientist pulled in a deep breath of air, knowing that he had to actually finish the experiment today unless he wanted to face further punishments. “Ryker what happened?”

Ryker glanced towards where he thought Zalen’s voice was coming from before choosing to ignore it in favor of actually unlocking the cell. The force with which the door slid open threw him off balance and he stumbled back, unsurprised when he felt his legs give out once more. He expected to feel an impact as his head slammed against the concrete floor but tense arms wrapped around his shoulders, just managing to catch the scientist.

“Ryker… Ryker are you d-dying?” Zalen asked and Ryker found he couldn’t help the quiet laugh that escaped, at the concern in the elf’s voice. He never would have expected that from him.

“I-I don’t know,” he told him honestly. He didn’t know what half of the serums they injected him with were. He only knew that the pain coursing through his body was nearly unbearable and the only thing keeping him conscious now was his fear of a repeat performance from the guards. “Zalen… Zalen why’s the ceiling shaking?” Ryker asked, confused and irritated by the dark hair that kept blocking his vision.

“It isn’t,” he said softly, voice tinged with concern. It was confusing to the scientist, expecting the elf’s voice to harden as he realized this was his chance to get free, to just kill Ryker and escape that way. “Ryker are you…” His voice faded out, a dull, soothing echo, until it cut out completely, the world fading peacefully away.

When he came to, Ryker felt a groan escape his lips before he could stop it. The light above him was horribly bright, blinding almost, and he had to blink away the spots it created in his vision before he could see a tallk shadow in the corner of the room, watching him carefully. He hesitated to speak, afraid it was the guard again, but the man saw that he was awake and moved towards him.

“No,” Ryker hissed out, body still spasming with pain. He refused to go down without a fight this time, no matter how much it was going to hurt to do so. Taking a deep breath to steel himself, he lept off the bed, cursing when his feet couldn’t support his weight and he crashed hard onto his knees, pain roichting through them, but he was one his feet again before he could think about it, a long, steel knife in his hand and at the ready. He’d been trained to fight by Marcus and he knew exactly how to use someone’s weight against them because of it. Ryker knew he was small, short for a man and almost lanky compared to the guards, but that didn’t matter.

“Ryker, Ryker calm down.” Zalen’s voice was soothing, almost spell-like and it made Ryker flinch almost more than a guard’s would have. He recognized the lilting tone from his first few weeks here, in training. Elves had the ability to be overwhelmingly calming, and the more powerful ones, ones that Zalen apparently fit in with, could completely cause a human to let down their guard. He’d seen stronger men than himself become bent completely to an elf’s will before.

“No! No,” he snapped, nearly yelling, trying to keep Zalen’s voice from working on him. When he still felt his head getting hazy he cursed, glancing at the knife for only a moment before drawing the blade across his upper forearm, an innocuous enough area but one that would hurt. The cut sharpened his senses for a moment but the adrenaline was wearing off again and the pain was coming back, now added to a fresh wound.

“Ryker! Ryker what are you doing?” Zalen asked, voice losing its spell quality and becoming normal once again. “Ryker put the knife down, come on. Don’t be rash,” he urged, eyes wide. Zalen looked at him again, watching closely until Ryker placed the knife on the counter, trusting Zalen not to try to enrapture him a second time. “Sit,” the elf said, voice firm and commanding. Ryker’s mind balked at the command even as he obeyed, legs forcing him to the bed and into a sitting position on it in only seconds.

“You… You can’t- No,” Ryker said, shaking his head, eyes wide with fear. Why had Zalen not used this power before, when he could have used it to escape? Why only now, when all it would do was make it harder for him to get out? “Why are you doing this?” he demanded.

“You’re mind was too strong before, when I was first brought here. I’m weak, but right now you’re weak as well,” he explained. “I’m not going to hurt you Ryker, or make you hurt someone. Just calm down, ok? I thought you died for a little while.”

“I what?” Ryker asked, fury rushing through him.

“You stopped breathing not long after you passed out. I… I gave you a small bit of the numbing stuff. It woke you up and you stopped screaming…” Ryker shuddered, glad Zalen had gotten the dosage right. Even the smallest amount too much of that stuff would have killed him, and painfully. It was made specifically for elves, and since the experiments had been getting worse, Ryker had added a few other agents to it.

“Thank you, for saving me. And for not… you know,” he said quietly, feeling too guilty to actually test the elf. He was alive because of Zalen, in spite of Zalen. The elf only nodded, taking a few more steps forward and coming to stand next to Ryker.

“Why’d they take you?”

“My results were muddled. They said it could have been inaccurate. It was their way of reprimanding me for it.”

“They nearly killed you for that?” Zalen asked, visibly stunned, and Ryker laughed despite himself and the pain it sent through his body.

“They don’t just treat you like you’re nothing. They need us, so they’re better, but its still not great. They get suspicious sometimes, and they’ll pick out a few scinetists when we clock in, in the mornings, and just shoot them right there, in front of all of us.”

“For what? What do they do?”

“They try to rebel, or they buy coffee from a shop that has a rebel working in it, or something like that. It doesn’t matter really.”

“Here,” Zalen said, helping the scientist off the bed and back to a standing position. “You have to do the experiment, or they’ll be back in here tomorrow, won’t they? That’ll kill you.”

“I- Zalen please-“ Ryker watched as Zalen pulled out the notebook Ryker always used, setting up everything even as Ryker made quiet protests, knowing Zalen was right but not sure he had the stomach to test on the elf.

“Come on. You either give me the needle or I will, and I think we both know how badly that would go for me,” he said, voice taunting but resigned as he lied back on the bed.

“I’m sorry,” Ryker said quietly, creating a mantra from the two words that he repeated incessantly as he filled the needle with the newest serum and staggered to where Zalen was waiting. The elf just watched, not fighting or even attempting to protest.