Snippet #2435187

The sound of pneumatic clamps locking on the side of a cell was what woke him. Senses coming on line in a surge of adrenalin as he noted that, no, it was not his cell being prepared for movement.

“What?” He muttered, hearing Cassandra crying, but not registering why, the question on his lips. Before stopping, hearing the sound of footsteps coming up the hall, orderlies. Where are you going? He thought, watching the two men in white coats closely, eyes widening in surprise when they stopped in front of cell 1434, Cassandra's cell.

“This one 1434.” One of the men said, clipboard in hard, checking it going down the list, this one, this one, this one. Like we weren't even people. Like we didn't have names, families, jobs, children, LIVES, that we had been living. He could hear the crane whirring, preparing to move the cell.

'I won't let anyone hurt you.'

His words from earlier tasted of bile in his throat, they had been said with sincerity, with the belief that he could actually prevent them from hurting her, or punishing her if they wanted. He could hear Cassandra crying, begging for them not to take her, pleading, apologizing.

“Damn it.” He grit out through clenched teeth, realizing he'd moved without realizing, that he was already standing, already against the polymer pane separating him from them, forehead pressed against the glass, nails scratching along the surface of the wall making a screeching noise as the steel talons tried for purchase against the polymer. Smoke and superheated air pouring from his mouth with every breath, and in this lighting his eyes glowed with an unholy amber light. He knew he couldn't force his way out, but maybe...

“Take me instead!” He'd yelled it before even registering his own words, slamming his forehead into the wall, he could hear the mechanical hiss above him signifying the activation of his sedatives, could taste them on every breath. This time he didn't feign weakness, didn't play the game that had become almost second nature. He stood strong repeating his words from before even as a loud 'Boom' issued forth from Cassandra's cell.

“Take me instead!” This time he yelled it to the monitors in his roof, getting a jolt from the floor for his trouble. He growled low in his throat, a noise not so much like an animal, as it was similar to the roar of a diesel engine coming to life. The two men in the hall were now looking at him like he was crazy, fear clear in their eyes, and in their body language.

Maybe he was crazy, he knew what they would do to him if they did let him take her place, but he'd promised. Had given that women his word, so he'd begged.

“Please, she wasn't even supposed to be taken. She'd only gotten a warning before, take me, do whatever you want with me, just leave her alone, make an example of me I don't care,” He stopped there to stare into the camera again. “I'll come quietly, I'll walk right up to the table and let you strap me down no struggle, I won't make a noise. So please, take me instead.”

Time seemed to stop for a second in his mind. Like the world was holding it's breath just for him, and then the whirring of the crane started back up. He drew breath to begin screaming anew, when the familiar clank of hydraulic locks engaging drew his eyes to Cassandra's cell, sitting back where it belonged. Another set disengaging moments later, his cell was being prepped to move, there might have been an announcement over the speakers, but he didn't hear it, couldn't acknowledge it. He was happy, god he was happy that he would be tortured. By his own request no less. He wanted to laugh.

Raising his eyes to the monitor a familiar smile on his face he replied the same way he always did to the feeder. “Much obliged.”