Page 31 of His Curse
I roll my eyes as discreetly as possible but shake my head.
If bytoo poorlyhe means Dick only beat me for the first week and a half in the Black Box instead of the entire time, then yeah, I was treated just fine.
He frowns, the many wrinkles on his face scrunching and making him look like a confused Shar Pei. "They left your muzzle on. No wonder you've been abnormally silent this morning.” Kentworth sets the board down then walks over and reaches behind my head to start unstrapping my face. "Now, if I take this off, you won't give me any trouble, will you? Not like last time?"
I shake my head.
It's gonna be worse than last time, but he'll find that out soon enough.
"And your collar, too?" He tsks. "I'll have to speak with my aides about proper protocol when bringing you in for testing."
"Probably just trying to protect you.” I stretch my jaw and lick my lips. “I’m sure they didn't want anything to happen to their fearless leader. Not like before."
Kentworth nods and gives me a toothy smile. "I suppose you're right. You gave us all quite the work out, Zitkala."
I tilt my head to give him access as he moves to unlock my collar, praying he doesn't notice my pulse is still out of control. "I like to keep you on your toes."
"I am well aware.” He laughs as he crosses the room and places both items on another table. "That was most unfortunate. Finding good replacements for those guards has been a rather daunting task."
"The local prison running low on candidates for yourrehabilitationprogram?"
Kentworth sighs as he comes back and carefully places a leather strap over my neck. “Unfortunately, yes."
"Don't make psychopaths quite like they used to?"
"Afraid not.” He smirks then turns back to his tools. "And with the expansion I'm getting ready for, I'm in need of strong, obedient men. Men more skilled than before. It's quite crucial, actually."
Expansion?
What expansion?
My friends never mentioned anything like that when I got back, and they seemed to be just as confused by the purge as I was.
So I decide to play on our familiarity and pry. "Expansion? Building another wing are we, doc?"
Kentworth shakes his head and faces me with a malicious kind of glee in his eyes. "No, my dear. An expansion in our research."
Research, my ass. Torture is more like it.
Genocide, maybe?
Mass murder?
Whatever you want to call it, it is definitely notresearch.
I finally get my heart rate under control just as the mad doctor starts placing pads on my chest. "Would you care to hear about the exciting new addition to your home, Zitkala?"
This guy is such an idiot.
He always tells me too much, way more than he should, considering I'm simply a test subject, but I guess that goes back to the weird level of comfort we share. Eventually, I started taking small slices of solace in the consistency of his routine, in the regularity it provided once I had gotten past the initial shock of what this asshole was doing to me. And I didn’t really notice it right away, but Kentworth seemed to have the same response to all the time we’ve spent together, too.
In some sick and twisted way, I almost feel like this sixty-seven-year old human views me as the daughter he lost, the daughter that sparked his research in the first place, and while that sickens me to my core, I’ve been able to use it to my advantage more than once.
And because I’m going to do that now so I can get every bit of useful information this idiot wants to give me before I try to leave, I nod and act like I’m interested for an entirely different reason.
Kentworth's smile grows, his yellow teeth on full display. "We will be taking in more specimens in the very near future, my dear. Specimens unlike any I've had here before."
I swallow hard as he begins pulling my hair up so he can put on the cap that monitors my brain waves, hoping like hell he won’t be able to pick up on any of my inner turmoil.
