Blackness.

Lillian woke.

No light, just pain. A terrible searing pain that brought a red tint to the edge of her vision. She strained against her bonds, no luck. Panic filled her mind like a vacuum; every thought was sucked into its clutches. What happened? Where am I? Why the heck can’t I see anything, and am bound like an animal? Thoughts swept through her mind in a flurry, as if a cold wind was seeping into her, turning her thoughts to snowflakes and making her body tremble.

Her last thought? How she got here…


“Hey!” Carly yelled. “Wait up! I thought we were going to walk home together.” She ran up behind Lillian.

“It’s your fault that you’re such a slow-poke.” Lillian responded, holding in a laugh. “Hurry up next time and I won’t get so impatient.”

“Impatience? That’s your problem.” She laughed. “Hey, Lilly? Whose van is that?” She was looking at Lillian’s house. “I’ve never seen it there before.”

“Oh, I don’t know. Why don’t I call you later, if it’s one of my mom’s clients she won’t be too happy if friends are over with business in the house. See you tomorrow!”

“Sure, bye Lilly!” Carly dashed across the street to her house. Lillian walked inside of hers.

The front door was open. Lillian peered around the door frame, into the house. “Mom? Are you home?” She waited. “Dad? You there?” No one answered. “Jack!” She called to her older brother, “Answer me! This isn’t funny!” Still no one replied to her frantic calls.

“Hello Lillian. Home from school already?” A smooth voice greeted her from behind. Lillian wiped around to look at the man standing there. “We weren’t expecting you home till quarter after four.” Just the way he looked made him frightening. Straight Black hair, and a winning smile, anyone could trust this guy. His bright green eyes looked menacing, shining in the sunlight.

“I guess I got home a little early,” She glanced down at her watch, two after. “Where’s my parents, I’m assuming you’re with them?”

“Yes, we are just wrapping things up. Why don’t you follow me, I know where your family is.” The strange man walked through the front door. Lillian followed.

“Well now, why don’t you be a good little girl, and don’t struggle.” The mad man leaped at her, smashing her in the side of the head with a small vase he grabbed from the table. She moaned in pain as she crumpled to the floor. Her fingers worked automatically, reaching for the gash, they came away red and sticky. “Good, now breathe this!” He held a cloth in front of her face, shoving it up her nose. Her head felt light.

The man lifted Lillian over his shoulder; he carried her to the van waiting in the driveway. Before she lost consciousness, Lillian saw her Mother, Father, and Brother tied up in the back of the trunk. She was thrown in too, then… Blackness.


A silent tear slid down Lillian’s cheek. She was terrified, petrified down to the bone. Her parents would save her, wouldn’t they? No. No, they were taken too, there was no one left.

The door, or what appeared to be one, opened across from her. “Ah, I see you are awake my dear Lilly. I assume you had a nice rest.” The man stood there smirking.

“You-“ Lillian’s voice cracked, “Monster!” She cried. “Where is my family?”

The man laughed, “I’m afraid you won’t be seeing them anytime soon. They are all working at the moment. Shall we start yours?” He looked at her eagerly.

“No! Why am I here? You kidnapped me! I can call the cops; you will be in so much trouble!”

“Well Lillian dear, I’m afraid that won’t be happening.” He walked into the astonishingly white room and the door slid close behind him. He held his hand behind his back, as if restraining himself from lunging at her again. She flinched and leaned away. “You see, you are in a scientific lab, unknown to the military, or U.S government. You and your family have completely disappeared off the face of the planet. You will never be going home.”

The last sentence struck a chord in her frozen brain. “N-never?” Lillian whispered.

“Never.” The scientist agreed. “We have been observing your mother, she is a great scientist and we may not allow her to surpass us.” He walked slowly around her in circles. “You will be used for scientific exploration and testing.”

“NO!” Lillian screamed. “We are human, and so are you! How could you do this to us?”

“Silence!” The man shouted and slapped her across the face, surely breaking her nose. “No protests, you are under my control. I will not allow you to object.” He smirked evilly. “I rule over you, this is true power. Right now, a hundred of others just like you are writhing on the floor in pain. It does not matter to me, this is real science. Your mother – drugged unconscious through many tests. Your father - peeling, diseased skin, coming right off his bones. Your brother - physically abused through incisions in his arms, testing chemicals, undergoing experiments, strapped to the floor screaming.”

Lillian couldn’t take it. She cried out like a five year old, uncontrollable sobs raked through her body. Chills swept down her back. He kicked her in her lower back so she flew forward, onto her face. She moaned.

He continued, “You will be the same, experimented on until death, just like all the others. Your life is no different from theirs. All of them, gone in the name of science. It does not matter to me.”

“You Heartless Freak!” Lillian screamed, only to receive more blows to her body.

He crouched down, leaning in close to her ear. “Surely you must get it now.” He whispered. “Human lives are nothing to me, they have no value. Their only use is my use. Whatever I want, I get. I do not care of their pain and endless suffering. Yes, I know, save the speech sister.” The man straightened. “’But that’s inhuman!’” He continued in a sniveling tone, obviously mocking others who have tried to talk sense into him. “If you die, you are of no use to me. You get thrown out like trash, and replaced. End of story.”

Each sentence hit Lillian in the face like a fist.

“Shall we get on with this?” The man asked impatiently. He pulled a wicked looking syringe out of the front pocket of his white lab coat. “Come little Lilly, don’t be afraid,” He said in a sing-song voice. “Doctors going to take care of your precious little face.” As soon as he concluded his song, he jabbed the thick needle into the back of her neck.

Lillian let out a blood curdling scream. Chemicals coursed through her veins.

The ‘Doctor’ walked out humming.

Lillian fainted.

Pain, agony. Blurred dream, and waking nightmares. Fitful sleep and torture. No sense of time.

Days, Months, Years. Lillian didn’t know how long it lasted; she just wanted it to end.

“Well aren’t you a little soldier. Lasting so long after everyone else.” A voice drifted into her troubled thoughts. “A true survivor. Mommy and Daddy, dead so long ago, Brother died last week. And the youngest to boot! I’m impressed.”

Lillian spun back into her thoughtless nightmare.
Blackness.