James A. Moore - Subject Seven

Subject Seven — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Subject Seven" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...49

Table of Contents

For Chris and Connie, for their kids, whom I adore, Nicholas and Daniel and Lily. For John McIlveen and his lovely daughters, who never fail to make me smile. For Megan Krezel and Marley Peebles and Chuck Bernath and Phyllis Martin and Larry Oliver and Arthur Cabral. For Victtor, and Monica and Kristen. For Tom and Jose and Graham and Peggy and Kevin. Every last one of you has been with me in person or in spirit as I have moved through one of the hardest journeys in my entire life and I cannot thank you enough. I could list a hundred other names. You know who you are. For Kelli and Bob, thanks a million!

Lastly, for Bonnie, whom I love and miss with every beat of my heart.

Prelude Five years ago

Subject Seven

THE QUIET OF THE compound was almost complete. Three in the morning was always a time of silence. Almost everyone had gone home, and even the few that were still working tended to keep to themselves and whisper when they spoke. There was something about Subject Seven that made them want to be quiet.

Down in his cage, Subject Seven lay curled in a tight ball, his body aching from the latest batch of tests.

His skin was growing back. Hed almost healed, and the pain had become manageable. That was good because he was finished with the compound, whether or not his keepers knew it.

Seven had learned something new, you see, something that changed everything about his world. He had learned about his Other.

He opened his eyes and listened carefully, though there was almost nothing to hear. The steady beeping of his heart monitor was the only constant in his world. They seldom spoke to him.

When they did, it was to ask him if something hurt, or if they were feeling particularly ambitious, theyd ask him to explain the pain. He bared his teeth and heard his pulse rate increase on the monitor. What does it feel like to have your skin peeled back, Seven? Does it hurt when we touch your exposed nerves with these electric probes?

The room was ten feet wide, ten feet long, and seven feet high. Three cameras watched him. He couldnt even take a piss without someone watching and recording every action.

The Other could, of course. The Other was given everything he wanted. When he was hungry, he ate; when he was bored, he watched televisionand he had people to talk to who were nice and gentle and gave him a soft bed to sleep in. Just thinking about the Other made him angry. He hated the Other even more than he hated the ones who tortured him. The Other lived in a wonderful world, far above the compound where Seven was made to live.

That was about to change.

One deep breath to calm himself. He heard his pulse slow down.

He closed his eyes, focused himself, and then pulled the sensor tabs from his flesh. He once heard someone say that his sensors had been inserted subcutaneously. Hed asked what that word meant and the tech had pointed to his sensors and explained that meant theyd been implanted under his skin, just as they had been with all of the subjects.

Good to know. He liked learning new things.

He winced as the sensors ripped free and left bleeding wounds on his flesh. The heart monitor went crazy a second later, beeping frantically to let him know that his heart had stopped. He reached up and swatted the closest camera. It shattered and the broken glass from the lens drew still more blood.

The heart monitor stopped beeping when he used the heavy base to shatter the other two cameras. Then the sirens started sounding and ruined whatever rest anyone at the facility might have been getting.

His room was almost indestructible. So instead of trying to punch his way through the solid concrete above his head, he reached up and pulled himself into a corner of the ceiling, his arms and legs straining hard as he braced himself. His muscles shook but held as he stared down at the doorway and waited patiently.

Two minutes and seventeen seconds passed before Dirk opened the door. Dirk was massive. He was six feet, seven inches in height with the physique of a bodybuilder. He was one of the few who could subdue Subject Seven. Seven knew all about Dirks combat training and time in the marines. Dirk liked to brag about what hed accomplished in his life, especially when he was dragging Seven back to his room after the latest batch of experiments, before the sedatives wore off.

Sometimes, just to make sure that Seven knew who was in charge, hed punch Seven in the stomach or slam his riot stick across Sevens temple and drop him to his knees. He always told Seven why, too. Hed look right at Seven, shake his head and smile and say, Thats just to let you know who the boss is, you little shit.

Seven waited until Dirk looked around the room and then raised his eyes toward the ceiling before he dropped down on top of him. Dirk was wearing his security outfit and his hand was reaching for the rubber-coated metal club he called his riot stick when Seven landed.

You lost your mind, kid? What the hell are you doing? Dirks voice was not as calm as it usually was. He sounded like he wanted to scream, wanted to cry, but was trying to hide his fear.

Sometimes Seven talked to his captors, but never to Dirk. He didnt feel any reason to change that agenda now. Instead he opened his mouth and lunged, his teeth tearing into the meat of Dirks neck and shoulder.

The guard screamed then, a loud, shrill wail of panic almost as braying as the alarm sirens that were still shrieking away.

Dirk pulled his club free from the holster. Seven reached out, capturing the hand and the club alike. He pulled as hard as he could and Dirk resisted, fought back until Seven bit down again, this time on his face.

The blood was hot, salty and thick as it spilled into his mouth and painted a beard over his lower face. Dirk screamed again and thrashed under him, and for the first time in his life, Seven smiled.

Dirk let go of the club to cover his wounded neck and face with his hands. It was instinct, really, an attempt to stop the pain from getting any worse. Seven snorted past the blood covering his mouth and nosethe closest hed ever come to laughterand swung the club around in a brutal arc. His first blow cracked the side of Dirks skull like an egg. The second swing spilled out what passed for a yolk in Dirks shell.

Dirk stopped moving, stopped screaming, stopped living.

Seven looked at the open doorway and ran, swinging his club, screaming his anger as he charged past the threshold.

There was another guard, one he had seen but who had never actually spoken to him. The mans eyes flew wide with fear, and Seven smiled for real for the second time as he broke the metal club over the mans head.

His body hurt, the wounds hed received earlier in the day were halfway healed, but the flashes of pain were almost impossible to ignore.

Vivisection. That was the word for what they had done to him earlier when they were testing his reflexes and his threshold for pain. He would have to look up the proper definition someday.

First, however, he needed to escape the compound.

They came from all over the place, men in guard outfits, some of them not fully dressed, not even really awake, and others sporting their guns, clubs like the one he had just discarded.

Next page

1234567...49

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Subject Seven»

Look at similar books to Subject Seven. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Allen Zadoff

The Lost Mission

James Moore

Subject Seven

Lisa Damour

The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionate Adolescents

Edith Lynn Hornik-Beer

For Teenagers Living with a Parent Who Abuses Alcohol/Drugs

Rachel Harris L.C.S.W. Ph.D.

Teenagers Learn What They Live: Parenting to Inspire Integrity & Independence

Susan Kuklin

No Choirboy--Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row

Kate Frommer Cik

Anxiety: The Ultimate Teen Guide

Lee Carroll

The Indigo Children Ten Years Later: Whats Happening with the Indigo Teenagers!

James C. Dobson

Raising Teenagers Right

Labouchardiere Kylie

Call me cruel : a story about murder and the dangerous power of lies

Tina P. Schwartz

Depression. The Ultimate Teen Guide

Stephanie Zvirin

The best years of their lives: a resource guide for teenagers in crisis

Discussion, reviews of the book Subject Seven and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.