Samuel was the first to wake up. The last thing he remembered was a conversation with this 'doctor.' And then nothing. He felt as if he had changed shape ten times in a row. Every part of his body ached. He looked beside him and noticed that Adam and Bran were starting to move in their beds. They grunted as they tried to get the medicine out of their heads.
Mim hadn't been brought back yet. They were no longer in chains, wearing nothing but patient gowns. Samuel looked over his body. He had bruises and tender spots here and there. He could feel the silver and aconitum in his system, but he was a strong old wolf who could take it.
They had obviously been used to cripple his ability to heal, and then he had been examined more. Samuel couldn't even think about what these doctors wanted with them. He knew they weren't trying to brainwash them or overmedicate them. Oh, that he could get some idea where the damn implant was. He didn't know how they were being watched if there were cameras anywhere. But at least he couldn't find them. The ship wasn't new. This was an older ship that had been renovated for this purpose.
Adam cursed as he sat up. His eyes were golden yellow. His wolf was right on the surface. Adam had a temper, and it was quite flamboyant at times. However, he was the one who had calmed Mimi down, perhaps because he recognized Mimi's rage and knew how to control it. Adam's military background had helped him a lot in controlling his anger and rage.
Bran said: "Control yourself, Adam. It's not time yet. Adam, it's not time yet. Keep it together, Hauptmann. That's not wise, or we'll be unconscious again soon if you go on a rampage."
Adam said: "I've been pumped full of some silver and aconitum. Forgive me if my wolf doesn't appreciate it. I'm so damn tender all over like I've been poked and prodded for a thousand years, and like I've changed shape a few times. But no memory of it."
Bran said firmly, "It's certainly not time yet. Control your temper for once, Hauptmann!"
Adam took a few deep breaths, and the golden glow disappeared from his eyes. He concentrated, controlled his rage and anger, and waited to see what would happen next. When would Mimi return, and in what condition?
The men were dressed and sitting on the couch when the door opened. Again, six heavily armed guards and three nurses with their hands meaningfully in their pockets came to the door. The door was open.
The last man was dressed in chef's clothes and carrying some files or papers. The cook sat down at the table and said,
"I am sorry for what has been done to you or will be done to you, and there is nothing I can or will do about it, so save your strength. Here are the folders, one for each of you, and in these folders is listed all the food that is on this board or that I can prepare. This is a journey that takes time, and now you get to choose your own food. Cross out what you don't want, or tick off what you do eat. There are also a few lines if you want something off the list. I'll see what I can do about that. There's also a list of available foods, so if you have a recipe in mind. There are lines to write in. Eating and staying strong is in your best interest. I can promise you that there are never any drugs in the food or drinks, and they are perfectly safe to eat. "
Having said this, the chef put the files on the table. He first looked at Adam. " You are Project Alpha, and you have the red folder."
To Bran, he said: " You are Project Beta, and you have the blue folder. And you..."
He looked at Samuel meaningfully. "You are Project Delta, and you have a green folder. And that woman, she's Project Omega and has a black folder."
Samuel said. "The woman needs a lot of nourishment. Do you have any clinical supplements with you? She probably can't eat as much as she should, and I don't know how her absorption of nutrients is going. She needs calories and lots of them. "
The chef nodded curtly and said: "I'll see what I can do. I'll have to ask that sick bay over there if they have any preparations like that. I know you're werewolves, and you need calories, so I make all my meals with butter, lard, and cream, so they have calories in them. You can make your own coffee, tea, or hot chocolate, and we've brought you a fridge with drinks."
He pointed to a smaller fridge at the other end of the room. The cook stood up and said again.
" Please leave the prepared folders, then with the following dishes, and they will go to me. And really, I won't help you escape, but I'll make you a good meal, so take advantage of your order. The portion sizes are also large, you can eat as much as you like. There is plenty of food. This is not a fine dining establishment where the portions are fly-shit-sized and tasteless. "
Having said this, the cook walked away, and a moment later, two nurses pushed the bed into the room where Mimi was. When the bed was locked, they left, and the door slid silently shut; a moment later, there was another bang as Mimi's handcuffs opened.
Samuel got up and went to see Mimi. He examined her carefully, using his other senses, including his sense of smell and centuries of experience. Mimi's immune system had been compromised again. She had a thick bandage on her chest and upper abdomen. Samuel guessed Mimi had had her spleen and thymus removed. Samuel didn't yet theorize why. It could be some new pathogen, even a drug, maybe brainwashing, or even programming.
Or they were trying to remove something from Mimi's body—the rejuvenation serum or whatever it was had made Mimi into some kind of intermediate. No longer human but not any other recognizable species, and that could be one thing they were trying to make Mimi into, some kind of new creature. But what, and the better question, would Mimi survive it?
Of course, maybe Mimi was just a modified version to make it last longer. They needed stronger targets if they had some new procedure and everyone died. Samuel wondered if the results of the genetic tests on Mimi had given them the information they needed to make Mimi stronger.
"They've done it to her again; if I smell it right, they're trying to destroy her immune defenses for some reason. They've probably removed her spleen and thymus and given her steroids that are even more effective at suppressing her immune system. They may give her a feeling of invigoration and an appetite, making her bones brittle and weakening her defenses. I don't know the reason. "
The men dressed Mimi again and left her to sleep covered as they began to go through the food folders. After a couple of hours, Mimi woke up, and Bran got up and went to the bedside.
" Hey, how are you?" Bran asked.
Mimi's eyes opened, and she moved slightly. Bran could see that Mimi was hurting somewhere.
"Take it easy; there's no hurry to get up; you've been mutilated again; you must have sore spots."
I managed to pull my eyes open, and as I moved, a sharp stab of pain shot across my stomach. I held in a gasp, but obviously, my expression had betrayed my pain. I felt Bran stroking my hair.
I replied wearily, " Weak and tired, but here I am. Yes, my stomach was fizzing with more stitches. "
As I slowly woke up more, I noticed I was dressed. I was still feeling pretty damn dizzy. I felt slightly nauseous, and the lights seemed to shine in my eyes. I slowly woke myself up and didn't immediately release my rage. With sleepy eyes, I watched what the men were doing while they were talking about something.
The men were going through some files, and eventually, Adam came over to me and started asking me what I eat, what I like, and what foods I don't like. He stroked me almost the whole time and gave me some cold juice to moisten my mouth. I answered as best I could, not even realizing the whole food thing yet.
I understood the whole thing only after I'd been awake for about three hours. By then, I had settled into a sitting position in bed. The boys had given me another little wipe-down, and I was drinking hot coffee, my third cup. I thought it was strange that they wanted to feed us well and experiment simultaneously.
I said, "Isn't this a bit contradictory? They torture us, but then make sure we eat and eat well. So what's the point of this whole thing?!"
Samuel said bluntly, "They want us to be useful for as long as possible, hence this extravagant nourishment. After all, we are rented out for research purposes. Once we are well fed, we heal faster, and they can do a hell of a lot more with us."
After a while, the food came again, and I was fed on Adam's lap again. The men left the folders next to the dishes as we went to sit on the sofa. Adam held me again as the dishes were retrieved. Adam seemed to want to hold me close. Samuel and Bran stroked and touched me, too, but Adam was always ready to grab onto his lap if need be.
We were examined almost every day, sometimes me, sometimes one of the men. I didn't have a sense of time. I don't know if we had any. A door might open, the men would stun, and I too. I never even had time to attack properly, and Adam had taught me how to control my anger, so I kept myself in check. It seemed to irritate the chubby one, and he used to provoke me to attack more than once. But as I always had stitches, cuts, bruises, and contusions somewhere, I didn't want any more.
The ship always stopped at or approached the harbor, as they stunned us all. I don't know where we were even sailing in the world, and neither did the men, because what we saw was just the sea. Usually, when we were in port, I was sedated, not quite asleep, and tied to the bed while the anesthetized men were carried in and out.
It was hard to keep track of time and how long it took to get anywhere. The drugs kept me so confused I couldn't understand a word of what was being said, in case anyone had mentioned anything.
Whenever I had the chance, I tried to eat. Samuel, Adam, and Bran saw to that. I might be lying on the couch between men, drinking and eating all the time, eventually falling asleep. They had some kind of energy shakes that weren't terribly tasty but had calories that I desperately needed—and other nutrients. I was pretty tired most of the time, and whatever they were trying to do to me was draining me pretty damn hard.
Samuel had already seen what had been done to Mimi after a couple of days. He told his father truthfully, without mincing his words. They decided to leave Adam out of this conversation, as it might cause Adam's temper to boil. Samuel told his father how these doctors systematically destroyed Mimi's immune system.
"Bran, from what I've now seen, they are driving Mimi's immune defenses right down, as quickly and efficiently as possible, and weakening Mimi's general condition all the time. Mimi is susceptible to germs, and it's just a matter of when the common cold hits, and in Mimi's situation, that wouldn't be good; she's really susceptible to everything now, and she has open wounds on her body. I mean, I'm trying to dress the wounds and keep them clean, but..."
Bran looked at his son for a moment and said, " Why? What do they think they are going to achieve with this? Is this some kind of test to see how strong a person can be with the serum and then how long it takes, what the target will take?"
As Mimi's susceptibility to infections only increased, Samuel also suggested to his father that the doctors would probably test Mimi with various pathogens and possibly antibiotics. "Bran, they could try new superbugs and use Mimi as a source of an epidemic; for example, against werewolves, Mimi would be infectious but asymptomatic. That's one thing they might try to do with Mimi,"
Samuel also said he didn't think Mimi could withstand such treatment for long. "But, I don't think Mimi will survive. She weighs something like 35 kilos now, morbidly underweight, tired, hypothermic, and we just have to be prepared for it, but maybe Adam shouldn't be told yet. It could be Mimi's fate to have an infection, to be sick for weeks before the poor girl's tough body gives out. It's not a good way to go. But we won't tell Adam yet."
Bran nodded and paled. He looked at the still-sleeping Adam and knew that his temper would get the better of him if he knew these facts. But they were powerless to do anything about it yet. They just had to wait and watch for an escape.
Samuel and Bran monitored Mimi's deteriorating condition. She tried to eat and rest, but the doctors took Mimi away almost every other day. Mimi always came back weaker. They assumed it was a matter of days, but as there was no clock or any way of keeping time, they couldn't be sure of anything.
They kept their expressions under control, not wanting to alarm Adam or Mimi, for that matter. Bran felt his heart break as he watched Mimi struggle to survive. She had such a strong will to live, but the doctors and researchers were relentless, and Mimi's fate became clearer and clearer.
I didn't know what they were really doing to me. I just felt my strength slowly but steadily fading. I tried to eat, to rest. Adam held me in his arms, wrapped me in a blanket, and carried me to the couch, letting me sleep on his lap. Bran explained that since Adam was an alpha, it was very natural for him to nurture and protect. It would do me no harm. It was safe to fall asleep.
The men's temperaments began to surface now and then, and Adam, in particular, had his work cut out for him. He had a long light on, meaning his eyes yellowed more than once when he saw my body while they were helping me wash up.
No matter how much I ate, the food in me didn't last long. If I managed to gain a kilo or two somewhere in between, by the next treatment or so, it was consumed. This was my life as one of eating and resting. And I always woke up in bed, in my scrubs, sore in between, seeing the men unconscious in their beds, pale. They had lost weight too, even though the food was really tasty,but Samuel said they were being poisoned with aconitum and silver and it was eating up their resources too.