I awoke with a start. Something isn't right. I thought that we were still in the forest. Why am I chained?
"Oh fucking hell. Ow. *pukes* What the... Jack?"
"Yeah Travis?"
"I don't feel all that good. *pukes*"
"Ashley? Ashley! Are you in here?!" I scream.
An intercom becomes live and we hear a familiar voice. "Welcome to the base, prisoners. I hope you enjoyed being betrayed Travis. And Jack, I'm sorry you have to go through this too."
"Jordan, you fucking bitch!" Travis yells.
"And Jack, I promise I tried to save Ashley but the only way I could save her was to make her a weapon of war. She is changing, mutating, but this was the only way. There was a shootout and Ashley got hit. I'm sorry Jack." The intercom goes silent for hours on end.
"Jack."
"Yeah?"
"We can get out of here."
"How? We're chained for fuck sakes! How, in the motherfucking world, are we supposed to escape?!"
"I'm free, you dumbass."
"It's too late Travis, Ashley is gone and there's nothing we can do about it."
"Jack..."
"No!" I interrupted him, "she is fucking gone and she was the only thing keeping me sane. She was there for me. As much as she could."
I barely managed to get the last sentence out before I started to cry. My breaths became heaving sobs of sorrow for Ashley.
"I failed to protect her and this is the result."
"Damnit Jack, she is still alive! Didn't you hear Jordan?"
"She said Ashley is a war machine. A war machine, Travis. She is made for war now! She probably won't remember us!"
"True but we've got to try. It won't hurt to try."
"Fine, just get me outta here."
Travis broke the chains holding me. We moved quickly and quietly towards the lab. I could barely look at the mangled lump of flesh and bones on a table. We kept going until we reached a table that held Ashley.
She was shot in various places. One was noticeably close to her brain and through her neck. She was also altered with metal being in her body, supporting her chest up as she breathed. She seemed scared but drugged to where she couldn't move.
I took a hammer and began knocking glass out to get to her. Just then Jordan came in and almost got hit by the hammer I'm swinging. I grabbed her in a choke hold as Travis got in the room. He seemed impressed for a second but looked at Ashley and his eyes lit with anger and hatred as he looked back to Jordan.
"What are you going to do with me?" Jordan whimpered.
"We will treat you like any other traitor," Travis said boldly.
Jordan gulped so hard I felt it in her throat. She was scared but she was also the only person here who knew what to do. We got her to finish Ashley's so called upgrade without casualties and surprisingly everything turned out well... Until we got out of the lab.