It turned out to be another lab. Only instead of stainless-steel counters and glass-fronted cabinets this one had a white exam table with thick leather straps for tying down recalcitrant patients. Rain didn’t like the look of it. Not one bit.
“Come, my dear.” It was the scientist she’d run into earlier. “We have work to do. Won’t you climb up here on my table.”
“I don’t think so.”
He smiled. “Oh, but I do.”
She tried to resist, but Big n’ Beefy was three times her size. He easily manhandled her over to the table and strapped her down.
“You see, my dear. Resistance is futile.” He laughed a little like he’d made some kind of joke.
“Fuck you.” She struggled against the straps, but it was no good. They held fast.
“Language, my dear. Even in this abominable wasteland, a young lady shouldn’t use such words. It’s quite vulgar. Now,” he peered over his glasses at her, “are you in good health?”
Rain blinked. “What?”
He sighed heavily. “Have you been ill recently? Are you pregnant? Do you have any genetic conditions?”
“No, not that it’s any of your business.”
“Ah, but it is my business. We don’t want to skew the results now, do we?” He busied himself at the counter which stretched along one wall.
She frowned. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Who are you anyway?”
He turned from the counter and whatever he’d been messing around with. “Oh, dear. I have been woefully remiss, haven’t I? I am Dr. Barnes. I guess you could say I’m the Chief Scientist of this little ...” He waved his hand around as though to indicate the base at large. “Slice of heaven.”
Rain was pretty sure this hell hole had nothing to do with heaven, but she bit her tongue. “What do you want me for?”
“To see if you’re suitable, of course.”
“For what?” she ground out.
He laughed again and there was an edge of crazy to it. “Let’s just say we could be witnessing the birth of the future. The endless possibilities of the human condition. I don’t want to give away all my secrets. Listening ears, you know.” He whirled his finger around in the air.
Rain had no idea what he was talking about, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Dr. Barnes didn’t exactly strike her as sane.
She glanced at Big n’ Beefy. He stood stiffly at attention, face impassive as a stone. No help there.
Barnes finished whatever he was doing and hustled over to the table where she lay. “Now, let’s see what we have here.”
“Is that a needle?”
“Of course, my dear. How else do you expect me to draw blood?” He chuckled as though he found her funny.
“Why do you want my blood?” No good would come of it. She was sure of that.
“You do ask a lot of questions, don’t you?” Though his voice remained jovial, there was a thread of warning underneath. Dr. Barnes was losing his patience.
Rain flinched as the needle went into her arm and bright red blood flowed into the little tube. She really, really didn’t like Barnes having her blood. It was like the drags. Once they scented you, they’d follow you forever. She’d just bet Barnes was the same. He reminded her of a reptile. A wrinkly, ugly old reptile with bug eyes.
“There now. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Barnes withdrew the needle from her arm. A drop of ruby red blood dripped off the end of the syringe and splatted on the floor. Barnes ignored it. “Now hold this down ... oh, dear. You can’t, can you?” He stood there with a ball of fluffy stuff in one hand and the needle in the other looking baffled. It was all Rain could do not to roll her eyes.
“Lee. Press this over the puncture until the bleeding stops.” Barnes thrust the fluffy stuff at Big n’ Beefy and scurried back to the counter with his tube of blood.
So, Big n’ Beefy’s name was Lee. Huh. She wondered if it was his first name or his last name. Not that it mattered.
Lee, face still devoid of expression, placed the fluff on her arm right over the puncture mark. He stood there with his finger pressing against her flesh until Barnes glanced over. “That’s quite enough, Lee. Put a bandage on it. She’ll be fine.” He turned back to his work.
Rain watched in amusement as Lee took a tiny bit of folded cloth and laid it over the mark on her arm. Then he took two long strips of cloth and carefully wrapped them around her arm to hold the bandage down before tying them off.
“Thanks, Lee.” Maybe getting a little personal with the man would help her cause. Then again, maybe not. Lee returned to his station against the wall without so much as acknowledging her presence.
“It’s no good, you know.”
Rain glanced over at Barnes. “What’s no good?”
“Trying to win his sympathy.”
“Why’s that?”
He glanced at her over his shoulder. “He doesn’t have any. Part of the training program. Emotions are the first to go. He doesn’t talk. Doesn’t feel. I’m not entirely sure he thinks. Typical Marine.” His voice held just a hint of derision.
Rain glanced over at Lee. The man hadn’t even flinched at Barnes’s scathing comments. “Somebody has to tell them what to do.” She was thinking of Smith, the lead Marine who’d come to the compound. The one who’d taken Sutter’s body. He’d spoken. That was for sure. And he’d definitely had emotions.
“There’s a hierarchy, of course. Isn’t there always?”
That was what she’d figured. Lee was obviously at the bottom of the food chain.
“Now, let’s see what we have here.” Barnes fiddled with a strange-looking machine before pressing his eyes against what looked like a pair of binocs, except he was looking down at the top of the counter. Rain frowned. What on earth was he doing?
“Very bad news, I’m afraid.” Barnes sat back and
