The shifter swiftly tucked the bag away just as two guards approached, their faces hardened and suspicious. “What are you doing here?” one of them barked.
“Just...checking on the results of today’s trials,” Emily improvised, praying they would buy it.
After a tense moment, the guards continued on their rounds, but not before shooting Emily a final, cautionary glance. Sheexhaled, not realizing she’d been holding her breath.
The shifter peered out, the bag now safely hidden in her quarters. “Maybe you’re not like the others,” she said, her voice a soft whisper.
Emily nodded, tears threatening to fall. “I’m trying,” she whispered back, “I promise.”
With that, she hurried away, her heart racing, determined to make as many of these covert deliveries as she could before the night was over.
She was making her way past the guards’ lounge, a small room adjacent to the experimentation chambers, when she overheard muffled voices. The conversation that trickled out through the slightly ajar door made her stop in her tracks.
“... heard it’s a whole family this time. A mom, dad, and their twopups,” one of the guards, a burly man named Derek, said with a hint of excitement in his voice.
“And they’re sure they are shifters?” a second voice, belonging to a guard Emily recognized as Mark, asked.
Derek laughed, “Oh yeah. Scout spotted them near the edge of the forest after they’d shifted and followed them home. They’re going to be rounded up tomorrow morning. Another set for the experiments.”
Mark chuckled, “Makes our job easier when they’re all together. The ones that are separated from their pups can be…difficult.”
“Yeah, don’t I know it.”
Emily’s heart pounded loudly in her ears. Her hand went to her mouth to stifle the gasp threatening to escape. The thoughtof an entire family being brought in and subjected to the same torment she’d witnessed, was horrifying. More victims. More suffering.
Leaning against the cold wall for support, she tried to process the information. A part of her wanted to scream, to lash out and do something. Not for the first time, the idea of going to the police flashed through her mind, but just as she had every time before, she dismissed it. Even if they believed her about the experiments, telling them about the existence of shifters? She’d be labeled insane. Besides, the guards, the facility, they had their claws deep into her life. What would happen to her family if she acted recklessly and spoke up without any sort of plan in place?
Her younger sister, Claire, with her bright blue eyes and innocent laughter, flashed in her mind. The thought of anything happening to her was unbearable. Emily felt a suffocating pressure, a sense of helplessness so profound it was paralyzing.
She sank to the ground, her back against the cold, unfeeling wall, tears prickling her eyes. The weight of it all seemed too much to bear, and she wished for a way out, a miracle, something. But more than anything, she wished she could protect those who couldn’t protect themselves.
She pulled herself together, wiping her eyes. There had to be a way to help them all. She just had to find it. Determination built up inside her, fighting against the despair. She would not let this defeat her.
Later, as she approached another dimly lit cell, Emily could hear soft moans of pain. There, huddled in the corner, was a male shifter, grimacing with every breath. Finn had been subjected to a particularly aggressive experiment earlier that day.
“Finn,” Emily whispered, kneeling beside the cell, “are you okay?”
His amber eyes, normally filled with fire, now only showed anguish. “What do you think?” he spat bitterly. “They gave me something so that I can’t even shift to heal.”
Emily cautiously extended her hand, revealing a couple of painkiller pills. “I brought you these. They’re not much, but they might help a little.”
Finn’s eyes darted to the pills and then back to Emily, a mix of hope and suspicion. “Why?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Emily replied softly.
He hesitated for a moment, then weakly reached out, taking the pills. “If you’re trying to earn my trust or gratitude, it’s going to take more than this,” he murmured, his voice cracked with pain.
“I don’t expect either,” Emily replied. “I just...I can’t stand by and watch this happen without doing something, even if it’s something small.”
Finn eyed her warily. “Well, I suppose it’s a start.”
Emily nodded, her heart aching. “I promise, Finn, I’m doing all I can.”
The heavy silence between them spoke volumes as she stood, making her way towards the exit. The weight of her life and the things she was being made to do was crushing her. She was caught between the world of her captors and those she desperately wanted to free. Every compassionate act was a risk, not just to her but to her family as well. And if the organization thought they were at risk of exposure, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill every shifter they held captive to cover up their sickexperiments. The consequences of discovery were too dire to contemplate.
As the cold night enveloped her, Emily’s inner turmoil deepened. Her desire to help warred with her fear of retribution. The path ahead was more uncertain than ever, but one thing was clear—she couldn’t stand by any longer and do nothing. She had to find a way, not only to help ease the shifters’ pain, or to give them a little bit more food, but to rescue them from this terrible place once and for all. Whatever the cost.
Chapter Three
