HUNTED-Chapter 421: Research Centre (1)

Blearily, Keira blinked through the haze of her mind. A blinding light pierced down on her. Everything was white and clinical. A mask was strapped over her mouth.

Tears streamed down the side of her face as every inhale was vile, with the taste of some drug being pushed into her system. It wasn’t wolfsbane. If it was, then she would be in worse pain than she was currently in.

She tried to take the mask off, but her hands wouldn’t move, and neither would her legs. That was when she did feel their searing burning pain around her wrist and ankles. She glanced down, fearing what she already knew to be true.

She was bound to this bed with silver straps. On one of her wrists, there was a tube connected to her vein leading up to an IV bag, and there were multiple attachments to the machines indicating her heart rate and such. Under the bed sheet, she wore some sort of light-grey scrubs. Considering she was being restrained, Keira knew this was not a hospital.

She looked around, taking note of the room she was confided in. There was an assortment of tools on the side, some looking a little too sharp and more like torture devices to her. Then, there were blood bags placed in the sink.

’Ember, are you there?’ Keira called out to her wolf. She could barely feel her. Their connection was weak, and so there was no response.

Keira slumped back down and stared at the ceiling. There wasn’t anything she could do right now except wait for the people who had kidnapped her and had probably taken her blood. She was weak, but the wolfsbane and silver wouldn’t make her feel almost frail and sickly.

New novel 𝓬hapters are published on freёwebnoѵel.com.

Even without her wolf, Keira hadn’t really ever been ill. So this, too, was new.

Whoever had taken her—no scratch that, Keira knew who had taken her. It was the Order. They had it out for supernatural beings and had recently attacked that other school. It was obvious they were after Chloe, and when they couldn’t take her and came across Keira, they took advantage of the situation where nobody would see the Princess in an unkempt state.

Except for Kodi, who obviously tracked down some of their men leading to her.

Kodi…

Was he okay? Was he, too, in this facility?

Keira jumped as the door burst open. She looked over as a man in a white lab coat waltzed in carrying bags of ice. "Can’t believe the fridge-freezer was busted," the man grumbled, not aware Keira had woken up.

His greying hair was scruffy, like he’d been zapped by lightning. It stuck up in odd directions, while the top of his head was shiny and bold. The man was skinny, a little too skinny, with bags under his eyes, as if he enjoyed whatever it was he did here. He was tall but not as tall as the man strolling inside the room after him.

"Right when we got our hands on a jewel like her," the second man continued.

He wasn’t wearing a lab coat but was in the same gear like the men before, thick arms crossed as he strolled over to Keira. With tanned, weathered skin, a claw mark scar running down the bottom half of his face and down his neck, his hair shaved on the sides and back while the top was a shade longer, a typical clean military-cut appearance while hatred burned in his black eyes.

This man couldn’t be any more different than the lab coat guy.

One was all muscles, been outside in the sun with a stern expression, while the other was almost withered, pale, with an almost loony smile on his face.

The military man peered over at her. "Well, well… Sleeping beauty is awake."

"She is?!" The other man exclaimed in excitement, pouring the ice out of the bags and rushing over to the other side of the bed. "Welcome, Keira. I hope you don’t mind. We need to keep this mask on you to keep you in a drowsy state. It’s only until I’ve finished taking a few more pints of blood. Then you can settle in with the others before the games."

Settle in? Others? Games? Keira blinked back at him.

"Why are you speaking to her like she’s human?" The other man growled. "She’s just a mutt."

"Ah, a mutt with pure blood!" Lab coat exclaimed, pointing his finger up with a crazed smile. Great, she was with some mad doctor or scientist, and the other was a typical ex-hunter. From assessing him a little closely, she noted he wasn’t that old-- possibly in his late twenties.

Maybe he was a new generation hating on the supernatural creatures of the world.

"Where am I?" She breathed out, blinking slowly, only then realising that the mad scientist was moving closer, but there were two of him, one almost transparent and the first moving quickly before the second mirrored his action.

Whatever drug was being pumped into her system was strong enough to make her feel disorientated.

The crazed scientist pressed something a button and adjusted her mask slightly. "You’re in the Research Centre. It’s simple but gets the point across. Now… Don’t hurt your pretty little head about such things. I’m going to take some more blood, and then Carter will-"

"What… Games?" Keira breathed; her tongue felt thick and velvety, and she struggled to speak. She hoped he understood her question.

"Knock her the fuck out. You’ve already given her my damned name, and she’s only going to keep asking questions," the second man, Carter, commanded, tapping his gun to show he was serious.

"I can’t give her anymore. It will work. It just needs a little more time to kick in," the scientist explained as he tilted his head to the side, watching Keira like she was some sort of specimen. "She is a Cross, after all."

Carter tsked but didn’t argue further.

"Can’t believe we finally got our hands on one," Carter muttered, leaning against the wall. Again, Keira saw two versions of him, a transparent figure and him copying his moves. This drug was fricken potent.

Keira looked between the two, and she gulped down the dread, slowly clutching at her lungs and clogging her throat, making it difficult to breathe. Although this was the worst scenario she could be in, at least it was her and not her baby sister who would be so scared.

She hated to think what was to come and what Chloe might have been put through. Whatever it was, Keira would face it head-on. If they were like how the Hunters used to be, then she expected to be locked in a cage with others of the supernatural community.

What she didn’t expect when she woke up next was the normality of how all the prisoners acted within this ’Research Centre’.

Where the hell was she?