Chapter 2 – Torture Tuesday
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Nadia
Norah. I’m dead.
I fucked up. I knew for a long time that I was wrong. I refused to admit it, but I knew. Deep within me the truth had rooted itself. And it grew, until it reached my head. Until I stood before the strongest shifter alive, and finally realized what she was.
They were never monsters. They were thousands of animals, merged together into one. Moving as one, thinking as one, but being so much more than that. I think one of the few things we’ve ever been right about, is that they are wild animals. We used to say it as if it was something bad, but it’s really just another version of the truth.
The whole reason to why they look so “alien” is because their eyes, the windows of the soul, always reflect all of them. Not only the shape they’re currently in, but every animal that resides within them. They’re intelligent, because they have the instincts of almost every living creature on this planet. Not because of their brain capacity or complexity, but because of the thoughts and impressions they have. Their way of looking at the world is so different, because they can see all the flaws that us humans ignore. They can see that we’re killing our own planet, and that’s why they’ve always been so desperate to escape back to their own. They can see how selfish we are, how cruel we are. They see how we kill each other for the stupidest of reasons.
There’s still hope for us though. There are still good humans, like you Norah. You’ve always been so bright and so kind. I know you and your father watch the news every day. I know that you are fed lies about the alien species that have arrived to our planet. But they’re not as alien as you might think.
These are my last words to you, ever. The only reason they’re even allowed to exist, is because of a shifter. You’re going to hate me throughout most of this diary, but please be patient with me.
The shifters, they are just like us in so many ways. More ways than we might think. Norah they…
She loves you. She died in peace. She died seeing the truth. She wants you to see it too.
Tuesday
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February 19:th 2063
The shifter was in a cell, twenty meters underground, yet she still managed to look tough.
She sat propped up against the wall, coolly watching me as I entered the cell. Like a flaming ocean her hair fell in voluptuous curls, down from her head and flowing across her shoulders and down her back.
As with many of the aliens, her features were undeniably beautiful. The shapes of her face were as smooth as carved wood, and not a single imperfection could be found in her fair, pinky toned skin. Small freckles were dotted across her nosebridge and cheekbones, ranging between different shades of brown and orange. Her face had a distinct oblong shape to it, only adding to the gracefulness she radiated. Thought what remained the most astonishing, were her eyes. Deep set, large and round they stared at me with a certain wisdom to them. Her irises mimicked the color of red granite, which both looked intimidating and at the same time incredibly appealing.
Looking at her left me confused. She was young, maybe only fifteen, yet I knew she’d taken the life of five grown men before letting herself be captured. Yet when she sat there looking at me, with those mesmerizing eyes, I couldn’t help but to wonder how she found the strength to sit there boldly after ending lives. Her expression revealed no regret, no shame, nor any sort of such emotions.
“Hello.” She said, her gaze glued to me as I let the door slip shut behind me. Most would call it an unwise move to be alone in the same room as a powerful shifters, but the girl was completely unable to do any harm. Poison ran through her veins, freezing every shifter cell in her body. Together with a certain amount of sedatives, it took both her ability to shift as well as her ability to use her powers.
“Hello.” I replied, stopping a mere meter in front of her. The girl didn’t attempt to move towards me, probably feeling weighed down by the sedating medicine in her system. Instead she just watched me, undoubtedly already working on an escape plan. Though I could afford to feel quite confident about the fact that she would not manage to escape. She was destined to leave her cell in a body bag, but not before opening her mouth about anything she might know of the prophecy.
We first found out about it when an earthborn male shifter was brought in. After countless nights of what could only be called torture, he was driven insane. If anyone as much as peeked through his cell window, he started screaming highly unsettling things about a prophecy foreseeing our failure in the war. Soon after that he was put down, and right before the life left his body, he grabbed my arm with a grip that made me grimace in pain. With his amber eyes staring into mine, he spoke a sentence that still scares me until this day;
“She willl find you, and she will kill you all”
We didn’t exactly believe in prophecies, but Gerard still made it a priority to find out what he had been talking about. Heck, there were flying horses and griffins infesting our lives. No one could really be sure that the shifters didn’t have some high-tech shit that allowed them to see parts of the future.
“I don’t know anything.” The girl said, before I could proceed to ask my first question. “I don’t know what you think you know about us… But sixteen year olds are rarely granted knowledge of war plans. At least not where I’m from. I can’t speak for planet Earth, you seemed to do a little bit of everything here.”
I knew that someone else had already been asking her questions about the strategy of the shifters when it came to the war. There had been no success, and I didn’t doubt that the girl was speaking the truth. She was young, and had not budged under Anders Nicholson’s rather violent interrogation techniques. Whatever the case, I had no interest in war plans at the moment.
“I don’t think you’re in the right position to subtly slam the way things are here. You do realize that you’re the one imprisoned, don’t you?” I let my lips stretch into a cold smile, proving to her that I had no kindness to offer.
“Oh…” The girl said, yet a wicked smile played her lips. “So I’m not entitled the right to speak the truth of planet Earth, but you have all granted yourself permission to hunt and kill all surviving shifters from the crash… After causing the crash itself, that is. And may I add, after attacking us without a reason… Did I miss anything? Any small detail about your cruelty that slipped my mind maybe?”
I scoffed. “You may be intelligent, but don’t think you can twist me over to your side. You arrived to Earth, heavily armed and posing a threat to humanity the second you entered out atmosphere. My brother made the right choice, shooting you down. I just wish you all would have died instead.”
“Your brother?” She tilted her head at me, curiosity sparking to life in her eyes. “Oh yes, of course. You’re the brother of the sebberi.” A light laughter rippled her body, and she smiled amusingly.
“Excuse me?” I asked, raising one eyebrow. I crossed my arms and leaned lightly against the wall behind me.
“Oh sorry.” She said. “sebberi is Krio for… Well, ‘moron’ I guess.”
“And what the hell is Krio?” I continued to ask, my words only adding to the already rising amusement on the young girl’s face.
“That would be the official name for the ancient shiftrian language. Not a lot of shifters speak it, but I find that it has a few quite interesting words that I like to use. It works brilliantly if you want to secretly insult humans.”
I nodded, jerking my brows upwards in disinterest. “Why don’t you tell me your name instead. That’s some knowledge I could put to good use.”
“After you…” The girl said, pulling off a rather dramatic gesture with her right hand.
“I’m Nadia.” I said. “Your turn.”
“Azira.” She replied, putting emphasis on the ‘z’. “In Krio, it means ‘fire’.”
“Wow.” I said dryly. “More information I will never need.”
Azira chuckled. “You’re a bitch.” She diverting her gaze from me as she leaned her head back against the black metal wall, letting her eyes fall shut.
I watched her for a few moments, attempting to establish what her state of mind was. She acted as if she had the upper hand, which I couldn’t help but to be unsettled by.
It’s okay. I told myself. The walls are made of kirach metal, salvaged from crashed shiftrian ships. She can’t break through it.
As if she was reading my thoughts, Azira opened her eyes and loosely grazed the wall with her blood stained fingers. Her mouth hung slightly ajar, and her eyes had an awake look to them, like she was passionately studying something.
“I’m impressed by your little prison.” She admitted. “Using our own metal against us. Any material of yours wouldn’t be able to keep us contained. Though I wonder… How many died before you came upon the proper way to lock us up?”
I fought the urge to flip her off. Parts of me really wanted to, other parts of me knew it would be kind of stupid to do so. Me being the grown up and all.
Just the fact that she seemed to know exactly how to locate my weak spots, without even knowing me, bothered me. Many had indeed died before the safe way of imprisoning shifters was found, amongst them a very close friend of mine.
“Fine.” I pushed myself into a standing position by pressing my hands against the wall behind me. “You’re intelligent. You like manipulating people. You’re probably good at reading them too. But you’re still the prisoner, and I’m still the interrogator.” I took a few steps closer and crouched down, so that I was on eye-level with her. “From now on, I ask the questions… And if you wish to avoid great suffering and extreme pain, my advice is that you answer me truthfully.”
“And if I don’t?” Azira tilted her head. “What are you going to do? Cut my fingers off? Slice my skin up with a knife?”
“No.” I said, and it was finally my turn to smile wickedly. “I’m going to inject the poison of a black widow spider into your system. Your shifter body stops it from killing you, but you’ll still experience the full effects of the poison. Do you want to know what the full effects are?”
Azira remained silent, finally looking remotely worried about her own health.
“Headache. Nausea. Vomiting. Severe muscle cramping. Weakness. Trouble breathing. High blood pressure. Basically, pain, in a variety of different shapes. Sound fun?”
After a few short moments of what looked like fear, Azira managed to put on a brave face.
“Like a spa treatment.” She replied.
I nodded. “Okay. Since I have a vague feeling you don’t intend to answer my questions… Spa treatment begins now.”
The fear broke through her tough façade again, and her eyes widened. I stood up and exited the cell, nodding at the two guards and the nurse waiting right outside. The nurse held a tiny syringe in her hand, ready with a dose of poison that would send the poor girl into a long night of suffering.
As I left the cell, walking towards the cellblock exit, I could hear her. Repeated screams suggesting struggle as she tried to avoid the syringe coming her way. Though it didn’t take long before I could hear the heavy sound of the cell door closing shut, and the nurse came rushing past me as she hurried off somewhere. Now all that remained was to wait, wait until she could not longer take it. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be too long before that happened.
I casually strolled down the cold corridors carved out through the buried mountain resting under base Alpha. Water trickled down the uneven rock walls, dripping into the ditches messily dug out on either side of the path. As I stepped in the small puddles formed on the packed dirt flooring, murky water splashed against my ankles and dribbled into my socks. The underground prison surely provided AIC with an unwelcoming environment, which made it quite the perfect place to store captured shifters in. Only problem was that I, as I started working more with interrogating shifters, had started spending more and more time down there. Some days, some moments, it felt like the cold and humid air started infiltrating my thoughts as well.
It was not a nice place to work at, and many of the guards patrolling there were silent and intimidating, blending right in with their surroundings.
After rounding the last corner I finally had the elevator in sight.
Just as I stopped to press the call button, the doors opened to reveal my least favorite person, in all of Base Alpha.
Carol saw me, and almost immediately she grinned. Not just any grin, no she grinned so widely her lips could’ve passed as a Chelsea smile. Her bright gray eyes sparkled vigorously under a set of black square glasses. She had her dark blonde hair combed back into a tight ponytail, and wore her seemingly brand new lab coat, with her name tag pinned to her chest; Carol Wright, Ranger.
“Hey Ms. Kyren!” She greeted, her strongly accented voice bubbling with over-expressed happiness. I mentally sighed just at the sight of her, but at least managed to keep my emotions contained… Most of them, that is.
“We’re colleagues now remember,” I said dryly. “You can call me Nadia.” I forced out a smile, which undoubtedly came out looking cold and disapproving. What can I say?.. I just don’t like most people.
Carol used to be a student of mine, the very best one matter of fact. After topping the scores in almost all of her classes, she was chosen to graduate early. The girl I once liked for being ambitious and smart was suddenly competing with me. She chose to become a ranger, but specialized in shiftrian studies, which soon brought her higher up in the ranks. When catching strong shifters she was often included in the missions, as she had the knowledge of how shifters with different elements could be neutralized in the easiest way. It didn’t really matter to me until someone pointed out that she was like a “new and improved Nadia Kyren” who was both a shifter expert and could aim a gun.
After that, Carol started doing her very best to outmatch me, all whilst pretending to be my very best friend. It was pissing me off, to say the least.
“Oh okay!” Carol said. She stepped out of the elevator. “Good bye then Nadia.” She said as she passed me, probably not even hearing the curses I muttered after her.
I stepped into the elevator and slammed the button for the fourth floor, mentally bracing myself for the meeting with the commanders of the Guard, the Warriors and the Rangers. Oh, and with my dear brother too.
The elevator slowly ascended, and through the glass windows I could see the moist rock wall of the chasm cutting through the mountain. We reached ground level, and rose past the first floor.
The first floor was by far the fanciest, with its tall dome shaped ceiling and different statues placed out by the entrances. In the very middle a fountain resided, and it was by far the most beautiful thing in the room.
Shaped out of stone the fountain itself looked old, crystal clear water rippling inside. From the middle a marble statue rose, resembling a shifter in the shape of a flying horse. It reared with its hooves striking out in front of it. On its back the wings were neatly folded together, every single feather marked by intricate details. The eyes, replaced with sparkling emeralds, glowed with a slightly menacing glint. In front of the horse a soldier of AIC stood, fighting the thing with a long glass knife. Altogether, it represented the war that AIC intended to stop.
Everywhere scientists clad in lab coats, soldiers and random suited up men walked in all directions, heading for stairs and elevators that would take them to their destinations. From the entrance of A tower, as it was called, a red carpet was rolled out. It led up to the fountain where it split in two and rounded it, just to melt back together on the other side and continue all the way to the front desk. Behind it a man stood, dressed in a pinstriped suit and with AIC’s signature white-edged black tie around his neck.
The elevator proceeded to go upwards, heading into another chasm that took me to the next floor. One by one I watched the different floors of A tower.
First floor, the place where rangers, guards and warriors hung out when they weren’t working. They had a nice common room there, food was served, changing rooms, showers and other stuff they needed to relax.
The second floor was office floor. I’m going to be honest with you. I have absolutely no clue what they do there. Probably officy stuff, like tapping on computers, ordering stuff for the AIC facilities and possibly programming shit. But Like I said, I don’t really know.
The third floor was where the labs were. In there all the fun stuff happened. Experimenting on live subjects in the Chamber, the developing of more efficient weapons to fight the shifters with and so on. It was where I usually got to hang out, but as I mentioned before, more and more of my time was being dedicated to the prison block.
The fourth floor was mostly meant for meetings and conferences, and it was also where I needed to be.
The elevator stopped, and the doors slid open with a low wheezing noise. I stepped out and started walking down the well-lit hall, my heels clacking against the floor panels. The few people that walked past me kept their heads down, pretending to be deeply concentrated on papers and documents in their hands. Though I knew that I had an unintentional habit to intimidate people, and my guess was that most of them simply didn’t have the guts to look me in the eyes. That, or they were just being their usual shy Swedish selves.
I finally reached the room my meeting was being held in. As I opened the door, four sets of eyes focused on me.
Gerard sat at the end of the table, dressed in his usual matte black suit, a similar dress shirt underneath. A blood red tie rounded his neck, and he had his gray streaked black hair combed and gelled back. As I entered his cold blue eyes stared into mine, no kindness offered in the presence of the commanders.
“Nadia.” He greeted, nodding his head towards the empty chair at the other end of the table. I sat down, eyeing the other people present at the meeting. On Gerard’s right the commander of the Rangers sat, Erik Johansson. He was slightly older than the rest of us, but had a glare that could compete with mine. Deep crinkles around his eyes suggested that he smiled a lot, but if so that was not something he enjoyed doing at work. His head was covered by a thin layer of gray hair, only a few specks of brown left in it. He had his face clean shaved, and wore his commander’s uniform.
To Gerard’s left the commander of the Guard sat, John Collins, a much younger British man with windswept chocolaty brown hair. His face seemed to be permanently marked by a frown, and he rarely looked even remotely happy, something that seemed quite usual amongst employees of AIC.
Next to Collins the commander of the Warriors sat, who was the only one in the bunch who didn’t have a facial expression suggesting that he was considering murder.
He was in his mid forties, broad-shouldered and roughly built. A thick brown beard grew along his square jaw, and under his bushy eyebrows a set of soft brown eyes peered through. All in all, he could probably get a job as a mall santa in his older days.
In the very corner of the room a secretary sat, documenting the meeting.
I stiffly waited in silence for Gerard to officially start the meeting,
After keeping his staring game up for a brief period of time, he diverted his gaze from me and leaned back in his chair.
“Let’s begin.” He finally said. “Firstly I need an update on how it’s going with our newest captive, the fireborn girl.” He looked at me, waiting.
“I talked to her today. She’s not telling us anything about the prophecy yet, but I gave her the first dose of a black widow’s poison today. She’s probably experiencing its effects right now. I guarantee you she’ll crack in a few days or more.”
“Good.” He said. “From now on, Carol Wright will take over the interrogations with her.”
My jaw dropped, possibly together with the love for my own brother.
“No.” I snapped. “You cannot do that! She is mine, and I assure you that she will speak soon. Before you know it, I’ll deliver you the information we seek, I’ll get the prophecy out of that girl together with a description of what the hell it means!”
Gerard held his hand up, and I quieted down. “This is not because I doubt your abilities Nadia. It’s because you’re needed more somewhere else.”
I stared blankly at him. “I’m not with you.”
Gerard sighed deeply. “Three days ago two shifters were spotted in Onsala. Rangers from a nearby outpost headed after them. One of the shifters died, the other one was captured. Said shifter was taken to Base Delta, where it’s being held in their prison block. This shifter has information we need, and I trust no one more than you to get it out of him.”
“I get that,” I clasped my hands tightly together, eyeing him carefully. “But you’re giving my job away to the bit-, girl that is already trying to get it. She will see this as a triumph, and if she sees it as a triumph it won’t be long before she writes her own book about shiftrian studies and oh shit my name will be forgotten.”
“Nadia.” Gerard leaned forwards, staring intently into my eyes. “This shifter, is Gerren Kohl. The commander of Khaaron. The first shifter humanity ever spoke to. Who do you think is more important? Him, or a little fireborn girl the same age as your daughter?”
I didn’t want to admit it, but the man had a point.
“Oh.” I managed, biting my lip. Johansson and Collins both scoffed, leering at me.
“I have a floater scheduled to take you there on thursday. When you arrive I want you to start interrogations immediately. Make his life hell, I want to know everything he has to tell us. Can you do that?”
“Definitely.” I said, nodding my head hastily.
“Good…” Gerard said, then moving on to his next point. Though I didn’t follow along. Suddenly, my focus was elsewhere.
I found it very hard to believe, that Gerren was back. I remembered him so clearly, even though I had only seen him on pictures. He was documented as the first shifter to ever speak to mankind.
For three years no one had seen a trace of him, and most had assumed that he died in the crash. But the fact that he wasn’t dead, definitely counted as good news.
More than anything, we needed to know what kind of war preparations the shifters had back on their home planet. We needed to know if they had an army, or if there were just a few of them. But most of all, we needed to know the exact location of their planet, so that we could send out ships to attack. Shiftrian attacks were rare, which suggested that they didn’t have a strong army. In three years, only three waves of ships had arrived, and all of them had been fought off with minimal casualties. Though that didn’t mean that their defenses weren’t any good. If AIC was going to go offense, we needed to know what we were up against.
What I first thought would be the death of my career, turned out to be a possible boost. If I managed to get something out of Gerren, which I was determined to do, I would rise through the ranks of AIC itself.
Though as fun as that would be, there was something I looked forwards to more.
After the meeting I headed to the labs, where I knew Carol would be around five-thirty. And, as I guessed, she stood right there.
She was intensively discussing something with her assistant, and they both seemed extremely interested in the subject. I had asked Gerard not to have anyone tell her about the news, because I wanted to inform her myself.
Carol looked up as I approached, and the concentrated frown on her face was replaced by her usual bright grin. One that I was about to erase off her gods forsaken face, hopefully for at least a few hours.
“Hello Carol.” I said, for once sounding genuinely happy to see her. Carol was visibly surprised by my sudden kindness, but was quick to play along.
“Hello Nadia.” She greeted. “Can I help you with something?”
I shook my head, still smiling. “Oh no. Though I have some news for you, I think you’ll be very happy to hear them.”
I believe she was already sensing that I was up to something, but if so she didn’t show it.
“What might that be?” She asked.
“Well, you will be taking over the interrogations of Azira, the fireborn shifter.”
She tried to hide the triumph, but it shone through her face like a candle in the dark.
“That’s great. I’m sorry though, but I’m sure you’ll find something else to do.”
I nodded. “Oh don’t worry about me. Congratulations though. I have to pack now, I’ll see you when I get back.”
Confusion was clear on her face. “Where are you going?” She asked, and I had a sudden urge to announce it to her with a megaphone.
Instead, I took the nonchalant approach.
“Oh.” I said. “I’m going to Base Beta to squeeze some intel from Gerren Kohl.”
The girl went from complacent to baffled in milli-seconds. She stared at me with wide eyes, her mouth hanging slightly ajar.
“The Gerren Kohl?” She asked, and I only nodded.
“That would be him. Excuse me, but I have to go now.” Without giving her a chance to say anything I swirled around and started walking towards the elevator.
“Have fun with Azira.” I called over my shoulder, feeling more and more pleased with myself by the second.
Carol was left behind, very much confused, and very much beaten.
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