Justin woke with blood in his mouth.
His arms were chained to the chair with black tourmaline restraints, and cold metal pressed against his spine. He was still breathing even though the beating had left his face stinging, his lip swollen, and his brow split—but he was still breathing.
Barely.
It was a surgical room. Tidy. Too tidy. He knew that others had screamed in this chair before him, but there was not a drop of blood on the floor.
The door then opened.
And Dr. Rhane entered.
His fur remained immaculate.
His gloves were the same black leather. No wrinkles. No rush.
He came in like a man walking into a boardroom, composed, smiling as if it were normal.
"Comfortable?" Rhane asked.
Justin spat blood on the ground.
Rhane laughed. "Always so predictable."
He slowly went around Justin, looking at him more like a piece of data than a living person.
"You know," he thought, "months of testing were delayed by your meddling. And Von, your little friend. His grin got bigger. "Escaped."
Justin's head jerked upward.
"You let him go," Rhane continued. "Sweet. But pointless."
He lowered himself until his face was just a few inches away from Justin's.
He lowered his voice to a whisper.
"We'll find him. And when we do... I'll kill him. Slowly. And I'll make sure you hear it."
Anger twisted Justin's face as he jerked against the restraints.
"Go to hell."
Unconcerned, Rhane straightened. "They're already there. I simply made it cozy.
He waved his hand, and two masked helpers came in.
A containment pod was wheeled over. Humming, empty.
Pod 47-A: CLASS SUBJECT—ACTIVE. LIVE HOLD IS THE STATUS.
Justin thrashed, teeth bared. "You lock me in that thing, I swear—!"
Rhane only smiled. "Oh, you'll survive. Barely. Your cells will slow. You won't age. You'll feel every second... but you won't move."
He lightly touched the glass.
"Consider it a pause button for troublemakers."
Justin was strapped into the containment sled by the assistants. Despite his best efforts, the cuffs, the drugs in his blood, and the weight of his exhaustion prevailed.
Rhane took a final step forward as the lid hissed shut.
"I'll enjoy dissecting him when we find him."
The glass closed. The lights went down.
Ineffectively, Justin's fists slammed against the inside.
As he turned to go, Dr. Rhane chuckled.
And suddenly—
Justin disappeared into the dark.