Slaves Till The Very End

“John! Please stop!” Richard pleaded as he stood up from the bed. “Nothing good will come out of it.”

“See he knows. The CIA isn’t very forgiving. They will come for your family, your loved ones, your friends, they will ruin everything. You don’t want that to happen, do you?” the Director asked.

“Tsk!” John let go of the Director’s collar and walked back to his bed. “Promise me...this will be the final one. Then we will be free. We will no longer be associated with the CIA.”

“The CIA doesn’t make promises. But I’ll treat you five agents with special care. If it’s successful, you five will be set free.” the Director said.

“Director, if I ever find you in hell, I will torment you forever.” John said and walked out of the room.

---

A few days had passed by. The experiment was scheduled to be conducted in a few hours.

John walked up to Richard’s room. He walked over to Richard and tossed the handgun in the air. “Here, take this gun. I have one too.”

“Why do we need a gun? And how did you get it?” Richard asked in a low tone.

“I have a feeling that the Director will not honour his promise. So once this experiment is successful, if he breaks his promise, we will use this for self-defence.”

“But you know that the CIA isn’t forgiving, they won’t let you escape that easily.”

“We’ll see to that at that time. We can’t remain as slaves forever.”

“But th-”

“Hurry up, we gotta board the bus.” John interrupted as he walked out, closing the door of the room with a thud.

Richard stared at the gun in his hand and then hid it in his waist.

----

The five of them sat in the bus that was going to take them to the destination where the experiment would take place.

“I’m really sorry for letting my rage take over the other day.” John apologised.

“Ah, don’t apologise. It’s understandable. Even we don’t like being treated like slaves.” Jason said.

“Plus we don’t even know how safe this experiment is going to be. When I asked Mr Kawasaki, he just walked away without saying a word. There is no point in keeping up appearances anymore. Today might just be the end of our lives.” Richard said.

“Yea let’s just be true to ourselves,” Jason added.

“How long is this bus ride going to take?”Brian asked.

“Shut up and wait till the bus stops!” Viktor scolded as they all laughed.

It was a bittersweet atmosphere. No one knew the fate of the experiment; there was no guarantee. Everything was ambiguous at this point. If things were going to end, it would be bitter but if they were going to be together as comrades until the very end, it would be sweet. Such mixed emotions filled the agents as they took a step together towards their unknown fate.

They finally reached the building where the experiment was planned to take place. On walking further, they entered a huge white room, with several pairs of handcuffs and other lab equipment kept near the wall. On the other end of the room was a glass wall, behind which the ‘System’ was placed along with other major devices required to observe heart rate, blood pressure etc.

Mr Kawasaki and the Director were standing behind the glass panels, discussing the details of the experiment. Security guards were positioned all around the room with huge rifles in their hands.

John walked up to the Director. His eyes radiated determination and rage. But one could also feel the regret in his expression. “I hope you haven’t forgotten the promise.”

“I haven’t. Don’t worry.” the Director replied. “Now get ready for the experiment.”

Richard and his comrades were forced to move towards the end of the wall. Both hands and legs of the five agents were tied to the wall by thick iron chains, and electrodes were connected to their bodies on the skin closest to the adrenal glands.

“Haha, Mr Kawasaki, finish the preparations for the experiment.” the Director announced, waiting to see the birth of a new era.

Mr Kawasaki nodded and switched on the ‘System’. He then recalibrated the remaining equipment.

“Everything is ready, sir!” he reported.

“Okay begin the experiment!” the Director ordered.

Brian was the first test subject. Mr Kawasaki pressed the button, starting the experiment that could either change humanity or end the lives of these agents.

Electricity flowed through the circuits, all the way up Brian’s body, shocking his adrenal glands. He began to squirm in pain. He let out a gasp and struggled to clench his teeth, trying his best to hold the pain in and endure it. His breathing increased and his heart rate skyrocketed.

-Stage IV-

Brian continued to endure his pain. His fingers wrapped tightly around the chains to which he was tied. Blood coursed its way to his legs and hands, at full speed. The veins could be seen emerging from the surface of the skin.

Brian couldn’t hold it any longer. He let out a shrill guttural scream, sending shivers down his fellow agents’ spines. While coughing out blood, the vein connecting to his head burst open and blood gushed out rapidly. That was when his neck couldn’t support his head anymore and it just hung there.

“BRIAN!” Richard yelled but to no avail. The man who was struggling to keep his pain inside, now no longer moved a muscle. Blood continued to spray out rapidly from his hanging corpse.

“Tch, not even ‘Stage V’, such useless agents...” the Director muttered. “Shock the two at once. This is ridiculous.”
Mr Kawasaki’s expression turned sorrowful as he just nodded and clicked the buttons on the screen helplessly.

Viktor and Jason received a higher high-intensity electrical shock. They both fell to one knee as their hands desperately tried to break free. They tugged on the iron chains as hard as they could but it didn’t seem to come off.

-Stage IV-

Viktor fell to the ground as blood gushed out of his mouth. His eyes were already half-closed, but now his eyelids wouldn’t move at all.

“Internal bleeding, sir!” Mr Kawasaki said as he continued looking at the data.

“It’s ok, Jason might make it.” the Director shouted as he looked at Jason.

Jason was still breathing profusely. His heart rate and blood pressure were too high for his body to handle. The blood vessels in his eyes burst open, and tears of blood flowed down. Jason knew his time was up. He turned to get a final glimpse of his brother before he slept for eternity.

“JASON!” John shouted. But he got no response. Jason’s body couldn’t keep up with the high blood pressure and burst apart. Blood scattered everywhere, defiling the white room with the colour of hell.

“Jason...” John muttered. His eyes began to moisten. A cold-hearted agent like John had seen so many deaths before, but now, his eyes seemed to be of an innocent young man who had just lost his only brother.

“Ugh, all these useless agents...NEXT ONE!” the Director shouted.

John looked at Richard, as tears flowed down his eyes. “Looks like I remained a slave till the very end.”