I Become Shadow Read Online Free Page A

this one alone?”
    She nodded. He returned it with a curt nod of his own. The door hissed shut behind him.
    With her short red bangs and porcelain skin, the woman looked like Beth, only older. Maybe mid-twenties. She even shied away from making direct eye contact with me like Beth did when she was about to say something thatwould make me mad. Only I think this girl didn’t want to look at someone who was about to be [insert horrible death here]. I cried harder. I wanted to go home. I wanted my mother.
    Not-Beth busied herself at a small medical fridge making much more noise than necessary. Her back was to me but I caught her looking at me through the reflection in the fridge window. Her eyes darted back to her work.
    “Please help me,” I begged. “Please.” I didn’t care that I was sobbing uncontrollably; maybe that would get a rise out of her. I knew she didn’t want to turn around and face me, but I could tell she was finished with whatever she had been doing at the fridge.
    After a deep breath, Not-Beth turned.
    She held a metal tray with a massive syringe on it. I’d seen horse shots smaller than this one and got light-headed. My fear of needles was about to be tested to the limit.
    “Please. Don’t do this,” I continued. “Just let me go. I won’t tell anyone.”
    Her face was set, determined to do her duty regardless of my pleas. The syringe was filled with a jet-black liquid. She took it from the tray.
    “I know you can hear me. Please don’t kill me,” were the words I could squeeze out before the sobbing completely took over.
    Not-Beth looked at the syringe. She sighed and placed the needle back down. She shifted her body slightly and then finally looked directly at me. Her eyes were green, like mine.
    “I’m not trying to kill you,” she said. Her voice was surprisingly strong, considering her seemingly shy demeanor. “None of us are. You’re safe here.”
    Safe? I feel anything but safe
.
    “Why are you doing this?” I asked.
    “That’s not my place to say. You’ll find out soon enough.”
    “But …”
    She made the slightest of eye motions toward the corner and whispered, “There’s always someone watching, listening.”
    My panicked eyes flashed over her shoulder, focusing on a small camera pointing right at us. She quietly continued, “I can’t tell you what you want to know. Not now.”
    She picked up the needle again.
    “What is that?” I asked.
    “There’s a technical term for it. But
we
call it fire.”
    “Why?” I asked.
    “You’re about to find that out,” she said.
    I turned my head as she slid the giant needle into my arm. Searing pain surged through me on contact, intensifying the farther into my bloodstream it went. I tried to scream but the torture was too much. I clenched my jaw. Time slowed to a standstill.
    “I’m sorry. You’ll understand soon enough.” Not-Beth left, and outside the door I heard her say, “She’s ready. Take her to her room.”
    Two beefy guards unstrapped me from the chair. I wanted to fight them off and run. But there was only agony. My body began to vibrate and spasm. Whatever she’d injected continued to spread in waves. Each newjolt of pain was more excruciating than the previous. I felt like I was burning alive from the inside out.
Fire
. The word echoed through my head. Not-Beth had lied to me, I was sure of it. This was how it was going to end.
    When the two guards plopped me into a wheelchair, I let them, though every touch felt like hot coals on my skin.
    I wondered where they were taking me. Was this the plan all along? Inject me with some poison and then take bets on how long I’d live? It couldn’t be long. I kept waiting to black out but never did.
    They pushed me through a maze of hallways and into at least two elevators. Even thinking seemed to hurt now. I could hear the unmistakable sound of others, all around me, crying in pain. It filled my ears. I tried to shut it all out. I closed my eyes. I mentally began