The Seven (22 page)

"We wake up Posey."

She couldn't move. Even if she could, she didn't want to move. Everything hurt. Needle-pricks of pain shot through her constantly, as if she was lying on a table with a low-voltage electric current. She tried to open her eyes, but they wouldn't respond. She tried to breathe, but found her lungs could barely move, yet she wasn't lacking oxygen. Screaming was impossible as well, her throat felt thick and choked. She could hear things though: scraping sounds, the incomprehensible music of muffled voices, a droning engine---probably a generator. She could also hear a strange sucking noise, a squelch followed by a
chug-thunk
.

Posey began to feel heavier than she had. Whatever she was immersed in was draining from whatever was holding the solution. As the goop rescinded, her face slowly emerged. As soon as her mouth and nose were clear, her body began involuntarily choking up the goo in her lungs. She vomited orange mucous that splattered on the glass shield above her and dripped back onto her. When she vomited, more stuff came out of her nostrils. She could feel it draining out of her ears and away from her eyes. She tried to open her eyes, but a bright light above her made her close them again. She continued to cough up sputum until the last chunks of the gelatin-like substance cleared her throat. Her next instinct was to suck in air hard, filling her lungs as deeply as possible. The exhale wracked her with thick, wet coughs again, but they were worth it. The air was cold and clean and made her head clear a bit with each breath.

There was a loud, sucking
pop
and the air pressure changed. She could tell the lid of the tank was off. She could hear voices again. John's voice. Holly, her best friend forever. Doctor Sebbins was there, too.

What had happened? Posey's memory was cluttered and cobwebbed, like coming out of a dream. Bits and pieces of memories filtered through the fog and embedded themselves in her consciousness. The pain was the first memory to return. She was still in pain, but it was much, much less than it had been. A different memory came back through the mist. She had a sense memory of having four arms: Two regular arms and two spindly, long-boned arms with long, claw-like fingers. The mere thought struck her with nausea-inducing anxiety.

"Posey? Can you hear me?" Dr. Sebbins leaned over the edge of the tank. Posey tried to focus on her face. It was blurry. Sebbins' fingers, cool and smooth, swept Posey's eyes clear of the goo. She was smiling. "Posey, you've had a very long night. You're not out of your change yet, okay? You're past the excruciating pain, but you've still got a lot of the transformation left."

Dr. Sebbins slipped an arm beneath Posey's shoulders and helped her sit up in the tank. Each inch of the motion made her muscles twitch with pain. She was vaguely aware that she was naked. Instinctively, she tried to cross her legs and shift her arms to cover her breasts. It hurt too much and she started to breathe heavier, filling with even more anxiety.

"Its okay, Posey," said John. "We've all seen it all already." Posey almost died from embarrassment.

"Get a blanket, John," said Sebbins. John quickly tossed a blanket over Posey and Sebbins tucked it around her. "Posey, I'm going to lift you out of the tank now. John? You and Kenny go upstairs and get some air, please."

"Got it, Doc," said John. He grabbed Kenny by the shoulder and jerked him to his feet. They padded up the metal rungs and popped the seal on the bunker. John closed the lid behind him, dropping it so that it rang out heavily.

"Indigo, Holly---bring those towels. Start getting Posey dried off. We need to see how far along she's come."

Posey saw Holly's face. Holly gave her a reassuring smile, but the smile was twisted at the corners of her mouth. Holly was the worst poker player of the group. She could never hide her feelings entirely. Posey knew something was wrong.

Sebbins began injecting large hypodermics full of strange colored liquids into Posey's arms and stomach. Holly and Indigo began to gingerly towel off Posey's body, but even the light touches hurt. Posey lied on the cot and let the tears slip down the sides of her face, trying not to cry out in pain.

"You're going to be sore for a while, Posey. The hyper-womb helped you through the worst of the transformation, but your body basically rewrote its programming in the span of thirty-two hours. You have changed a great deal. The hyper-womb helped you through several days' worth of transformations in a short time. The physical toll is great, though. You will have extreme muscle pain for quite a while."

Posey tried to speak, but the words seemed to catch in her throat and she coughed. Indigo handed a bottle of water to Dr. Sebbins and the doctor held it to Posey's lips. Posey drank greedily, suddenly realizing she was thirsty. As she drank the water, her stomach churned and rumbled reminding her how hungry she was.

The girls finished drying her body. Holly slipped cut-off jeans and a tube top onto Posey's body, bringing the tube top up her body from her feet. It wasn't an outfit that Posey would have chosen for herself, and Holly would have known that, so Posey reasoned they must have had nothing else with which to dress her.

"We're going to help you to your feet now, Posey. You're going to feel a little disoriented. You've been out of it for a long time," said Sebbins. Posey had to shut her eyes as they lifted her out of the tank and set her on her feet. She felt motion-sick. Her legs felt swollen and weak. Her feet felt different, too. It was harder to balance.

Sebbins spoke quietly in her ear, "Take a step, Posey."

Moving her legs felt different. It took more focus. It was as if her brain was trying to retrain her limbs to move. Posey exhaled and tried to speak. She succeeded in issuing a low moan. "Keep trying to speak," said Sebbins. "I know you feel weird right now. The more you try to utilize your body as you used to, the faster you'll regain control."

Posey coughed and exhaled again. "How..."

"We escaped, Posey!" Holly blurted. "We're not at the Home anymore. We stole you and came here."

"Andy and Sarah stayed back, though," said Indigo. "We're going to back for them as soon as you're well enough to travel."

Posey shook her head. "How," she coughed again. She couldn't speak above a whisper. "How do I...look?"

Holly's smiled widened to a forced, pained expression of positivity. "You look...good."

Holly, you liar. Posey was desperate for a mirror. Since she was a little girl, Posey had always been self-conscious about her appearance; being tall and lanky with almost no breasts and a big, stupid, hideous nose had always eaten at her.

"Girls, I want to get Posey outside. The sun will help restore her circulation and we'll be able to get her...uh...spread out."

Indigo looked up at the hatch above the lab. "How are we going to get her up the ladder?"

Sebbins sighed. "I don't suppose you can just...lift her out, can you, Indigo?"

"No way. I'm not angry or upset or scared. I don't think I could move a speck of dust."

"Holly, get up the ladder and get John. We'll use some rope to fasten a crude harness and we'll have John just pull her up and through." Dr. Sebbins turned to Indigo. "Get some rope from one of the survival kits over on the far wall, beneath the bottom row of shelves."

"Check," said Indigo. Holly scampered up the ladder and John's face quickly appeared in the hatch. Indigo threw him a coil of rope. John quickly tied off an intricate harness and lowered it through the hatch.

"John," Sebbins called up, "we're going to have to be extremely careful. I'm going to leave it to you to maneuver her through the hatch. Be very careful of her...uh, well...you know."

"No problem, Doc."

Sebbins turned to Posey. She put her hands on her shoulders reassuringly. "Posey, we're going to take you outside now. We need to get you stretched out and there just isn't room down here."

"I can...stretch here," whispered Posey.

"No, not really. I want to get you in the sun."

Posey's memory was still fuzzy; she was desperately trying to piece together a jumble of memories. She could see the hallway at the Home; she had been talking to Holly. And then pain. Pain like she'd never known, pain that seemed to start deep in her chest and radiate out through her very bones. Stabbing sensations were still in her mind. But, it was hazy.

John easily pulled her through the hatch, his strong hands handling her delicately. He untied the harness and cradled her. If she hadn't been so out of it, Posey might have died of happiness.

Sebbins crawled through the hatch right after, with Holly and Indigo on her heels. "Carry her outside, John. We need to get her out of the shade and into the light; the sun will help her get feeling in her limbs faster. There's that patch of grass down the road. Lay her there. Holly, I'll need your help with her, uh..."

"Got it," said Holly.

"What's...wrong with me?" said Posey. "How much...did I change?" Posey saw Holly shoot Sebbins a look. The doctor tried to stifle a sigh.

"Posey, I'm not going to lie to you. You are
very
different to what you remember yourself as, okay? I think seeing yourself right now, before you're ready to deal with it physically, would be extremely detrimental to your healing."

"Oh no," Posey moaned. "How ugly am I?"

"You're beautiful," Holly said immediately; it wasn't sincere, just fueled by reaction.

"Get me a mirror!"

"Not now!" Sebbins said firmly.

John walked quickly into the sun. Posey shut her eyes and tried to lift a hand up to shield herself, but she was still barely more than a rag doll. John knelt and laid her on the ground, moving her slowly and gently. When he stood up, he shielded her from the sun with his body to keep her from being blinded. The rest of her body was being warmed by the heat of from the sun. It was a cooler day, but the direct rays made her sore limbs feel better.

"Posey, this is probably going to hurt," said Sebbins, "but, we need to get you spread out so you don't atrophy." Posey felt the doctor's hands as they slowly began working the muscles in her shoulders. One of the doctor's hands slid down to her shoulder blade---and everything felt very, very wrong.

It was as if her brain had bifurcated into two distinct halves. One half told her she had one set of shoulders, the way it was supposed to be. However, the second half was suddenly telling her that she had a second set of shoulders and that it was perfectly natural. That second half started projecting memories of four arms instead of two and then the fog in her mind cleared and missing chunks of memory slammed back into her conscious mind. Both halves of her brain were fighting for dominance. In an instant, her heart rate shot up and she began to panic. There were memories of things sticking out of her back. What had they done to her?

A look of concern crossed Sebbins' face. "John, I'm going to need a med-kit out here. Go back and get me one now. Fast!" She put her hands on the sides of Posey's face. "Listen to me! You're going to be okay! Breathe deeply!"

"What...what happened to me?"

"You went through the transformation process, Posey. It looks like it was a success."

"What...what does...that mean?" Tears were streaking down the sides of her face now.

Holly stuck her face into Posey's line of sight, tears welling in her eyes, too. When she spoke, her voice wavered as if torn between a lie and the truth. "You're an angel, Posey. You grew wings. Big, beautiful wings."

"Wings?" Posey felt like tossing her lunch, if only she had something in her stomach. Adrenaline, released with the panic attack, was washing pain away from her. She suddenly felt a surge of strength. Her arms shot up and shoved Sebbins backward. There were four limbs on her torso, she could feel each and every one. She stretched the second set---the new set---and the muscles on her back, knotted and tight, fought her, but she was able to sit up, feather-covered wings unfurling behind her like battle standards. She looked down at her feet; they had lengthened, become bonier, more gnarled. Each toe had lengthened and her toenails had become curved and dark like daggers. She was horrified. She wanted to scream and before she could, something else happened---an incredible burst of sound from her throat. Her shriek dropped everyone around her, forcing them to grab their ears in pain. Posey choked off the noise. She saw a broken-down minivan in the trees. Using the panic surge, she forced herself to run to the minivan. Her gait was gawky and uneven and awkward like a vulture hopping over ground. She knelt and looked at herself in the side-view mirror.

She was ugly. Pure and simple. She had become even uglier and she hadn't thought that was possible. Smooth, downy white feathers speckled with delicate brown spots had sprouted along her temples, curving back over her ears. More were over her eyes like freaky eyebrows. Long, straight feathers grew out from behind her ears, curving down her neck and toward her back, going from white to a dark brown in color. Her irises had grown in her eyes; they were at least twice the size they had been. Eagle eyes. She had a poster of an eagle on her wall at the Home. She used to stare at the large, golden-hazel eyes and think about how proud and mysterious they looked. Now, those same eyes stared back at her in a mirror and she only saw hideousness. She looked down at her arms and saw feathers shooting out of the skin on the backs of her arms, growing back toward her back. More feathers had grown from her ankles and the sides of her lower legs. She shook her wings. No wonder Holly put her in a tube top, a regular shirt wouldn't fit over those mutant wings. Posey began to cry---not a teenaged girl's drama-queen weeping or the petulant bawl of an upset child, but a deep, soul-tearing keening that tore through the air with a razor's edge, cutting all who hear it to the very bone.

Holly ran to her side and threw her arm around her waist. "It will be okay, Posey. You will be fine. We'll all be fine. You've got us and we'll get you through this."