Chapter 103 Chapter 103
Chapter One Hundred and Three
Irina
They dragged me down the corridor like I weighed nothing.
My feet scraped against the cold floor. I tried to fight but their grip was too strong.
"Please!" I begged. My voice was hoarse from screaming. "Please do not do this! I have a baby! He needs me!"
The creatures said nothing. They just kept moving forward, dragging me closer to that horrible room.
Vera's heels clicked behind us.
Each sound made my heart beat faster with terror.
"You should have kept your mouth shut," Vera said. Her voice was so calm it made my skin crawl. "But no, you had to snoop around."
"Please," I sobbed. Tears were streaming down my face. "I will not tell anyone. I promise. Just let me go. Please!"
"Too late for that," Vera replied coldly.
They reached the door to the lab. One of the creatures pushed it open. The smell of blood and chemicals hit me like a physical blow.
I gagged. My stomach heaved.
"No!" I screamed. "No! Please!"
But they lifted me and threw me onto a cold metal table.
The surface was freezing against my back. I could feel old bloodstains beneath me.
How many women had died on this table?
"No! Let me go!" I thrashed wildly.
But they were already strapping me down with leather restraints around my wrists and ankles.
I pulled against them with everything I had. The leather cut into my skin, drawing blood. But they didn't budge.
I was trapped.
"Where is my baby?!" I screamed. My voice was breaking. "What did you do with him?! Give him back!"
"Your baby is fine," Vera said calmly, walking over to a metal cabinet. She started opening drawers, pulling out instruments. "For now."
For now. What did that mean?
"What are you going to do to me?" I demanded. My whole body was shaking.
"What we do to all the troublemakers," Vera replied without looking at me.
She picked up a syringe from the tray. It was filled with something black. The liquid was thick. It moved slowly inside the glass.
It looked irritating.
"What is that?" I whispered. My throat was tight with fear.
"A gift from Dr. Andrei," Vera smiled. "He calls it his special serum."
She walked towards me with the syringe held high. The black liquid swirled inside.
"No!" I pulled against the restraints so hard I felt something pop in my shoulder. Pain shot through my arm. "Please! Do not!"
But Vera just smiled wider. She was enjoying this.
She brought the needle closer.
"This will hurt," Vera said cheerfully. "Quite a lot, actually."
She pressed the needle against my arm. I felt the sharp prick.
I screamed. The sound that came out of me was inhuman.
"Say goodbye to the world," Vera whispered.
Then she pushed the plunger down. The black liquid entered my veins. And everything went dark.
When I woke up, everything hurt.
My head was pounding. My vision was blurry. My whole body felt like it was on fire.
I blinked several times to focus my eyes.
I tried to move but the restraints were still there, holding me down. I was still in the lab.
But something was different now.
There was a man standing across the room. He was wearing a white coat and surgical gloves. A mask covered his face.
He was preparing something on a metal tray. I could hear the clink of instruments. Then he picked up a knife. The blade gleamed under the bright lights.
What was he doing?
I tried to move again. The restraints rattled against the metal table.
The man's head snapped towards me. His eyes met mine over the mask. I knew those eyes. Those brown, kind eyes.
"Andrei?" I whispered.
He was supposed to be gone. He had left for Moscow.
Why was he here?
"You are supposed to be unconscious," Andrei said. His voice was completely different now. It was cold and dark. "Was the dosage not enough?"
"Why?" I choked out. Tears were running down my face again. "Why are you doing this?"
Andrei smiled. And it was the most terrible thing I had ever seen.
"Because I want to build a better world," he said simply. He walked towards me slowly. The knife was still in his hand. "A world where women and children are no more."
"What?" I gasped. "That is insane!"
"Is it?" Andrei asked. He sounded genuinely curious. "Women are weak and emotional. They ruin everything they touch. And children? They grow up to be more problems."
He was standing right next to the table now, looking down at me.
"My mother ruined my father's life," Andrei continued. "She manipulated him, controlled him and made him weak. And when she had me, she ruined my life too."
"So you hate all women because of one person?" I asked. My voice was shaking.
"Not just one person," Andrei corrected. "Every woman I have ever known has been the same. Manipulative, selfish and destructive."
He raised the knife, placing it right above my chest.
"So I decided to do something about it," he said. "I harvest organs from women and children and create better creatures, men. They can't reproduce."
"You are a monster," I whispered.
"No," Andrei shook his head. "I am a visionary."
He pressed the knife against my skin. The metal was cold on my skin. This was how I was going to die.
I would never see my baby again.
I would never see Dimitri again.
"I am sorry," I whispered to the air. To my baby, and Dimitri. "I am so sorry."
Andrei raised the knife higher, preparing to plunge it down.
I shut my eyes and screamed, waiting for death.
But it did not come.
Instead, I heard a loud crack.
The sound of something har
d hitting bone.
Andrei grunted. Then I heard his body slump to the floor.
What happened?
I opened my eyes slowly, afraid of what I would see.
And there, standing over Andrei's unconscious body, was Mikhail.
He was holding a wooden plank. Blood was dripping from it to the floor.
"Mikhail?" I whispered. I could not believe what I was seeing.