Chapter 37 - The Beginning of the End

                                    

                                          
The stagnant buzzing of the light bulb above my head filled my ears with the sound of a thousand humming bumble bees as I put my arms up to protect my eyes from the harsh glare. They finally adjusted enough to make out a dozen waiting bodies perched around the room, some carrying pistols pointed right at my brains.
                          
"Shit," I muttered, feeling Joe and Hailey tense up in a similar manner behind me.
                          
"Glad you could join us," a woman, who looked vaguely familiar, said as she strode forward. Her cropped blonde hair hugged her face, making her red lipstick pop off her lips in a domineering manner. Her knee-high black skirt and matching clicking black heels rang out across the concrete as though she was living in a soap opera. "Cuff them."
                          
"Butch!" Hailey, unsure and desperate to know what was going to happen to us, screamed as several men rushed forward, roughing us to the ground. 
                          
I fell heavily on my wounded shoulder, feeling it ripple with an intense sensation. So much for a snatch and grab. Now it was a hostage and hostage situation. Joe was right. We were all going to die. 
                          
I tried to resist the strength the agents had grabbed my wrists with, but they twisted them behind my back before I had the chance to gouge their eyeballs out. I glared at the woman from my knees as the plastic strips were tightened. Why did this woman look so familiar?
                          
"Put the other two in the next room," the woman said, bending down to me. "This is the one we need."
                          
My body went numb. That's who she was. The woman from the carpark when I first came to Galgort. There was no point in fighting, not anymore. She would be ruthless with us until she got exactly what she needed. Then, she would kill us. Evil people who run illegal medical labs in the middle of the forest have no mercy. It doesn't exist in them. 
                          
Fuck you, creepy Galgort woman.
                          
"You can't do this! Let go of me!" Joe yelled angrily as he was half-dragged out of the room.
                          
"BUTCH!" Hailey screamed as they picked her up, without much kindness or consideration. She flailed under their strength, trying to break free as she locked her gaze on me and waited for me to at least try to do something to save us all. But I couldn't. For some reason, the physical fight had escaped me, and I sat back, slumped and hunched over. 
                          
I watched them exit the room, and the moment they did, the air fell deathly silent. My attention turned to the lady, her plain white lab coat clutching at her waist as she stared at me. It didn't help my boiling anxiety that the room smelt like mouldy mushrooms.
                          
"Who are you and what do you want?" I burst out. 
                          
She sighed, pulling out the file from her back pocket. "Thank you for returning this."
                          
I gritted my teeth. "Didn't realise you were missing it."
                          
She cackled lightly, sitting down on a table. Her face broke into the perfect smile before it faded again. "Well, we're all sincerely grateful to you."
                          
She came closer. I could smell the bittersweet apple scent radiating off her skin. A smooth and slender finger found its way to my jaw, drawing a line down it. "Shame."
                          
My eyebrows furrowed and I gulped under her uncomfortable touch. "What?"
                          
"You ask too many questions."
                          
"Where's Jack?" I said conclusively as her finger flicked away from me. 
                          
She smiled again. "Wouldn't you like to know."
                          
 "I would actually."
                          
"Strange."
                          
"That I care about my brother?"