CHAPTER 4: The Organization

She was awakened by the sound of voices, but she wasn't sure whether the voices were real or inside her head. She tried to open her eyes, but felt a sharp pain inside of them so she preferred to keep them shut. Skyler felt very different, it was as if something else was living inside of her but she couldn't put a finger on what she was feeling. She tried to replay memories in her head, but the voices she heard just got louder and louder so she knew that she had no choice but to fight the pain and open her eyes. As she did so she groaned in pain, not only because of the pain in her eyes but also because of the fact that her head was pounding. It was as if someone had hit her on the the head with a baseball bat, multiple times... So after great difficulty and effort she finally managed to open her eyes.

"Ah you are finally awake," a voice said.

"How are you feeling Skyler?" another voice asked. At that moment, Skyler felt chained to the bed she was on, so she lifted up her neck and saw that both her arms and legs were tied to the it and her painful expression changed to complete panic. Skyler engaged in a war with the chains as she tried to free herself but she only ended up getting hurt even more.

"You need to stop doing that, you are hurting yourself! Calm down Skyler, we mean you no harm," one of the voices said as the other person tried to restrain Skyler. It took the two people a couple of minutes but they finally got Skyler to calm down and it was only then that Skyler started to look around her. She was in a room that looked like a hospital room, however it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that the room had nothing to do with an actual hospital. Despite being in horrific pain, Skyler's curiousity somehow helped her power through all the unthinkable pain so that she could finally put faces on the voices that had been talking to her.

"Who are you guys and where am I?" she asked in suspicion despite her weak state.

"Well I'm Melanie Stone and this is my assistant Chris. We've been taking care of you since you got here..."

"So taking 'care' of me consists of chaining me to this bed?" Skyler asked angrily as her head kept pounding and her eyes kept asking for forgiveness for just being open.

"I know this looks bad but you need to trust us here Skyler, we aren't the bad guys," Melanie said with a small smile and in a reassuring voice.

"Your innocent smile isn't fooling me okay? Something else is going on, I need to know wha... Ugh my head is killing me," Skyler replied as she felt a heavy painful wave attack the inside of her head, it was as if little ants were literally eating her brain.

"Yeah about that, you took a nasty blow to the head and you'll require more rest but before that can you tell me how many fingers am I pointing up?"

"Four?"

"And now?"

"Seven?"

"And now?"

"Two? Look my eyes are really hurting I just wanna keep em shut and as i just mentioned, I've got a volcanic headache. Just tell me where the hell I am! Is this a hospital or something? Or some sort of secret place? Everything here screams suspicion, including the both of you!" Melanie looked at Skyler sympathetically, she had predicted that Skyler would react this way, but she also knew Skyler was not ready to hear the answers to her questions, yet. It was better for her to give Skyler a sedative to help ease the pain that she was feeling. There were still more tests that Melanie had to run on Skyler and she needed Skyler to be fully asleep so that she could run them successfully.

"I understand, if I was in your position right now I'd also be asking the same questions. But for now I ask you to trust us, you'll get answers soon enough. You need more rest so Chris will inject you with a sedative for the pain. You'll feel better when you wake up, I promise." Without any warning, Skyler felt an injection in her arm and just seconds afterwards she fell asleep.

"When will we be getting the results of her test?" Melanie asked Chris.

"In about four hours."

"Good, I think she'll be awake by then and I Hope this goes smoothly. She seems to have a feisty attitude and that could cause problems," Melanie said worriedly, "especially since she has no idea what awaits her."

"Well I have faith things will be okay, all we have to do is win her trust and the rest will happen by itself," Chris confidently said.

"I hope you are right Chris... Let's get those chains off her, she isn't a threat and then we'll leave her to rest. I'll check on her later.

**********

Skyler woke up three hours later and she immediately checked if she was still chained to the bed. Her eyes had stopped hurting but the headache was still around, however the pain had gone down a notch or two.

"Great, they decided to untie me," she said to herself in a grateful voice. She looked around the room and was greeted with four white unfriendly walls, no windows whatsoever and one door which was equally white. Skyler's gratefulness went down immediately as she observed her surroundings, not only did the environment silently scream mental prison but it also released a mysterious vibe and not the good kind of mysterious vibe.

"Where the hell am I?" she asked herself. She sat up slowly and she did so she felt got the same feeling as before, the feeling that else was living inside of her and that it was exploring the inside of her body from head to toe.

"The hit I took the head is probably making me feel things that don't exist," she thought as she tried to brush off what she was feeling. "It's ridiculous to think something could be living inside of me." Taking all the precautions necessary, Skyler made her way towards the door in slow motion as she, taking each step like she had never walked before in her life. She was out of breath by the time she got to the door and panted heavily as she leaned on the door. After taking a break for a couple of minutes, Skyler started bang on the door with the palm of her hands, she knew that she had to do something to get attention but the only thing she managed to do was make her headache come back.

"Maybe i should try shouting our or something, perhaps someone will come!" she contemplated.

"Hey!! Hey!! HE..." Skyler stopped at once because as soon as she raised her voice she felt a sharp sting in her head she she had no choice but to sit on the floor as she did not have the energy to walk back to her bed. She had never felt so confused in her life, the last thing she remembered was being blown away by whatever it was that had come out of Emily's eyes. She rubbed her heady softly, she could feel that it was still sensitive.

"How did those people know my name?" she wondered to herself. "Something doesn't feel right." Just then the door slid open and Melanie walked in.

"Skyler, it's good to see that you are euh... Sitting on the floor?"

"Yeah this headache of mine has really limited my mobilty," Skyler replied weakly, "but regardless, I still want answers to my questions!"

"I know and you will get them but for you to get them, you'll have to follow me." Melanie told Skyler. Skyler hesitated for a moment as she didn't feel like she could stand up without help. Melanie noticed this and offered Skyler her help but Skyler was to stubborn to accept the help and slowly got up by herself.

"Okay, have it your way," Melanie told her as she lifted both her arms in the air and backed away a little. "I just wanted to to help you."

"I don't mean this in a nasty way," Skyler grunted, "but we haven't reached the stage where I let you or anyone else here help me in anything and it is more than likely that we will never reach that stage."

"Wow! Just wow!" was all Melanie could say as a few seconds of awkward silence followed as both Melanie and Skyler just stared at each other. It was during those few seconds that Skyler paid attention to the person standing across her. Melanie was slightly taller than Skyler and instead of long straight black hair, Melanie had long straight brown hair that she had tied in a ponytail. She wore thick glasses which hid her dark brown eyes that suited her fair skin. Melanie's skin color was the perfect balance between white and brown and Skyler could tell that she came from a diverse family. However, what Skyler did somehow approve of was the fact that Melanie was wearing vintage converse shoes, it was only then that she realized she had been barefeet all this time and that she wasn't even wearing the clothes she had on the night before.

"Why am I dressed in this ugly yellow tracksuit and where are my shoes?" Skyler demanded.

"You finally realized that you are wearing something different! To be honest, it would've been the first thing I'd notice. I have no idea where you clothes are..." Melanie watched in amusement as she saw the panick on Skyler's face, she was sure Skyler was going to start protesting so she decided to give Skyler her shoes. "BUT, I do have your shoes with me, here you go." Melanie handed Skyler a bag made out of cloth and inside were her converse shoes. Skyler grabbed the bag from Melanie and quickly put on her shoes.

"Guess we have the same taste in shoes," Melanie told her.

"Mhmm," Skyler muttered under her breath.

"So now that you are ready to leave this room, follow me. Your answers are on the otherside of these four walls."

The moment Skyler stepped out of the room, she felt like she was in another world and the feeling of being in a mental prison disappeared completely. There were people everywhere and they were all busy. They all wore black and blue uniforms with a logo on it and very comfortable looking boots. Skyler liked the black and blue mixture, the black trousers and the blue shirts seemed trendy. She noticed that both the men and women wore the same uniform, no woman was wearing a skirt or a dress. It was the logo that sparked her curiosity as she had never seen it before. The earth was at the center of the logo but there were other cirlces surrounding the earth and each circle was connected to the earth via a line.

"What does the logo on the uniform mean?" Skyler asked Melanie. She hadn't seen the one on Melanie's uniform because Melanie was wearing a plain dark blue lab coat.

"You will know soon enough," Melanie replied vaguely. Skyler projected a confused and frustrated expression towards Melanie, after having her sedated, chained to a bed and sedated again, the least Melanie could do was tell her the meaning of the logo! Melanie noticed Skyler's confused and frustrated look and patted her gently on the shoulders.

"I understand your confusion, but everything will be explained," Melanie told Skyler sympathetically.

"You seem to understand a lot of things," Skyler commented sarcastically.

"I know you don't believe me and i understand why you don't but as I told you earlier, we're the good guys here."

"Is Emily here as well?" Skyler asked. She had to know if she would be seeing her ex bestie again so that she could prepare herself for more fireworks. Plus with the never ending headache that she had, Skyler wasn't sure that she even wanted to see Emily at all.

"For now don't worry about Emily, everything will be explained Skyler."

"And how do you know my name? Wait... I know... Everything will be explained."

"You learn fast," Melanie commented. They finally entered another section of the building. Skyler had the same sensation of being in another world as this time there was absolutely nobody in the section, it was like a deserted area.

"Elevators are this way," Melanie said.

Melanie swiped her card and the elevator opened. There was only one button inside, Skyler watched as Melanie pressed the button and as the elevator started to move, Skyler couldn't tell whether it was going up or down. She glanced nervously at Melanie as she still had her suspicions. Who exactly did Melanie work for? How did they find her? More importantly, what were they planning on doing with her? Skyler guessed that she would be finding out soon enough as the elevator stopped at its doors opened.

"This way," Melanie said. Skyler followed her in silence to a big door and nervously watched as Melanie opened it and walked in.

"Skyler, you don't need an invitation to come in," Melanie said with a laugh. Skyler's eyes widened as she entered the room, it was not only huge, but it had a huge LCD screen which showed what was going on in town, her town. She followed Melanie down a staircase. Skyler was in awe with the amount of people working, they were so busy that they didn't even notice her. Soon they reached an office and Melanie knocked on the door.

"Your answers are behind this door," Melanie told Skyler. A woman who seemed to be in her late forties opened the door. The woman looked at Skyler from head to toe, observing her intently. She then moved aside for Skyler and Melanie to enter her office.

"Please take a seat," she told them. Skyler noticed that there were three other empty chairs.

"The others won't be long. I've called them in. In the meantime Skyler, let me introduce myself to you. I'm General Krystal Williams."

"General?"

"Yes. I used to serve, but I'm here now. All you need to know about me is that I'm in charge of this whole place and I make all the important decisions."

Skyler looked at the General. She could tell that she was a serious person who did not take her job lightly and she started to feel sorry for the people who had to work under her. She was sure that the General would never tolerate mistakes not matter how big or small. Skyler assumed that General Williams got all her grey hairs from the job, it had to be very stressful managing a huge facility all by herself.

"Lucky for her that she has short hair, it should make it easier to dye," Skyler thought to herself.

"General, Skyler is still suffering from the blow to her head, so information should be given to her with precaution, any stress or shock could cause... complications," Melanie advised.

"Noted Agent Stone... So while we wait for the others, do you have any questions Skyler?" General Williams asked.

"As a matter of fact I do," Skyler replied immediately. "I would firstly like to know what exactly is this place!"

"It's my place of work," a voice answered. Skyler turned around in a flash and her eyes widened in shock. She wanted to speak but no words could come out of her mouth, she was sure that her eyes were deceiving her.

Standing by the door which the General had left open were three people. The first person Skyler didn't know, but the second was the blondy she had met at the competition and the third person was none other than her sister Shiloh.