The Next Phase: Stolen Sun

Maya covered her face with her arm in an effort to shield her eyes from the dull glow emanating from somewhere overhead.  She mumbled in her sleep, asking her mother to close her bedroom curtains.  When no response came, the teenager begrudgingly opened her eyes and stretched, all the while commenting about the strange dream she had.  Unable to focus on any shapes as the light above her made her blink several times, Maya went to rub her eyes when she felt an object on her wrist bump uncomfortably against her head.  Her subconscious mind noted the presence of the object but Maya was unaware of its significance.  A yawn escaped her as she stretched where she lay.  It wasn’t until her hands touched the cool surface of a concrete wall that a jolt ran through her mind, shooting her into a sitting position.

Her hair stood on end as realized she was anywhere but in her room.  Instead of her blue walls decorated with posters of her favorite bands and movies, four grey concrete slabs stared back at her.  The room appeared to be approximately six feet by eight feet and the only other objects she could see where a tiny sink, toilet and the cot-like bed she found herself on.  The ceiling appeared equally stark with only a single vent grate and an intercom speaker to break the monotony.  With a gasp, she noticed the objects on her wrists and completely ignored the curious absence of a door to the cell.  Maya ran her fingers across the silver and black bracelets but failed to discern their purpose or how they became locked to her wrists.

Each bracelet was nearly as thick as a watch but there were no straps to adjust the fit.  Instead, the bands were solid as if they were one, continuous piece of metal.  The only marking Maya discovered provided a discomforting clue to the devices’ function.  Etched in the metal on the silver half of one of the devices was a small black symbol of a lightning bolt within a triangle.  Maya’s heart quickened as she looked down at her bare feet to see that she was wearing matching anklets.  She brought her legs in close and pulled at the anklets experimentally.  Like those on her wrist, the devices were firmly attached.  To her growing horror, Maya put a hand to her neck and found yet another device fastened around her.

Every moment brought a dozen new questions and Maya’s imagination turned against her as it contemplated every horrible way to answer them.  Although she told herself to remain calm, a deeper, more instinctual part of her mind clawed its way into the light and howled for her to act.  She did not suppress the feeling outright but it was still a challenge to quiet it enough to think.  Maya examined the room from her bed again, this time taking note of a small sliding door placed about halfway up the wall opposite the sink.  As she slid off of the bed and touched her feet to the floor, a chill ran through her.  She also felt strange Velcro seams running along the sides of her thin grey pants and shirt as if the clothes were meant to be ripped off.  She simply added this discovery to her growing list of questions as she approached the small door.

The metal door slid open easily enough and revealed a recess in the wall.  Inside the recess Maya found a neatly folded outfit identical to hers.  She took the garments and placed them on the bed where her eyes were drawn to the numbers “067” printed just under the left shoulder.  The same three numbers were present on Maya’s clothes and yet another question begged for an answer.

“Hello?” Maya called, her voice uncertain.  She began to walk around the room in search of an exit.  Although she could not see any obvious doors, every wall had a feature except for the one across the room from her bed.  Her reasoning brought her to investigate the wall while her inner instincts growled at her to tear it down.  “Is anyone there?”  Only a slight echo responded.

Maya balled her hands into fists and gave each wall a few solid thumps.  As she predicted, three of the walls sounded solid while the completely bare wall suggested that there was empty space behind it.  “I think there’s been a mistake!” Maya called out before she looked to the ventilation grate.  It was impossible for her to reach and even if she could, it was too small for her to fit through.  Instead, she settled on shouting into the vent with the hope that someone would hear.  “What’s going on?  Can anyone hear me?!”

Her voiced reverberated up the shaft but still no replies came.  Frustrated, Maya returned to the bare bed and sat with her back against the wall.  Her breathing slowed and she concluded that anger and panic would serve no purpose at the moment.  Although Maya was unsure about the nature of her predicament, she was fairly confident she was not dreaming and was in fact awake.  This thought led her to recall her recent dreams and the more she concentrated, the more she remembered.  She mentally brought herself to the end of her school week, imagining the bell’s ringing and the sweet, energetic excitement of a Friday afternoon.  It wasn’t long before she saw her parents and siblings all ready for their weekend trip.  Her best friend appeared in her memory and Maya remembered her family picking the other girl up on their way out of town.  The sun was bright although it dimmed as the hours wore on and it sank into the horizon.

Nothing in her recent memory pointed to the truth nor offered any clues but as Maya worked her way to her last memory before she awoke, a dark yet chaotic sequence of events revealed itself.  There was breaking glass, a horrific odor, smoke, shouting, loud growls and a blinding flash.  Maya’s heart sank as she realized that if she was in trapped in a cell, then her friend and family could very well share the same fate.  Her instincts became more difficult to ignore and Maya considered adding a hint of aggression to the situation.  From where she stood, the circumstances behind her imprisonment had been violent and all other evidence suggested anything but benign motivation.
 
However, before Maya could act further, she heard a series of metallic clicks and the hum of machinery.  The wall she suspected to be a doorway proved her assumption correct and slowly retracted itself into the ceiling.  Maya left her bed and peered into the hallway the door had revealed.  Small, round lights embedded in the floor illuminated the light grey corridor eerily.  When Maya leaned her head outside, she saw the hallway extend several meters to her left and right until it turned and continued out of view.  From the threshold of her cell, the only other visible way Maya saw she could go was down a darkened passage not far to the right, on the opposite side of the hall.
 
The thought of calling out into the seemingly empty halls played around Maya’s head.  No one had answered before but that was when the door was closed.  Furthermore, she debated venturing from the certainty of the cell into the strange and potentially hostile building beyond the door.  Maya looked down the hall and back to the concrete room before she made her decision.  The floor felt different in the hall with an almost rubbery texture that felt more comfortable under her bare feet.  It was definitely warmer than the floor in the cell and Maya quietly hoped this was a positive sign.  The teenager was silent as she hugged the wall, discovering its surface to be made of the same slightly spongy material.  Maya likened it to the track at her school albeit smoother but pushed the peculiar detail from her mind when she reached the darkened corridor.

No sounds could be heard and the air possessed a neutral scent.  Even as her eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness, Maya still could not make out the path ahead as her main senses proved useless.  With her heartbeat steadily increasing and goose bumps forming on her skin Maya entered the hall.  After taking a few steps the hall activated rows of lights similar to those in the first corridor except dimmer.  Maya froze for a moment until the lights lining the ceiling of the hall revealed where it ended.  With the lights on, the corridor felt as if it were more of an elongated room than a hallway.  The last light in the line flashed red but Maya failed to see anywhere to go as the hall ended there.  Her curiosity briefly overcome by confusion, Maya decided to explore the rest of the first hallway and turned around.  Suddenly, the entrance to the corridor was sealed by a door that descended from the ceiling in one rapid motion.

A curse escaped Maya’s lips but as she approached the new door, she noticed a black closed-circuit camera dome hiding in the corner of the hallway.  She waved at it with both arms and wondered if it was equipped with a microphone.  “Hey!  What’s going on?!  Can you hear me?!”  She was afraid her questions had fallen on deaf ears again when the wall at the end of the room hummed and clicked.  To Maya’s surprise, the grey surface was broken by a panel sliding upward to produce a television screen, a speaker and another camera mounted to the wall.

The screen glowed and displayed a curt message.  “Move closer.” it read.  Reluctantly, Maya obeyed.  Behind the tinted plastic dome protecting it, the camera moved to track the teenager as she stepped towards the screen.  The red light to the right of the screen continued to pulsate gently and Maya found her eyes flicking back and forth from it to the monitor.  After a moment, more instructions appeared in stark, rectangular, white letters against a dark background.  “067 confirmed.  Transform and proceed.  Noncompliance will be punished.”

Maya froze, her eyes locked on the command.  Half of her mind was emotionally alight, sending signals throughout her body to prepare for danger while the other half tried to corral this outburst of emotions with an equal surge of questions.  No, no, no.  What is this place?  Who are these people and what are they talking about?  Could they mean…?  No, that’s impossible.  They told us we were safe!  How can they know?!

A symbol matching the ones on her devices replaced the text before a ten second timer joined it onscreen.  The timer began to count down as steadily as a beating heart.  “No, wait!  Stop the clock!  What do you want from me!?” Maya shouted at the camera.  Her breathing lost its calm rhythm as the text returned below the timer.

“Transform and proceed.  Noncompliance will be punished.”  Five seconds remained and the symbol with the lightning bolt flashed.  Maya pulled at the bracelets and collar.  She tried to speak again but when the timer hit zero, she hit the floor.  The electric shock couldn’t have lasted more than a mere moment but as the devices discharged simultaneously, Maya was powerless to withstand the effect.

When Maya was able to move again she gazed up at the screen and camera that stared back at her without remorse.  A new message dominated the screen.  “We know.”

Fire flickered behind Maya’s eyes.  It was all she had to keep her tears at bay.  From the floor she could see the camera trained on her face and refused to show it her fear.  “What do you know?” she spat.  She half expected the devices to shock her again but to her surprise she received a response.

“We know about you.” the screen read.

On her hands and knees Maya growled back at the wall.  “I don’t know who the hell ‘you’ are but just what do you think you know about me?”  There was a pause before the screen replied.

“Everything.”

One by one, surveillance photographs of Maya and her family materialized before her incredulous eyes.  There were images taken from public and school security cameras as well as more haunting photos that could only have been acquired by following her.  At first the photos only showed Maya in an urban setting but before long the pictures on the screen began to feature a familiar forest.  Maya’s blood ran cold as she recognized certain areas such as a winding creek or her favorite rock formation.  The area was special to her as the sun warmed the boulders just right and she could relax for hours in silence and seclusion.  Or so she thought.  There were enough images to suggest multiple cameras had been used.  Maya fought to deny the evidence but as the pictures continued to appear, her creeping suspicions became confirmed.  With the last few images, Maya could no longer doubt that her mysterious captors knew her family’s secret.

Centered in the full-color photograph was a creature that resembled a large wolf with amber fur.  It was lying face down on a boulder so the camera could easily see how much longer it was than a normal wolf.  The next picture was magnified so the viewer could note the numerous human-like characteristics in the wolf such as its more dexterous forepaws.  Finally, in the last image the creature stood up on its hind legs and appeared to walk upright.  From its long snout to its pointed ears and fangs, the creature’s lupine face was captured by the camera in exquisite detail.  Nothing could describe the fear within the young woman as she was forced to face the truth and gazed upon her other self.

“Transform and proceed.  Noncompliance will be punished.” the screen displayed again.  Maya’s urge to smash the screen was halted when the electroshock symbol reappeared.  “Obey.”  The timer returned as well, holding itself at ten seconds.
Maya contemplated refusal.  Although unsure if she was trapped inside some kind of sick game, twisted form of entertainment or one of the many other possibilities swimming through her imagination, she was sure she was at the mercy of the screen.  As much as she wanted to resist being a pawn, she saw one benefit to following the screen’s orders.  If her captors knew about her ability and wanted her to display it, then she finally had a reason to reveal it.  With no need to restrain her full potential, Maya smiled to herself thinking that she could use her talents to gain the upper hand.  With that glimmer of hope in mind, Maya stood up and began her transformation.

Despite years of experience, it still took several moments for Maya to fully complete her shift.  It started with her bare feet reconfiguring into padded hindpaws tipped with sharp, black claws.  The changes made their way up her body and caused the Velcro seams to give way.  A bushy tail pushed its way past her pants before they fell to the floor.  With her now clawed hands, Maya freed herself of the specially designed shirt and noticed with an air of frustration how the devices on her wrists adjusted to her more muscular arms.  Once again, she filed the detail away in the hope that it would prove useful later.  Her ears grew pointed and quickly improved her sense of hearing as they finished shifting.  The same could be said of her sense of smell as her nose and mouth pushed outward into a muzzle.  However, as her transformation ended, Maya noted how little there was to hear or smell in the corridor as it retained its sterile atmosphere.  Maya stood before the camera, baring her now sharpened teeth and growling as if to dare the screen to shock her again.

“067 transformation complete.  Proceed.” read the screen.  Suddenly, the wall with the flashing light rose into the ceiling to reveal another brief passageway that ended in another hall.  Maya crept down towards the new area cautiously.  The walls and floor featured the same slightly spongy texture as the previous section.  It felt comfortable under Maya’s paws as she explored.  The halls were shorter in the new area and every now and again she would come across doors leading to bare rooms.  Some rooms were connected together by another door in their conjoining wall but without any furniture or office equipment, Maya struggled to understand their purpose.

After wandering the featureless corridors for a few minutes without finding anything, Maya decided to head back towards where she entered.  Without many significant marks in the environment to help her navigate, Maya had difficulty retracing her steps.  When she finally found the correct hallway, she let out a growl upon realizing the passage in was sealed.  Closing the exit made sense to her but what she could not figure out was what she was expected to do.  Although the halls were confusing at times and most of the rooms led to nowhere, the area wasn’t much of a maze.  She wondered if her captors were testing her but she never found any evidence of what they were testing.  The few facts she did know were still vastly outnumbered by her questions and exploring the rooms did little to resolve this.

Just as she was about to walk the halls again, Maya heard voices and footsteps somewhere.  She angled her ears toward the sounds and sniffed the air as well.  Whoever was in the section with her was either very large or traveling with a group.  Maya inferred the latter was true as she could detect several different voices whispering as the footsteps grew louder.  Her mind raced again and debated whether these newcomers were a threat or not.  She was still questioning her safety when she peeked around a corner to see where the noise was coming from and breathed a sigh of relief.

Six men dressed in black tactical gear walked briskly down the hall in two columns.  Helmets and goggles protected their heads but also made it difficult for Maya to tell the men apart.  To her, the team moving toward her looked like a police SWAT team out of the news or movies.  She couldn’t identify the weapons they carried although she did find it strange that they all possessed blue barrels.  When the SWAT team was halfway down the hall Maya waved her left paw from around the corner and called out to them.  Her lupine form deepened her voice but she knew she had to give her rescuers a warning so as not to frighten them.

“Hey, don’t shoot okay?  Don’t be afraid, I’m not going to hurt you.  I’m coming out now.” Maya said.  The moment she stepped into full view of the SWAT team was the instant she knew she had made a mistake.  The first two men in the formation dropped to one knee and took aim at her.  Maya managed to dash back into the safety of the corner in time to avoid the incoming barrage intended for her.  She dug her hand claws into the wall and inhaled quickly.  The end of the hallway was peppered with over a dozen red or blue dots of a waxy, paint-like substance.  Whether lethal or not, Maya was certain that she should avoid getting shot by whatever the men were carrying.

Maya gripped the soft floor and launched herself down the hall and away from the team.  Behind her the men barked orders at each other.  More gunshots rang out and Maya felt the projectiles rip through the air around her, brushing dangerously close to her amber coat.  The men ran now, determined not to lose sight of the wolf if they could help it.  Unfortunately for them, Maya used her mild familiarity with the area’s layout to evade their frantic fire.  Her claws found purchase on the walls when she made tight turns, allowing her to retain some of her momentum as she changed directions.

“Target lost!”

“Where the hell did it go?”

“There’s nowhere to go.  It has to be here somewhere!”

“Two man teams, spread out and watch your fire.  It can’t hide forever.”

Maya ducked into a room as soon as she overheard the order.  Even if the rooms would be searched eventually, she knew there was no way she could avoid the team in the halls once they spread out.  She found one of the double rooms and hid herself behind the doorway to the innermost chamber.  Every sense felt amplified and if it weren’t for the men hunting her down she would have completely enjoyed the sensation.  However, her muscles tensed and her fur stood on end when she heard one of the pairs rush into the first room.

“Clear,” said the first man. “Got another room here.  Let’s check it.”

There was no avoiding her pursuers.  The only way out of the rooms was through them so as soon as they entered Maya’s hiding place, she barreled into them clumsily.  Her motions were less coordinated than she anticipated but she was able to pin the first man underneath the body of the second.  Taken by surprise, the men were unable to react effectively as their frantic squirming was met with failure.  Maya swiped away the second man’s rifle with her paw in-between attempts to calm the pair down.  “Please!  I’m not trying to hurt you!  Listen to me!”

Her pleas went unheeded though as the second man managed to wrestle himself free and rolled off of his comrade.  “Light’er up!” he shouted as he cleared the line of fire.  Maya’s golden eyes went wide as she stared down the barrel of the man’s weapon.  She leapt through the door and into the first room as the man squeezed off several shots.  Her claws found purchase in the soft floor and she flew from the room faster than the bullets at her back.

“I just want to talk!” she growled over her shoulder as she sprinted down a short hall.  She tried to find another room to take cover in but as she tried to pass through the doorway she collided with another searching pair.  The trio of bodies crashed to the ground awkwardly with Maya on top.  “I’m sorry!” she stammered as she regained her balance on her hind paws.  One of the stunned men tried to aim at her but she was quick to slap his weapon out of his hands.  “Please stop shooting!” she said with exasperation.

Unfortunately for Maya, the sight of a frustrated werewolf standing over him elicited a rather understandable reaction from the tactically dressed man she just disarmed.  With a gasp and quick hand, the man drew his pistol from its leg holster and centered Maya in his sights.  He unloaded every round in the magazine into the young wolf’s chest until the weapon’s blue slide locked back.  The pistol’s small, plastic projectiles broke upon impacting Maya’s furred body and left behind red paint, bruises and a great deal of pain.  A yelp escaped Maya as she fell backwards against the wall.  However, before she could move again, the devices around her limbs discharged and drowned out the stings of the training bullets.

Her body was paralyzed as her muscles locked up.  She was powerless to stop her fall but she didn’t care.  “Ceasefire!  Ceasefire!” said a voice from a speaker somewhere overhead.  “Double first contact, bare arena, standard arms simulation complete.  All personnel, ceasefire.”  Maya groaned.  No one came to her aid.  The men just stood there, catching their breath and trading comments about what just happened.  Maya could hardly believe what she was hearing although the more she listened; the more some things started to make sense.

“Damn, that thing can move…”

“No shit.  I thought it would be way easier than that.”

“It wasn’t so tough.”

“Ha!  It managed to knock all of y’all on your asses.  And that was just one of ‘em by itself!”

“He’s right.  Imagine what a bunch of them could do…”

“Yeah.  Just think.  Most of us woulda been dead if this were real.”

Maya struggled to lift her head but all she could manage to do was swivel her ears.  Her movements caught the attention of the gathered men who flinched at the sight with their fingers near their triggers.

“Be cool y’all, it’s outta this fight.”

As much as Maya wanted to prove the man wrong, her body refused to move.  After a few moments, she felt fatigue creeping in on her consciousness and closed her eyes.  When she opened her eyes again, she was on the bed in her cell.  Still in wolf form, she rolled off the bed and examined herself.  The red paint that had caked onto her fur was cleaned off and the bruises had healed completely.  With every passing second she became more awake and more hostile.  She clawed at the wall-door and struck it with all of her might.  Just as she feared, her rage didn’t even leave a scratch.  She panted for a moment before she curled up in the center of the cell floor.  Her low whine filled the room, which felt smaller by the minute.

“I thought I smelled a new arrival.”  Maya’s ears perked up.

“Who said that?  Where are you?  What’s going on?!” she asked, investigating the ventilation grate.

A mature, gruff, male voice echoed down the shaft in reply.  “Whoa there, take it easy.  Slow down with the questions.  You new ones are always so curious.”

“Yeah, that tends to happen when someone gets kidnapped and shot at in some sick death-maze bullshit!” Maya spat back.

“Well, it’s easy to see why they picked you to have a go in the Kill House.  You definitely have the fire they want.” the voice replied coolly.

“And just who the hell are ‘they’?  While we’re at it, who are you and how do I know I can trust you?!  For all I know you could be the one who put me in here!” Maya barked into the vent.

A sigh barely carried itself through the shaft.  “Look, before we start off on the wrong foot or paw or whatever, let me just slow this down for a second.  I know you’re probably a little high strung from the First Contact sim but if this is going to work, you need to calm down and listen to me for a bit.”  Maya relaxed herself somewhat and sat on the bed. “Deal?”

“Deal.” Maya said in a calmer voice.

“Alright then,” the voice agreed before he continued. “You can call me Seventeen.  I’m in the same situation as you and have been for quite some time.”

“Seventeen?” Maya perked up her ears in bewilderment.  “Can you tell me your real name?  Like, my name’s-”

“No.  Don’t tell me your name.  You may not be down here long and names just make things harder for both of us.  I hope you understand.  Just tell me your number, the one they put on your clothes.”

Maya recalled the numbers she noticed on her shirt.  “It says I’m number 067.  Does that mean I’m the sixty-seventh person to end up here?”

“To be fair, that’s what all of you new arrivals think but sadly it’s not true.  The number doesn’t mean anything.  It’s not even a serial number or anything that helps them catalog us.  It’s just another part of the process; another trick they use to take away the person you were.  You’re Sixty-seven now.”

“Like hell I am!  I have a name!”

There was a soft, half-hearted chuckle in the vent.  “No you don’t.  People have names.  Cities have names.  Hell, even dogs have names.  Not us,” said the voice. “Not anymore…”

Although her anxiety spiked again, Maya restrained herself.  “Okay then Seventeen, I assume whoever’s holding the keys to this place has a name too.  Who do we owe the pleasure?”

“And you’re correct.  Our lavish accommodations are brought to us by the Cascadia Corporation,” Seventeen answered, adopting Maya’s sarcastic tone. “Makers of the finest small arms and advanced personal weaponry in the world.  You and I have the privilege of seeing how their products and personnel handle their true targets.”

“What?”

“As you’ve figured out by now, the company is fully aware of the existence of werewolves.  Well, at least the higher-ups and field operators are.  Anyway, they’re convinced a war is coming between normal folks and those like us.  Of course, most of the world’s population is unaware of us so they don’t want to risk letting the guns blaze unless they have a significant advantage.  First they train their people and test their weapons and then they’ll teach what they learn to everyone else.”

“And they need us to be their lab rats; their targets.” Maya growled.

“Correct again.” Seventeen said.

“Then what happens if I refuse to play?  They want to teach people how to fight werewolves but what if I don’t do anything when I go back in the maze?  Why would I help them do their job better?”

“Oh I wouldn’t do that.” Seventeen warned. “The collars and manacles are fine for getting us to obey in the short term but if you decide you won’t cooperate and be useful, they won’t shock you.  They’ll get rid of you and find someone else.” Maya imagined how easily someone else could share her fate.  She reasoned that if she was trapped here, then another girl would not be needed to take her place.  “My advice?  Show them everything you got.  Keep surprising them with new tricks.  Be as crafty as they tell their operators you are.  The longer you stay useful, the longer you’ll live.”

“Is that why you’re still alive?” Maya asked.  Several moments passed in silence before Seventeen responded quietly.

“It’s one of the reasons, yes.”

“If they want to see what happens when they put me in a cage and piss me off, then that’s what I’ll show them.” Maya said optimistically. “Maybe that will buy me enough time to figure a way out of this place.”

Seventeen chuckled again. “There it is; the first mention of escaping.  You’re a little quicker than most, I’ll give you that.  There was once this poor soul who never even brought up the idea.  He took one look around and realized how thoroughly screwed he was.  I’m not sure what happened to his will to fight but he gave up rather quickly.  I didn’t know whether to pity him or congratulate his grasp of reality.”

His comment concerned Maya but she was determined to persist.  “That won’t be me.  There has to be a way out.”

“I’m sure there is, but you’ll never get far with all the security precautions they’ve taken.  Although, don’t let that discourage you, they’re mostly non-lethal.  Mostly.” Seventeen said. “You can even think of escape plans as your own pet project to keep your mind occupied.  A little focus will help ward off insanity.  I’ve seen madness in more than a few werewolves and believe me, it’s not pretty.”

There was so much for Maya to take in all at once and despite her determination to remain hopeful, the more Seventeen told her, the more doubt began to creep into her mind.  “I don’t plan on going crazy, I plan on making them regret taking me in the first place.”

“Good, hold onto that feeling.  It’ll help you get through the first few simulations.  But be warned, they like to vary the encounters so we won’t always know what to expect.  Sometimes you’ll be on your own but after today they’ll more than likely let me into the Kill House with you.”

Maya bared her teeth in a wolfish smile.  “Sounds good to me,” she said, pausing. “You know, I like those odds but if we’re going to work together, I think it may help to know each other’s names.”

Seventeen sighed. “I already told you, I don’t want to-”

“My name’s Maya.” the young werewolf exclaimed before her fellow prisoner could finish his sentence.  The vent was quiet for a while after her outburst and Maya was afraid that she’d offended Seventeen.

“I didn’t ask much from you.” Seventeen said softly.  His gruff voice flowed smoothly as if he tasted each somber word he spoke. “Do you know how many names I’ve heard pass through here?  Each one, before it was stripped from its owner and replaced, had a story behind it.  A family.  Friends.  An entire life.  Do you know what it’s like to watch someone’s story end?  To be there when they draw their last breath?” Maya lowered her ears and shifted nervously on the bed.  “Too many names.  Too many friends.”

“I’m sorry-“Maya began before Seventeen continued to speak.

“The numbers still hurt, but not as much as the names.   It makes it easier if I don’t have to imagine the life attached to the name.  It’s better that way.” His composed and informative tone gave way to an almost melancholic whisper.  However, despite the severity in his voice, the older werewolf was surprisingly quick to reclaim his serenity.  “You’ll have to forgive me Sixty-seven; I just don’t want to add another name to my wall.  It’s easier on me.”

“But it’ll be harder on them.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You said the numbers are part of their game; a way to take everything from us, right?” Maya said.

“Yes.”

“I say it’s time to take something back and this is where we start.  We can figure out where to go from there but we’ll end with our freedom.  I can go it alone if I have to, but we’ll stand a better chance if we work together.” Maya said. “You don’t want to add me to your wall, so don’t.  Help me take back what they stole and you won’t have to.”

Maya held her breath, praying the wolf would agree with her.  Moments passed slowly as she anxiously awaited a reply.

“I’m not going to tell you my name, but I will help you,” Seventeen said finally. “For them.”

“Thank you,” Maya said.  It may not have been much, but it was enough to give her a degree of hope.  “So where do we go from here?  Any idea on when they’ll let me out again?”

“If they needed targets then it must mean they have another group of operators to train.  We can expect a sim once or twice a day.  Food and water will come through the delivery chutes so if your dinner’s been delivered, I’d eat that and get some rest for tomorrow.”

Sure enough, when Maya slid open the door, a tray of raw meat and a bottle of water were waiting for her.  She took the meal and placed it on the bed.  “Not exactly a fresh kill but it’ll do.”  Her thoughts turned to her favorite place in the forest.  The memory of the sun’s warmth on her body brought a smile to her face.  Although she had only been in her cell for a day, she already missed the sky and the fresh air her captors had taken from her along with the sun.  Freedom meant so much more to her than just living in a world without windows or walls.

As she wished Seventeen a good night and thanked him for his help, Maya fought away her feelings of dread with her fond memories.  Not long ago, her entire world had been taken from her but as she ate her meal and settled in for the night, she vowed to take it all back.