For a moment, the only thing I can hear is the sound of my own heart beat. I swallow hard, running the pads of my fingers back and forth over the small, hard lump. Not only have they tried to numb my feelings, they've been inside of my body at some point, planting something under my skin that doesn't belong. Something I didn't know existed.

What else have they done to me without my knowledge? Without my consent? What else is hiding in my body that I don't yet know about? My mind flashes back to a curled-up Muriel, the way the tears had glistened in her eyes as she relayed what Jackson had done. The same could have happened to me and I might not even remember.

I'm vaguely aware of Reece saying my name, but my tongue feels too heavy to formulate a response. My skin is crawling, trying to break away from a body I have no control over.

"Get it out," I say, fixing my eyes on the window opposite. "Reece, get it out of me!"

Reece jerks into action. He flicks on the bedside lamp and grabs a pocket knife from his bag before positioning himself behind me. I tilt my head so he can get a good look, my stomach churning with the urge to be sick. "It's just under the surface," Reece says, his cold fingers brushing the nape of my neck. "I think I can cut it out."

I flinch as he lowers the knife's point to my skin, squeezing my eyes shut.

"This is going to hurt," he warns. The sharp edge cuts into my skin. I dig my hands into the duvet in a bid to stop myself from screaming out. "I've got it," Reece mutters. He scrambles to his feet before placing the small device on the floor. He lifts up his shoe, stomping on the chip until it shatters into pieces, and then he grabs a towel and presses it to my neck. "We need to go."

I nod before taking the towel from his hands. He gets up and begins throwing things back into his bag. I keep my gaze fixed on the front door, expecting somebody to come bursting through it.

Once Reece is packed, I throw down the towel and slip on my shoes, turning to look at him cautiously. He gives me a small nod before taking my hand and leading me toward the motel door.

It is pitch black outside, but I can just make out the silhouette of our vehicle in the distance. We run toward it, our footsteps almost soundless against the wet gravel. My fear begins to ease once we make it to the car, and my hand just clasps around the door handle when something hard is pressed to the back of my head.

Slowly, I drop my hand and glance at Reece, whose own gun is pointed at whoever it is standing behind me.

"It's over, son."

My eyes widen, able to recognize that calculating voice anywhere. The man with the gun to my head is Reece's father, Adrian, and any hopes I had at escaping seem to shatter into pieces.

Reece drops his gun to the floor without hesitation, kicking it away before straightening up, his hands outstretched in an act of surrender. "I can't let you take her back," he says quietly, his eyes like sparks of electricity through the dark. "For once in your life, Dad, stop following orders and do what's right. Pretend you never saw us."

Adrian tenses before pressing the barrel harder into the back my head. "We don't have time for this," he says, his body like a brick wall behind me.

I think back to the very first time I'd laid eyes on him, back when I thought escaping Marine World could only ever be a dream. I tell myself if I die tonight, at least I'll die having experienced the real world, having fought against Marine World's iron embrace, but the thoughts do little to comfort me. I still die, either way.

"They sent me to talk some sense into you before they bring out the big guns," Adrian continues, and even though his voice is as hard as always, I detect the underlying fear in his tone. "If we don't take her back, they're going to hurt you, Reece. You don't understand who we're dealing with."

I expect Reece to hand me over right here and now, but from the look on his face he is still determined to fight for my freedom, a fight neither of us is going to win. "You lied to me," Reece says, his jaw contracted. "You told me they were like animals, that they didn't understand anything." He starts to move toward Adrian, but the faint, orange glow of car headlights stop him, their beams getting closer until I'm forced to shield my eyes from the glare. Adrian prods me again with the gun. I drop my hands as the lights switch off, plunging everything into darkness again.

No one moves as the car door jerks open, the sound of heavy boots against gravel getting closer, the steps strangely in sync with my fast beating heart. I expect to be faced with an army of men, all ready to drag me back kicking and screaming, but only a single figure emerges, his face not yet close enough for me to make out his features. He is tall, though, and broad, with a strange, shiny object gripped between long, wide fingers. My eyes hone in on it, able to make out the point of a needle–the same kind Marine World would use to send us to sleep.

I raise my gaze to meet the eyes of the intruder, my heart all but stopping when I'm finally able to get a good look at his face. It is the same face that forever shows up in my nightmares, with those same calloused hands that pinned Muriel down.

Jackson.