Drew's POV

It's been hours since she has left and . . . I miss her. Ok I admit it, I miss her. I miss her a lot. It was a lot better with her here than before she showed up.

Right now I am in the shack, sitting in the red chair that Bella claimed for herself. There's no point in going outside, it will only remind me that she is not here.

Maybe I can pretend that she is over by the creek or maybe by the slot stuffing her face with food. Any second she will walk in and everything will go back to normal. Well... as normal as it gets around here.

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Nix's POV

Stupid Guillos, taking Drew into the control room. Do they not have a single brain cell? Dacan should be punished. In fact....

"Commander Dacan to Central Command. Commander Dacan to Central Command." I yell into my earpiece.

Speaking more calmly, I command a younger Cokara to give food to Bella. It's been a few hours. I wonder how she is holding up. I know I was a little harsh but she does need to learn her lesson. She was in the wrong. She will learn not to snoop.... it's not like I snooped on her.

I head down a series of hallways that were a neutral beige color and had windows that looked into each room. Some rooms were occupied by people who were bounded by chairs. They were being used as experiments to find new breaking points of each species. Other rooms were empty.

In the room to my right, a young Cokara is getting her puffy purple-grey shaded skin peeled back to reveal her magnificently bloody, writhing organs. She screams as one of the doctors, that I have staffed, poke at one of the organs with a scalpel. A pool of dark purple blood surrounded her as the doctor poked and prodded some more. Her screams suddenly cease as she passes out from the excruciatingly painful treatment.

A little farther down in the next room, lays an old Dejande. Parts of the spiky fur have been shredded off in an attempt to get through the rough skin. We haven't found any source that was able to get through their rough exterior but I am hopeful that we will find something soon. Then the fun will really begin.

I turn left and head down the slightly dark hallway. The rooms here are empty and look as if they haven't been used in a few weeks. This place will be perfect.

(:

As I head towards Central Command, I see a young female hidden behind a potted plant. She looks familiar yet I don't remember where I have seen her from. Oh well, it will come to me eventually. Her messy, ratted brown hair flowed down to the middle of her back. She didn't seem to notice me as she removed herself from behind the plant and made her way towards the door that led outside.

Walking briskly, yet quietly, towards her, I make my presence known by clearing my throat.

Almost immediately, she stiffens her body. Slowly, she turns around and her identity is revealed to me.

My precious Bella.

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Bella's POV

I slowly turn around and see my captor looking down at me. His hands reach my wrists and roughly grips them. His expression morphs from curiosity to fury.

Trying to get his grip to loosen, I begin tugging my arm back but he doesn't budge. Blood and adrenaline begin to flow as he yells into an earpiece that is sitting in his left ear. He looks at me and his eyes begin to shift to an inky black. I tug harder, trying to escape him but, again, he doesn't budge.

One of his hands leave my wrists and I saw this as an opportunity. I need to run. I need to run. Finally, I shift all of my weight to the balls of my feet and pull as hard as I possibly can so that my arm can be free. It works and I was about to run when a hand applies pressure to my throat.

I could hardly breathe as more pressure was applied. More and more, the pressure increased until I couldn't breathe at all. I scratch at the hand that was restricting me from breathing but he wouldn't let up. Black dots enter my line of vision as I continued to scratch and dig my nails into his hand. Tears spring to my eyes as I continue to fight for air. I knew that in a matter of seconds I would die.

God, don't let me die! Please don't let me die! I think, as my world turns to black.

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*Jordan screams at me in the distance*