Chapter 4 Page 4

Sometime in 1959, Diablo Canyon Experimental Research Labs.

Nikita had lied about the food being safe. This morning, the eggs they gave them. They were drugged. The scientists trusted Nikita with this information. Even set him up so he could trade plates with Godiva to make it look more trustworthy. They had believed him. They had gone down pretty hard.

At the time, it had seemed like a pretty good plan. Lie to them, then the guy in the lab coat gives you cigarettes and pain killers. No problem. But waiting outside the door to his room, he was feeling the pangs of regret. Godiva was going to kill him.

The man that walked him to the door gestured for him to go in, but Nikita did not move.

“This is your stop. Go. I have other things to get done.”

“Wait - uhhh is Godiva back? If they’re back I can’t go in. They will kill me. They will smash my head into the wall. I can’t go in there.” He looked pleadingly at the man, but it didn’t seem to have much effect.

“Yes they are in there but they should be out for quite a while. They fixed the rod placement in their back today and they were quite heavily sedated, far past what we had you give them. Just play dumb tomorrow and you’ll be fine.”

Nikita was not particularly soothed by this sentiment but he didn’t really have any grounds to fight further. The man opened the door and gestured him on. “Wait. Wait a moment. Just so they don’t. If they try to hurt me…. Don’t leave quite yet.”

“Yeah fine, whatever. Look- they’re out cold.”

Sure enough, Godiva was lying on his bed breathing slowly and steadily. Nikita still looked nervous, but his guard departed anyway. Godiva was asleep and there was nothing more for him to do. The door shut and locked behind him.

Nikita crept over quietly to his bed. It was very bright in the room but if he turned the lights off he wouldn’t be able to tell where Godiva was. And that was not something he wanted to risk.

He was sore and tired. They hadn’t taken anything out of him today, but they had done quite a few x-rays and surface tests. His ribs hurt and he wanted to be asleep. He needed to get to some of the pills he had hidden in his mattress and hide his new ones. If Godiva found them they would flush them or something else cruel, he was sure of it.

As soon as he reached his bed, though, his fears were realized. Godiva sat up. The hair on Nikita’s arms stood straight up as he watched them. They turned and looked dead at him. There was silence for a moment as they watched each other.

Godiva broke the silence quite jarringly.

“You- you fucking mongrel- you lied to me-” they shouted through gritted teeth. They didn’t sound very good. They rose shakily to their feet and started toward Nikita. The personnel had not been lying about the sedatives but apparently hadn’t considered that Godiva could be angry enough to power through them.

Nikita immediately vaulted over his bed to get a buffer between the two of them. He was not going to get punched again. He was tired but there was no way Godiva could outrun him right now. He could just run around until they got so tired they had to stop. But damn if he wasn’t a little scared anyways.

They made it up to his bed and stepped left, he stepped in the opposite direction. They faltered and went back right and he countered again.

“Get. Over here.” They looked at him with eyes burning with rage.

“Listen- listen- Godiva- i didn’t - I didn’t know that they were going to do that- I”

Godiva was not listening. They went straight over the bed, an idea that had not crossed Nikita’s mind, even though it was a small twin bed that was not hard to reach over. They grabbed Nikita by his shirt and ripped him over the bed and onto the floor on the other side. Impressive for someone who looked like they were going to fall over at any moment.

He instantly scrambled back up, but Godiva grabbed the long side of his hair and yanked him up to eye level.

“What did they give you fleabag? What did they offer you for your betrayal?”

Nikita was not going to play into this. If he answered they’d take it from him and it’s all he had. He shook his head rapidly and kicked and scratched as best he could until Godiva was forced to let him go. They were running out of strength, they didn’t even pursue him when he scampered back to the other side of his bed by the corner.

“We all have our battles Godiva. We all have our battles ok? I am trying to survive this too you know? You just don’t… don’t get it…” he ducked down, hiding behind his bed, he was worried they might try throwing things at him next.

It was quiet for a moment, then he heard them heave a sigh and thump to the ground. It did not sound like it was on purpose. He peeped out from behind the bed to see. Maybe they were faking again?

But no they were on the ground, breathing heavily, curled up into an uncomfortable looking position. They seemed to be in pain. Guilt once again overwhelmed Nikita.

“Godiva are you- are you ok?” He stood up nervously.

They let out a pained groan.

“You uh- you probably should rest. After all you went through today. Probably best to do that and maybe not attack me.”

They still didn’t move. They probably couldn’t.

“I can- I can help you? If you don’t. Hurt me. Please don’t hurt me.”

There was no response. He snuck around the bed up to where Godiva was. They seemed to have passed out.

He poked him. Nothing. Nikita sighed with relief. He would, at the very least, survive until tomorrow. But Godiva was in the middle of the floor. He had said that he would help them if they didn’t hurt him, and they weren’t going to hurt him right now. The least he could do is move him to his bed. He tried to be delicate with them, but he was not strong. They were a total dead weight and he had to drag them from under the armpits up to the bed without hitting any of the spots where there were new bandages. It took him a solid 30 minutes to get them across the floor and into their own bed. He set their blanket over them lightly.

With that done, he returned to his own bed. He was hoping he’d fall asleep quickly, he was exhausted, but all he could do was lay there and feel guilty.

He can’t keep doing this to them. Godiva was mean and scary, but they really were being tortured. It was cruel. No one deserves that. But what was he supposed to do? If he didn’t follow orders he would have nothing. No pills, no cigarettes, no use. Plus if he isn’t being helpful the scientists have no reason not to be just as bad to him as they are to Godiva. Maybe even worse- Godiva is their experiment, he is just a Soviet side project that they don’t even want. But… Godiva seemed to do fine without pills. Or cigarettes. Or civil rights. They were so strong. Even with so much going against them. He would hate to see them finally break. He would hate to be a part of that.

Maybe…Godiva did have a point. Maybe he was a weak and pathetic dog. Maybe he should change that.