Blood Bourbon

Everyone Breaks

Even though the pain and fever had only lasted several hours, he was left with a grogginess that clung to his mind and movements for a long time after that. So much so that he was barely cognizant of the moments he was hauled out of bed and led like a zombie through some semblance of routine. He was washed, he took care of his necessities, had a liquid diet force fed through a funnel down his throat when he was too out of it to care. Was wheeled into testing rooms where he was poked and prodded and manipulated in all the ways it took for scientists to get what they wanted out of him.

The body could respond even when the mind was unwilling. Daryl didn't fight the daze, he didn't fight any of it. It was a numbness he lost himself in, a haze of unfocused reality that he separated his mind from in the hopes that it would eventually end.

It did, but not in the way he was hoping for.

It ended when he felt something close around his throat and a violent jolt of electricity ran through him, sending him half sprawling out of the wheelchair he had been in. They let him fall, no longer restrained, to his hands and knees, sending more and more electrical charge until he was retching from the pain, his hands slipping against the cool tiles of the floor beneath him.

"Echo six nine, you will respond when you're spoken to. Acknowledge."

"Ok." Daryl choked, blinking away tears and managing only another breath before another wave of shocks went through him.

78B was speaking to him throughout and Daryl assumed it was his feet he saw in front of him. "You say Acknowledged, Sir. Or Yes Sir."

Daryl gritted his teeth, crying out in pain as the electricity grew stronger. "Yes sir."

The shocks stopped, his body still trembling from the pain of them, his heart racing and breathing ragged. "Good. Now. What's your name?"

"Da-" The electricity started once more.

"Your name is Echo Six Nine. Repeat that."

Daryl shook his head, curling up in a ball as his mind was overwhelmed, until he couldn't take it anymore. "My name... is Echo six nine."

The pain stopped.

"You are the property of this facility. You exist to serve the purposes of research and you desire to be of use."

When he didn't respond, the pain shot through him mercilessly again, and it didn't take quite as long until he was repeating those words. When he was done the pain stopped.

"Your commander is Seven Eight Bravo. And you will follow the commands and directions of anyone you are designated to listen to. Now what is your name?"

"Echo six nine." Daryl gasped softly, managing to pull himself onto his hands and knees once more.

"Good. And who is your commander?"

" Seven Eight Bravo." He wanted to fight it, but his mind couldn't take any more pain, he couldn't take any of it.

He just wanted a few moments of peace.

"Good. Now get up." Daryl could see the feet shift away from him as the other man stood.

He climbed to unsteadily feet, his body trembling from the pain and the fact that he had been lying down for a while now. Be found himself grabbed and slammed hard into a wall, the Hunter, his Commander, nose to nose with him, snarling. "When I give you an order you will not hesitate. There are other ways I can punish you for disobedience."

"Yes sir." Daryl lowered his eyes, biting back a wince as he was slammed into the wall again, then dropped.

"Now. We're going to go test out the weird, fucked up side effects of whatever kind of hybrid freak you are." Seven Eight was walking away from him now, and Daryl struggled to keep up, a slight buzz of pain coming from the collar around his neck if the leash stretched out too tightly. Or when it was tugged which Seven Eight seemed to do, just for the sheer fact that he could, every so often.