Judgement 8 (Subject Alpha #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

connect me to this earth, someone who could teach me, help me live normally. But I was wrong. I was on my own, abnormal, a deviant.
    “Let her go, Reid,” Heather urged.
    He exhaled at length and pursed his lips. “I won’t allow you to leave the building.” My heart sank. “But follow me.”
    He passed me, retrieving a key from his pocket and unlocking the door, then stalked back up the stairs. I followed him, disappointed when he came back into his office. I just wanted to leave. I wasn’t sure I could take their repulsed expressions.
    He didn’t stop. Punching a code into another keypad and then pressing his thumb to an electronic identity screen, one of the other locked doors opened. He turned to me. “Come.”
    I didn’t have the energy to retort to the simple command, so I followed him up a set of stairs.
    He opened another door and gestured for me to go through. My jaw snapped open as a huge room opened up. It was as cold as it was large. Long white walls extended so far that I knew this room was the entire area of the building. Shocks of black furniture broke the harshness; a long black leather sofa tucked to one side of the room, a giant TV, and numerous gaming consoles haphazardly tossed with various games onto a long black glass coffee table in front of it. A long black dining table sat to the other side, a mysterious white sculpture sat lonely in the centre. A large kitchen, with of course more black fixtures held one large corner and to the other side, a massive bed, with black scattered sheets.
    Different to the office though, was that the walls held a vast amount of pictures, photographs of people I knew instantly were Reid’s family from their resemblance to him. Each seemed to be organised along the walls in chronological order, two people I presumed to be his parents holding a young boy, then holding two boys around ten years apart in age. A large one was of the two boys flying a kite on the beach, then what looked like a graduation. The farther along I looked, I noticed the older boy disappeared, leaving just Reid and his parents, then just Reid and his father.
    And then I came to rest my eyes on one that had my feet moving slowly across the room towards it. It hung above a gigantic fireplace, fitted into a separating wall between two sections of the room.
    “She’s so beautiful.” I hadn’t meant to say it, it just tumbled from me, my lack of discipline making me cringe. I spun round quickly, mortified by my loose mouth. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to infer . . .”
    “Petra,” he stated quietly, his eyes leaving me slowly to gaze at the large photo. “My wife.”
    I nibbled on the inside of my cheek, refusing to understand what his revelation did to my gut. His eyes held the picture for a moment longer, soft and full of pain, before they came back to me and he shook himself off.
    “Make yourself at home. I’ll be back later.” And with that, he left me in the huge room, more alone than I had ever been.

“HEY.” THE SOFTNESS OF his voice echoed in my head. I slowly prised my eyes open. He sat on the floor beside the sofa where I’d curled up and fallen asleep. “Feeling better?”
    I didn’t answer. Was I feeling better? If I was honest, the answer would be no, and not wanting to sound like a whinger, I remained silent. He nodded in understanding.
    “I brought you supper.” He waved a plate at me with what looked like a cheese sandwich on top.
    “Thank you.” Sitting up, I took the plate from him and placed it on my lap, not really hungry.
    “You didn’t have to clean,” he said, moving to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and pulled out two bottles of beer, making me wince when he used his teeth to uncap them, then walked back and handed me one before settling at the other end of the sofa.
    I shrugged and took a reluctant bite from the sandwich, my stomach growling with appreciation, even if it did flip when the cheese hit the bile.
    “It helps me relax,” I