Cupcake Killers

“Stop! Stop it!” Sprinkles screamed. She tried to break loose of the cuffs holding her down to the cold metal table. Her bare back seemed to stick to the metal surface. The icy feeling stung the fresh wounds along her back as she struggled against her restraints. The thin sheet that was pulled up over her chest hadn't provided the slightest bit of warmth. Her rainbow streaked hair fell in messy heaps over the table she was held captive on. Even though she was freezing, her pale skin was covered in sweat.

“Hold her still!” a short man in a long white coat snapped to two other men. The little hair he had left was graying and his face reminded Sprinkles of a hairless cat. “I said hold her still!”

He was trying to stick a needle in Sprinkles arm, but she wriggled as much as her restraints would allow. Two men were doing their best to keep her from doing so. One was holding her shoulders down, while the other tried to force her arms still from across the man with the needle. The needle found her skin and dug in with a sharp pinch and Sprinkles let out a scream.

“You useless idiots!” the man yelled as he pulled the needle back, realizing he missed the vein. “Girl, I suggest you hold still. This is going to be a long night otherwise,” he hissed.

“Fuck you!” Sprinkles spat at him, using the language she learned from all those that had been working around her. She gave them all a hard time. Not a single one had been able to finish their jobs with her as simply as they expected. Cursing had become a norm in the little dungeon they kept her in.

If it was a dungeon, that is. She didn't have a clue where she really was. The room they kept her locked up in seemed to be a cross between a prison cell and a hospital room. The walls were built up of concrete slabs and the floor was just a simple layer of flat concrete. The metal table she was kept on now was all she had to sleep on. Besides that, all they left her with was a bucket for waists and little bits of food every now and then.

“Watch your tongue you little brat!” The man in the lab coat boomed as he swung his arm, back handing Sprinkles with full force.

The collision jerked her head to the side and left her cheek a puffy pink. It stung, tears welled in her eyes, but they did not spill. She didn't dare let them spill. Another scream broke loose when the man holding her shoulders jabbed her arm with his elbow. He applied pressure below her elbow and with each movement that she attempted, he applied more pressure.

When she finally stopped moving, the needle once again pierced her skin, this time finding the vein it was looking for.

Sprinkles clenched her eyes shut as her blood began to find its way through and fill a small syringe. The crooked smile spread across the man’s face as he got what he was waiting for.

“The boss'll be happy,” the man with his elbow jammed over Sprinkles arms said.

“Depends on what we find from this,” the other said as he removed the needle from Sprinkles’ arm. “We should have had this done two days ago; He’s not about to cheer over us finishing our work late.”

Sprinkles absorbed all of the information that she could. “The boss” had been mentioned a couple times before, once in a threat. One of the men had said, “We’re going to have to let the boss deal with you if you don’t quit this shit,” when they first tried collecting samples. They hadn’t managed to get her strapped to the table until then.

“Lets go,” said the man with the coat. “I need to start running the tests.”

“Should I unlatch the restraints?” one of the men asked.

The man in the white coat looked at Sprinkles for a moment before saying, “No, leave her.”

Sprinkles writhed on the table and tried pulling her arms loose. The edges of the cuffs dug in, but she still tried to resist their hold.The cold metal broke her skin and stung her raw flesh.

The others only laughed as they left her alone to struggle. She heard their muffled voices as they disappeared. The clanking of their steps echoed through the hall before they slammed her door shut.

Sprinkles stared at the closed door, wishing she could somehow escape. She had no clue as to how she would escape, or even how she had gotten there for that matter. All she remembered was a mirror, and watching those others ponies fall.

They had landed in some strange grassland. That memory was clear.

“I’m out!” her captor had yelled in the black box, that she later learned was a cell phone. It was much larger than the ones she later saw used around her. The one he had was built specifically for the purpose of working at the other side.

“Where the fuck are you?” she heard someone scream from the cell.

“The park, just above you I think,” the capture said as Sprinkles looked around in a daze.

It was only a couple of moments before she started to kick and scream. The capture thew her over his shoulder and realized that she hadn’t remained the same.

“Shit,” he said.

“Shit? What shit? Why the fuck are you up there? You should have returned back down here!” the phone boomed.

“Something went wrong! I’m on my way.”

The man pocketed his phone and tightened his grip on sprinkles before he started running. Her vision was beginning to blur. She wasn't sure if the next thing she saw was real or if it was just some hallucination that her mind had managed to come up with through all of the trauma.

A break seemed to form in the sky, leaving a thin black sliver. It twisted into a spiral and seemed to suck the clouds into itself. After a moment it expanded into a small hole. Four girls fell out. Four girls that seemed to her, to be the strange mares that chased after her.

They fell to the ground. All lie limp in the grass, except for one. A girl with brown hair and white streaks sat up. She looked around, then forward. She seemed to notice Sprinkles being carried off and stood.

Everything past that point was blank up until Sprinkles woke to find herself in the strange dungeon-like room. She spend days alone, cold, and with nothing but the thin sheet to cover herself. She would sit in a corner wrapped in it, too afraid to move. Whenever someone entered, she would push herself against the walls, wishing they would cave and give her an escape.

Now that she was stuck to the table, she felt vulnerable. She was vulnerable. It wasn’t only the situation that made her feel so, it was her new body. It was so sensitive to temperature. At first she didn’t understand how anyone could survive with such delicate sensitivity. Eventually, she realized that it was the clothing that kept them comfortable, and that was all that kept them comfortable. If it wasn’t for that, they’d all freeze.

Tears finally ran their way down Sprinkles's face. She weeped, afraid for herself. She had no idea what they wanted from her. She had no idea what they were. She had no idea what she was anymore. All she wanted was to get out. She didn't care if she ever found her way home. Nothing waited for her there. She just wanted to get out of the cell. She wanted to survive. As much as she hated her life, as much as life proved to her that it could be so much worse, she didn't want to die.

The night passed and no one came to check on her. There was no food, there were no visits, and there was no leaving the table. She had spent the night staring up at the ceiling until she lost herself to her dreams.

She was awoken the next day by another prick. She tried to yank away from the surprising pain, but her arms were held down by the restraints.

“Quit it, you little brat!”

The man in the lab coat had returned. This time, he was alone. He pressed firmly down on her upper arm as he let the blood flow into a fresh syringe. Sprinkles gave in. Her arm still hurt from the night before, and she didn’t want to worsen the pain any more. All she could do was let it happen. There was no fighting it.

The man was mumbling under his breath as he finished. “I can’t believe I have to do this again. Just because you don’t like the results, doesn't mean another test will make it all better.”

“What?” Sprinkles snapped. She wasn’t sure what they were testing for, but she aslo wasn’t sure what they wanted out of it. “What results? What were the results?”

“Quiet!” the man snapped.

Sprinkles writhed against her restraints. She was getting restless. “It’s my blood! You have no right to take it! You have no right to keep secrets about it either!”

The man smacked her across the face, causing her to bite the side of her tongue. Warm blood slid down her throat and she coughed it back up. Small droplets of blood trickled down her lip and over her chin.

“Shit.” The man grabbed her chin and turned her head from side to side to see if there was any visible outer damage.

He grabbed a used tissue from his pocket and began wiping the blood away. She tried to pull back, but there was nowhere to go and all she could do was push back against the metal table.

“Hold still, dammit!”

“Stop!” Sprinkles yelled at the man.

“Little brat,” he muttered as he pocketed the bloody tissue.

He took the syringe and left the room, slamming the door behind him. Sprinkles wondered if she should have gone along with everything as they wanted her to. Maybe he would have let her off of the table. Thinking that she should give in to what they wanted of her, made her think less of herself. It didn't matter what luxury they gave her; None of it was even really luxury. The choice she had was between a metal table and a cement floor.

The day passed by and no one had brought her any food. At least, she thought the day passed. She had no real way of telling, but her stomach definitely felt that it had been a day. She was beginning to feel light headed from the lack of nutrients.

Hours dragged on and she was falling in and out of sleep. She had finally fallen into a comfortable unconsciousness when a bright light shone in her face. She reflexively pulled on her arms to cover her eyes, but again, her arms were held down by the restraints.

“Morning,” someone had said as they nudged her arm.

Sprinkles slowly opened her eyes to see someone new. This man looked to be younger than the others. His face smoothed, unlike the wrinkly faces of the others she had seen earlier. His hazy blue eyes were staring directly at her. His hair was dark his glasses rested crookedly on his nose. He smiled at her and she almost caught herself smiling back, but managed to hold back.

“You sleep good?” the man asked.

Sprinkles shook her head.

“Well that’s too bad.” The man turned to a small cart that he brought with him, and lifted yet another needle. “We’re going to need to get another blood sample, ok?”

Sprinkle said nothing, but her whole body tensed. She wanted to know how many more tests they planned on running with her blood. She had no idea what they were looking for, but she did know that the likelihood of the third sample being any different than the first two supposed failures was very slim. She didn't like the idea of being stuck with needles every day. She was even less fond of having her blood taken when she hadn't even been fed for Celestia knows how long.

The man tied a strip of cloth tightly around her upper arm and held the needle up to her elbow. He examined it.

“Well this won’t do,” the man said under his breath.

“Huh?” Sprinkles looked down at her arm.

“When was the last time you’ve had water?”

Sprinkles thought about it. Her last few meals before they decided to punish her didn’t even have any water with them.

“Five meals ago, maybe?” Sprinkles said.

“So, yesterday morning?” the man asked.

Sprinkles didn’t really answer. She gave a little shrug, but she knew for sure that it wasn’t that recently. The thought of food had unsettled her stomach again. It gave out a loud grumble, begging for nourishment.

The man looked at her with a questioning expression. “When was the last time they fed you?”

Sprinkles didn’t respond. She only stared into his hazy eyes. They were mystifying. She shook her head and looked away. She could probably assume that it had been days without food. She was clearly losing her mind.

“Wait here,” the man said, placing the needle back on the cart.

Sprinkles raised a brow. Where else would she be going? She was tied down to a table.

The man noticed and let out a light chuckle. “Sorry,” he said.

Sprinkles almost believed the apology to be sincere, but she knew better.

The man left her alone again. She was surprised by the soft clink of the door falling into place. She was used to hearing a louder bang. It hadn’t been long before the man returned, pushing the cart in front of him. On it, in addition to the needle and syringe, were two bottles of water and a plate of food, mashed potatoes topped with roast beef and gravy.

Sprinkles mouth watered at the smell. She hadn’t had real food through the entire duration of being held captive. The food looked wonderful. Too wonderful. She felt as though she was dreaming. Seeing such wonderful food was such a wonderful sight that she couldn't even believe it was real.

The man grabbed the end of her table by her feet and twisted it around before pushing it up against the wall. He moved over to the side of the table and felt below it, searching for something. Within a couple of seconds the latches around Sprinkles’s wrists snapped open.

“Sit up,” the man said, pulling the cart to her side.

Sprinkles obliged, holding the sheet close to her chest as she sat up. She rested her back against the rough walls. The man lifted a tray with the meal on it and rested it on her lap.

“Drink one of the waters first,” he told her.

She didn’t need to be told twice. She unscrewed a bottle and flipped her head back as she brought the bottle to her lips. The cold water rushed past her lips and she gulped it down greedily. The cooling liquid eased her parched lips and soothed her dry throat. She could feel the water sloshing in her empty stomach as she drank.

She emptied the bottle and let it fall to the floor. Without waiting for permission, she grabbed her fork and dug into the roast beef. She barely took enough time to chew. She knew that she would be giving herself a stomach ache, but she didn’t care; She was too hungry to waste her time chewing.

As she finished her meal, the man took the other bottled water and opened it. When Sprinkles put her fork down, he handed her the second bottle. She took her time with that. Enjoying it, wanting to save it for later, but needing the hydration. When she finished, she placed the bottle next to her plate and sighed.

“So what’s your name?” the man asked.
Sprinkles didn’t say anything. Instead, she picked up her fork and started to scrape the mashed potatoes sticking to the plate.

“Well, my name’s Andrew.”

Sprinkles looked up at him, but didn’t say anything. It was a funny name. What did it even mean? Still, she didn’t want to say her own name. They were already collecting enough information on her. All of it was against her will, so why would she just give them more?

“Well, I guess I don’t have to know,” he said, picking up the needle and syringe. “This should go pretty easily now that you have food and water in you.”

Springles lifted her sheets up to her shoulders and hid her arms under it. “Why should I let you take any more?” she asked.

“If you just let me do this, it will be a lot easier on you,” Andrew said. “There’s nothing either of us could do about getting you out, so you might as well get it over with. If you don’t let me, they will do this by force.”

“They’ve been doing this by force,” Sprinkles said. “Just because I don’t have a say, doesn’t mean I should make this easy for you!”

Andrew scratched the back of his head. “Look, I don’t like this either. I can’t say I have it as bad as you, but I really don’t want things getting more difficult for you. I’m not worried about whether you give the other guys trouble or not. I just think that you’ll have it a lot easier down here if you don’t fight it.”

Sprinkles looked Andrew in the eyes. She met his gentle blue gaze with a cold stare. She wasn’t going to budge. She decided before, and was going to stick to her decision, that she wasn’t going to give them an easy time, no matter how hard it was for her. They had no right to her. She wouldn’t hand herself over on a silver platter.

Andrew sighed. “Sorry, but you can’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Andrew left the room, closing the door behind him. Sprinkles wrapped herself up in her sheet and sat at the end of her table. There was nothing more to do. She was trapped. She wondered if maybe she should have just let him take the blood. He was at least nice about it. She could have just once, gave them what they wanted.

She looked around her room, wishing she had at least one window, but she didn’t. The best she had was the small barred hole in the door. There was nothing to see on the other side but hollow darkness.

A while later, the two men that had helped the man in the white coat before entered. The older looking of the two walked over to the cart that andrew had left. He pushed it a bit away from the table. The other man noticed the plate on the cart.

“Did the boss approve of that?” he asked.

“Doubt it,” the other said as he walked back to sprinkles. “Alright girl, you could either lie down, or have us force you to.”

Sprinkles shook her head and tried to scootch closer to the wall. The men sighed. One of them grabbed her ankle and pulled her down so that she was lying flat. Her head banged against the metal surface hard and she let out a loud yelp. She kicked the man in the chin with her free leg. He took the hit hard, but he didn’t let go. He grabbed her other ankle and pulled again.

Sprinkles screamed but the other man clamped his hand down on her mouth. With his other hand, he grabbed one of her wrists and placed it in an open clasp. He removed his hand from her mouth to search for the button on the bottom to shut it. Sprinkles gave up on trying to free her legs and leaned upward. She bit his arm and he yelled, but the clasp had closed just before he pulled his arm away from her.

“Fucking hell!” the man yelled, rubbing the bitemarks. “Just leave her here for a while, we can come back later. Let her suffer alone!”

“We can’t,” the other said. “The boss wants this down. He said to use whatever force necessary, so just suck it up and get this done.”

Sprinkles bared her teeth at the man she just bit as he took a step closer.

“What?” he asked. “You think you’re going to bite me again?”

He smacked her forehead and pushed her head down onto the table. She fought against him, but he put all of his force onto her head, keeping her pinned. She tried to smack scratch at his arm with her free hand, but he grabbed her wrist.

“Come here and lock this arm down,” the man said.

The other man let go of her ankles and quickly jumped back. He pushed the table away from the wall just enough to fit through. He reached her arm and took it from the other man. He forced her arm down and into place. “Lock it,” he said.
The man felt around under the table and the other clasp closed. Both men took a step away from her and she began to fidget.

“Now what?” the man she bit asked.

“Take her blood.”

Sprinkles tried pulling her arms free, knowing that it wouldn’t be of any use. She let out a scream when she finally stopped moving. Her skin felt sticky now. She hadn't bathed once during her imprisonment. Her rainbow hair was now tangled and frizzy. She tried using her feet to pull the sheet back up to cover her bare legs, but she couldn’t reach it. Her chest was still covered, but barely.

The man she bit took the needle and held her arm down. “You want to do this?” he asked. “I really don’t know how to work this shit.”

Sprinkles could feel her stomach now wanting to reject her last meal.

“What? It’s easy. Just stick it in her arm.”

The men looked at each other and to her arm.

“Well if you’re going to have me do this crap, the least you could do is hold her arm down.”

“Right.”

The other man joined the one holding the needle near the cart. He held Sprinkles arms still and the other observed her elbow a couple of moments before continuing.

It had taken him six tries to find the vein. When he finally did, he smiled as if he had accomplished a great feat. He laughed as he took the needle out of her arm and put the syringe on the cart. The men left her alone once again, not bothering to let her free or cover her any better.

Once again, she was left to her thoughts, and to the throbbing pains of her repeatedly jabbed arm. A bruise had formed around the large bump that they had left. It was itchy and the skin around the bruise was now turning red. She had a horrible urge to scratch it, but she couldn't move.

She screamed in frustration. She wanted to pull her arms free but didn’t even attempt. Too much more movement would easily send her sheet to the floor. Frustration took over and she screamed again. Hot tears poured down her otherwise cold face. She was colder than usual. More so than the simple fact of being covered less would explain. Even with the cold feeling, she was sweating. She let out another scream.

Minutes seemed to stretch into hours. She didn’t know how much more she could take. It would have been nicer of them to kill her. She wondered how long they would starve her this time.

The door opened again, and she lifted her head. Andrew shut the door behind him and walked to her with another cart. He looked at her with a small level of concern showing. Before bothering to speak to her, he walked up to her and covered her better. He tucked the sheet under her feet and pulled the top over her shoulder. She didn’t move.
He looked at her, concern had increased. He touched her head with the back of his hand.

“You have a fever,” he said.

Sprinkles shrugged and closed her eyes.

“I brought food,” Andrew told her.

Sprinkles opened her eyes and looked over to the cart. Two more bottles of water and a large bowl of mac n cheese. Her face brightened.

“Really don’t think you should be eating this, but I can’t really get you anything else. This was what I had, so, I just brought this.”

“It’s fine,” Sprinkles said.

“Well, that’s good.” Andrew found the button to release her clasps and she sat up, holding the sheets to her chest.

Andrew handed her a bottle of water, and she drank it just as she did with the first one he gave her earlier.

“Hey,” Andrew said, as he pushed the cart up to her table.

“What?” Sprinkles asked, stopping halfway through the bottle.

“I have to go. I have stuff to do, so I can’t stay and wait for you to finish. I’ll probably come back to clean up but right now I’ll just leave this for you to eat.”

“Oh,” Sprinkles said. She shrugged and finished her water.

“Well,” Andrew said. “See you. By the way, save the other water. You’ll probably need to spread it out with that fever.”

He left the room and Sprinkles took the bowl of macaroni. She took her time, savoring the taste and the warmth of the meal She was halfway through her bowl when the door opened again. Only one of the men, the one she hadn’t bitten, was there this time.

“So, we heard you got some food. Sadly, the boss doesn’t think you deserve it right now,” the man said.

“What?” she asked. “Then why’d he send it?”

“Don’t ask questions, just hand over the bowl.”

“No,” she said, hugging her bowl.

The man rolled his eyes. “I don’t have time for this, you little shit. Just put the bowl down and we don’t have to play games.” He walked in and slammed the door behind him. “Hand it over.”

Sprinkles head spun. She was about to say something, but before she did, she felt her stomach wanting to reject her meal again. The man looked at her with a strange expression, both confused and annoyed.

“Well?” he asked, walking over to her.

Sprinkles looked up at him. She dropped her bowl onto the floor, and clenched the sheet.

“Hey!” the man yelled, sounding confused. “What are you doing.”

He took another step forward, and Sprinkles bent over the edge of the table, hurling out her food all over his shoes.

“What the fuck!” he yelled as he jumped back.

Sprinkles vision blurred and eventually went back. Then everything went cold and silent.

When sprinkles woke up, she was restrained again. She didn’t bother opening her eyes, but she tried pulling her hands up to rub her face. She groaned as she realized that she wouldn’t be moving anytime soon. She still felt cold. At least she could feel the sheets tucked around her.

“You awake?” she heard someone asked.

She opened her eyes and noticed that Andrew was back.

She groaned again.

“Sorry,” he said. “You still need a fever.”

“Never would have guessed,” Sprinkles said sarcastically.

Andrew looked genuinely surprised by her comment. “Well, at least you can still talk,” he laughed.

Sprinkles grimaced at him.

“Sorry,” he said again.

“Whatever,” she said, closing her eyes again, wishing she could just fall back asleep.

She was a little annoyed at his presence, after being given food by him that was just taken away. Why would he give her food that would be taken away? She wondered if it was possible that he did it without permission, or if he might have even done it secretly.

“Do the others know you gave me food?” she asked quietly, looking at him.

“Huh?” he asked, taken aback by the question. “Why would you ask me that?”

“Because, right after you gave it to me, they took it away, saying that I couldn’t have any food right now,” Sprinkles explained.

“Oh, well.” Andrew went quiet.

“They don’t, do they?”

Andrew shook his head.

“Oh.” Sprinkles closed her eyes again. “Well, thanks. I guess.”
More questions popped into her head, but she didn’t bother asking. She wondered if he could get into trouble, but she didn’t really want to know the answer. She didn’t want to know exactly how nice he was being. She didn’t want to get attached.

“Why are you here?” she asked.

“Was waiting for you to wake up,” he said.

Sprinkles looked at him, her cheeks had gone red.

Andrew pulled a thermometer out of his pocket. “I just need you to hold this under your tongue. I need to check your temperature. They can’t really do anything with you while you’re sick.”

“Oh.”

Sprinkles was too embarrassed to resist as he took her temperature. They waited silently for the beep. He pulled the thermometer away from her and read the results to himself.

“Shit,” he said.

“What?!” Sprinkles asked.

“104. We need to get a doctor here.”

“Can’t you just take me to one?” Sprinkles asked, both scared and hopeful.

Andrew looked at her, worried, but shook his head. “Sorry, can’t.”

Andrew pulled out a cell from his pocket and made a call. He put the phone to his ear and waited.

“Hey,” he finally said. “I need you to-. Yeah I’m down here...No, it’s fine just let me finish. You don’t need to- Ugh.” he moved the phone away from his ear and looked at it. He put it back in his pocket. “I should get going,” he told Sprinkles.

“What’s wrong? What’s happening?” she asked.

“I’m just going to go tell them to get you a doctor. Don’t worry about it. You’ll be fine.”

“Why can’t you just take me to one?” she asked, feeling her head start to spin again.

“Last resort,” he told her. “We’d be better off getting one here for you. You shouldn’t be moving,” he said.

“But-”

“Hey boss,” someone interrupted.

Andrew looked over to see another man at the door. “Hey,” he said. “I need you to go fetch a doctor,” he said. His tone had changed. He was more serious now.

Sprinkles head spun again He was the boss? It didn't’ make sense to her. The boss was the one calling all the shots. He was the one sending them to take her blood and giving them permission to use force against her. Andrew was nice. She thought that he was. He gave her meals when he wasn't supposed to give her meals. He gave her meals and took them away. What kind of sick twisted man did that?

“Are you alright?” Andrew asked, noticing that something was wrong.

Sprinkles didn’t say anything. Once again, everything went black.