The Girl From The Right Arm

Chapter 21

The stairs led to a dark room. There was only one door that continued. Aria walked slowly towards it and pushed the doorknob down. The door jumped open immediately, revealing what was inside. About twenty children were hooked and their blood was drawn.

"Oh my god!" she whispered, clapping her hands over her mouth.

"Harriet! We need Mary. She knows how to turn off these devices." she whispered and ran towards the children. They hung half alive, half dead.

She heard Harriet's quick steps running up again. She never would have thought that there were so many children in this small laboratory. But that was probably exactly WICKED's plan. No one would think that there was nothing important in this building. Shocked, she ran up to a girl. Her dark black hair obscured her face and her skin looked unnaturally white. She looked like Snow White. Aria raised her hand and brushed the girls cheek, brushing the hair back from her face. Aria was shocked, she looked so young. Shocked, Aria turned away from her and ran on. A boy, blond hair and just as white skin. She carefully stroked his cheek. The children all looked so young. When she carefully felt his pulse, she imagined that he had squeezed her hand gently. Just very easily. With furrowed eyebrows, she squeezed his hand again. A very weak resistance made her flinch. He knew somebody was here. 

"If you can hear me, squeeze my hand again, little one!" she said and waited. Again she felt a little resistance on her hand. "Okay. I'll try to free you now. It'll be all right, little one." the girl continued, turning to one of the monitors that hung on his chest. She looked resolutely at the monitors. 

Pulse, heartbeat, blood draw. It said nothing more. 

Aria sighed in frustration and ran a hand through her hair. With furrowed eyebrows, she looked around the small lighted room. Each child had a monitor hanging on their chest. Each one showed the pulse, the heartbeat and how much blood was drawn. She sighed in frustration. Where was Harriet with Mary?

She kept looking around. Aria walked slowly through the children towards a large monitor. W.C.K.D. stood on the monitor at the top. She carefully tapped the screen. Immediately it blinked and a box blinked. A fingerprint sensor. Did she have to cut off the doctors' fingers to free the children?!

The girl grimaced in disgust but had to try. Maybe it was paying off. She ran through the children to the little blond boy and gave his hand a light squeeze. "I'll be right back, little one," she whispered. The girl removed her hand from his and ran. She ran up the stairs as fast as she could. Down the hall to the room where the doctors were. They were just as we'd left them. Sighing, Aria went up to one of the doctors. "That's so disgusting," she sighed and grimaced. The girl took her knife out of her boots and closed her eyes again. She took a deep breath and cut. Blood flowed down her hand and dripped onto her pants. One sharp cut and she held his finger in her hand. The girl tried to suppress her urge to vomit.

That was so disgusting!

The blood flowed from his severed finger and she turned away. Aria quickly ran out of the room with his finger in her hand. She couldn't waste any time. The longer she took, the more blood would be drawn from the children. And the weaker they would be. The girl ran back down the lighted path she came from. From the open door she heard the loud voices of the others. The girl ran quickly down the hall and down the stairs. Aria couldn't lose any time. Her steps echoed again in the great hall where the children were. She quickly ran back to the big monitor. She tapped the black screen once and it blinked. Aria quickly put the finger on the sensor. The screen blinked green, which made her breathe a sigh of relief. Then a picture came up. All children were recorded. She stared at it in confusion. 'Turn off devices' was displayed in red on the screen. She was about to press it, but held back. What if the children didn't wake up because they couldn't breathe. Desperately, Aria continued to look at the screen. She clicked on one of the children and immediately there was a description of the girl, it seemed.

Name: Lara Anderson
Age: 9
Subject: H7-The Savior
Gender: female
Type: immune
Parental Status: Dead
Siblings: None available

Aria clicked on 'back' and came to the monitor on which all the children were recorded. She guessed the next child.

Name: Jacob Miller
Age: 14
Subject: D1-The leader
Gender: male
Type: immune
Parental status: unknown
Siblings: Anna Miller (died in phase 1)

Aria felt sorry for the children. They had been through so much. She was so focused on the monitor that she didn't even notice Mary burst in. Only when Mary "Aria!" screamed, the girl looked up. "Are you all right?" Mary asked worriedly.

"Um yeah." Aria looked at her confused.

"Why are your hands covered in blood and why are your shirt a little too?" Mary asked worried.

"Oh," Aria said simply.

"What happened?" Asked Harriet, now also worried.

"Um, it could be that I cut off a finger from one of the doctors," the girl squeezed.

"You got what? Why?" Asked Harriet, disgusted.

"To unlock the monitor. All information about the children is here," she explained to her friend. Mary came up to aria quickly and stood next to her.

"We have to turn off the devices and then remove the children from the devices as soon as possible. That is the only way," said Mary, looking at the monitor. Aria nodded and walked around the monitor.

"Each one picks up three kids. If Mary turns off the devices, take the kids down asap," the girl ordered. She ran up to the blond-haired boy who had squeezed her hand earlier.

"I'm counting to three," called Mary. Aria just nodded and got ready in front of the boy.

"One... two... three..." Mary counted.

Then the monitors attached to the children's breasts went out. As fast as Aria could loosened she the breathing tube around his mouth and the tubes that were hanging from his head, opened the ropes that held him and took off the blood aspirator. She quickly grabbed him when he fell limp. The girl carefully put him on the floor and walked over to the girl next to him. She did the same with her as Aria did with the little boy. The others did the same. The adrenaline rushed through her and she ran straight towards the child next to the girl.

***