Whisper

Chapter 10

Now that everything was a bit settled, Clarise's feet felt like they were on fire. 

Running around on concrete on bare feet that were not used to running had caused severe bruising on the bottom of her feet. Not to mention the various cuts and scraps all on the soles of her feet and on the top. Two of her toe nails on her right foot had been ripped off. 

"Hey," Mateo glanced at her, noticing she was entranced by her feet, "You alright? Mind throwing on your seatbelt?" He was finessing his seatbelt on, trying not to crash the car in the meantime. 

Awkwardly sliding it over her chest and clicking it into place, she pried her eyes away from her feet, a little frightened by the state of them. Instead she looked out the window, seeing the trees just blur by. 

It was weird, being in a car, watching the outside. A world beyond BEYOND was beyond Clarise. 

A strange smell also made it's way to Clarise's nose. She couldn't describe it, but as she questioned it she realized it was the classic smell of 2 rather active dogs. Mateo smelled a bit like this, so Clarise didn't really mind it. 

"There is a sweatshirt on the seat behind you if want." Mateo had a bad habit of leaving clothes in his car. Half is wardrobe was sitting around. 

Clarise turned slightly to see a blanket laid out on the seat with some cushions thrown in. A couple of dog toys sitting on top of a pile of clothes which she pushed over slightly to pick up a black zip-up hoodie. 

Slipping it over her thin uniform she was sudden made aware of how old she actually was as she began to warm up. Snuggling with herself, Clarise looked straight ahead, just watching the road. 

"What do you think is going to happen with the other projects?" 

They have all fled the facility by now. Project Magma had found the records room which contained information on all known Projects for all the facilities and their locations. They have decided to attack another facility up North and free the Projects there. 

Mateo didn't want to take his eyes off the road for too long, so all he got was that they have fled and going to attack another facility. 

"Oh shit," just encountering 2 of the other project and witnessing their power was chilling. One who was deemed harmless was trying to bring down a building. One who was deemed an extreme threat took out basically scorched through the security precautions. The other two seemed to be the most deadliest duo as well. 

But he couldn't blame them for lashing out like this. Just watching Clarise endure their 'research' seemed like enough motivation for him to get riled up. Who knows the legal repercussions of what they did, moreover the ethical leaps they made to operate like that. 

He looked over at Clarise again who seemed to just be hypnotized by the scenery. According to her file, she's been at the facility for over 13 years. Many of these projects were there for over a decade, but she arrived when she was a child. She had spent her whole developing life at the facility, but she seemed the most normal out of all the projects. Other than the fact she was a near mute. 

"You like music?"

The question was sudden, but like many of Mateo's other questions she didn't really know. Of course when she first arrived the scientists asked her opinions, but seeing how her opinion didn't necessarily matter, they stopped asking those kinds of questions. But she just nodded at him. 

Pushing a few buttons he briefly forgot that the facility was far out of range of radio towers, so he awkwardly pulled out his phone and unlocked it. 

"Here, open up that black app with the weird greed circle on it," handing her his phone she curiously poked the screen just as he instructed, fascinated by the opening animation of the app. "Just hit the triangle button at the bottom." 

Pressing it caused loud blaring music to suddenly fill the car. It was rock, something Mateo and his uncle really like, and something Clarise had never heard of. 

A bit startled as well, Mateo quickly turned down the music. A tad embarrassed at the volume. "Sorry about that." 

Clarise was utterly enamored by the phone. She had been surrounded by the greatest advancements in technology at the facility, but had never even touched a cell-phone let alone operate one. It was a bit funny. 

"Like it?" Mateo asked, "You can change the song if you want, this is just what I was listening to on my drive here." 

  Having no idea how to change it she chose to just poke around, not really wanting to question it, rather enjoy the exploration herself. 

What does "today's hits" mean? 

It's the recently released songs of popular artists. 

Groaning to herself, she didn't mean to question it, she was genuinely curious and wanted to find out for herself. But the more she pressed around the more frustrated she got with herself, just finally resorting to turning off his phone and placing it gently in an empty cup holder. 

Mateo was slightly amused by her, just listening to her finger tap the screen and her little mutterings to herself. Not that he could hear a word she said, simply the small pops her mouth made as she enunciated. 

"Didn't see anything you liked?" He was teasing, and Clarise seemed to pick up on it as she gave him a slanted smile while shaking her head. 

She too was amused by Mateo's mannerisms. He seemed to shake his head a lot, trying to get his bangs out of his face without having to touch his hair. She didn't really understand why he wouldn't just cut it, but when she questioned it, apparently he likes that style, no matter the inconvenience.

And like on cue, it began to rain.