Subject 3281; Chell's Story

Eyes in the Walls

Clunk, clatter.

The eyes of Subject 3281 snapped open. That sound... it was the sound of something falling. Something at her feet. Something behind the back wall. Her blood ran cold, and her head began to pound with a firey vengance. She knew what that wall was. She didn't know how she could have overlooked the fact of its existance before, but now that she knew what it was, that knowledge could never again be taken away from her.

There was someone behind the back wall. Someone watching them as they slept. Monitoring them. An involuntary shiver danced down the length of her spine as she realized that she was totally alone in her realization. She didn't quite understand the new waves of emotions that were now passing over her—fear, unsettlement, and, oddly enough, something akin to hatred were the only ones she could pinpoint at the moment—but she did know one thing; her partner didn't need to be kept in the dark about this for long.

Without so much as turning over where she lay—she daren't for fear of discovery—and with eyes still fixed on the false wall at the foot of her cot, Subject 3281 made her move.

"We're being watched."

She heard a rustle from her partner's cot as the boy, presumably, started at her words. Apparently the sound from behind the back wall had woken him up as well.

"From where?" Her partner asked, and the girl's lips tightened ever so slightly as she recognized, with perhaps a hint of satisfaction, the alertness of the boy's query.

"The back wall is false," she said, marveling once more at her previous inability to recognize the—almost laughingly apparent—truth contained in her words. Under her newly-re-awoken gaze, the wall's disguise appeared as flimsy as a bent reed; it was a rather obvious viewing port. My mind wipe must've covered that area of my mind as well, she thought, with more than a touch of bitterness.

"How long have you known?" Her partner's question jolted the girl from her thoughts as she tried to think of how she could give him a reply while still protecting her privacy.

"I just..." she started, "...just found out tonight. You?"

"Same here. Thanks, '81." The girl's eyebrow's furrowed.

"Don't call me ''81.'" She could almost hear the boy's infernal smile.

"So," he began, his smirk now evident in his voice, "how did you come to find out about it? The wall, I mean."

"I—" she stopped herself. Do I really want this boy poking around in my head? She asked herself. Do I need to tell him what I know, and how I know it? No, of course not! And yet... It was that little dark-haired girl's voice again, saying, You don't have to tell him, no. But do you have a reason not to? You can entrust someone with information without fully trusting them, and besides, you want this boy as your ally, don't you? Just tell him, the voice coaxed, trust me; it'll be a lot easier to survive down here if you have a satisfied partner to watch your back.

Subject 3281 audibly sighed as her tired mind at last succumbed to the voice's wishes.

"I had a... another dream," she said, and she could practically see her partner's back stiffen beneath his sheets. "It was 'Take Your Daughter to Work Day' at the Facility. This Facility. My fa—" she stopped herself. "...the... person who had taken me there, led me over to an Enrichment Center display. The display had a... a false wall for monitoring... special tests. That's how I know." The boy was silent for a while, as if weighing her words.

"Have you had dreams like this before?" The girl was a bit taken aback at the sound of her partner's voice. Hadn't she given him the information he had asked for? Why was he suddenly pushing for more? Come on, urged the girl's voice in her mind, I know you're not the most sociable person on the planet, but humor him this once, will you? She answered the boy's question.

"Twice they were visions—right after my injury—and two times before this they were dreams." There, she thought to the girl in her mind, happy now?

"Who was it that took you to Take Your Daughter to Work Day, '81?" His voice was gentle—suspiciously gentle—and a crease began to form between the girl's eyebrows. Her annoyance at the boy's frequent questions even led her to overlook his use of her despised nickname. Since when had this become an interrogation?

"I need sleep," she said, "there are more tests to be done tomorrow, and I intend on finishing them." There, she thought, and rolled over. Let him interrogate that. Her partner—thankfully—let the subject drop, but she couldn't sleep; not while she could still feel the eyes of whoever-it-was behind the one-way glass wall upon her; analyzing her every move; her every breath. She sighed. This was going to be a long night.

~ — — — — — — — — — — — — ~

Hiss

Subject 3281 opened her eyes, and took a deep, unconscious breath of air. Instantly, all of her fatigue from her night of unrest—the night had indeed been long, and she hadn't slept through one second of it—vanished, replaced by an unnatural level of alertness. Adrenal vapor. She had heard of the substance that supposedly gave test subjects the energy to test, but she couldn't quite remember where she had heard it.

She sat up. It didn't matter. What mattered was that she was awake now—as was her partner—and there was a full day of testing ahead. As the girl inserted her left arm into the hole on her wall, she heard a rustling sound coming from behind her. Good, she thought, he's awake.

The boy indeed had awoke, and had just begun to strap on his right Longfall boot by the time his partner had picked up her yellow-striped ASHPD, and walked to the chamberlock. As soon as her partner had completed his morning routine, he joined her in front of the door which—mercifully—opened with much better timing than it had the day before.

In no time at all, the two's sanitation facility visit had been completed, and they were ready for the testing ahead.

~ — — — — — — — — — — — — ~