Daylight

7 - Run

A/N I've included a visual for Theo! 

Hope you enjoy Chapter 7

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That morning, I was very anxious as I left for work. I spent my day with my team, trying to ask as many inconspicuous questions as I could about HAZE. I wanted to bring Kai something he may not know. 

The day dragged on, soon the light disappeared and with it my co workers. I decided to go down to Archives first, I had never been down to there so I wanted to give myself time to find this book. 

I made my way into the dimly lit basement. There were a few security guards roaming but they were pretty easy to evade. The pillars scattered around the basement made for decent hiding places. When I was finally able to slip through the door, I was taken aback by the sight. There were walls and walls of real, physical books. I had never seen that many before. 

I pulled the small crumpled scrap of paper from my pocket and tried to flatten it out. The lighting in the room was poor. I walked over to a yellow lightbulb and tried to determine the letters Kai had put on the paper. 

A Compact Guide to Natural Medicine, Umberto Rossi

I studied the name and then started scanning the shelves. It was organized alphabetically by surname, so I headed for R. I ran my finger across the dusty spines. 

Reed, Reynolds, Richardson, Roberts... Rossi. There you are. 

It was a small book. I guess they weren't kidding about it being compact. Despite it's small size, it was still quite thick. I flipped through the pages quickly and watched all the dust escape from between them, flying into the air. I tried to hold back a cough as I made my way to the exit. 

Step one, complete. Maybe this would be easier than I thought. 

On the way back up to floor nine, I stopped by one of the general floors to collect the list of items Kai had scrawled on the back. It was all pretty basic things, bandages, pain medication, anti-inflammatories, and of course the vials. I stopped made sure to duck into a nearby washroom to fill up a handful of the vials with water just as Kai had suggested. 

I had brought an over the shoulder bag from home and filled it with the stolen items. The floor was a ghost town so I didn't need to worry about getting caught by anyone. If anyone was watching the security cameras, they would have no clue that I don't work on this floor. 

Okay, number two, check. Just Enzyme P and I'm out of here. 

I took the elevator up to my floor. Most of my team had gone home, but that didn't stop me from peaking around the corners on the way to Highland's office. I slide the door open after briefly pressing my ear to the door to listen for anyone talking or typing. 

I had only been in his office once, he had sent me in to grab a file to bring back to the team. His office was so clean and well organized. I took a deep breathe and started opening the different cabinet doors. 

I could hear the vials jostling around in my bag as I searched, almost taunting me for taking so long. I groaned with frustration as I opened his desk drawers. While I was moving the contents in his desk around, I heard talking coming from the other side of his door. 

Oh no, this is not happening right now. 

I quickly dove under his desk just as I heard Highlands footsteps enter the office, along with someone elses. 

"As I told you before, our research isn't finished. The test subjects are doing better but they're not where you want them. I need more time. They can't be controlled yet, it's too dangerous." I recognized Highlands voice speaking. I really shouldn't be here, this sounded extremely confidential... if he found me I'm headed straight to the bottom floor of Protection and into a cell. I pressed my palm over my mouth tightly to make sure he didn't hear my breathing.