Subject 3033...(BWAM, Sci-fi Romance, 18+)

Chapter Seven

Noe's p.o.v

I observe as she munches on her food, as she sates her appetite with much enthusiasm, blissfully oblivious to her surroundings. She's been without food or drink for well over forty nine hours, so I do not fault her. Her eyes of a sapphire hue lift to meet my own and she halts dead in her moves, her mouth stuffed. She struggles to swallow though she does.

"I am sorry. I must look like a pig."
Her accent is quite thick and I find myself taking a liking to it.
"Do not apologize unless you have a valid reason for doing so, Tallulah. You were famished so what's there to apologize for?"
She smiles, resumes from where she left off, pours herself a mug of hot cocoa and sips on steaming drink.

She remains clad in the hospital garment I'd found her in back in Thais forest. I had been on my way to the bunker when the white of her wet clothe drew in my attention. I have no idea for how long she'd been there. Naturally, I'd thought she'd been dead due to the horrid bleeding on her side. Once I'd reached where she remain lain -battered, bruised, bloodied- I could clearly make out her mumbles though incoherent, unclear.

She did not look infected. Her skin -despite the coldness of earth- still maintained a healthy hue. And so, I took her with me, brought her to safety.
"Once you are done, Tallulah, take a shower and I'll follow suite once you wind up."

She nods head, affords me that smiles of hers despite the unspoken animosities they'd formerly subjected her to. Done and satiated, she drags seat, takes hold of our platters and mugs and proceeds to the sinks for cleansing. In short minutes, I am guiding her up a small flight of steps and past the doors to my bedroom chamber. I tread towards closet, retrieve a neatly folded towel, turn to face upon her.

She eyes me with anticipation, with a child-like curiosity, a precious sort of innocence.
"Here, use this. I'll go prepare your bath."
Her face breaks into yet another silent smile and she nods head softly in understanding. So, resting towel atop bed, I turn and proceed for the bathroom doors where I slip in.

It does not take me long to fill the tub with clean warm waters and once I wind with the commission, I glide past the doors where I stumbled upon a sight so unsightly. Upon the bed she sits, her back bare and marred with slits and slashes and carvings. Whip marks. Tokyo had made attempts to explain what she'd seen, the stitches she'd had to make. But goodness her words were more an understatement.

Grace, what terrible thing had she done so that they dimmed it fit to grant her such horrid sanction. What horrors must she have endured at the hands of those who called themselves her creators. To her left -upon the bed- is her tattered and browning hospital garment. She takes hold of sterile gauze coiled all about her abdomen and begins to unwind gradually, cautiously.

And once the bindings come off, that fleshly crater to her side comes into view. Though cleaned and sterilized, it glares upon anyone that dares to stare upon it. My heart pangs a little, my jaw ticks. She grabs hold of towel -her palms trembling as she does- wraps fabric loosely about her chest before rising off of the bed entirely. She turns towards me, proceeds for me, stands before me.

She hesitates, faulters in her steps. It's as though she intends to ask a thing though she knows not how.
"Do you need anything, Tallulah?" I query as I look upon her face.
Her mouth opens in readiness for speech before it shuts. Then...
"No, I do not. Thank you for your concern, Noe," she speaks, she smiles a little to conceal a truth.
I do not push nor plunge nor nudge any further than I should. I need her to found her trust in me on her own accord, on her own terms and not my own.

"Well, if you need anything I'll be in the living room. I'll leave one of my dress shirts for you on the bed, a pair of socks, some clean shorts too."
She nods softly and I simply proceed for the closet whilst the doors glide shut behind me.
I leave the garment over the bed, exit the chamber entirely, make my way down the steps and prepare myself a bowl of fruit in the kitchen arena. In the living room chamber I turn on the hovering holographic screen, scroll through till I come upon a suitable show.