Ava Cobalt [Book 1]

Running Away, 2016

[April 2016, 8 pm]

Ava was done. At ten years old, nearly 11 come August, of being injected and tortured, she was done. No surprise, Deb had vanished recently. And Ava wasn't about to let Nelson up her dosage again. He had it as high as possible without killing Ava or putting more radiation into her body. Right now, she was up to twelve injections a day. And, God damn, did they hurt!

She finished packing what she could into her backpack, pulled up her hood and her cloth mask, and slipped out the tiny hole in the wall. After all these years, no one had figured out that that hole was how she was always leaving her room. She knew that there was no one there. She was often walking around in the middle of the night, and by 8, everyone was gone. Including Nelson and Benjamin. She went to the kitchen and grabbed plenty of canned goods and water bottles to last her a while.

She slung the full backpack over her shoulder and pulled a car key out of her pocket. She hated to take it, but she had to. She was thankful that Lacy had a friend take her home today and left her car here. Ava slid out the back and jogged to the red Mercury Mountaineer. Ava unlocked the doors and set her bag in the passenger seat. She started the car and adjusted her seat.

God, why did you have to be such a short ten-year-old? Hell, I don't know, blame the genetics. Sure you don't want to blame the serum? Eh, sure. Why not?

Ava was often talking to herself. There were few times she was able to talk to anyone, so she did the next best (?) thing. She talked to herself.

She finished adjusting, then pulled out of the lot. She stopped at a light and pulled out her phone. She had managed to slide a tracker into Benjamin's pocket and was going to try and hide right under his nose. Right, where no one would expect her to be.

She was on the dirt road, nearly there. It was dark and hard to see. She was beginning to lose hope when she saw an old house and a bunch of abandoned cars. Perfect.

She pulled up to the house first, dropped off her bag, then drove the car to where the other old ones were. She turned off the engine and locked it. Then she covered it with a tarp to help it blend in with the others a little more. She then went back to the house and locked everything down, so no squatters could get in. She was happy to see that the house still had a lot of furniture left in it. She pulled her phone out and turned on the flashlight. She made her way to the kitchen and was shocked to hear the refrigerator running. No idea how that was happening, but she wasn't going to complain.

She put all of the food that she had taken from Syntec away. Then she explored the house a little more. She found the bathroom, which she was grateful for. She was surprised that the water still ran, but was, again, happy. She found a small room that would work perfectly for a bedroom. She cleaned it up a small bit, then flopped onto the bed and fell asleep.

[One Year Later]

Ava had gotten the house pretty put together and set up for her needs. Other than worrying about food, which she was going to try and take care of now. She was waiting for Benjamin to finally leave. She had been monitoring him, figuring out when he left, so she could sneak in and take a bit of food and get some serum out of his hands. She knew he only needed some to survive. Not enough to make a serum bomb. She checked her watch.

Ava, whispering: Damn you're slower than crap, old man.

At last, his car drove away. Ava raced to the RV and grabbed a couple of those meals he used. She didn't remember what they were called and didn't care. As she grabbed a couple of bottles of serum, she saw notes about "Project 863." She paused, reading them.

Ava: Shit! Need to give these guys a hand. But how? Damn it, kid, think!

Her phone chimed, alerting her that Benjamin was on his way back.

Ava: Of course! Ugh, fuck!

She lunged out of the RV, and back to the house. She was panting.

Ava: Well, dummy. Can we please not do that again?

She sighed and went to her desk. She was trying to set her laptop up, but she wasn't sure to what. She realized she should hook up to this Project 863 and their stuff. Try and help them. If they were now inhabiting the Syntec Location 1 site, then they were so going to need all the help they could get. She ran the notes through her head again and recalled seeing a 'John Doe, undercover officer' in them. She knew a 'John Doe' who was a police officer. They had met when she had been trying to get some food from the store. He asked her some questions, but when he realized she was Deb's daughter, he told her to contact him if she needed something he might be able to help with. He had given her his email. She went to her computer and sat down.

Ava: It's Ava.

John Doe: Deborah's?

Ava: Yes. I have a question.

John Doe: What is it?

Ava: Has Deb told you of "Project 863?"

John Doe: She has. Why?

Ava: Would it happen to be at Syntec Location One? And who are the members?

John Doe: Yes it is. But you dodged my question. Why do you want to know?

Ava: I want to help them.

John Doe: They are YouTubers. Pretty sure the channel is called "Matthias"

Ava: Oh...That explains some things. I watch that channel. They just moved in there, didn't they?

John Doe: As far as I know of.

Ava: Anyway I could...you know?

John Doe: There's an extinct server under a set of stairs. Try that.

Ava: Thank you

John Doe: You're welcome.

Ava exited the chat and did a scan for servers in the area of Matthias' location. She found multiple, but there was one that stood out. It may not have been up and running, but she accessed it anyway. She did and managed to access Matt's stuff. She could keep an eye on him now. If he was in that building, there would be hell. Sooner or later.