The Countdown (A Project 863-Inspired Story!)

Day 9/10

Nov. 14, 2002/Nov. 15, 2002

A bit of fear and despair crept into his voice as he answered my question. "I'm scared, Rena. I'm really scared." He paused. "I don't know what this is doing to me, and it's not like the other times, Rena. Rena, it's just as strong as yours was, I'm sure. She insists on doing things her way or the high way. The high way being an 'extra special' test subject."

I sucked in my breath. "I'm sorry." I said. "Did you hear what she told Nathaniel when he saw what had happened?"

He shook his head. "That felt like a dream." he admitted.

"She said I had injected you and you had stabbed me. That makes no sense at all, considering we had been up in his office talking normally!" I told him.

He looked away from me. "A good rule of thumb is to never admit anything when asked about something you don't know anything about here at Syntec." he advised.

We sat in silence.

"So how much longer do you think you have?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "You underestimate her. She's manipulative in a trillion more ways that you know."

I balked at him. "What?!" I asked incredulously, unable to believe what I was hearing. It made no sense in the conversation at all!

"Like I said, Hoo, she's a manipulator. She's got more up her sleeve than you think."

I stared at him, confused. "You don't call me Hoo, Osamu, you call me Rena...don't you?"

"Okay, Rena," he said.

"Oh, okay." I responded.

Osamu stood up and walked around me in a circle. I stood up too, watching him. Osamu turned in a circle, and then stared at me, but not quite seeing me.

"Did you get your shoe?" he asked me. I nodded. He nodded too.

"Did the fire go out?" he asked me. "Did you get out alive?"

"I- Uh, yes, I did. We, uh, escaped together, remember? The fire probably went out by now." I informed him.

He walked over to the door and leaned against the wall next to it, eyeing me, just like we had done when I was at the other location that he set fire to. "Osamu," I began, but then he started crying. He fell into a squat and started weeping. Just as I tried to comfort him, he was driving an invisible car.

Deborah had no idea how badly this serum was affecting Osamu. "Poor Subject 58," I said aloud bitterly.

Osamu suddenly halted to a stop and stared me in the eyes. "It's your fault." he hissed. I stared up at him in shock. "You injected me." he said angrily, eyes flashing.

"No, that- that wasn't me!" I said. "That was Deborah! I'm Rena, remember? Rena Hoo."

Osamu ignored my protests entirely, moving right along to accuse me of other things. "You made me inject her. You made her get in that hollow under the steps. You made her go to the other location."

He took a menacing step towards me. "You ruined my life." he said.

I stepped back. "No, I- I'm not Deborah."

"Liar." he hissed, coming closer to me.

"Osamu," I begged, "Calm down. Please calm down! You're scaring me Osamu, you're scaring me." I paused as he came closer to me. I couldn't figure out what I could tell him to convince him that I wasn't the cause of all of this turmoil. "This is crazy talk! I'm Rena Hoo. You're Subject 58, but you said I could call you Osamu."

His eyes darkened. "Do you think me mad?" his voice mirrored his attitude: Dangerous.

I shook my head slightly, now cornered against the wall. "I don't think you're crazy, but I know that injection has to be messing with your sense of reality." I tried to explain.

Apparently, I'm the worst at explaining,

because Osamu's fist connected with the wall behind me, barely missing my right ear. I felt the blood rush from my face. Osamu wasn't being himself.

His fist was headed for my head, and I ducked and dashed away from him, narrowly missing it as it crashed through the plaster wall.

I whirled around to face him, only to find him lunging towards me. His fist connected with my shoulder, and I yelped as his bone jarringly hit my bone. He threw another punch, but I managed to block it. "Hey!" I cried, trying to snap him out of it.

This only fueled his rage. He pounced on me, nearly knocking me onto the ground, but somehow I mustered enough strength to throw him off of me. "Please listen to me!" I begged.

He dashed towards me and I tried to block him again, but his hit was different. As I swiped up to block him coming down, he used his opposite hand to slam into my stomach, right where the wound was, just as my fist connected with his jaw, dividing us as if a bomb exploded between us.

I took a few ragged breaths as he turned to me, a bit of blood coming from the edge of his mouth. His glare could have slain me right then and there.

But who could blame him? I was angry at Deborah too. "I don't blame you for being upset at Deborah," I said softly. "I am too!"

He growled at me, sounding inhuman and certainly acting inhumane as he ran at me, knocking me to the ground and landing hit after hit. I felt myself crumple beneath him. I covered my head with one hand and let my other arm hang limply to cover my belly.

His fingers enclosed around my neck.

This was it.

I was going to die.

Goodbye world, and good riddance to Syntec.

...

...

I waited for it to happen. But it didn't. The suffocation never tried to claim me.

I heard someone wheezing. I opened my eyes, which I must have closed at some point.

It was Osamu, sprawled out on the floor, trying to get air. I tried to sit up, but flopped to the ground again. I couldn't move my one arm.

I tried to push myself towards him. His eyes caught my movement and his head swiveled to face me. His eyes were wild, shining with terror and rage.

"Friend." I said weakly as I made it to his side. "Calm down, please calm down. Take a slow breath in. Please." I held my breath as his gasped for his, unable to catch one.

"Thr- Through the nose." I begged, my voice catching. "Come on, please."

The world swam before me and I collapsed to the ground. I listened to his wheezing, feeling his heartbeat tremble in the floorboards, making me tremble. Or maybe I was trembling.

I focused on his beating heart. I prayed he would live.

Pound pound pound.

Pound pound pound...

The beats started slowing down. Tears ran down my face as I trembled to think that he might not make it. He had to. He had to.

Pound.    Pound.      Pound..

Pound.        Pound..           Pound..

"Osamu," I whimpered through the tears.

I heard the floorboards squeak as Osamu shifted his position, struggling to do something. "I-" I heard him muster. "I'm not Osamu. M-- my name's"

He had stopped speaking. I had caught my breath, trying to feel for his heartbeat.

I felt a heartbeat shake me, a heart being ripped in half somewhere.

Mine.

The only heartbeat was mine.