Operation Frostbite

*PART THREE*

There was a deep flash of blue, and her eyes opened. Anya blinked several times, trying to shake away the dreams from her head. The room was dimly lit, with a lamp in the corner, and a curtain pulled across next to the bed. She realised she was still in the medical bay. The glass ceiling above her showed the sky to be the lightest touch of navy, as the morning seemed to be approaching. Rubbing her eyes, she pushed back the covers and found she had the striped hoodie draped over her as well. Pushing them both back, she found an IV line in her arm. Her other arm had a small pinprick and a bruise, suggesting they'd managed to take the blood she'd protested against.

She hated giving them blood.

They always took some, every day, but she still hated it.

Slowly, she disconnected the IV and pulled it away.

Her socked feet gently touched the floor, and she peered around the curtain. The medical bay was dimly lit, but unoccupied. She collected the striped hoodie and tugged it on, and in her thick pink socks, oversized tee and shorts, Anya crept through the bay and out the door into the corridor. She couldn't remember which way she had come with Nat, nor were there any signs. On instinct, she turned left and walked up a small flight of stairs. She found her fingertips tracing the walls, the artwork hung up and the strange assortments on tables that ran through the base. In the early hours, she didn't come across a single soul as she explored. She walked past large windows and saw the grassy landscape, and the waters edge. She had this urge to leave the base and run to the edge and jump into the water. She didn't know how to swim, but she wanted to feel the water all around her.

She'd spent maybe a good hour exploring before she even came across the first person. She'd explored the main compound building, but was wary of leaving to explore the other buildings, should the doors be alarmed. After a while, she found the main living quarters; a large room with tables, chairs, a kitchen area and books everywhere.

She found food in the cupboards she'd never seen before; a strict diet of two meals a day and one snack was all she knew – oatmeal at seven, one hour after lights on; one piece of fruit and a cracked after morning tests; then a plate of greens and cold meat that all tasted dusty to her, two hours before lights out. Everything she ate was measured and calculated; she'd seen some notes before a doctor had scurried away with them a while ago.

She pulled box after box from the cupboards and read the names. It was the colourful boxes that drew her attention. She found a box marked Fruit Loops, and decided to explore the base again, carrying the box with her, reaching in and eating the sweet hoops as she walked, leaving a trail behind her.

The first person she came across was a red-faced man wearing knitted jumper and slacks. He was reading a book, mouthing the words as he walked a corridor, and Anya stopped with her food. He stopped and stared at her.

"Hello," he said. He was the strangest looking man she had seen; and she'd seen some strange people. She said nothing, but clutched the box of cereal in her hands.

"You must be Anya, the young girl they found in the base in Gran-Slavionia." She frowned at him, "Yes, I'd never heard of Gran-Slavionia before, but I found this book on Europe and thought I would educate myself." He held up the thick book, which had a picture of a faded globe. "A small country on the border of Russia, Estonia and Latvia. With transport links to St. Petersburg, it is primarily occupied by Russian settlers dating back to the 1700s..."

It felt like a history lesson she'd sat through before, during the lessons she would have. She reached in and took a handful of the Fruit Loops to chew as she listened to the red-skinned man talk from his book. He seemed harmless enough, but she kept her toes curled.