One Of Them

Chapter 9

~Ashton~

I meet Sabina's gaze, hoping she'll see just how uninterested I am in being here. 

"Come on, let's get this over with," I tell her my patience running low as I plop down on the chair and put on the glasses. 

The quicker we get started the faster we'll be out of here, and that's my top priority at the moment. 

"The Intermediate Simulation zero-zero-three should take a minute to begin. Good luck." 

Three. Never done this simulation yet which is going to make this... I'm actually not really sure. I just want to get this all over with already.

The simulation begins and I find myself in a hospital operating room.

Keep the patients safe, pops up before my face in ugly green. Doesn't sound too difficult.

"So what's the plan?"

I look over at Sabina, who's wearing an open lab coat with a really short white nurse's dress underneath, her pale legs visible.

"Uh... we should scout the place," I start... "See how many Inhumans we are dealing with."

"Sounds good," she says, her fingers curling around the handle of her block42 as she slowly approaches the door. I'm right behind her.

She peeks her head out. "Coast is clear."

"Good. Go but be cautious."

She nods before stepping out of the room. Taking in a deep breath, I follow her down the narrow hallway. After a minute, Sabina abruptly stops and I crash right into her.

 "What is it?"

She doesn't respond, so I look past her, my eyes widening. Cowarding in the corner is a young boy in a bloody hospital gown. 

"Uh..." I don't get to finish off what I was going to say because as I feared an Inhuman steps out of the shadows and throws burning acid at the young boy, killing him instantly. 

That's when Sabina screams, giving our location away to the beast. Uh oh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sabina~ 

Ashton clamps his hand over my mouth, silencing my scream. 

"Ozox," he curses. "They now know that we are here."

Before I have the chance to even exhale, he's pressing me up against the wall as a ball of acid sears by. He's so close that I notice the dark brown speck in his left eye. He stares back at me from under long, golden lashes and I can feel the heat inching up my neck from being in such close proximity with a man. 

"Do you know how to shoot that thing?" He gestures to my gun. I nod, gulping down the frog in my throat. "Good," he continues. "Then on the count of three--- one, two, three." He jumps away from me, waving the Inhuman over. That's when I pull the trigger, killing her easily. 

I have to keep reminding myself that this is a simulation and that in a real situation like this, shooting someone won't be as simple.

Ashton looks at me, a small smile of approval on his face. "Good job." 

"Thanks," I say, puffing out my chest with pride. 

We continue to make our way down the hallway, stepping over the corpses of the young boy and Inhuman. This is all fake... the warmth of Ashton's body beside mine... the dead boy and girl at our feet... it's not real.

"I'm guessing that there's four more," Ashton is saying, bringing me away from my thoughts. "Intermediate level usually gives you five Inhumans to kill."