Heathen Series - Changed

Chapter 21

Training with Sebastian was not as hard as before; all she had to do was stay focused. Stephanie started to actually enjoy it; if she looked passed the parts where he annoyed her or where her aches from the duel acted up.

She went for check-ups the rest of the week and was told that her final check-up would be on Friday – tomorrow. She was excited and enjoyed the Doctor's company once she got used to his... quirkiness. She also noticed that he only stuttered when he was nervous and was glad to find out that he wasn't nervous to see her anymore. She learned a lot of the soldier's names while she was there; she was still learning and wasn't even close to half way.

Most of the scientists there were not the usual doctors you would expect to find at a military camp; which made her very curious on what they were actually doing there.

She walked around and watched how everything worked; it was oddly a different yet calming kind of flow.

She strolled into her new room which always had a guard in front and settled herself down on the bed; her room was somewhere on the other side of the base. She enjoyed the walk there though she did get distracted on the way sometimes.

That night, she dreamt of her friends.

***

'She saw them in the distance and started running towards them; feeling so happy to see them. Her heart sped up and tears flowed from her eyes rolling slowly down her cheek. She had missed them dearly and couldn't wait to embrace them all. She slowed her running and looked around, something was wrong.

It had all changed; two paths stood before her both dark and gloomy. She looked down the dark path to her left with dim lamp lights running along it; and at the end stood a mannequin, pale white in colour with black hair and eyes that were stapled shut. She took a step closer and its eyes were forced open to reveal blood-red orbs that followed her every move with staples sticking out at the top and bottom of its lashed eyelids.

She looked down a similar path to her right to see a scarecrow made of dark brown straw and torn clothes. It was looking down at something... strange.

"Steph!..."

She turned, and there they were; her friends were waving at her.

What was going on?

Did she get turned around somehow?

She ran back towards them, away from the two pathways and as she got closer they had changed into the two creatures she just seen; scarecrows and mannequins all looked from her to them. She stopped, terrified at what she saw and turned to find her nightmare staring back at her.

NO!...

No!'

***

She woke up unsure of what happened in her dream; she wasn't even sure she remembered any of it other than the two creatures and the fact that her friends were there somehow.

Were her friends in some sort of trouble or was it because she deserved all the pain that came her way?

She got up groggily, stretched out her body and changed into her new uniform. Looking out her door she found that the guard had gone and got excited at the notion of her heading to the gym by herself; just as she locked her door, Sebastian stepped out blocking her way.

"SHIT!" she jumped clutching her chest.

"Where you going?" he inquired as he looked down at her.

He was a head or two taller than she was and it annoyed her at how close he was standing to her forcing her to look up at him; never-mind the fact that he nearly gave her a heart attack.