Experiment VII

Chapter Forty-Nine: Belly of the Beast

I bite down hard on the inside of my cheek as my heart rate climbs with each passing moment. The exact amount of time that passes before the woman finally speaks up is a mystery to me, though it no doubt appears significantly longer than it is in reality. A familiar metallic taste coats my tongue as the woman's hand still lingers dangerously close to her weapon, though it remains holstered.

"Dr Perk has got another one of his 'minor' security breaches on floor three," the guard, or whatever she is, eventually informs.

I allow myself a quiet sigh of relief, letting some of the tension fall from my shoulders.

"He probably having trouble with one of the mutants," she comments absentmindedly, barely sparing Chester and me a second glance as her eyes reglue themselves to the screens before her. But with no indication of what direction to head in, I remain rigid in the same position I came to upon entering the lobby, still making no move forward. The guard's eyes flick up once more as the rest of the Umbra agents we arrived with file out in different directions.

"Take care of it!" she snaps, her expectant gaze lingering between the only two men still standing in the lobby.

Chester nods and walks off, clutching the top of my arm once more as I stumble after him. And once again, I shirk off his grasp after a few steps toward one of the several elevators situated on the far wall.

"Stop grabbing me," I grumble, nursing my arm as I step inside. "I can walk myself."

Chester scoffs, punching in the button on the panel labelled '3.' "Can you?"

I bite down my retort as the white metal doors shut, enclosing us within the elevator as it starts to move.

Enjoying the fleeting seconds to catch my breath, Chester doesn't take long to interrupt them. "Whatever we find down here..." He turns to face me. "Just go with it. We need to keep our heads down for now, at least until we find the Overseer."

Unsure of where this impromptu instruction is coming from or much caring, I nod. I step out as soon as the colourless doors slide open with a ding and satisfied enough by my answer, Chester does the same, making no further remark.

With the recent injury, sporadic spikes and drops of adrenaline from a long list of close calls, a wave of exhaustion chooses now as the time to hit me. My footfalls grow heavier as the seconds stretch onward, leaving my pace gradually slowing. As a rare though not unwelcome instance, Chester refrains from comment and silently walks beside me. Though no doubt that he's noticed by now as often to my own displeasure, there isn't much the other mutant doesn't.

Despite the almost overwhelming, if not nonsensical urge to lie down in the middle of the floor and drift off to sleep for a few hours, I push on, determined to see this mission through. Now isn't the time for failure. There's too much at stake, or perhaps the opposite is true, and there's jack shit left for me to lose. What little safety we scrounged for at the safehouse is now gone. More than a few mutants have already lost their lives. For all I know, Chester and I could be next. But either way, one thing is certain; Umbra must be stopped. I won't be the reason the Overseer escapes, not like he did with Viktor during our last run-in. No, the Overseer won't be slipping through my fingers again. I only need to find him first.

"How are we going to find him in this place? It's a maze," Chester speaks up, as though reading the thoughts flowing through my mind.

"One thing at a time, Chester," I say, coming to a halt as we approach an intersection of almost identical hallways. My gaze scans over the corridors, each as sparsely populated as the next and barren of colour, save for the occasional potted plant making for a stark contrast. Taking no heed of Chester's sigh, I stare at the hall to the left for a little longer.

"It's that way..." something tells me, that voice, that...something.

"This one." I gesture to the left before making a turn down it.

"And how d'you know this is the right way?" Chester hangs back for a moment before closing the small amount of distance I had gained.

"I just...know," I answer, unsure of what else to tell him.

"Right," he pants.

I spare a glance over to the other mutant as we continue on our way, raising a brow in his direction. In lack of better judgment, I find myself asking, "You alright?"

Breathing still heavy, "Chester gives a stiff nod. "It's just...hard shutting it all out in this place," he admits, then sighs as no sign of recognition comes over me. "Super-hearing, remember? I can hear nearly everything in this building."

Oh. Oh. I hesitate to question further, not certain I want the answer before curiosity gets the best of me.

"What...do you hear?"

He shakes his head a little. "You're better off not knowing."

His lack of specifics does nothing to quell my curiosity, but if there was ever an occasion to abstain from prying, something tells me now would be that time. I nod, simply deciding to take his word for it. There's already no shortage of other things to worry about now that we finally find ourselves at Umbra, in the belly of the beast, as it were.

"Well, with any luck, we'll be outta here soon," I say, leaving out the 'one way or another' part. Realism isn't often a reassuring commodity.

A shockingly hearty chuckle from Chester rippling through the air pulls me from my train of thought. "What about our situation makes you think we're lucky people?"

My lip twitches into something resembling a smile before I have a chance to stop myself. "Yeah, not much," I confess as we delve further into the facility.

A resounding bang against one of the many doors stops my stride outside it. Though perhaps thud is a more appropriate word. Chester pauses beside me, visibly wincing as a muffled scream tears through our ears.

We've arrived.