Humanity: Project X - 160

Chapter 8

Skye felt her cheeks burn. Not how they burn when you blush__no, not that at all. They burned with anger and hatred. How had this girl found them? It just didn't make any sense to her... it never would, probably. Nothing so far, anyways, made sense to her. Not even Kaya's reasoning, which had to be the most logical explanation to everything.

"Do you know her?" Joseph asked Skye.

Skye, deciding it best to play it safe, shook her head.

"Barely saw her once or something... I didn't really talk to her."

32 began to laugh hysterically, shaking her head and wildly disagreeing with her. She smirked at Skye, probably enjoying this as if it were some sort of child's play, or even a puzzle.

"We're besties," she said, looking up at Skye. "Like this."

When she said this, she got up from her sitting position and side-hugged Skye, twisting her fingers together as tightly together as she possibly could. So tight, in fact, that you could see her blood flow was beginning to stop.

Kaya was more tense than anyone, although you couldn't really tell from the way she was standing.

Joseph seemed to notice their tenseness, however, and called out to everyone, "Let's leave the girls to chat in private!"

It was like he was their leader, because everyone listened to him when he said something. Or perhaps it was just because he was the scariest of them all, Skye couldn't exactly tell.

When everyone left, Skye made the most of it.

"What do you want, girl?" she asked, glaring a little ways up at the girl who was still hugging her. "And let go of me."

She shoved her roughly so that she fell down on her butt. She groaned for a couple seconds. However, after recovering she got up and immediately turned to Skye and slapped her in the face. It stung her cheek, like tiny tingles or bugs nibbling on it until the pain was gone. Skye was so angry at her, she was about to punch her in the face when Kaya stopped them both from fighting.

"Guys, cut it out!" she whisper-shouted.

They both turned their heads to the smaller girl.

"The more you fight, the more suspicious they'll be," Kaya explained. "You told me you wanted a favor. What do you want that to be?"

The girl thought for a moment.

"I'm not sure yet," she said.

"Okay, but make sure it's one favor only," she said. "Now, if we're to act like friends, we should tell each other our names."

"But you-" 32 began.

"Your real names," she said. "Not that stupid number."

32 titled her head for a moment, then smiled.

"What's the matter, love?" Kaya asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Maybe I did underestimate you," she explained. "Rebellious much. I like it. I'll go with... Gloria. Suits me, don't you think? What are your names, anyways, if you don't go by the numbers?"

Skye rolled her eyes.

"I'm Kaya," Kaya said, and then nudged Skye to respond.

"Skye," she whispered, her mouth barely forming the words.

"How'd you find us?" Kaya asked.

"I wasn't looking for you guys... I was actually looking for him," at this she pointed at 45, "because I promised I would help him find out who murdered his wife if he helped me figure out who murdered my brother."

"Your... brother?" Skye said, now looking up so that she could face Gloria.

"Yeah," Gloria responded, looking down as a tear slipped down her face. She tried wiping it away. However, every time she did, a new fresh tear, plus two others, would find its way down her cheeks. Eventually she got tired of this, and so she wiped them furiously away from her face, probably not caring in the slightest that she looked ridiculous while doing so.

Kaya and Skye both looked at each other.

They could tell her something that would help a lot.

Kaya began to speak, only to be interrupted by Skye.

"Remember that favor?" Skye asked Gloria.

Gloria nodded her head. She probably wasn't in the mood for anything.

"I know how to fulfill it. You just got to say that we don't owe you anything if we tell you."

"What?" Gloria asked, her tears finally dried from her face.

"We know who murdered your brother..." Skye began. "It wasn't us."

"I know it wasn't you," she said, shaking her head. "I knew it from the beginning. I mean, even a child could tell that Kaya had never held a bloody knife in her whole entire life. It's just... if you have an opportunity to gain something, might as well take it."

"But we have a small idea who might've killed you brother. That will be your favor, us telling you," Kaya said, understanding where Skye was going with her choice of words.

Gloria's face switched from complete sadness, all the way to bewilderment, and then confusion. Finally, however, she nodded her agreement, and so Skye began to tell her the story.

"There's this blurry figure that attacked me," Skye began. "It was like nothing I had ever seen before. And then the fact that it could phase through walls with ease... it was an unfair fight, where they had the upper hand. It wanted to kill me off, but I managed to survive."

Gloria scoffed.

"How do I know if you're telling the truth or not?" she said, rolling her eyes. "I mean, from the sound of that story, nobody would believe you. Not even my brother, who believed in a lot of crazy things."

"That's how you know she's telling the truth," Kaya said, pointing in the direction of people beginning to slowly stir, her eyes full of fear, her shaky hand pointing forward at the attacks.

The figure.

It was back, and it was hungry for more prey.

This time, Skye wasn't sure if she would be so lucky to survive.