Kismet

Chapter Nine - Raymond

His head throbbed. Blood dripped from his busted lip, his broken nose and a cut on his cheek from lack of cooperation towards the staff members.

Raymond had no idea what happened. The staff members just collapsed onto the floor, blood pooling around them, staining their clothes, staining his combat boots that he often wore for camping and hunting.

Raymond's time in the army did a number on him, but he never let it get to him. It was a nifty trick if he was stuck in a roadblock like these, so he could defend himself in some sort of way.

He couldn't now, he was cuffed to a table. They confiscated his pocket knife.

Only one hand was cuffed, Raymond had realized, glancing away from the bodies beneath him. He stood up from his chair, who the staff stupidly decided not to tie him to. Fuckin' idiots.

He gazed at the door in front of him, then looked back at his cuffed hand. He tugged on it slightly, the cuff not budging either way.

His switchblade knife was sitting on a short file cabinet, easy to grab, and it luckily wasn't across from his end of the table.

He made a move, his cuffed hand pulling him back. "Fuck," he hissed under his breath, huffing, thinking of a way.

He reached his good arm out to the file cabinet, just barely touching the tip of the knife. He painfully reached out more, moving the switchblade knife towards him. The switchblade was open, and he was unfortunately grabbing the blade part. The blade nicked his fingers as he grabbed for it, only to let it slip from his hands, leaving a cut on his palm, and the blade on the floor. "God-fucking-dammit. . ." He groaned out, feeling the blood rush to his hand, dripping from the nicks and cut.

He stretched out his foot, pathetically moving the knife towards him.

Succeeding, he laughed out of stress and relief, bending down the best he could to grab it.

His bloody hand was slippery with the knife, but he kept the grip as best as he could on it. Despite the pain, he squeezed his hand against the switchblade. He dug the knife into the cuff, leaving scratches, harsh marks, barely cutting through, yet cutting through his skin occasionally.

Winces of pain, labored breathing from him.

Footsteps came from outside of the interrogation room, voices. Konrad, and a few others he was unfamiliar with.

"Hey! I'm in here, kid! Let me out!" Raymond yelled out, hoping that Konrad and whatever other kids he were with would hear him.

"Raymond?" Konrad replied out loud, banging on the door.

"Yeah, kid, it's me. Open the door for me! I'm cuffed to the damn table!" He yelled out back, tugging on his cuffed hand, still not budging, only making metal rattles of sounds.

No response given back, but a female voice spoke out. "I can help. Are the cuffs metal?" The girl asked, who Raymond assumed was Ophelia.

"Yeah."

"Good. I can help you get them off." Ophelia's words nearly puzzled Raymond, but he remembered quickly this was a lab full of genetically modified kids with powers.

"That's— great, just great. Just open the door and get through with it." He says, a twinge of exhaustion in his voice.

Constant banging on the door, teenagers with barely the right amount of physical strength to break open a door twice their size. He doubts E—Konrad could take it down.

The door banged open, throwing the door off its hinges after a few bangs from multiple bodies in semi-unison.

"Thank God." He murmured, his voice breathy.

"Don't say the Lord's name in vain. . ." A younger man says, younger than Konrad, shorter too.

"You collecting kids or something, E? Not a good look on you in the future." Raymond joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Shut up," Konrad replied, glancing at Raymond's cuffed hand. "Ophelia, can you. . .?" He gestured to the cuff.

She nodded, Ophelia walking towards the table, putting her hands on the cuffs. Little pricks of of ice slithered from her hands, transferring to the cuffs. Vague white-blue ice engulfed the cuffs' lines, gentle cracks popping every so often.

Ophelia tightened her grip on the cuffs, squeezing them.

The cuffs cracked, chisels of the metal going off. She pulled them off, making Raymond slightly wincing from the accidental harsh tug. "Ow," He murmured.

"Sorry." She said, keeping in a small smile, yet it tugged on her lips.

Raymond rubbed his wrist, a bruise lining of the cuffs. He assumed it happened when he started tugging on it.

Ophelia glanced at Raymond's bleeding palm. She glanced away, looking uncomfortable. "Is anyone a healer here? He's got a bad cut." She asked.

"I am." The younger girl said, smiling gently to lighten the tense mood.

She walked towards Raymond then, Raymond already feeling tired. He wanted to get this over with. This was supposed to be a day to himself, camping alone to embrace nature and all that hippie shit.

He felt the wound close up, the bleeding coming to an end, watching the young girl heal his cuts, along with his other injuries. "Thanks." He said, clearing his throat. Raymond stood up, rubbing his hands together. "Where to now?" He says, with a tired, but content voice to keep the younger ones fueled for the day somehow.

"The file room." Konrad says.

***

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As they got to the file room, Raymond was sat back, leaning against the wall, letting them do their business.

"A-155, you are officially. . .," Konrad mumbled, glancing at the younger girl's file. "Aaliyah Nina Sokolov. Nice name." He complimented, as 'Aaliyah' whispered her new name to herself, sounding it out to see how it felt.

"D-278, you are the one and only. . . 'Zeke Norman Relish'. Pretty name for a pretty boy." Ophelia said, teasing 'Zeke' at the end. His face blushed slightly, as the other younger boy going by 'Kory' glanced away, seemingly uncomfortable with Ophelia's jokingly flirt.

"Why are you so tense, 'Kory'? Flirts not your style of signals?" He joked, chuckling to his poor taste in humor at the moment.

Konrad nearly rolled his eyes at the joke. Ophelia smiled slightly, as Zeke huffed quietly, giving a dirty look to Kory.

"No." Kory mumbled, clearly not warming up to Raymond.

"Raymond, please." Konrad warned, his patience wearing thin.

"Whatever." Raymond grumbled, getting comfortable in his seat. "Are we done here? I wanna get back to the camp, where I was planning to stay for the last couple of days. Plus, you all need a place to sleep, and this shit lab ain't a good spot." He said, his tone condescending.

"Language.." Zeke says, Kory rolling his eyes slightly in silent response.

"Let's go. Now." Konrad says, walking towards the exit, the three others following him, soon Raymond catches up, sighing in vague exhaustion.

"I'll lead you guys." Raymond mumbled, putting his hands in his pockets, leading them out of the lab. The bodies around the lab gave him the creeps. Who even did this? He didn't think it could've been Konrad, for sure. What were his powers? Raymond couldn't remember.

The walk was long. Too long, everyone was tired. The leaves crunched against everyone's shoes as they stepped tiredly.

"Almost there, dust yourself off and get back on the horse." He said, trying to motivate the younger ones.