AWAKENING

CHAPTER FIVE: FILES

That night, Genesis didn't sleep well, and she found herself lying awake the next morning at just 3AM. She decided to check her chat logs and found a notification of a text from Dryden asking if he could call her earlier the night after her father was taken.

She didn't have any desire to look at her phone, let alone talk to anybody. Missing her father, Genesis kicked her feet over the edge of the bed and walked out into the hallway.

She followed the hall down to her father's office and went to sit at his computer desk. Stacks of papers covered the area surrounding the PC, and the drawer, when she opened it, had a credit card in it with a code taped to the back on a sticky note. She couldn't lie to herself, it was weird, like he saw this coming. She still hadn't reached out to her aunt Jennie but she was making mental plans to do so.

In a bold decision to do something to get answers, Genesis started to rummage through the desk in search of passwords. When she reached the fourth and final bottom drawer, so far with no luck, she was surprised to find a writing pad which, when she skimmed through it, she found it had a page of her fathers passwords all neatly written on it.

She entered the password for the computer and successfully found herself logging into his account. She scrolled through the computer's file, eyeing up each of its contents. 

The file "Patients" stared back at her. That was weird, because her father didn't take patients as far as she knew, and he simply worked for a dermatology lab and a brand of anti aging cream called Sephora.

When she clicked on the folder she found it was password protected with a key. She scanned the list of passwords and quickly noted a key written towards the bottom of the page. She entered it using the keyboard and once she finished typing away she hit enter in anticipation. 

The files loaded in video format. 

Genesis stared at the file which read "Patient 9" and felt her curiosity quickly get the best of her as she clicked on it.

It loaded a video file that showed a large tube, and within it was an android looking creation. However it also appeared to. . . human? The closer Genesis looked, the easier it was to make out an intravenous needle in the girl's right arm, where she seemed to be receiving fluids, while her left arm appeared to be an intricate design made up of metal lattes and wires. Her head had two silver coin sized circles on both of her temples.

Genesis watched, intrigued, as the girl who could've been no older than her slowly opened her eyes which glowed electric blue. The moment she opened her eyes, lights started circuiting through the girl's left robotic arm, the rest of her body seemingly glowing blue along with it.

The camera cut to a closer view of the cyborg girl and her bright glowing eyes. Suddenly she was awake and being bombarded with attention from nurses, doctors and probably scientists. There was one problem, which was that the video appeared to have been labeled with a date that would've occurred very, very recently. Two weeks ago to be exact, noted Genesis.

The video ended with a hand covering the camera lens, and Genesis exited the file to find and select another. This file was labeled "Patient 7" and when she selected it, this file also showed up as a video. Genesis watched the video as it played, zoomed in on yet another person. 

Patient number 7 appeared to be another girl, however this time she was resting in a cot in a secluded room. She appeared chained to the wall by her ankles, but seemingly was free to move upon the bed and around the area near it. 

This girl was aggressive, and she consistently fought against the shackles at her ankles. When two presumed scientists entered the room, one held a syringe, and two more nurses rushed in to restrain her before she was injected with the contents of the syringe. It was unclear where the syringe had hit, but the girl slumped over and appeared to be asleep afterwards. There was no context in the video file name, and Genesis didn't know what to take from seeing it just yet, but for something like this to be on her father's computer, she was truthfully baffled.