The Neogene Project

Chapter 27 - Goner

Chapter 27 - Goner

The room was silent except for the rapid beeping coming from her right side. Her breathing was ragged, mixing in with the crisp air around her. Everything felt like a dream. Her eyes opened to a stark white ceiling. Her fingers spread apart then came in to form a fist. Her ears were buzzing. But all in all, she felt fine. Aria was alive.

She closed her eyes and the car's headlights flashed in her brain. The crash. The way her body melded into the side of the car. Her heart stopping beating. It all was coming back to her now. Chance.

Aria's body sat straight up in her seat. A sharp pain shot through her arm before melting away with the sweet scent of honey. Looking down, she noticed for the first time the IV sticking out of her. Multiple needles at that. In fact, the whole room was filled with machinery. A desk was in the corner, research papers and all of her information sitting in a tall pile. Ignoring the uncomfortable ache of her arm, Aria yanked out the six needles that were flowing into her. She noticed one of them was taking her blood, not giving it to her. Had she been experimented on while she was out?

Aria slid her legs off of the bed and stood up. Her hospital gown dragged on the floor as she slowly made her way over to the desk. Papers upon paper upon papers were sitting there. Messy doctor's scrawl took up the majority of the pages, noting different observations from Aria's time spent in bed. Files were shoved into the corners, multiple names whom she didn't recognize took up many of the spots. Behind her own file, the largest of them all, she saw Chance's. Chance.

Shaking her head around a bit to clear her mind, Aria looked around the room once more. No windows were present and the only lights were coming from the light bulb hanging from the ceiling, the really low ceiling. Aria's head was practically touching it when she stood tall. From the musty smell, and the lack of people talking, Aria almost wanted to conclude that they were in some kind of hospital attic.

"She's still asleep, sir," a raspy voice said from the hallway outside of Aria's room. A grunt of approval sounded after. "The boy on the other hand is still unconscious. Our team is deciding what to do with him now. We believe that if we were to inject some of the girl's healing blood into the boy's system, his brain would reawaken. We're still getting approval from the board first though."

"You don't need approval. I'm giving you the okay right now. We cannot allow any one of these children to slip away." The voice sounded vaguely like Trenton's father's, but Aria shook away the thought. James wasn't a doctor. The voices faded away into the distance and Aria let out a breath she hadn't even known she was holding. A door further down the hall opened, the voices disappeared inside, and the sound of it closing resonated throughout the silent building. Aria's shaking hands reached out and grasped her own door handle. Turning it, she sighed in relief as no squeak sounded. Pulling it a little more, the door gave way and opened fully. Aria was met with yet another stark white wall. Her bare feet silently maneuvered her out of her room. Looking to the left, Aria saw one door, the two voices she had heard before coming out from there. To her right was another door, but in contrast to the first, this room was silent. She turned her body and began her journey to this new door. Pushing slightly, the door creaked, but not loud enough to be heard over the now booming voices from down the hall. Putting her whole body into it the door wiggled, then slid open, allowing Aria's tiny body to be thrown right into the hospital room of Chance.

His body was lying completely still on his hospital bed. His eyes were closed and steady breathing could be heard if one was to listen hard enough. His skin was pale, even paler than Aria's naturally white skin. His dark hair was jostled around and looked unkempt, something Aria had thought Chance could never achieve. Unlike Aria's room when she had woken up, Chance's room only had two machines, one inserting IV fluid and the other tracking his heart, and no desk was present. A single chair sat right by his side, mirroring what Aria would've imagined a hospital room to look like. She closed the door softly behind her and sat down in the chair. Taking Chance's cold hand into her own, she noticed how his machine never faltered in one beat. Chance was out cold.