Project Neptune

Chapter 5

Chapter 5                                                                                                                                                       Specimen E17

          We've been moving, walking, running, jogging, and crying for two days since it all happened. My muscles ached and so does my heart. I wanted to sit and mourn the loss of Dr. Parry, but I knew we didn't have time to. The worst thing about it all, we don't know if she's really dead. The Lab would start looking for us soon. I wish there was some way to go back and ensure she wouldn't have died, if she is, in fact, dead. I also wonder who killed her. I know my sister killed some people, I can see right through her when she lies to me.

         I haven't talked to my sister since it happened and I think it was beginning to weigh on her. I felt my stomach tighten when I thought about making her feel awful, but I pushed the feeling away. She deserves it. The words flowed through my mind like poison and I was addicted. I looked at her.

        We were almost out of the city and passing through a busy street, it was two forty one in the afternoon. I looked at her clothes, the hems of her flared jeans muddy from the dirt path we took through the woods on the way to the city yesterday. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were puffy and baggy. I could hardly recognize her as the sister I knew two days ago. Her hoodie was slumped over her shoulders and she looked mentally and physically exhausted, her face was also splotched with dirt and red marks from crying. Her backpack was the only thing that looked like it hadn't been scraped across concrete and smeared with dirt, but it was still dirty. I thought about saying something to her, comforting her, but the words rang loudly in my ears. She deserves it.

         "The GPS says to take a turn up here." My sister says with a melancholy tone. You can hear all her aches and pains in her voice when she speaks. I blink away the nineteenth round of tears since we left. I want to tell her I'll be okay, and that she's still my world and I'll always be there for her. But I don't. She has to know how much I hurt.

        I nod and we continue walking in silence. I look down at my tennis shoes Dr. Parry gave me. Everytime I look at what I'm wearing I see Dr. Parry's cold, dead face, and I see my sister kissing her goodbye. I blink back another set of tears and look forward at the road ahead of us.

         People pass by us, ignoring us. For once nobody, stares or asks dumb repetitive questions or expects us to do certain things. They just pass us and go on their way. They are odd, like nothing I've never seen before. They are peaceful, and beautiful. We walk down the sidewalk and pass a parking lot to a Walmart. I saw a woman, the same age as Dr. Parry and her three children getting into their van.

         The woman walks around and slides the door open for her littlest son, who climbs up into the car like it's a cave at the top of Mt. Everest. The older son opens the door for him and his sister and they climb inside. Both doors shut and the mother goes to the front of the car and gets in. It starts up and pulls away. I watch it until it's gone out of view. I begin to wonder what it'd be like to have a 'family' and drive around with them and go to school. I could have parents, real parents, and animals. I could have a duck or a pigeon or a dog. I have always wanted a dog.

        I look across the street at a CVS Pharmacy and see a young girl walk out to her car. I could drive my own car. I could have a- I'm torn from my thoughts when my sister lets out a hideous cough. I now realize I had fallen a little behind her and I rush to her side, never hearing her make that noise before, and I break my vow to myself.

         "Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?" I ask her, holding onto her shoulders. She lets out another cough and looks at me out of the corner of her eye. She stops and nods, swallowing hard.