Human Error

Watched

Jack, Silencer, Historia, Eyes, and Guardian were asleep, leaving Fox and Vines awake. They were whispering to each other occasionally but otherwise keeping watch. The slime girl turned her head to look around and Vines had turned his own to look as well. As he did, he caught a glimpse of something flashing.

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

He looked around again, then squinted. "Turn your head again."

She did so cautiously and he put up a finger, then pressed it behind her ear. There was a small lump and a flashing light.

"What's this?" he asked her.

She moved a slender hand back to run it over the little device. "I don't know… what does it look like?"

"Its flashing every now and then… and its really small." He paused. "Do you think we all have one?"

"Only one way to find out."

She turned his head and found one behind his ear, then checked the others carefully. They all had one. The device that monitored their every action, every thought, every beat of their heart or blink of their eye, their current location.

"They put them there, didn't they?" came the soft voice from the girl. The plant boy nodded and shrugged.

"I guess so. Should we try to take them out?"

"What if they're keeping us alive?"

The two jumped at the voice and looked over, meeting eyes with a certain harpy. Fox bit her lip, then shook her head.

"There's only one way to find out. Take mine out, please," she told them in all seriousness.

"Its gonna hurt--"

"Just get it over with, I don't care if it hurts."

Vines nodded and Historia scooted over. "I can use my 'claws.'"

Fox didn't say anything, just nodded. The teal-pink harpy rose a hand, which brought her wing with it, and pressed a cold black-brown talon behind the slime's ear. She shivered, took a deep breath, the gave her the OK. Vines wrapped his arms around the little girl as the other girl proceeded to dig her claw in and cut downward. There was a muffled whine, which was then abruptly cut off by a scream of pain. The boy just held her tighter so she couldn't rip away.

The others woke to the scream and looked frantic, scared, and confused. Historia finished and pulled her talon out. She nodded to Vines, who took a hand up and put his index finger inside the semi-large cut. There was another scream, then it died out. The chip was covered in blood but the light still blinked; the boy moved it closer to look at it, then set it down and look for something to patch the wound. Fox had passed out from the searing pain and blood was trickling down her neck and onto the beige clothing she wore. Eventually, Vines just ripped the sleeves off of his shirt and pressed them there to stop the bleeding.

"They're tracking us," Eyes said later. They'd covered the girl's wound as best they could and had a long conversation beforehand. Everyone was still a little shaken up by the scream, but they understood why, now. Then, he spoke again, "we need to get all of them out and destroy them."

Quiet agreements sounded and the harpy was put to work, hurting her friends in order to save them.