Out of Cryo - Season 2 | A Horizon: Zero Dawn Fanfiction

Chapter 6: Titanium

"...that I honestly don't understand. Maybe if we try the other protocol-,"

"No. Sobeck specifically wants it this way. Try going back to the older thread. I don't know – maybe we can get a bit more visibility and see why the hell this thing took a shit."

Doctor's office? No. An intercom. I opened my eyes – my vision taking a moment to adjust to the brightness again. I was back in the chair - restraints still holding me down. The voices were gone. The screaming had stopped.

Jenna was gone.

No. She's been gone. I could feel the device Branwell had placed around my head. What the fuck...

The memories returned. It was fake. It had all been fake. My family, the house, Jenna. They were gone – dead and cold in the ground. Aloy had brought me the ashes and we had buried them together under the tree near the cabin. The cruelty of it all made tears well up in my eyes. I sniffed and pushed them back. I didn't have time for this bullshit.

Aloy.

I needed to get the hell out of there.

I could hear Branwell and some other guys muttering to each other through the intercom about why their fucked up experiment had bugged out. I knew it was probably only a matter of time before they got it figured out and working again, which meant I needed to figure out an escape plan fast.

But how? I tugged at the restraints again. Even with my implants, the restraints they had used on me were impossible to break through. Fuck...

"We'll have to run additional tests. Take her to holding with the other one until this gets sorted," Branwell said.

Holding?

The door opened and a young man in a lab coat walked in. He seemed nice enough - maybe not a whole lot older than me - but I didn't have time to be nice. I needed to get out of there. "All right, Rebecca. We're going to take you to another room for now until we can get this going again. Once it's working, we'll put you back in, okay?"

I said nothing. I tried to stay calm as he approached me. He began to unfasten the restraint on my left arm first. Almost. Idiot.

Branwell's voice broke through on the intercom again. "Did Geary grab the-oh, for God's sake, Geary you left the tranquil-Geary get back here-,"

Too late. I yanked my arm free of the restraint before dealing a backhand blow to the guy. It easily knocked him unconscious and he crumpled to the floor.

Whoa. That was...really effective!

"Sorry," I muttered as I undid the other restraints. I pushed myself out of the chair, my legs a bit wobbly. How long was I in that...simulation or whatever the fuck it was?

No time. Had to get out of there.

"Goddamnit!" Branwell yelled. "Alert! We have a security breach in block A-3. I need a unit in there, now!"

I looked ahead. The door! It was still open. I decided to run for it. Stepping over Geary's body, I rushed towards what I hoped would be freedom. Outside of the room was a metal corridor, brightly lit – pretty standard looking for a GAIA-built installation.

Need to go. But which way? Both sides of the hallway looked the same. I picked right and started running. The first few steps nearly sent me crashing to the ground – my balance was way off. I recovered, barely, and kept going. I didn't know where the hell I was going, but anywhere was better than that cold, creepy chair.