𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐌 → 𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒

𝟎𝟏

𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐓

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DRAGGING HER BODY UP THE STAIRS, Chloe Conway sighed softly as she fumbled with her house keys. She had attempted to stick in her mother's house - turned to Chloe's safe house - key into the door of her apartment. When the lock didn't give way, she scowled, roughly pulling the key out and using the correct one.

It had been a long two weeks, and Chloe wanted nothing more than to fall face-first into her sheets and sleep the week away. The mission she was sent on was not as easy as her commanders made it out to be – even with her skill set.

The so-called easy task took her a full two weeks to accomplish, living off of nothing but terrible can food and hopping from run-down motel to another.

Sometimes she wondered if her job was worth it - worth the pain and injuries she sustained over the years, but in the end, the fact that she was helping people made it worth it.

Like her grandparents before her, Chloe wanted to help people, save them, and protect them. She didn't know if it was just a hero complex that she developed as a child or not, but it carried through to her adulthood. Her grandfather was a soldier during WWII, and her grandmother was a nurse at the same time, so Chloe grew up listening to all the stories her grandparents could remember.

They were the most influential people she knew, they had raised her from her infancy when her mother passed during childbirth. Olivia Conway had a problematic pregnancy with no reason to explain why. Already weak before labor, the strenuous hours of delivery was too much for the woman who passed only minutes after Chloe was born.

The identity of her father was unknown to her grandparents. Olivia, never speaking his name or revealing who the man was. No matter how many times her parents asked, Olivia only smiled, placing a hand on her pregnant stomach and claim that he was special and gave her a precious gift.

Her grandparents raised the girl with so much love and affection that the fact that she didn't have a mother or father never really bothered her. So when the death of her parental figures happened, it tore the ten-year-old girl apart.

That was the day that everything changed for Chloe Conway, the day that normalcy was a thing of the past. She couldn't remember much of what happened that day, only bits of pieces. Flashes of the scenes continued to haunt her.

She remembered a being of green, the sound of her shrill scream and flashes of blue and green. Chloe could vividly remember the feeling of anguish and then a mind splitting headache taking over. Everything went black after that, and when Chloe awoke hours later, she was in the arms of an unknown woman.

From that day forward, Chloe knew her life would no longer be her own.

Chloe dropped her duffle bag onto the floor once she was able to stumble into the apartment. There was a rancid scent in the air, causing the girl to frown and grimace, remembering the leftovers she forgot to put away two weeks ago. Making her way into the kitchen, she grabbed the Tupperware container that contained a whole new ecosystem growing within.