Experiment Zero

chapter 11

She turned her head and stared the little brown shape down. Her ears pinned back along her slick black fur, slowly turning her whole body around and growled. I slowly watched myself and Zero's face as I side stepped in between her and my little fox.  I knew it was a matter of time before she got mad at how slow Shelby had made us. We had walked since early morning and the sun looked as though it had begun setting. We were heading north and I didn’t like it, in the distance I could see city lights. I grew up in the mountains far from people and buildings, so my nerves were on end the closer we got.  The tension between everyone was too high, no one could sit still, Zero was the worst and I understood why.

“Zero, calm down please.”

      Zero took a step forward and I barred my teeth at her.  Even if I couldn’t take Zero on at least I could slow her down for Shelby to run. Zero didn’t even give me so much of a glance she just continued her death glare pointing past me.

“Zero, please!”

      I could smell the fear off Shelby and I couldn’t do anything to help. Zero took a bounding run for Shelby, she was too fast! Zero shot past me faster than I could blink! I turned around about to grab her from grabbing Shelby but just as I turned around I froze. Zero had run past Shelby too and into some bushes, she was never even barring her teeth at Shelby, someone had found us. I heard the submissive yelp from whatever she had grabbed. I was just about to run after Zero when a dark little shape was thrown from the bush with Zero walking behind it.
       The little dark shape was another fox but unlike Shelby she was completely black with deep amber colored eyes. Was she one of Shelby’s friends I wondered? As if reading my mind when I looked at my little fox she shook her head no but something was off about her. She looked shocked and terrified as if a ghost came back to haunt her. I didn’t see why she was so scared, the fox just lay there in a submissive manure. I started to hear snapping of almost like sticks that slowly turned louder and I turned and looked at Zero, she had started shifting back into human form. The black fox then began to respond with getting up and barred my teeth but she only gave me a glance and what looked like a smirk as if I were merely a funny toy. As Zero finished her shift the black fox began to finish hers as well. The two of them stared at each other with intense eyes. So sad and yet so much anger and understanding. A hard stare, but in their eyes it showed so much more. The girl looked almost just like Zero but smaller and thinner. Her hair was completely black and skin lighter than Zero’s. The thing that stuck out most was her bright amber eyes that looked almost fake.

“Why?”

     Her voice was soft and light but guarded. You could tell she was in pain but wanting to hide it.

“Why Zero…. Why give it all up for HIM?”

    A tear fell from her eye rolling down her cheek, she turned and looked at me, her eyes showed so much pain. I don’t know why but I knew what I needed to do. Not really knowing who this girl was I still somehow knew what she wanted and needed. I started shifting and I could feel Zero’s disapproval and guard go up. That girl just stared at me, her body telling me she wanted to kill me but her eyes telling me something else. However, Zero or Shelby knew this girl it didn’t matter. She had business with them and not me but I was the one that she needed the answer from, whatever that answer was. I got done shifting and she looked me over, I didn’t give her a chance to say anything, I walked up to her putting both my friend and protector on guard and also the black fox.
   She didn’t move but was aware of her surroundings, I reached out and grabbed her and pulled her to me. I could tell how shocked she was but I didn’t care, I hugged her tight. This girl I didn’t even know the name of. She pushed me away and then quickly pushed me to the ground she jumped on top of me and hit me over and over as hard as she could, I let her. I could feel my face being crushed under all of her strong and fast blows, why was I doing this? Then I was given my answer, tears started to run from her eyes as she hit me over and over. I knew Shelby and Zero had disapproved but it was worth it.
I could feel this girl’s pain and loneliness.

“It’s your fault!”

This was her answer, this is what she needed. She needed closure, she needed a reason. This had to be one of Zero’s teammates that she had left.

“Why? Why? Why? Why? You don’t deserve her! I needed her!”

Her blows started to slow and her guard stared falling. She was so weak at that moment I could have just killed her with my finger or even just an insult about her.

“I hate you! And I will be the one who takes your life! You never deserved her!”

Her eyes tightened and her guard was thrown back up I could feel Shelby and Zero in my head about to jump for her but I sent them a pack message telling them no, yet again their disapproval. The girl took her hand back and hit me harder than all the other times, I could feel my jaw breaking and the pain run through me. I didn’t raise a hand against her nor did I cry. I did what I needed to, I sat up and as she had a slight bit of panic run through her eyes I hugged her again. I pulled her tight and whispered in her ear the best I could with the last bit of my strength.

“It’s nice to meet you, my name is Corrin.”

I couldn’t hang on anymore, the pain was too much to ignore. I looked at the girl and smiled and whipped her tear away right before falling back against the ground. Zero and Shelby ran to me as the girl slowly just got off of me. Right before I passed out a heard her call from the bushes for me.

“I am number five, nice to meet you too I guess…”

I heard her shift back to her fox form and run back into the forest brush as Zero and Shelby tended to my wounds. Zero must have really trusted that fox to just let her go, I wondered what their past was like together and just then everything went black.
I woke up an hour later with Zero sitting over me. When she saw me open my eyes she smiled down at me and started laughing. Shelby ran over after hearing the noise and smiled down at me as well. My jaw stung but had managed to heal itself quite nicely, thankfully she didn’t hurt it that bad.  I sat up and looked at Zero.

“So, who was that anyway?”

Again, Zero started to laugh and at that moment I knew why I was here, I may not know what I was born for but I now knew what my purpose is. I’m here to stop all of this, to end all this suffering. Im tired of seeing everyone around me be hurt.

“Corrin that was number five, highest level spy and intel seeker and also a little pain in my side.”

She gave me a soft smile and looked off into the distance where man made lights had shown through the dark night sky.

“Ready to see the human world?”
I looked at the city and then back at Zero and Shelby. It was true that I was very scared and really hated the idea of going where people were but knew it didn’t matter.

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”