Aelburn (WATTY'S 2020)

.eight.°°

"Survivors aren't always the strongest; sometimes they're the smartest, but more often simply the luckiest."

Carrie Ryan, The Dark and Hollow Places

December 12th, 2199
Science Ward
Floor Three

LAVENDER

Lavender's knees cracking against the ground was a feeling the young woman was growing used to, as was the rush of electricity that came from the electrodes stuck to her skin that would send her body into intense spasms and steal her breath to the point of her forgetting how to get it back.

Lavender pulled herself from the ground, her elbows wobbling as she pushed herself up and finally climbed to her feet, chest heaving and sweat dripping down her back. The man before her had a vile look in his eyes, practically frothing at the mouth at the sight of her. Lavender held her tongue, clenching her hands into fists.

She didn't understand these tests. Physical, mental, pushing her frail body to the point of exhaustion. What was the point of making them fight? Punching, kicking, tearing at each other like animals until one lay unconscious. Lavender had managed to prevail in each fight she'd been placed in and she knew she looked like it. Her only reward for success was the feeling of more needles pressing into her skin, blood leaving her veins, a scalpel pressing into her flesh.

The men above who watched wore masks, screaming at both of them by the names they'd been given by the scientists. In the beginning, Lavender hadn't heard hers at all but now the roar of her name managed to give her some form of determination.

"Patch! Patch! Patch!"

She hated the name, the one who had named her tracing his finger along the light patch of skin under her eye as he said it in a sickeningly loving tone but hearing it chanted motivated her enough to prevail.

The man before Lavender, named Plush due to his large, pillow like body, crouched low to the floor, eyes wild and teeth bared. She'd heard from the others she had met in confinement that he was an undefeated champion, having been held for the last thirteen years. This was a man drove insane by the need to survive. He was a monster, Lavender knew that, having witnessed Amai being rolled past her cell screaming in agony about her eye after her fight with him the night before.

Lavender knew she needed to win. The scientists controlling this fight would push her until she couldn't go anymore. She needed to survive.

The roar of both of their names was about even, Plush's name a little louder than her own. Lavender lifted her hand to her lip, wiping the blood that had flowed down her chin with the back of her hand. Plush rolled his head, smiling maniacally at the young woman and Lavender clenched her hands again, shaking her head to clear the dizziness caused by the electrodes pressed into her temples.

Plush threw himself forward, hand outstretched and Lavender dodged to the left, wincing when her ankle twisted and she stumbled to a stop. Plush whipped his head around and lunged once more, Lavender barely able to react before his hand was wrapped around her jaw and she was slammed into the ground. Lavender gasped for air before sinking her teeth into the skin between his thumb and index finger, earning a cry of surprise from the large man. Ripping his hand back, Lavender scrambled to her feet and dodged his other hand as he reached forward to grab her once again.

Reaching back, Lavender grasped Plush's hand and yanked it into her shoulder, crouching and using his momentum against him to propel the large man into the floor. The cheers that erupted made Lavender smirk, the smile only growing when his shocked eyes found hers.