Three Hearts Left Intact

Chapter 48: Reminiscing

Kaila was startled awake nearly hitting her head against the roof of the vent as she shot up when loud shouting echoed from the hallway.

Rubbing her eyes and trying to keep her breathing quiet she peaked from the shadows seeing a man in a suit shouting at one of the men who looked to be a Hound. The man in a suit had a very large build. It was all pure muscle. His arms looked to be the size of head.

Seeing a trail of red droplets along the floor besides her into Lain's closed room, she wanted so badly to slam her fist into the floor. She missed Lain. She had slept through her return. Looking up at the man outside, she paid attention to his words.

"You need to speed this process up! I do not like waiting! She needs to be ready along with the other patients for the chambers! All the other girls have nearly completed their treatments, what is taking so long with this one?! Her records reported she wasn't even half way completed yet! What is the issue here?! Are you incapable of such task?! Cause if you are I could gladly send you back to D2 and let you deal with the workers!" She felt a strange sense wash over here. That voice. It was a perfect blend of harsh and coarse.

Taking a quick close look at him, she couldn't see much other than his greying hair and back.

"No sir please, Patient 102 is just resilient. You should know sir, you even had trouble breaking her. And you've broken countless number of patients. She just won't give in, the injections weren't cleared by her doctors, the chains were ineffective, and blood only made the situation worst. Sir, were running out of options." A shaking voice made its way out from behind the mask of the Hound.

Without even having to see his face, Kaila could picture the look of horror on the masked face from how white the very tan man's skin turned as his hands made two fists. Moving like an attacking snake, the man put a death hold onto the Hounds slightly guarded neckline. He pushed the Hound against the wall, applying pressure to his grip.

"I know very well how strong willed she is! That doesn't excuse the fact that you are wasting my precious time!" Kaila shivered as she went on a ride of emotions. Hearing that one word was enough to put Mallix into her mind. All she wanted was to desperately get back to them both.

"I went in there with nothing but my fists and came out with more progress than your team and your treatments! Get a move on! Time is money! And if you even cost me a penny over, I'll be back to pay you another visit!" He squeezed so tight he nearly snapped the man's neck as he lifted the Hound off the floor and dropped him back down.

Kaila scurried behind the vent guard to keep hidden as the Hounds face landed straight on the ground making a loud cracking noise from his helmet. He groaned, coughed, and was breathing heavy as he looked up at the man in front of him.

"Get back to work! Don't make me waste my time and have to come back here again!" The man kicked the Hound in the stomach, causing him to fall onto his back.

Unable to show weakness in a place like this, the Hound, who was in clear pain and whose body ached like a thousand burning stings, slowly and unsteadily got up off the floor. Standing tall and as straight as he could he used all his might to push out a few words. "Yes sir."

Without saying another word the big man turned around to walk away just in time for Kaila to peak her head back out. From the low view she had, it was difficult to see his facial features, but from a small burn on the side of his face old memories flew back into her mind.

Searching through the remnants of the past, she was able to place her finger on where she had seen that man before. 'Elias...' she thought seeing images of him.

It had been years since she had spoken or talked to Lauren's parents. Mostly because she was always busy trying to survive out in the real world, but mainly because of the anxiety both of them caused her.

Like Lauren, her mother Myra and father Elias, shared very strange behavior patterns. Every time Kaila had gone over to her house, they both eyed the small girl to the point of uneasy befell upon the girl. Her brother Luke always taunted the poor girl of humiliating her if she made a mistake around Lauren.

All the haunted memories flowed in her mind, sending tears down her cheeks and goosebumps to emerge on her arms. She hated every time she went over, but when compared to being left out in the streets she learned to adapt and ignore them. At least for the most part.

Kaila never completely got past their nerve wrecking presence. She could just suppress her fear until she was hidden away in Lauren's room.

Snapping out of her past that was getting her shooken up, Kaila looked around seeing the Hound sitting on the floor with his helmet off and on the floor as he rubbed his neck taking large breathes of air.

He heaved until his breathing steadied. Looking closer she could see his hair was glued to his glistening face and he had a small amount of blood coming out of his nose. Cleaning himself up, the man spent a few minutes putting himself back together before throwing his helmet on once again. Taking one last stretch and keeping his calm, he grabbed a radio from his pocket.

"D4, Hound 581, to unit. Elias reported down earlier, we need to get Patient 102 ready for the chambers ASAP. Someone get me a doctor to re-evaluate her for the injection treatment, and requesting backup for treatment plan B."

With that he placed his radio back into a pocket in his belt and grabbed a key from another. Unlocking the door, it squeaked loudly as he pushed it violently open. From her spot Kaila could just barely make out a faint shadow in the dimly lit room.

She pressed her face up against the vent, not caring about anything else at this point. All she wanted was to get to Lain, and she could finally see her partially as she was mainly hidden in the darkness of the room.

As the Hound rushed in shouting he walked into the center of the room flicking on a center light. While it was only a small light, it shown on Lain's face giving enough light to expose her. Kaila gasped as the shock hit her.
——————————————————————————
Let me know what you think. Thanks Lexx signing off