The 6

2

I hate being knocked out. When I wake up, it leaves a funny taste in my mouth. But the taste in my mouth was washed out by the bucket of ice water being thrown over me. I gasp and my eyes fly open, alert and pissed off. My hands were behind me and I was tied to a chair. I wasn't amused. I glance at my surroundings. I was in a room with bare walls and no windows, though I spy an air vent big enough for me to crawl through. A lightbulb hung from the ceiling with no light shade. My lower my eyes from the dirty light and a low groan slips from between my lips. I was frozen. I still had my standard issue pajamas on but they had lost their white sparkle and somewhere along the line I'd lost one of my slippers. Freezing and dirty, I take a deep breath and steady my heart rate. "What's your name?" The accent was foreign, Polish maybe. "My- my name?" I ask, my voice barely a croaky whisper. "Yes. What is your name?" The voice sounded soft yet angry. "Jane. Jane Austen." My lie was easily seen through. He backhands me across the face and the pain licks at me like fire. "What's. Your. Name." His voice was dead. I spit a glob of blood onto the floor in front of his feet and answer him. "Aurora. Aurora Johnson." he gives me a tight lipped smile and leaves the room.

I hang my head and close my eyes, my fingers working on the nods behind me. Whoever had tied them was good. They were tied like sailor knots. After five minutes my fingers were bloodied and sore but the rope was beginning to loosen. The rope falls loose as the door opens again. I keep my hands behind my back and keep my head down. It was a different man from the one before. His shoes tread more carefully. "Aurora. You've been chosen." The voice was familiar. I knew it. "That's great." I mutter sarcastically, my fingers beginning on the knots tying my torso to the chair, these are easier. "Aurora."
"Don't use my name." I growl, hating the weakness in my voice. "Oh, that's great. We wanted to get rid if it anyway." The voices tone was lighter now, more playful. "From now on you're not Aurora. You're 6. You don't have a name, just a number."
"Woopdedoo."
"Look at me please." I don't, my fingers continue on the ties that were beginning to loosen.
"6. Look at me. Now." I keep my head down and work faster as the rope gives. His hand darts out and raises my chin just at the rope falls to the floor. His eyes widen as he realises his mistake but there wasn't anything he could do. My hands shoot out and grab his neck.

My legs were still tied to the chair but the movement in the top part of my body makes up for it. Like a snake, I twist around and slam his head against the chairs seat. The flimsy wooden structure breaks and the man screams. The ropes fall off my legs and I pick up a piece of broken, sharpened wood. The man was dressed in military attire but his gut was proof he wasn't active. As he struggles to get up I raise the wooden leg and bring it down on te back of his head. He falls unconscious. I glance at my surrounding and groan at the sight of a security camera. I listen to the door and hear the shouts I men outside. They're coming. I wedge pieces of wood in the door frame and then test the door, it doesn't budge. Satisfied, I turn my attention to the air vent.

It rests just above my head height and was the same width as my shoulders. I pry off the metal covering at pull my self into it. I just about fit. I replace the covering and lay silently in the airless structure. The door gives way and army commandos file into the room, their guns at the ready. One by one they scour the room, searching every nook and cranny for me. And one by one they grow puzzled. "Where she go?" One man asks with a heavy Wiltshire accent. I bite me lip and worm my way deeper into the shadows. "I dunno. She musta run." Yep, definitely Wiltshire.
"Well she can't go far. Get out there and start looking." The army men run out of the room. I count to 60 slowly, my breathing slowing and my pulse steadying.

I slip out of the vent and jump down, my knees bending to cushion my fall. I stick to the cameras blind spots and slip out of the room. The lights were bright in the corridor so I shield my eyes and glance around. I was in something like a hospital, but not a normal one. All the doors were held in place by steel bolts on the outside. There weren't any windows. And there was an armed guard stationed at every door.

His eyes widen and he goes for his radio. "6 is here. I repeat-" I cut him off with a kick to the groin. He collapses and groan. Without a second thought, I pick his gun up and start running, switching off the safety. I sprint through the compound, my feet going so fast they barely touched the floor. I stop at a flight of stairs and frown. Up or down. I go down. The doors open up to a courtyard with a stone statue in the middle. I pause on the threshold. This was the first time I'd been outside in 2 years.

I breath deeply, the cold air cooling my face. It felt extraordinary. The wind was like a dream, clearing my sinuses and stinging my eyes. Tall, willowy trees catch my eyes an I refrain from running to catch a falling leaf. It was magical. Then a gun sounds. "6. Stop where you are now! Or we will shoot!" The man's practically screaming and it takes all my willpower not to cut out his tongue. Hush. I cast my eyes over to his and glare. "6! Drop the weapon! We will shoot!" There were 6 men. I could kill them all.

"You won't shoot me." The courtyard wasn't too big, 10m X 10m. My voice carries easily to the men on the other side. "You need me."
"What tell you that?"
"The fact I'm not dead yet. The fact you took me from Gates hospital. The fact that these guns are full of rubber bullets." I check the gun and sure enough, I was right. "Come here 6. Come here so we can talk." The voice sounded resigned. They had all dropped their guns

Slowly, I walk towards them. One guy runs at me and I put my hand up. He stops immediately. "Don't come any closer." I say quietly.
"My name is Sergeant Roberts."
"So." The man glares at me and I glare back. "So you will treat me with respect."
"I won't talk to anyone except my brother." I whisper. The man swallows, his Adam's apple bobbing. "You will talk to me." But I don't want to talk. In fact, I sit on the floor and close my eyes. "6!" The voice sounded angered. "If you don't get up, I will drag you."
"Try it. See how far you get."

Whispers reach my ears and then I feels hands on my arms. The guy was on the floor, unconscious before he realised his mistake. With a sigh, I opens her eyes and cracks my knuckles. "One last time. My brother." The sergeants eyes roll. "Or I will leave this place and never come back." he opens his mouth to reply but a familiar voice cuts him off.

"Aurora. Don't traumatize him any more then you already have.".

Finally, Winston had joined the party