Ocean Eyes *Permanently On Hold*

six: I desperately need you

Sherilya Karsov was not in a good mood. Project Regeneration had been leaked to the government. They were on her heels now, desperately trying to track her and the illicit operation down - with one more clue about her.

What she had told Subject OCR was a lie. She was a prodigy originally hired by the government, but she wanted to do things her own way. The criminal organisation she worked for offered five times the money the government had, and on top of that, actually ordered her to work on the one thing she loved - physical human enhancement.

Needless to say, the government didn't approve any of the experiments she had performed so far. She was a wanted criminal now, but they had been looking for the wrong person in the wrong place.

Until now.

They had been looking for a Sherilya Karsov. Sherilya had worked herself senseless eliminating her Russian accent. She took her Romanised name - Cheryl Carson.She even dyed her hair brown and acted like a rich, popular kid at school to throw them off her scent.

This year, her mother had moved them all to Minnesota. It's safer here, she had said. Besides, the subject will die within a year.

Not if things go my way, Sherilya thought, but said nothing.

Now that she was here, even further away from them, they managed to pin her down.

How did they know she was the right one?

Someone tapped her elbow. "Miss Carson? Miss Carson?" It was Brooklyn, the girl with the second highest level of physical regeneration among the subjects so far.

"Shut up or I'll cut your fucking fingers off," Sherilya snapped.

"They'll grow back. You were really happy at that. I got to go to that super secret meeting with you, remember?"

Sherilya lost it. She grabbed the front of Brooklyn's sweater, which was marked with the word REGENERATION. "Just because they'll heal, darling, doesn't mean it won't hurt." Whimpering, the small girl scampered off.

Sherilya turned back to the screen. He knows about this? Oh God, no. But Regeneration has to go on. The intracranial emitter should be signalling now.

"Brooklyn!" she called. "Where's Aiting?"

"In the basement, Miss Carson." Brooklyn called back meekly.

Suddenly, the computer started beeping and emitting blips of blue light. Sherilya's frown disappeared. She got up, folded her computer and went to the basement.

She knocked on the door twice and opened it. "Aiting!" she called.

In the darkness of the room, a pair of glowing blue eyes blinked at her slowly.

Sherilya flicked the light switch. "Project Regeneration is about to begin. "

Aiting nodded, her eyes devoid of emotion, like she had given up all hope of escaping this place. That suited Sherilya just fine. The growing manifestation of the girl's fear was satisfying to watch.

"As you know, I implanted an intracranial transmitter in your brain a few years back. Your brain has integrated with the transmitter, which connects with my computer here." Sherilya tapped her laptop.

"Project Regeneration is essentially a program that helps you to heal from any injury or sickness. With my laptop, I can control how fast you heal via the transmitter."

Aiting nodded blankly, as she had been taught to do.

Or there'll be hell to pay. Sherilya remembered her words from years ago clearly. The Asian girl was powerless here, and Sherilya made damn sure she knew it.

Without a word, she drew a fully loaded revolver from the pocket of her jacket and aimed it at Aiting.

For the first time, Aiting's face registered shock. Her abnormally blue eyes widened. "You wouldn't." she said in a shaky voice.

Sherilya tapped her computer in response. "Relax, you'll heal. I'm just testing the system here."

"I'll... heal?" Aiting's lips curved into the ghost of a smile.

Sherilya smirked, the revolver still cocked with her finger on the trigger. "Just because it heals doesn't mean it won't hurt."

Seconds later, the first screams rang out into the night.