subject 13 // h.s. au

chapter four.

"Um- so listen, I know I've been off my meds for some time now, but hear me out,"

The man who kicked the rock paused and tilted his head, his gun still suspended in mid-air aiming between my eyes,

"Does that girl not have a CBRN suit on right now?"

He let out a dejected sigh,

"Like, have I officially lost it?"

Still hidden partially behind the tree, I slowly reached with my concealed hand to grip the top of my handgun, my fingertips grazing the cool metal.

One of the other men seethed, his eyes still locked on mine,

"Oliver-"

"Shut the fuck, up."

I cleared my throat, the sound causing the two men and apparently, Oliver, to grip their guns tighter. It's now or never, I guess, I thought to myself and finally spoke, struggling to get the words out,

"Hi! So, uh, I-I-I'm not causing any trouble, just passing through I g-guess. Sorry for bothering you!"

I took a step back, shocked at hearing my own voice at a normal volume. It had been over a year since I had raised my voice from a whisper, and over a year since I had spoken to another person. 

Yeah and you've also only ever spoken to nineteen people in total your entire life, loser my subconscious reminded me. 

I took another step back, and the men took a step forward.

My stomach lurched.

Were these the kind of bad people Dr. One had warned us about?

The men remained silent, looking at me more inquisitively now and with slightly less hostility. I took this as my cue to speak again,

"Yeah- so, I think I'll be heading off now," I said slowly, my voice faltering towards the end.

Guns still raised, the men looked back and forth at each other before eventually lowering their weapons, but from a brief glance I could see that they were holding them with both hands, fingers still hovering by the trigger. 

The man called Oliver tilted his head to the other side and I could see his long blonde hair fall onto his shoulder through the clear face covering. He called out,

"Where's your suit?"

My thoughts raced. Well, what the hell am I supposed to say, now? Yeah, sorry, my bad, left my hazmat suit at home because I've spent the past twenty-two years of my life as a radiation-resistant lab experiment in an underground bunker commissioned by the government and this is the first time I've ever been above ground. Great plan. Amazing.

I must have taken too long to reply because he prodded again, this time with a little more suspicion in his voice,

"Where is your suit?"

I stumbled over my words, "Well, so-so the thing is, it got snagged on one of these branches which ripped a massive hole in it, so I ditched it,"

Silence.

One of the other men brought his gun up to his chin and replied calmly,

"Okay- so why aren't you dead?"

I froze. The Doctors drilled it in to us again and again and again that we were to never disclose where we were from, who we were, or what  we were, to anyone. Dr. One's cold gaze flashed in my mind. 

So, of course, even though I had been trained in survival skills, combat, negotiation tactics, weaponry, and had finished a pseudo-bachelor's degree in biochemistry by the time I was sixteen, I decided to play dumb.

"Guys, seriously, like I literally have no clue, I've probably got like an hour, max, before I kick the bucket," I emphasized, widening my eyes.

They didn't look convinced.

One of the men spoke up, furrowing his eyebrows,

"Oliver, just grab her! I don't know what the fuck is going on,"

It took me all of three seconds to process what had been said, and then I bolted. I sprinted back through the dead trees, zigzagging back and forth to try and get cover in case they decided to shoot. 

My arms pumped furiously as I tried to navigate the maze of roots at my feet, my arm only reaching back to grab a machete and unholster the gun from my hip. I was gaining distance until I made a mistake, I looked back to see how far I had gotten, and in that split second my body roughly collided with one of the trees.

 I slammed back onto the ground my head crashing into one of the many tree roots jutting out of the harsh landscape, my vision blurring. I groaned in pain trying to lift myself back onto my feet, as I looked up and glimpsed the camo-colored suits looking down on me.

I laid back down as a syringe plunged into my neck.

Shit. 

///

there will be harry, 

I promise!!