subject 13 // h.s. au

chapter fifteen.

*276 days later*

The rain poured onto my face, as I laid on the dusty ground outside the Oscar-Zero bunker. There was nothing for miles, and the eerie silence was oddly comforting. 

I relished in the fact that I was one of the few people on the planet who could lay around in acid rain.

Lightning crackled above my head and I sighed, pushing myself off the ground slowly, my hands covered in mud. I slowly traipsed back to the nondescript building that sat atop the underground bunker. 

I pressed my palm onto the sensor beside the door, and stepped into the airlock, the fans pushing air around the small room before I heard a small click and the main door opened.

I walked down the long sloping hallway, the lights flicking on behind me, their buzzing filling the vast hallway. After walking past the control room, the cafeteria, and rows of doors, I finally reached my own room.

 It was bigger than in the other bunkers I had occupied, with its own bathroom connected to the concrete walls. A king bed sat in the middle of the room, unmade with the sheets bunched up at the bottom of the bed. A side table and dresser were bolted to the floor in the corner of the room, and I grabbed the towel hanging from the top of the dresser before sliding the bathroom door to the side.

Steam filled the room as I turned the shower on, leaning over the large sink to wipe my palm against the mirror, and there I was. 

Months ago, I had longed to see my reflection, but when the moment had finally come, I had been wholly underwhelmed.

I stared back at myself, my hands gripping the edge of the sink, before I turned my head. I slipped off my wet clothes and threw them to the corner of the room. I stepped into the small shower, the lighting dim and attempted to wash the mud out of my hair, watching the steam twirl around me.

I wouldn't say I was brimming with joy, but I was content. Life here was quiet, and simple.

I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower covering myself in the large black towel, then padded into my bedroom. I grabbed a large black t-shirt that fell down to my thighs and a pair of soft pajama shorts from the closet, my hair dripping onto the floor.

I grabbed my thick comforter off of my bed and walked out into the hallway, twisting through various corridors, before I reached my favorite room.

A floor to ceiling screen hung from the rafters, and I settled into the couch I had pulled from a different room. 

It had taken me almost two months to figure out how the screen worked. The classroom desks were shoved to the corners of the room, and I winced slightly when I saw them, reminded of how I felt when I first read the protocol instructions I had found.

I pressed the power button on the controller, and the screen hummed to life, showcasing exactly where I had last left off. I pressed play.

"So, kids! Now that you are almost teenagers, in today's lesson we will be talking about affection and relationships. We will be showing examples from the Old World to better demonstrate these concepts."

The cheery blond woman's voice faded slightly as I snuggled into the couch further. I had yet to sleep in my bed yet, instead falling asleep to the cheery woman's voice explaining various concepts, like human interaction, Old World history, and love.

In over eight months, I had watched every single video, multiple times, attempting to absorb all the information that was withheld from me in my childhood. 

I tried desperately to refrain from connecting Harry, to any of the videos, but occasionally his green eyes slipped into my mind. 

I now understood that his voice confused me because he wasn't American, he had what the cheery woman explained to be an accent.