subject 13 // h.s. au

chapter twenty-one.

The door appeared distorted and the chipping paint seemed to vibrate slowly in front of me. My feet were planted firmly on the floor, but the ground felt like it could slip away at any moment and I would come crashing down. I felt like fear itself had wrapped its hands around my neck, the tightening grip unrelenting, and I struggled to breath.

I shivered as the cool metal of the gun in the back of my waistband brushed against my skin.

12 and I hovered in front of Quinn's door, trying to compose ourselves. He looked over at me with a calm expression, but his hands trembled at his sides.

Talking to Harry and Huck was going to have to wait. 

We nodded at each other and he knocked at the door, letting out a breath he didn't even seem to know he was holding in.

"Come in!" Quinn sang out, his cheerful voice muffled through the door.

12 placed his hand on the door, glancing at me briefly before he pushed it open.

Quinn smiled at us earnestly, and his pictures from the manual raced through my mind.

"My favorite siblings! What's up?" he exclaimed, and I grappled with the fact that his sole job was to kill us.

My eyes flickered to 12, his jaw twitching slightly, and I reminded myself that we had spent hours scouring the manuals for any hint of doubt that it wasn't him. 

I had thought of his rapid-fire questions from the bathroom yesterday, now realizing that it was more of an interrogation than just him being curious.

"Hi, Quinn," 12 said lowly, his tone solemn.

Quinn began to sit up on the bed slowly, stretching his arms above his head, "You're always so serious Elias, lighten up man," he joked.

12's fists clenched, and his jaw tightened even further. I empathized with how he was feeling, familiar with the pain of betrayal.

"When were you planning on killing us, Quinn?" 12 blurted out, and I had never heard the level of rage that had seeped into his voice.

"What?" he replied, sitting up fully on the bed. I searched for a flicker of anything suspicious in his eyes but found nothing.

"We know," 12 seethed, the vein in his neck twitching.

"I'm so confused," Quinn replied, his eyes wide, but his chuckle faltered slightly as he saw 12's expression.

"How did you come up with the name Quinn?" 12 sneered as he took a step closer to him, "it's kind of hard to get 'Quinn' from 03."

And then I saw what I had hoped I wouldn't. Quinn's smile dropped abruptly, and his eyes flashed in recognition of his number.

 He brought his hands up with his palms facing outward.

"Elias, listen," he began softly, and I realized that he was going to try to talk his way out of this. He was a fantastic actor, I'd give him that, but his façade had slipped the second he heard his number and that was all the confirmation I needed.

I reached into my waistband, pulling out the small gun, and raised it to point at him. My hands shook slightly, but this time in anger.

"Give me one reason I shouldn't just kill you right now," I demanded, but a pleading undercurrent ran through my words.

I didn't want to kill again.

He stared at me in shock but recovered quickly.

"Em, what are you doing?" he stuttered, but his eyes were now cold.