subject 13 // h.s. au

chapter twenty-two.

"What the fuck happened?" Huck's loud voice suddenly boomed from the doorway, and I pulled out of Harry's arms to whip my head around.

I swallowed harshly as I saw that Huck's hands were covered in blood, his face a mix of anger and confusion, and my heart dropped.

"Is he okay?" I said frantically, my hands shaking again in fear. 12 needed to be fine.

He nodded, "He's fine, but he needs to rest," he quipped, already knowing that I was desperate to see him, and I sighed in relief.

"What happened?" he repeated in frustration, placing his hands on his hips, bloody handprints marking the bottom his white shirt.

"Huck, give her some time-" Harry pleaded from next to me, before Huck cut him off harshly.

"No," he seethed, and pointed towards the door, "Elias was stabbed, and Quinn is dead," he emphasized, his tone scathing. The look in Huck's eyes brought the lingering feeling of guilt back to the surface, and I winced. It was my fault.

I had calmed slightly, but my pulse still raced fiercely, "It's fine, Harry," I whispered and ran my hands through my hair.

12 and I may have decided to keep the boys in the dark, but the situation had changed, morphing into something even darker in nature. 

This may not be the only time someone died at our hands, and they needed to know why.

"It's too much to fully explain," I began softly, my fingers aimlessly picking apart a strand of hair on my cheek that had knotted with dried blood.

"I don't care," Huck sneered, and timbre of his voice told me that he was glaring at me venomously.

I nodded. His friend was dead, and as painful as it would be to relive the past several hours, the least I could do was explain.

"Q-Quinn," I stuttered, his name feeling like poison on my tongue. "Fuck," I muttered, trying to figure out what to say, staring down at my knees so I didn't have to face them.

"Quinn and Asher, are, were," I cringed, "part of the experiment."

My pulse gradually began to quicken, the blood thrumming in my ears.

"Their job was to kill Elias and I, if the protocol wasn't needed and we were still alive," I shuddered, thinking about the fact that Asher and the blond girl were still out there.

"Bullshit," Huck bellowed suddenly, and I shot my head up to look at him.

"It's not," I pleaded, "Elias and I found evidence. We wanted to be sure."

"Why didn't you say anything," Harry's voice muttered next to me, sounding pained. I refused to glance over at him, I didn't want to see the look on his face.

I groaned softly to myself in frustration. This was too complicated to explain properly, and my head was short-circuiting from replaying the sound of the gunshot and the heavy feeling of the gun that had weighed down my hands only minutes ago.

"Elias and I realized that Asher was part of the experiment somehow, and we knew that by telling you anymore that it put you all at risk," I mumbled looking away from Huck. "If anyone from the experiment knew we were alive they would kill us, and eventually kill you if they found out that you guys knew anything," I stated solemnly, my knees going in and out of focus as I stared at them intensely.

"That doesn't answer my question," Huck thundered, his tone still severe.

"Huck," Harry called out angrily, and I wondered if some of his frustration was actually directed at me.