Foxtrot

Chapter One

"Who is she? Where does she come from?

"Stop asking, you'll wake her."

"Is she even sleeping? What if she's dead?"

"She isn't dead. See her hand twitching?"

"It didn't twitch."

"Yes it did."

"Shut up!"

Nadia groaned, the voices were giving her a headache. She struggled to open her eyes, and when she did she we greeted with a grainy image. As if she were looking at a pixilated computer screen.

She could barely make out three heads hovering above her.

"See? I told you! She isn't dead!"

"Aw shut up."

"S-stop..." Nadia moaned softly. "I-it h-hurts..."

The others went quiet almost immediately, and Nadia felt something warm press against her neck.

"Pulse is steady. She's just disoriented." The voice belonged to the one with brown hair, the one that was closest. "Can you see me, sweets?"

Nadia nodded slowly. "K-kinda...?"

As she blinked, Nadia's vision began to clear. The three people above her all appeared to be female, all of them ranging in appearance. The one with brown hair wore a blue sweatshirt and a pair of blue jeans, she seemed to be the oldest.

"It's been almost a year since they dropped someone." Brown hair mused, wiping some grime from her forehead and pushing her hair back. "Poor kid... come on... can you stand?"

Nadia tried to move her legs, they responded. Up, down, left right.

But when she tried her left arm, pain shot through her like fire.

"My arm...." Nadia moaned softly. "I think it's broken."

Brown hair sighed. "Most who come down have something broken. Come on... sit up..." she helped Nadia push herself up to a sitting position against a nearby wall. In that way, Nadia could tell that the three other girls had been kneeling beside her as she lay unconscious.

Creepy.

"Who are you?" She asked slowly. Her throat burned and she felt like she could drink an entire pitcher of water.

"I'm Lynn." Brown hair said. "That's Lucy," she motioned to the one with red hair and a blue sweatshirt like Lynn's, she wore a dark skirt that looked to be stained with ink. "And that's Ellie." The blonde waved as her name was mentioned, she was wearing a black t shirt, ripped jeans and a backpack. Her hair was swept up in a high ponytail.

"Where are we?" Nadia asked, there was a small pounding in the back of her head that she could feel in her eyes. She ignored it, but it was starting to get on her nerves. She reached a hand behind her head and winced. Her right shoulder wasn't in the best condition either, it seemed.

"You're in Foxtrot." Elle said, adjusting the strap of her backpack.

"Foxtrot? No. No I can't be-" panic rose in her voice. She had heard about the people sent there.

"Calm down." Lynn cut her off. "It's worse if you panic. At least you got here before siren."

Nadia groaned and laid back down. The pounding in her head was getting louder and she closed her eyes, but that only seemed to make it worse.

Foxtrot.

A thousand words and thoughts coursed through her mind.

Exhibition, vivisection, experimentation-

"Hey, hey. Breathe." Lynn advised. "We know it's disorienting. It's okay. Just breathe."

Nadia nodded and tried to focus on breathing. It wasn't painful, but it was hard.

She took the time to observe her surroundings. She was in what looked like a warehouse, but one that had been abandoned for years. There were boxes and ladders just scattered around the floor.

"Who's this?"

They all looked up and were greeted by a girl with dark hair and a red tank top. Her arms were crossed and she didn't look too happy.

"I'm Nadia." She said quickly. The other girl was intimidating to say the least, maybe it was the fact that while Nadia was sitting down she towered over her. Or maybe it was the disapproving frown. "I don't-"

"You're one of us." Red Shirt said evenly. "That's enough to know you can be trusted. I'm Stripe. Nice to meet you."

Nadia nodded slowly. The girl looked to be about seventeen, and had marks up and down her arms made with ink. But unlike tattoos, they looked temporary, as if made with a pen.

Nadia tried to stand up, which she couldn't do without help from Lynn.

"Nice to meet you too..." she said. "Is this everyone?"

"No." Stripe sighed, looking around at the other girls. Nadia noticed she also carried a backpack like Ellie did, and hers looked much heavier. She shifted it as she spoke. "We're Outer Rim. Inner Core isn't allowed this close to the doors and chutes. It's a good thing you dropped when you did, else you may have come after siren. And then..."

"What's siren?"

"You'll know when it happens." Ellie assured her.

A loud blaring sound washed out anything anyone else could have said. The noise was deafening and Nadia moved to cover her ears.

Then suddenly, everyone was running.

Nadia stumbled along, her arm shooting pain throughout her chest as she tried to keep up. Lynn still had a hold on her, trying to help her go faster. Stripe was yelling something before tossing Ellie her backpack.

Through the chaos of the noise, the running, and everything seeming to spin as the pain became unbearable, Nadia looked back over her shoulder.

Her vision swam, but she could clearly make out the bars falling from the ceiling and slamming down against the floor. Each set of bars created an individual square of space, not unlike a jail cell.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Stripe running back.

Nadia stumbled and looked down, she noticed the floor was marked with yellow numbers every few feet.

173.

227.

444.

918.

Each one was spray painted on in a careless, sloppy way. They looked as if they'd been there for years, the paint faded and grimy.

163.

Those numbers were fresh, and some of the paint was left on Nadia's shoes as they ran over it. She looked back again and could no longer see Stripe. They kept running and Nadia felt like she was going to pass out. Both Lucy and Lynn were guiding her now, until finally the noise stopped.

The girls collapsed, panting. Nadia thought Lucy was crying, but the ringing in her ears and the shooting pain in her arm muddled her mind to where she wasn't sure if the sirens had come back on, or if it was her own screaming.

After several long minutes, Nadia looked around. There were others around them, but none came close until Lynn was standing slowly. "We're good," she said. "But the new girl needs help... Her arm is broken."

One of the girls with chopped short hair came over quickly and began tending to Nadia's arm. She carried an old canvas bag over her shoulder, and from it she pulled a pair of makeshift scissors to cut her sleeve off. The process was slow, but it helped that the girl explained everything she was going to do as she did it.

"Sorry we don't have anything for the pain..." she said quietly. "It's a miracle this isn't worse than it is. It should be good in a few weeks..."

Nadia's head was whirling and she could only nod.