Read Part One Here
(Image from Fivestarcleaners)
The subjects lived and breathed routine. Wake, roll from bed somewhat reluctantly, as it was warm under the covers and the lab air was chill and somewhat stale. Bump elbows with other subjects while trying to dress. Check the schedule posted outside the cafeteria. Memorize it quickly. Eat, without bothering to see or taste what was on the plate. Test. This could include anything from guessing the symbol on the back of a card, to navigating a maze of traps, running a treadmill, being hooked up to wires, or practicing your telekinesis. Sometimes they drew blood or had the subjects bite down on plastic molds, their venom fangs leaking into the containers bellow. Eventually, you get clean, and go back to sleep, if it was a good day.
If it was a bad day, there were lots of other routes it could go. If Major Stone was there to observe, you were ridged, hoped the staff could answer his questions, and barely ate. His line of “super soldiers” had to be perfect. He was the one that insisted on piling augmentation on top of augmentation, to the bane of the staff. “What use is the money if they can only do one trick?”
Xi was used to the daily routines. Everyone was used to the routine. Xi, X1030, had never seen anything different, and was content with the friendly competitions she had between the rest of the product line and herself. She did not enjoy opening her mouth, and as such, was not one for idle chatter. She did listen to the others, particularly her bunkmate S1031, and, begrudgingly, the outcast of the subjects, T1028.
No one else would listen to him, so he ended up sitting with the one who didn’t speak.
“What if we ate soup and drank sandwiches?”
Xi felt her eyes roll back in her head, stabbing a bit of chicken on her plate. She looked to Sall, S1031, waiting for her to give the answer.
“Then it wouldn’t taste as nice.” Sall brushed some hair out of her face. If she continued doing that, the guards would notice and just chop it off, but so far Sall didn’t seem to care.
Toby shrugged. “Well, what if the scientists were the one’s doing the tests, and we were the ones watching them?”
Both of the girl’s movements slowed until they looked at each other, eyes unblinking. Xi was still leaned over the table, head propped with one arm and thick fuzzy braid tucked over her shoulder. Her half-lidded eyes focused on Sall was about the most emotion she ever expressed. Sall broke the gaze, going back to her food.
“That’s just silly. You only ask silly questions.”
“I guess so... but they’re fun to think about.”
“If you say so....” Sall took a large bite, trying to cut off conversation, but Xi was watching the other two, and then the guards at the end of the dining hall.
For the next week or more, the question continued to pop up in her mind no matter where she was, or what she was doing. It wasn’t even so much of a question. It was an ear worm, a flash of how low white-coat Sam’s score would be if he tried to run the treadmill. The realization that only the subjects could guess cards, or move things without touching them. The scientists were weak. Fragile, even.
That morning Toby wasn’t in the dining hall. Testing continued as normal, and Xi did her best to clear her mind of Toby. Sometimes people didn’t come back from testing. Sometimes they didn’t make it through the test. It happened. She wouldn’t let her own performance be compromised by that idea. And he talked too much anyways.
Her second scheduled test was a maze. Mazes were extensive, and draining tests. Usually the only thing scheduled in one day. It would be rigged with most other tests along the way, so that your overall performance could be gauged. Xi’s breath was controlled. The room was huge, easily the largest, even compared to the cafeteria. White walls and floor covered in hard, glossy tile contrasted with the dark ceiling of exposed pipes and tubing thirty feet up. Standing to the side of the room, she watched as the walls rose from the floor, sliding up like huge flat teeth. The entrance was before her, a hollow break in the smooth surfaces, and an entrance to a cave.
The walls clicked into place with a deep round sound, a thud of machinery interacting with the dimensions of the huge room. There were a few beats of time, Xi steadied herself, she could feel her hair bristling. As the green light turned, she sprinted into the maze.
The maze changed around her like a breathing beast. Walls closed shut before her or jutted up from the floor to trip her. She had to trust her instinct on which ways to turn, and when to expect hidden dangers. A time too high on a maze test could end with any number of consequences. At a corner a section if the wall slid open rapidly, a metal arm swinging towards her with a flapping foam dummy with it. Xi planted her foot and lunged, her fingers deep into its shoulders as she bit down hard on the neck, feeling her venom leak out into the foam. Jumping down she spat, still feeling the rub of foam against her teeth, and rubbed her mouth as she ran on, dodging a falling wall, climbing over a block in the path, and never slowing down.
However, as she turned another corner, she stopped dead.
Something was different here, though nothing was different here. Only white walls, unshifting, openings to more legs of the maze. She narrowed her eyes, trying to concentrate on the feeling. What was it that was hiding here?
Her feet moved again, slowly and cautiously, no longer close to the speed she had been showing before. Halfway down the hall, another dummy popped out of the wall and on instinct Xi jumped upon it once more.
Except it hadn’t popped out, it almost seemed like it had been pushed, and then slumped to the ground.
And it wasn’t a dummy. As soon as Xi had her teeth in its neck she could feel that it was warm flesh instead of cold foam. That wasn’t what was strange though, because often dogs or cats would be in these mazes, she had killed plenty of those.
This was a human though.
She pulled back, taking in the figure, and stifled a gasp. It was Toby, his face now contorted in pain as the paralytic toxin ran through his veins.
Xi’s skin prickled, beads of sweat forming on her arms. She was on her knees now, and looked up towards the ceiling, to the cameras and microphones she knew were there, though she was unable to see.
“What am I supposed to do with him? Do I carry him the rest of the way?” She winced, mouth partway open. She was never any good at talking without accidentally biting her own tongue.
She waited a moment, Toby latching his fingers onto her sleeve. The speakers above finally crackled to life.
“No. Kill him and continue on.”
Toby let out a moan of pain. Xi had turned a stark shade of white.
“Xi, what if-”
“What?” Xi looked back down at him, caught by his voice.
“What if you didn’t?”
She watched him another moment.
“I’m sorry, but my time is getting too high.”
And with that she leaned in again, biting on his neck once more, this time ripping back. The motion held a thick squishing sound and almost instantly a gush of red along the white maze wall. Xi’s mouth was dripping, she had out enough flesh that he would easily bleed out within a few moments. And then she stood, running through the maze once more.
Except as she kept running, a peculiar stinging pressed from behind her nose. It rose, to the front of her eyes, and she couldn’t keep tears from flowing. Eventually it was such a problem for her vision that she had to stop. She had to lean against a wall and simply cry. There wasn’t much noise to them, only occasional spasms or quick intakes of air. Her form was hunched. She raised a hand to her face, trying to stop the tears from dripping off the tip of her nose.
A voice echoed over the speakers again, but this time her ears couldn’t even make out what it was saying. She had no will to listen. No doubt it was telling her the same thing she told herself. To pull herself together and continue on.
But she couldn’t. Her hands were shaking, her limbs were shaking.
She sucked in a breath, and tried to straighten herself up, but found the walls around her were sinking into the floor. Her breath hitched again, shoulders rising, her hands grasping at her own shirt as she held her stomach.
Guards were coming out to meet her. Her stomach was dropping. Something was very wrong.
She quickly wiped her eyes and they reached out to take ahold of her she spun, pulling out of their reach.
“Come on, little miss. You know it’s fine.”
It wasn’t fine.
She lunged, biting hard at whatever she could reach and pulling out the flesh along with it.
She was a weapon, and for once she had a real reason to cause death and destruction. That part of her, designed to kill, designed to show no mercy, no restraint, finally had a true outlet. It was like a dream, running, but with no destination, acting, but with no real will, and incomprehensible images of the impossible. Fueled entirely on adrenaline and instinct she ripped through guards, chased down whomever she saw running, and left a bloody trail behind her of ripped jugulars, decapitated bodies, people stabbed by floating pens or scalpels...
Eventually she came to a pair of doors she had never seen before. And when she opened them, there was even more she had never seen before. Like sky.
The dream had not ended, and she simply continued to run. She had to, her feet wouldn’t stop carrying her away. And eventually, she ran until she was no longer being chased. Even then, she couldn't stop.
When she finally did, she clutched her knees in her hands, panting softly.