BREATH . OF . LIFE . ~ { ReGenisis Chronicles Book I }

Chapter Eleven [Part 1/3]: Lucky Number Six

                      -Kate Andersen -

Although I was still staying in a cell, the door went unlocked. A consolation: I wasn't trapped inside it, just advised to stay put. My conversation of Jake made that consolation feel less comforting. Especially as it was dawning on me the weight of my father's words before I ran. He was looking to mould the country into his design. Maybe he wasn't the only one, but he was a part of it. The guilt of my being a catalyst only seemed to bore deeper into my gut. Maybe there has to be a spark for fire to start, an underlying thought. I wasn't that spark. But as much as I told myself, I couldn't shift the feeling that I had a hand in the blame.

All the while that casket had been going through my mind. Replaying the moment that hand burst through the metal. Wondering where it was going and who was inside it. My curiosity had my feet moving before I even realised I'd left my cell, wandering in the direction I'd seen it go.

Either side of me were rows of doors leading to other cells, some of the materials that made up the doors were different. Catering to whatever lay inside them. Some of their inhabitants made noises, all the time, low moans or cries. Others were disturbed by my movements in the hall and responded with cries, shouts, banging. Then there were the doors I walked passed, a silence within that was made eerie by the quiet breathing of the souls trapped. Those who'd given up on trying to get attention. Those unable to raise their voices. Those calculating better ways of getting out and back at those who had trapped them here.

The white halls with greying walls carried on a steady descent into dimness the further I travelled. I was wandering blindly. Following instinct I suppose. Until I heard noises from behind me. Getting closer. There was one set of large double doors between me and the footsteps coming my way and even if my wandering was innocent, no one would see it that way. I started trying to open doors, locked, few of them even rattled in their frames they were so robust. Then I came across huge black doors with the same power to absorb the light around them as the outside of the building seemed to. Sucking in all the energy of the hall. Touching them made me feel weak, fingers tingling numbly. But they were my last hope to hide, so I pushed through the dazedness and the doors parted in front of me.

I dashed in, pulling them shut quicker than they could swing back on themselves. I then found myself in a large room with pitch black walls. All with the same sapping power as the doors, draining my system. Subduing me. The lights keeping the floor at least slightly visible, were like those on the outside of the building, too, that eerie dark blue. But the frequency was different, like a physical attack on my body.

I turned to see the metal crate from earlier. It was leant against a wall next to a big vault door. Around it a field of blue that made me feel dizzy even to look at it. I squinted at the hole in the box, the resident within still present. Still, barely breathing. Fingers, rested limply in the opening, dripped red down the front of the casket where the gunshot wound still leaked. It had been hours, but the bleeding hadn't stopped, and the poor creature had not died yet.

The voices outside got louder, coming towards this room. I looked about, there was a desk next to me with display screens on it and a fibre-glass shield up over it. I could just see a small gap between its side and the wall. So I squeezed myself down into the tiny space, tucking myself out of the way just in time for the doors to swing open and the six hooded agents from earlier to file in with one other figure. Just out of my direct line of vision.

They lined up in front of the crate, stood to attention. The extra figure paced back and forth in front of them. A burning wood scent pluming from his skin. Making me dizzier. "So the retrieval went without a hitch?" He paused, I recognised his voice from earlier. But I couldn't be sure when.

"Yes sir."  Five of the six of them replied. One remained silent, the one still holding that electrocution device.

"The exchange went without a hitch." The nervous one, trying hard not to shake where he stood had piped up.

"Whatever do you mean, exchange?" He asked, carefully, tipping his head back to overview them all.

"Naw exchange sir," the northerner shook his head, "he's confusing his words."

"So the story is that this specimen was rounded up and caught in Bletchley, not long after facing off with that Scavenger who pinned her shoulder and stomach. But when she got here, you were all in too much of a rush to go by official channels, so you came straight here to lock her up." His deep, low voice had a resonance with it, like the bass of an amp. It crackled a little with a certain cockiness as he continued to spin his story. "Which was wise, all but the fact she managed to breech containment and grab one of your weapons?" The man held his hand forward, encased in a leather glove. One of the agents stepped forward and submitted his weapon, the sword that had been grabbed by the captive.

His words had struck a chord in my memory. A fight with a scavenger in Bletchley and a shoulder being injured? It sounded exactly like what had happened to Rin last night.

"Yes, yes, and it was just as you got to this room that she acted too quickly for any of you to stop her. She slaughtered the lot of you, all but lucky number six, who sedated her with electricity long enough to get her behind this barrier ready to be put in the deadlock vault." He gestured one hand towards the vault door, it looked like steel, but had an ominous darkness to it like the rest of the room. His words had all of them looking between each other, confused no doubt. A knot had formed in my stomach, my mouth and throat going completely dry.

Number six, the silent one stepped away from the main group. He took the sword from the ring leader and turned towards them. My eyes widened as he lifted up the sword.

I held back a gasp, hiding my face behind my hands as he sliced through all of them unflinchingly.  None of them had seen it coming to defend themselves. Those that realised were in too much shock to put up a logical fight. They were all pieces strewn across the floor. The sixth was undoubtedly a Nocturnal. Moving too quickly for a human.

The sixth threw the blade down next to the one who had relinquished it in the first place. Glancing down at the blood that had sprayed over himself.

"Once I've been gone a few minutes, I'll make call for cleanup. I will verify all leads to her apprehension being far from Ides. Then I will be able to interrogate her myself. Find out how she's still alive with that anti-coagulant in her veins." The mysterious figure strolled from the room as if he'd just sat down to Sunday lunch.

The silent agent went to the door, stepping outside to follow up on his orders I think.

I could feel myself shaking, afraid to move. When I did try, my movements were sluggish. I felt the tears rolling down my cheeks. I pushed myself out from my hiding place and used what energy I had left in my body to get out of the doors. I'd hoped I could just pick up and run once free of the odd sapping power of that room. Instead I stumbled straight out into the sixth guard. I gasped as he picked me up by the neck and slammed me hard against the wall.

"Looks like you're going to have to be one of her victims now..."