Epiphany Of The Weak

The spikes retreated into my back ever so slowly, while it broke itself to become smaller. The sensation of it was like if someone had stabbed me in the back with a knife and left it there. Or, so I thought about how it would have felt when someone stabbed me.

When the spikes were just a cl.u.s.ter behind my back, it turned into liquid and seeped itself into where it came from.

I gaped. "How?"

I turned my head, trying to look at my back. However, it was hard. I pulled my dress as I strained my neck to get a better look.

"Where . . . Is it?"

I still couldn't see that red cl.u.s.ter, but a part of my back was somehow exposed to the air. I could feel it.

"It sprouted out?!"

There was no proof of what I had seen earlier. It had disappeared completely.

Confused, I shifted my gaze back to the narrow corridor. Red blood splashed all over it like paint. The soldiers that were not present before had appeared, lifeless on the floor.

"What... Just happened?" I asked myself.

I breathed in and out deeply as my fingers clawed at my c.h.e.s.t. There were more dead bodies. Before I knew it, my knees dropped onto the floor. I shook my head over and over, and as expected, I didn't wake up yet from that nightmare. It was too surreal. Everything about it. My experiences had been nothing but pain. Back at the street, my leg hurt so much that it felt like I was dying. And then, those weird people dumped me in that horrid place that was full of dead bodies.

I didn't understand.

"Mommy. . ." I mumbled. "Mommy! Where are you?!"

I started to sob again. "Why is this happening? Why is this happening to me? Where is. . . Everyone? Why did you all leave me in this place? It hurts. Everything hurts. My body hurts, Mommy. I don't like it. Someone. . . Someone save me."

"Pull yourself together." I imagined Daddy said something along that line. He always cheered me up when I was down. More often than not, he was there by my side if I ever needed any help. But, at that corridor, there was no Daddy.

I looked at the man, George that was lying among the dead bodies behind me. The disk that he held previously gleamed in the dark room. It was still in his hand. I remembered he talked about the disk with some sort of urgency. I didn't know why myself, but I proceeded to pick the disk and slid it into my side pocket. Somehow, my heart told me to do so.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet."

The alarm broke loose. The already red corridor became more of its new color when the alarms above me flashed out red lights.

"Intruder spotted," said a monotone voice at the far end of the corridor. I assumed it came from the speakers-like object attached to the ceiling.

"A group of resistance made contact with Squad 11 at the rear entrance," it continued. "Reinforcements needed. All armed personnel. Proceed to the area." The inhuman voice cried the orders, repeating itself over and over.

"Are they. . . Going to get me?" I questioned myself.

The place I was at didn't seem to be a rear entrance. Mommy said before that I should be calm at all times so that everything will turn out fine. I practiced it quite a lot, but it was when Mommy was watching me. Still, she must be watching over me from somewhere else. I knew that she would come to rescue me, but I also have to move.

Start moving.

These words kept repeating itself in my mind and I grabbed hold of it.

"I can get out of here. Maybe Mommy and Daddy are somewhere out there," I mumbled.

I looked back one last time at the dead bodies, gulped, and ran along the straight corridor. A few sliding glass doors opened itself for me and after that, I turned into a corner. I wasn't sure where I should be going. It all appeared the same; glass doors, long white corridors, and a few soldiers in black ran past me at one time.

When I hid behind a corner, a few more soldiers ran past me. Maybe they were going to the exit. It had to be that way.

"Calm yourself, Ava," echoed Mommy's voice. "Calm down. . ."

"Yes, Mommy," I replied.

After confirming there were no more soldiers in that corridor, I took the path where the previous soldiers had taken.

CLICK!

Boots clicked harder and harder onto the cement.

I turned around and saw about five soldiers clad in black popped from behind a corner. They were armed with rifles.

"An outsider?" questioned one of them.

A sudden urge to defend myself welled up. It was like a natural instinct that had been inside me for a long time.

At that moment, red spikes formed from the back and palm of my hands. Like they were punctured through. My hands directed it toward the soldiers without me wanting to. The spikes elongated and pierced the men before they could even lift their rifles. It dissolved and seeped into my hands afterward.

"It was just like back then. . ."

I shook my head and ran in the direction that I assumed would be the exit.

The moment I popped out of it, sunlight basked me as I stepped out of the building. I saw soldiers firing at a few people behind rubble, and they countered with their own rifles. From the looks of it, the only rear exit outside of the base was blocked because of them.

'A huge wall covered the entire base with few guarded entrances, that lead to outside,' I thought.

I just realized that my body was shivering as I stood there, unsure of what to do.

"Someone slipped by!" yelled a soldier.

Bullets whizzed through the air and managed to scratch at my right arm. I screamed from the pain and by doing so, the other soldiers shifted their attention to me. More bullets cut through the air. Instinctively, I crouched and closed my eyes, somewhat hoping that it wouldn't hit me. That was when a sharp pain shot up from my back.

"Aaaah!" I screamed from it.

After a few moments, I realized that the bullets didn't hit me. I opened my eyes and found some form of irregular red dome encasing me inside it. Along with it was a deformed red cord that sprouted out from my back, connecting me to that dome.

"Huh?" I gasped.

I made a few steps forward. The dome changed its shape as I moved as if it was alive. That thing was still there, protecting me. My wounded right arm was covered in a red crystal of some sort. It felt surprisingly light; so light that I didn't even notice it was there before, and so was the dome.

I was confused. My mind couldn't figure out exactly what had happened.

"Mommy, Daddy." I clenched my fists. They were clearly waiting for me outside there.

The dome changed its form as I ran towards a section of the wall. The dome made screeching sound against the ground to indicate that it was quite heavy even though I felt the opposite. Not long after that, a deafening boom was heard, and I was sure the dome had crashed into the wall. Since I couldn't see anything that was happening outside, I assumed it to be that way.

The red dome was still intact after that, so I somehow had destroyed the wall blocking my exit. And so, I continued to run until my legs gave up on me. The dome remained the way it was all that time.

"I.... made it." My c.h.e.s.t was heavy when I halted.

The dome then dissolved before it entered my body.

"Eh?"

The new scenery made my heart stopped for a moment.

Dozens of soldiers had me surrounded, their weapons were aimed at me.

I didn't want to face them anymore. I had enough. "Please, leave me alone. I just want Daddy, Mommy," I pleaded.

My dark hair felt cold under the sun.

"She's not human. Kill her now," the one with the silver gears ordered.

Without warning, bullets pierced through my body. It was painful when the first few hit me, but everything after that was a blur. My body shook violently and I had no control whatsoever over it.

My dress was in tatters. Blood blurred my vision.

I could be dead right then, though when I fell, it didn't felt that way. My nose smelled coppery blood as I dropped into a pool of red liquid. For a second, the images of my parents portrayed itself at the forefront of my mind.

"It. . . Hurts."

I knew them the longest in my life, so I had to see them again. They were my only embers of light.

But that body of mine refused to move an inch as I once again closed my eyes, drifting away into darkness.