Resurrection

New Recruit

Exhausted and spent, Annabel doubled over, gasping for breath. When she managed to feed enough oxygen to her brain in order to form coherent thought, she looked around in an attempt to determine where she was. Adrenalin faded quickly and soon after that her feet began to throb. She hobbled to the edge of the hard shoulder and sat on the metal crash barrier so she could rub them. Her feet were a mess of mud and congealed blood. Small stones and bits of glass were embedded in her flesh. For the amount of debris, the pain was minimal. Each sliver slid easily from the sole of her right foot, which hurt more despite there being less embedded in it.

Car headlights swept her vision, the intensity blinding her long enough for the car to stop and her pursuers to train their weapons on her from the safety of the interior. The trunk popped open.

"Get in the boot, Miss Nelson. Don't bother trying to run, I'll shoot you in the knees before you reach ten feet."

They obviously want me alive or they'd have shot me when they pulled up. All I have to do is bide my time, Annabel thought, rising from her seat on the barrier.

She limped to where the passenger indicated with his gun. Upon reaching the back of the car, the passenger door opened and the trigger-happy suit who killed her neighbour got out. Annabel slid backwards into the empty space, turning slightly so she could lie down. The suit waited, with his hand resting on the boot lid, until her feet had cleared the lip. He then slammed it closed, plunging Annabel into absolute darkness.

Thanks to her heightened hearing, she picked up the sound of his footsteps on the fine gravel and could hear the soft click of the seat belt, so it was no surprise to her that she could also hear them talking.

"You took a chance. She could have devoured you before you even got a shot off."

"Nah, she has no idea what she can do. You saw it yourself at her flat; she could easily have taken half the company on and walked away without a scratch. She chose to run instead. Besides, the bounty on her head is worth the risk."

"Aye, true that. Do you know if White was able to retrieve the surveillance gear from the lab?"

"He said it was clear when he arrived to give Green a hand with the body up to her flat. They're torching it as we speak."

"Good show. Her notes?"

"In the back."

The car slowed, a faint glow from the brake lights illuminating her compartment for several seconds. She heard an electric window open. Someone outside told them to go on in and she rolled toward the front of the car as it turned down a steep decline with speed bumps at regular intervals.

"Roger that. Have the team ready at the back doors." A faint static hiss followed the suit's request.

Crap. A lot of questions rattled around in Annabel's mind, but the most important thing for her at that moment was finding out exactly what she was. And what she could do. The only way to find out, is to play nice with my abductors. The scientist in her relished the prospect of testing herself, yet the woman in her was terrified at what they might do to her. There was something else, something in the dark recesses of her mind, that whispered, Playtime.

Overhead fluorescent lighting cast the person who opened the boot into silhouette. Annabel blinked rapidly in an attempt to relieve the water-inducing sting the sudden brightness produced.

A slender hand reached forward, offering assistance. "Out you come."

Annabel took the hand with obvious hesitation. Its feminine owner pulled her from the compartment with ease. The impact on her foot as she stood sent waves of renewed pain spiralling up through her body. She hissed.

"You're obviously injured," the woman stated, circling an arm around Annabel's waist to support her weight. "Let's get you down to the med team and patch you up. Mr. Brown, fetch a chair for Miss Nelson. I must apologise for your treatment. I'm afraid I wasn't clear on the method required when I sent the order for you to be brought here."

Within seconds of the medic removing the splinter from her toe, Annabel's flesh healed as if she'd never been wounded. She watched with fascination as the swollen, inflamed skin faded back to normal.

"Did you see that?" Annabel asked in awe. "How the hell did that heal so fast?"

The medic smiled and nodded to the woman who helped Annabel from the boot of the car. "Well, Captain Jones, it looks like we won't need any more samples from the crypt after all. You have a perfect, live specimen right here."

"Excellent. We'd like to perform some tests, Miss Nelson. You understand you were infected with something from the samples you were analysing for us?"

"It was an accident..."

"Regardless of the circumstances, you've given us what we need."