Humanity: Project X - 160

Chapter 2

They have to be dead? she thought to herself. There's others? Do... do I have to kill them?

If it weren't for the circumstances, she would have celebrated and jumped up and down for joy. But if she wanted to live a normal life, she had to kill everyone else, or wait for them to die? No... no way was she going to ever do that. Even if it meant she was going to be treated like an experiment.

Now she knew what the "determined" meant.

The feeling of anxiety and fear overwhelmed her, and so she decided to get off of her bed. After doing so, she felt bile threaten to spill. She no longer had an appetite, although she hadn't eaten for days. No, she felt scared. Tired. Like a trapped animal, waiting for its prey to find them. And she hated, absolutely hated, that feeling.

Deciding to take a walk outside, in the halls, she checked to see if her doors were unlocked. She was happy when they squeaked open.

As she casually traced her fingers along the golden designs of the walls, she heard someone say from behind her, "They're pretty, aren't they? You know, I'm surprised they had the luxury of the walls, but not a nice room."

160 turned her head to see a short, skinny girl, probably around twenty, or maybe even twenty-two. She had blond hair that was not taken care of, meaning that it was all over her face. But it wasn't like she cared much, anyways. The girl was even shorter than 160, probably around five feet and four inches, and her bright blue eyes were radiating mischief and a sense of rebellion.

What was up with them only giving 160 a nice room?

"What's your name?" the girl asked.

"X - 160," 160 replied.

"No, no. What's your real name, the one that you want to be referred to as?" she asked her once more.

"They told me my name was 160," she said.

"Yeah, but do you really want that to be your name? Don't you want something cooler, with a nicer ring to it?" she asked, now joining in tracing her fingers along the golden twirls and twists that were on the wall.

"For instance, they told me I'm X - 18," she said, raising her wrist to make the markings visible. "But I don't like that. What the heck, they get to go with whatever name they want, but we can't? What's up with that?"

160 laughed at her remark. Perhaps not everyone here was so bad after all.

"Well, I've always liked the name Skye," she said after thinking about it for a moment.

"There you go," X - 18 said, laughing at Skye.

"What about you?" Skye asked.

"Kaya," she said, springing her hand forward for her to shake. And she took it, signifying the first friendship ever made in this odd, weird place of experiments and other mysterious things.

"You said they gave you an awful room, right?" Skye asked Kaya.

Kaya nodded and guided her through the hall to where there was an old door that read, "X - 18."

Before Kaya opened the door, she plugged her nose, and turned around, pointing to her nose with her free hand. Then she entered. Skye, understanding immediately what Kaya meant, closed her nostrils too. However, she still got a huff of the stench that was leaking through the doorway.

"Welcome to my humble home," Kaya sighed, then unplugged her nose.

Skye was confused as to why Kaya unplugged her nose, but then as soon as she took a breath in with her mouth, she understood. Belching as her eyes watered, she took in the horrid room.

"Nothing at all what they gave me," Skye muttered to herself.

"What was that, Love?" Kaya asked.

"Oh, nothing," Skye said, smiling at her but then putting her hand over her mouth. This place was... very sickening.

"Let's leave, shall we?" Kaya asked.

"Mhm," Skye immediately agreed.

As they walked along the halls, Kaya suddenly asked, "What kind of a room did they give you?"

She didn't want to show Kaya her room, especially because of the writing. It was just... it would make her suspicious and sound hostile. She didn't want to lose her very first friend here.

"Oh, it's okay I guess," she said, shrugging it off.

"Let me see!" she said, laughing at Skye's reaction.

Skye bit her lip.

Should she show her? It wouldn't make things any better, would it? So what should she do? She had no idea, never really did. By instinct, she retraced her steps back to her room, and Kaya, noticing the number on the door, opened it.

She scoffed as she entered the princess-like room.

"No fair!" she complained, stomping around. "They give you such a good room, and give me something that's probably connected to the sewers? What's up with that?"

She paused for a moment, and then continued, "No offense, or anything like that."

"None taken," Skye said, laughing to release her uneasiness. "I actually kinda agree with you. Maybe we could stay in the same room? I don't know if that would get us in trouble..."

Kaya shrugged.

"Either way, I'm not going back to that awful place," Kaya said.

Then Kaya jumped onto Skye's bed, breathing in a sigh of relief. Skye felt her anxiety increase. It was the same place she had noticed the message. What surprised Skye was that when she looked up, the message was gone.

"What? What's wrong? The ceiling not tall enough?" she teased, and then began to giggle. "I sure wish my room was like this... I wouldn't have constant stench of sewer water..."

Skye laughed, and then sat next to her new friend. They chatted for a while, talking about their experiences with the man. Apparently, Kaya had read through her document. It had said she was also determined. They both continued their conversation on what it meant to be undetermined.

After a while, Kaya yawned.

"You know, maybe I'll go sleep in the halls," she said, about to leave when Skye called, "Wait!"

"Yes, dearest?" she called, opening the door halfway.

"You can sleep in my room. On the-"

"Thought you'd never ask!" Kaya exclaimed, then jumped onto Skye's bed. Skye began to laugh hysterically, so Kaya joined in on laughing. Oh, how much they enjoyed the short time they spent together.

As they slept through the night, they were awoken to a scream. They both jumped, startled, and Skye automatically ran out the door to see what had happened. To her horror, she found a body.

Of a woman.

With a stab mark in her stomach.

Dead.