S.H.A.D.E. [{ Completed }]✔ (#Wattys2018)

Survival of the fittest

2.

Death Day.

That sounds too ominous to think about at this moment, when there is someone coming for me, looking to do me harm. A Necro Proxy agent, Copper had said.

"Time to get out of here. Increasing your adreniline levels now. Breathe through your nose and out your mouth, but pull as hard as you can against the restraints and they should break. Do it now," he orders, and I comply, because I am terrified and I want off this table asap.

As I tug with all my might, I feel an uncomfortable rush come over my nerve-endings, my teeth gritting together and stomach somersaulting. I let out a strained cry as I pull, my eyes watering and heart hammering way too fast.

"Come on!" Copper barks, " She's almost here!"

I feel a new surge burst through me, my legs and arms jerking spasmatically, every vein in my body rippling up from my skin. "Stop!" I scream out, feeling helplessly out of control.

"I won't stop until you've broken them! Hurry up! You're supposed to be the best!"

Frightened by his threat, I strain against my binds harder, grinding my teeth together and tensing all muscles. Eventually, the straps break, tearing at the seams, and I am free. My body is immediately at rest again, Copper somehow manipulating my biochemistry.

"Why are you doing this?" I cry as I shakily step down from the gurney, avoiding looking at all the other people asleep around me.

I feel a breeze at my back and realize I am wearing... a Johnny shirt, it's called, and my bare back and ass are exposed. My embarrassment lasts a second before Copper, I assume, smothers it.

"Don't speak out loud, I won't say it again. Now get to that vent! Go, go!"

I scramble forward around the rows of still people, over to the gray cabinet he had mentioned earlier.

"Push it aside."

I do as he says, ignoring the heaviness of my own body and the soreness of my muscles. I had been asleep for a long time...

Once moved aside, I see the vent, and crouch down, waiting for instructions.

"Rip it off."

"Wh--?" I begin out loud, then immediately correct myself. "How can I do that? I need to unscrew it!"

"You're gonna be screwed if you don't pull it off now! I will increase your adrenaline again."

Before I can protest, the nauseating blast of energy courses through my body again, and I yank on the vent as quickly as possible to make it end sooner. Pressing my foot against the wall as leverage, I pull furiously, sweat beading on my brow. The vent gives with a metal wail, bending at the middle. I bust it off, then go to crawl inside.

I hear her then, speedily moving down the echoic hall, just nearly outside the door. I look over my shoulder at all the sleeping people.

"Leave them, they did not wake up in time."

"But--"

"Survival of the fittest, now MOVE."

Just as he says it, the door flies open, and there is a posh looking woman dressed in business attire, hair coiled up into a precise bun. Her eyes set off a wildfire in my gut, burning me up with fear. They are not human.

I dart down the vent, banging my head and shoulders in the narrow space as I go.

"Go left, Ebony," Copper instructs, and I do, trusting him more than whoever or whatever that woman is.

Once I make the turn, I collide with metal, a sting running up my nose into my eyes, blurring them. The vent has ended.

"Copper!"

"Up, up!"

I look up the vent shaft, seeing a light at the top interrupted by crisscrossing bars. By this time, I know the drill. My adrenaline is increased, and I move upward by wedging myself between the vent with my feet and hands, my muscles complaining. By the time I am at the top, my breath is hitching, but I hear shuffling from down below me in the vent, and that motivates me to reach up with one hand and yank against the bars.

The metal squeals as it bends from my force, and I am eventually able to pull the bars aside.

A scurrying noise, and then there she is below me, staring up at me for an instant before moving like an insect up the vent walls. I pull myself quickly through into the pitch dark room, unable to see where to go.

"There's a heavy box beside you to the right, use that to cover up the vent. Go, go!"

I feel around, then stub my bare toe against it. Ignoring the annoying pain, I shove the box roughly over the vent opening, hearing her hiss in a way that raises the hairs on my arms.

"That's not gonna hold her for long, you've bought yourself seconds. Go left, then sharp right, five paces left again and feel around for the door knob."

I do as he says to the best of my ability, stumbling over something wooden, but jumping up just as fast. I hear the sound of breaking cardboard and know that the agent is in the room now, that she probably isn't the only one pursuing me by now.

I hit a wall, then clumsily feel around for a door knob. There it is! I turn it, letting the buzzing white light fill the room, falling jaggedly across the woman's figure.

She sprints towards me, but I grab a plank of wood I have knocked over from a pile and whip around outside into the hall, slamming the door behind me and wedging the piece of wood in the door knob so it will not budge. The door trembles from the woman's blows on the other side, and I yelp, backing away and looking around for my next route of escape.

A boy, with freckles, a bloody nose, and long limbs comes careening down the hall, slipping over the tiles as he runs. He is wearing a Johnny shirt too, and looks as wild as I must. He slows when he sees me, but then turns down the adjacent hall between us.

I go to dart after him, but Copper gives a firm "No. You are going to go the opposite way".

"Why?!" I don't want to be alone. I want to ask that boy what's going on. Why is there someone in my head, why is there someone chasing me?

A howling scream comes from down the hall the way the boy just went. My stomach drops.

"That's why."