Open Heart {Under Revision}

Prelude- Hunted

Somewhere in Mediterranean Sea, 1995

Lighting seared through the sky like thick-twisted forks, sundering till end of night horizon and was followed by a gregarious boom of thunder that proclaimed fall of skies down to earth.

Dr. Ellis Barray flinched and forced a retreat to his small cabin. The torture of sudden whipping winds in Mediterranean Sea did not make travel any easier. As he padded inside, water dripped from his soaked clothes onto the floor of seiner he was crossing this raging weather. It was named 'Íremo Máti' which roughly translated for Calm Eye, although the irony was not lost on Ellis.

The windows were fogged from spittle of sea, its sprays cleaning and obscuring glass in a pattern. Diabolically, the boat lurched over water and Ellis grabbed the hem of a screwed table to prevent toppling along. Unfortunately, it caused the only cabinet in room to jerk free of its bolt and spill all his research. He cursed and rushed to arrange them back, checking for any leakage that might spoil the valuable resources he was protecting against this vehement turbulence.

Fog cleared for a moment and in distance, the sea seemed to meet sky—yet there was no sign of land.

A gamble. Ellis thought. It was a gamble to travel this far while being hunted for years by an unpredictable man, committed to erase every damn soul who wrought a serum that bore potential to remodel humanity. But now it was in control of Aušrinė's autonomy. Ellis knew this very well. He'd been a part of it after all and god forbid, perhaps the last person alive of that team. The team which had discovered the miracle.

The burden was too great to withstand and he succumbed to weariness, heaping on cold floor. He removed his glasses and ran a hand through his wet mop of blond hair, tugging it harder to release his frustration. This was not supposed to happen. This was never supposed to happen. He was supposed to complete his post-doctorate and explore the unparalleled offerings of epigenetics. The field was relatively new and he bore the capabilities to propagate it. To excavate it.

Alas, here he was—following a dead man's words to meet another organization as his last option.

He wasn't sure if anything at this point would save him from Aušrinė.

Screams.

Why screams still echoed in his mind?

So loud that he had to cover his ears but the screaming didn't wane over slamming waves. Objects rolled on floor, papers slipped from their hold while he remained huddled in corner—trying to silence those screams. It'd been two years...two years since he and his team made the greatest discovery mankind had ever sought and in mere moments, every was gone. Shut down. Expunged. Dead.

Everything was taken from him. His identity, his work, his achievements... until he was trapped in a game of death—chasing for an asylum while being chased.

The screaming continued.

For a spell, he was in his lab. With his friends. With Anna.

He remembered her lustrous blonde hair, cascading on his bed. Her smile...her face. And he remembered seeing that hair matted with blood, green eyes staring at him lifelessly.

And then he saw the boy, no more than five years old with innocent expressive eyes...whose gene became the ultimate harbinger of destruction. He saw him strapped to examination bed as tubes constantly pumped blood from his system. The little boy's screams...tears...he saw them all. The boy's pleading for his parents—his mother who sold him out of fear, screams of pain and then begging to end it. Ellis heard it all and did nothing. Instead, he worked.