I couldn't really recall what happened, but right then, I was falling down into an abyss of darkness. Everything was pitch black for some reason. There was no one else there with me. The coldness bit at my skin and I winced. After that, I found myself having difficulty to breathe as if my lungs had disappeared, leaving a sense of emptiness in my chest.
Then, a blinding flash of light enveloped me from out of nowhere. It felt warm and soothing, and the pain I was experiencing slowly dissipated. I closed my eyes for a moment, but when I tried to open it again, a whole new scenery filled my vision.
Then I realized that I was lying on a bed, my fingers dug deep into a white blanket that was covering me from the waist down.
"Eh?"
The mattress was really soft and bouncy as if it was newly bought from the store. My emotions calmed down in an instant. I remembered when my parents actually bought me a new bed a long time ago. It felt the same as that one.
I pulled at the oversized winter jacket draped on me. It was a bit warm, but nonetheless, a part of me welcomed that sensation. Looking down, I noticed that I wore a loose white shirt and a pair of blue shorts. Back at home, I only had my own shirt as a blanket, so my body always felt cold during the night.
". . . Ah."
I glanced left and right. The place I was at did resemble the factory my grandfather owned. He took me there a few times, and I remembered sticking close to him during those visits. And his factory also had a high ceiling. There were a few more beds lining up at my left and right sides, though they were unoccupied.
"Where . . . Am I?"
I had no clue as to what happened before I was asleep. Though, a vague memory of soldiers pointing their guns directly at me flashed through my mind. Anything other than that was a blur.
"She's awake. Hey! Tell the boss!" a young girl barked as she approached me from a corner.
The girl had a blue cap over her head. Her hair was bright green and it neatly rested on her left shoulder. She was wearing a winter jacket with a loose dress underneath.
"So pretty. . ." I muttered those words unexpectedly.
The girl noticed I was looking at her and I immediately pulled my gaze away.
"Beatrice." An old man emerged from the same corner she had appeared from, with a bunch of people following from behind.
I immediately took a sitting position and shouted, "Grandpa?!"
He chuckled. "Ava! Nice to see you again so soon."
His red T-shirt loosely buttoned, a black scarf was wrapped neatly around his neck. That white hair of his shone a bit under the fluorescent light.
"Boss, is she the one you talked about before? The Aeg--"
"I know," grandpa interrupted the guy behind him. "You don't have to tell me. She's one of them."
'I am one of them?' The sentence rang in my head. I didn't know what that even meant. It didn't really matter since grandpa was there with me. My focus was fully on him at that time. Grandpa sat on a chair facing me, our eyes met and after a few minutes, he before he broke the silence.
"Do you know how you get here, Ava?" he asked.
"No, Grandpaaa. When I woke up, I was on the bed. I don't remember anything!" I answered firmly.
He considered my answer, his eyes narrowed at me.
"I see. . . We found you unconscious outside of a C. U army's base at the edge of town. We saw you came out from inside their base," he said.
His words manifested a glimpse of a memory I had forgotten.
I finally remembered. I was running away from the soldiers before they attacked me. But I did nothing wrong! Why they did that? I only wanted to search for Mommy and Daddy.
"Grandpa, have you seen Mommy and Daddy?" I asked.
His eyes widened. "I was about to ask you the same question. You got separated from them?"
"Y-Yes, there was a lot of people running, you see! I don't know where they went, but then, there's this explosion out of nowhere. . . I was scared back then. Oh! And a few good people brought me to safety, and then. . . Eh?" I scratched my head. "U-Um, I can't seem to remember anything past that."
The crowd of people surrounding me and grandpa suddenly became restless. They whispered to each other about something. Was it because of what I said?
Grandpa straightened his posture and coughed. "A few people took you to safety? Hmm. If you can't remember, I suppose we can leave it at that. Oh, grandpa has sent out some people out there in hope of finding any survivors. The army's attack has calmed down, and I believe we only have a few days left."
Survivors. Army.
I somehow recalled the word, terrorist. I heard about it before. These people would attack and destroy homes, eventually occupying the place. Daddy talked about that with his friends.
"Do you feel uncomfortable or anything, Ava? Beatrice here had cleaned you up when you're asleep, so if there's anything you need, ask her for it." Grandpa pointed towards the girl with the cap.
I nodded in her direction.
"Wait. You said you saw me at their base. . . Base. . ." I repeated.
"We were there. When we saw you, er, fell unconscious, we rushed with our jeep and took you with us."
I blinked at his statement. "You saved me!"
Grandpa laughed. "That I did!"
He did not mention anything about the red dome protecting me the whole time after I got out, but that memory was vague in my mind. Anyway, it had been so long since I met grandpa. He seemed to be quite healthy despite his age.
He folded his leg. "So, you really don't remember anything? After you got separated from your parents? After you met those people that, er, saved you?"
The voice in my heart overcame me when I answered. "No, Grandpa."
The red spikes that came out from my body were something that popped up in my mind. The awful memories were slowly resurfacing. The soldiers' vacant eyes that looked at me while the spikes pierced them. Their own blood poured out and drenched them.
It was surreal.
And my spikes had done it to them.
I shivered from that thought, and I felt like crying again.
"Boss, I have a report," said a man that stepped forward from the crowd.
Grandpa stood up from his position and looked at the man in the eyes. "Go on. . ."
"I spotted them patrolling a few blocks from here," he said as he fidgeted his jacket.
"Hm, keep an eye on them. Don't make any move until I say so."
"Ah, yes."
Both of them blended back into the crowd before they all dispersed. They looked like they were in a hurry. Except for the girl named Beatrice.
She grabbed a nearby wooden chair and proceeded to sit down casually. She just stared at me after that, so I shifted myself around the bed so that our eyes wouldn't meet.
"Did something happened?" I asked her as I faced the wall.
"Oh. You don't need to know," she replied whimsically.
Our conversation stopped there and she minded her own business. In her hands was a magazine I recognized to be an old one. Multiple thoughts crossed my mind. From the looks of it, Grandpa appeared to have left me with her. After some time passed, I decided it was time for me to sleep. It was already evening there, but I was so sleepy. I wrapped myself in my winter jacket and forced my eyes to shut tight.
"For a kid that had become a murderer, you seem to be rather calm," said Beatrice all of a sudden.
I put my jacket away and saw Beatrice looking at me.
She wasn't in a good mood. Her eyebrows knitted together, and combined with a pair of squinted eyes, my body started to tremble. She was also emitting an uncomfortable aura.
"Um," I stuttered. "I. . ."
"I found this in your dress." She showed me an object that appeared to be a disc. At least, a broken half of it.
She then reached out and squeezed my shoulders. "You met them, didn't you? George and Nick."
I pretended I did not know anything. I knew I didn't do anything wrong, but. . .
She tightened her grip.
"I don't know what you're saying." My statement caused me more pain with it, as Beatrice squeezed harder.
"Really?" She pulled a knife from her side. "They didn't return yesterday! They were tasked to bring info on the layout of the base, through this disc. The fact that you have it means that you hurt them, didn't you? You came from inside the base with all those soldiers!"
"NO!" I shouted. "I didn't do anything to them!"
"You're lying! Don't you raise your voice at me, kid."
I clenched my fists. She was accusing me of something I clearly didn't do. "I really didn't hurt them!"
"So you admit that you've met George and Nick?" Beatrice came into sudden realization before plunging the knife into my eye.
She pulled away at the last second, as the tip barely touched the outer layer of my right eye.
"The boss returned with his grandchild. You. The rest think that the soldiers had caught both George and Nick, but now I know that is not the case. You have this disc in your pocket! And how do you even escaped?!"
"I don't know!" I shouted. "Please, I didn't hurt them. And I don't know what's happening to me or whatever is going on right now! So stop yelling at me!"
I bit her hand so hard the knife dropped to the floor.
"Beatrice's crazy!" I said.
She choked me with her other hand, her eyes filled with tears.
I struggled but my vision flickered mercilessly. "Let me. . . Go!"
Those words came out of my mouth rather weak. With my throat being squeezed, it was all I could manage.
"Die!" screamed Beatrice. "You don't even deserve to be here! They died for a kid like you?! Makes me sick!"
I wanted to say something to her, but I can't. Her hands choked me, stronger and stronger. Then, I felt a swelling sensation in my hands. It was the same as back then. I immediately grabbed her arm when red spikes sprouted forth from the back of my hands. Luckily, she managed to dodge it and kept a distance away from me. Her cheek bled profusely.
"It was true after all," she said. "Project Aegis."
She threw the knife at me and my hands covered my face out of instinct.