Or, so I thought how it would have felt when someone stabbed me.

When it was just a cl.u.s.ter behind my back, it turned into liquid and seeped itself from where it came from.

I gaped. "How?"

I turned my head, trying to look at my back. However, it was hard. I pulled my dress as I strained my neck to get a better look.

"Where . . . Is it?"

I still couldn't see that red cl.u.s.ter, but a part of my back was somehow exposed to the air. I could feel it.

"It sprouted out?!"

There was no proof of what I had seen earlier.

It had disappeared completely.

Confused, I s.h.i.+fted my gaze back to the narrow corridor. Red blood splashed all over it like a paint. The soldiers that were not present before had appeared, lifeless on the floor.

'So that was what they meant by being invisible,' I thought.

I had no idea how they did that.

I looked at the man, George that was lying among the dead bodies behind me. He was also shot.

The disk that he held previously gleamed in the dark room.

It was important.

I remembered he talked about the disk with some sort of urgency.

I did not know myself why I picked the disk and slid it into my side pocket. Somehow, my heart told me to do so.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet."

The alarm broke loose. The already red corridor became more of its new color when the alarms above me flashed out red lights.

"Intruder spotted," said a monotone voice at the far end of the corridor. I a.s.sumed it came from the speakers-like object attached to the ceiling.

"A group of resistance made contact with Squad 11 at the rear entrance," it continued. "Reinforcements needed. All armed personnel. Proceed to the area."

The inhuman voice cried the orders, repeating itself over and over.

"So, it was not me?" I convinced myself.

The place I was at did not seem to be a rear entrance, I knew that much.

"I can get out of here. Maybe Mommy and Daddy are somewhere out there," I mumbled.

I looked back one last time at the dead bodies, gulped, and ran along the straight corridor. A few sliding gla.s.s doors opened itself for me and after that, I turned into a corner.

I was not sure where I should have gone.

It all appeared the same; gla.s.s doors, long white corridors, and a few soldiers in black ran past me at one time.

When I hid behind a corner, a few more soldiers ran past me. Maybe they were going to the exit. To the rear entrance. It had to be that way.

After confirming whether any other soldiers would pop themselves out, I followed their trail.

Boots clicked harder and harder on the cement.

I turned back to see about five soldiers clad in black popped from behind armed with rifles.

"An outsider?" questioned one of them.

A sudden urge to defend myself welled up. It was like a natural instinct that had been inside me for a long time.

At that moment, red spikes formed from the back and palm of my hands. Like they were punctured through. My hands directed it toward the soldiers without me wanting to. The spikes elongated and pierced the men before they could even lift their rifles.

It dissolved and seeped into my hands afterward. Without wasting my time there, I ran in the direction that I a.s.sumed would be the exit.

Sunlight greeted me as I stepped out of the building. I saw soldiers were firing at a few people behind a rubble, returning the soldiers' fire with their own. It seemed like the only rear exit outside of the base was blocked.

'A huge wall covered the entire base with few guarded entrances, that lead to outside,' I thought.

I just realized that my body was s.h.i.+vering as I stood there, unsure of what to do.

"Someone slipped by!" yelled a soldier.

Bullets whizzed through the air and managed to scratch at my right arm. I screamed from the pain and by doing so, the other soldiers s.h.i.+fted their attention to me.

More bullets darted at me. Instinctively, I crouched and closed my eyes, somewhat hoping that it wouldn't hit me. That was when a sharp pain shot throughout my body.

'The bullets did not hit me,' was the first thing in my mind.

I opened my eyes and found some form of irregular red dome encased me in it. A deformed red cord had sprouted out from my back, connecting me to that dome.

"Huh?" I gasped.

I made a few steps forward.

The dome changed its shape as I moved. It was still there, protecting me.

My wounded right arm was covered in a red crystal of some sort. It felt surprisingly light; so light that I did not even notice it was there before, and so was the dome.

I was confused. My mind couldn't figure out exactly what had happened.

"Mommy, Daddy." I clenched my fists.

The dome changed its form as I ran. It made screeching sound against the ground to indicate it was quite heavy even though I was a.s.sured the opposite. Not long after that, a deafening boom was heard.

The red dome was still intact after that, a.s.suming I somehow had destroyed the wall blocking my exit.

And so, I continued to run until my legs gave up on me. The dome remained the way it was all that time.

"I.... made it." My chest was heavy when I halted.

The dome then dissolved before it entered my body. The new scenery made my heart stopped for a moment.

Dozens of soldiers had me surrounded.

"Please, leave me alone. I just want Daddy, Mommy," I pleaded.

My dark hair felt cold under the sun.

"She's not human. Kill her now," the one with the silver gears ordered.

Bullets pierced through my body without warning.

It was painful when the first few hits me, but everything after that was a blur. My body shook violently and I had no control whatsoever over it.

My dress was in tatters. Blood blurred my vision.

I could be dead right then, though when I fell, it did not felt that way.

My nose smelled coppery blood as I swam in blood.

The images of my parents portrayed itself at the forefront of my mind.

I only knew them the longest in my life, so I had to see them again. They were my only embers of light.

But that body did not let me as I once again closed my eyes, drifting away into darkness.