I didn't how long, but I was sure that I slept somehow.

However, when I woke up, a bunch of strangers filled my vision. Then I realized I was on a bed.

"Huh?"

The bed was soft like it was newly bought from the store.

I remembered when my parents took me with them to buy a new bed. for me.

I a.s.sumed that I was in a factory, given how high the ceiling was. My eyes caught sight of a few more beds beside me, though they were unoccupied.

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.

An oversized winter jacket was draped on me. It was warm and I welcomed that sensation. I also noticed I was wearing a loose white s.h.i.+rt and a pair of blue shorts. Back at home, I only had my own s.h.i.+rt as a blanket, so my body always felt cold during the night.

"She's awake. Hey! Tell the boss," a young girl barked.

The girl standing at the side of my head had a blue cap over her head. Her hair was bright green even under the bad lighting, as it neatly rested on her shoulder. She wore a winter jacket with a loose dress underneath.

She was beautiful in a sense.

The girl noticed I was looking at her and I immediately pulled my gaze away.

"Beatrice." An old man emerged from the crowd of people.

I sat up when I saw his face. "Grandpa?!"

He grinned. "Ava. Nice to see you again so soon."

He wore a red T-s.h.i.+rt loosely b.u.t.toned. A black scarf was wrapped around his neck. His white hair shone a bit under the light.

"Boss, she's supposed to be. . . " Muttered a man from the crowd.

"I know. You don't have to tell me. She's one of THEM," interrupted grandpa.

'I am one of them.' The sentence rang in my head. I did not know what that meant.

Grandpa sat on a chair right next to me. Our eyes met for a while before he broke the silence.

"Do you know how you get here, Ava?" asked grandpa.

"No, Grandpa. 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 lying on the ground outside of a C. U army's base at the edge of town. We saw you came out from their base," he said.

His words manifested a glimpse of a memory I had forgotten.

I was running away from the soldiers before I was cornered. I was searching for Mommy and Daddy. I was shot by the soldiers. Still, I was alive somehow.

"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?"

"Yes, there was a lot of people running. I don't know where they went, Grandpa."

He straightened his posture. "I suppose it can't be helped. We have sent out scouts here and there in hope of finding any survivors. The attack has calmed down, and I believed we only have a few days left."

Survivors. Scouts.

I recalled the word, terrorist. I had once heard this thing called 'terrorists' where they attacked and destroyed homes, eventually occupying the place. Daddy talked about that with his friends.

"You feel good, Ava? Beatrice here had cleaned you up when you're asleep." Grandpa pointed towards the girl with the cap.

I nodded.

"Wait. You said you were at their base. . . And I was there. 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 covering me when I was outside, if he was there, as he said.

Anyway, it had been so long since I talked with grandpa. He seemed to be quite healthy despite his age.

He then folded his leg. "So, you really don't remember anything? After you got separated from your parents?"

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. I remembered when the soldiers' eyes looked at me with emptiness, with dead eyes. The blood pouring out and bathed them.

It was surreal.

And my spikes had done it to them.

I s.h.i.+vered from that thought.

A man approached us from the crowd.

"Boss, I have a report," he said.

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," ordered grandpa.

"Ah, yes."

Grandpa and he blended back into the crowd before they all dispersed. They were in a hurry of some sort.

Except for the girl, Beatrice.

She grabbed a chair near her and sat down. The way she just stared at me made my body felt uneasy that I s.h.i.+fted myself around the bed.

"Did something happened?" I asked her.

"Oh. You don't need to know," she replied whimsically.

Our conversation stopped there as she minded her own business, reading a magazine.

Grandpa appeared to have left me with her, and so she accompanied me until I decided it was time for me to sleep. I cuddled in my winter jacket and forced my eyes to shut tight.

"For a kid that had killed a living person, you're rather calm," said Beatrice.

I put my jacket away and saw Beatrice looking at me.

She was not in a good mood.

"Um," I stuttered. "I . . ."

"I found this in your dress." She showed me what appeared to be a disc. At least, a broken half of it.

Beatrice then reached out and squeezed my shoulder hard. "You met them. George and Nick."

I pretended I did not know anything. However, I knew I didn't do anything wrong.

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 don't return yesterday! They were tasked to bring info on the layout of the base, using the disc. The fact that you have this. . . You hurt them, didn't you?"

"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 tugged away at the last second, as the tip barely touched the outer layer of my right eye.

"The boss returned with his grandchild. All of us believed the soldiers caught both George and Nick. Yet you have this disc in your pocket. 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!"

I bit her hand so hard the knife dropped to the floor.

'Beatrice's crazy!' I thought.

She choked me with her other hand as her eyes were in tears.

I struggled but my vision flickered mercilessly. "Let me. . . Go."

Those words came out of my mouth rather short. With my throat being squeezed out of the air, 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 as the time pa.s.sed.

Oddly, there was a swelling sensation in my hands. I immediately grabbed her arm when red spikes darted 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," said Beatrice.

"Project Aegis." She threw the knife at me and I reached out my hands out of instinct.