Chapter 5.

"Hello gentlemen," A man in a swift tailored suit sat in front of a large board of people. The artificial light glinted off of the white, pristine surface of the table. "I'm just going to get straight to it." A slideshow burst to life behind him with a wave of his hand.

There's twenty people. Just sitting at the table, private security excluded. Even in someone else's mind I felt in control.

A familiar picture formed out of the blur. "As we all are aware; the world is not our own. There are many creatures that walk these parts, none more dangerous than-" The picture split off forming many surveillance photos as the man paused, eyes slithering over the room. "These so called 'psychics'. The creatures leave us alone but these-these freaks of nature share our DNA." He paused again, for effect surely. "They have been useful, yes?"

The whole room agreed, causing a shudder to roll down my back.

I was one of those deemed 'useful'.

"But, we have allowed ourselves to rely on some of them, and ignored others." A frown line formed between 'Eric Koch's' eyebrows. Sitting next to my standing form he sat with his shoulders raised. Alert. "We cannot allow for these impurities any longer. And that is why I'd like to introduce..." A cruel glint formed in the depths of his eyes. 'Eric' opened the folder that had been passed to him. Two words stood at the top of the page:

PROJECT SHOAH

"Project Shoah?!" His voice was deep and shaking. "That's what they called the Holocaust!"

That's where I knew it from...

The thought was not comforting in the slightest.

"Why yes General Anderson. What an astute observation." Sarcasm dripped off of the man's tongue so thick I could almost see it. "Who would've thought a glorified soldier with little to no field experience would actually have brains." The room erupted into small chuckles. "This is a first."

The memory shifted, not very clear as it jumped slightly. Information already removed for other memories.

"You plan on executing an entire race!" General Anderson stood up, throwing the file away from him towards the other man. "You need all of our approval to go through with this and I for one, will not go along with it!" The memory turned hazy just as the general began storming out but I could still see the face of our would-be executioner, and his man behind him.

Oh no...

I was thrust back into my body as Anastasia's hand left mine. I backed up away from the man, my mind reeling from all the added information. Especially one part.

"Betrayed." I rasped, my tongue slipping against my still aching teeth. To an outside authority it must have appeared like we had gotten all the information needed. That must have been why a red dot crawled onto the General's forehead. "Anastasia GET DOWN!" I roared as the glass behind me broke, a lone bullet knocking the good General's head back.

He was fighting... For us.

I teleported over to Anastasia, grabbed her arm and ran towards the now broken window. She came easily, shock morphing her features into that of a small child's.

The rifle fired again, it's bullet digging into my shoulder as I turned my body to the side, pulling Anastasia with me to jump.

Knocking back into herself she let out an ear splitting scream.

Time slowed down for me. Ears ringing, wind whipped up past my face as the ground started its journey towards us. My hand fumbled, a small stream of blood already coming down to make my fingers slip against the plastic.

Oh come on!

I could feel my face moving up into a panic as the device slipped and slid around in my pocket.

If I didn't find a good enough grip, I was going to lose it. My stomach churned as we slowly got closer and closer to the ground. Pressure building in my aching ears. My hand fastened around the black plastic tightly, and I pulled it out, staring for what felt like hours before I pushed the little red button.

As soon as the floor above us exploded, pushing us off of our straight decent down, I dug my fingers tighter into Anastasia's arm to the point of blood. A tearing effort overcame me as we teleported together.

With a hard THUNK I fell onto a wooden floor, knocking my head a good one before rolling over and groaning.

The only sound in the room was my heavy breathing. "A-Anastasia?" I pushed myself over to my hands and knees, whole body thrumming with a mixture of pain and shock. At least the shock would push back most of the pain.

Her blonde hair was spread on the floor as she gazed up at the ceiling, eyes wide. Shaking hands slipped on the blood around them and my forehead collided with the floor again. Pulling out a heavy Russian swear that would make the Nuns flush a deep dark red.

I could feel the fog in my head clear, wakening me up a little. I pushed myself up much faster this time and stared down at Anastasia, blocking her view of the ceiling with my upside-down head. "Anastasia." I clicked in front of her face a few times until she blinked. A few drops of my blood splattering themselves on her forehead.

"Blew it up..." She blinked a few more times. "You blew up the building and made me jump." Although her face was blank, her voice had irritation in it.

Her face began to screw up. "You blew up the building and MADE ME JUMP OUT OF IT!" She jumped up and I fell back, my bloodied hand falling out from underneath me. I swore in Russian again as the back of my head bounced off of the wooden ground.

She began pacing in front of me, not even paying attention to where she was, or that I was a mess. My eyes glowed dully before the colour retreated. My energy was draining fast. I was distracted and out of practice.

Soft. A cruel voice told me.

"I'm going to have a shower. I need to process. We'll be safe here." To that she finally looked around. She faltered. At least she had no marks on her, except for probably her arm which I had grabbed but that could wait.

Especially after I saw my reflection. The tips of my hair had dried blood on them, turning them into dreadlocks half way down. There was blood around my nose and mouth, running down my chin and neck. I looked like I had tried to drink it. The idea sent a shudder down the back of my spine. No thank you.

My clothes were essentially ruined, and I had a bullet in my shoulder. As well as blood seeping from other places only dressing down and showering would tell me.

My bloodied clothes fell with a wet squelch as I tried to shimmy out of my sports bra and underwear. Pained groans leaving my blood-caked lips. Dark red flakes, glittered off every few breaths like dark snow.

It took me slightly longer to shower than I had anticipated, pain shooting up my muscles every now and then as I watched the blood run down me in waves of super-heated, high pressure water. I had no time to properly clean. The tiles on the bathroom wall shifting in and out of focus as the shock set in.

Shrugging into underwear, a singlet, and sweatpants was such a struggle I didn't bother with a bra. Of course, I wrapped up all the scrapes on my legs first. None were serious enough for stitches. "Anastasia!" I called hobbling over to unlock the door.

She stuck her head in as I cleaned around the bullet hole as best as I could, but unlike those on my legs, it wouldn't stop seeping blood until I stitched it up. And it needed to be stitched before the darkness got too close.

Her eyes widened as she took me in, I looked pretty banged up, and boy did I feel it.

"A-Are you okay?" My body was riddled with old scars and now new ones. But the worst scars, were the ones locked inside. Beating like a drum, calling in the darkness to take me so that they could play.

"Vodka. In the kitchen. Under the sink is my sewing kit." She stared at me for a few more seconds before nodding and walking off. While she was gone, I widened the hole by sticking my fingers in to try and pry the bullet out.

My head fell back and I squeezed my eyes shut, whispering swear words in Russian and other foreign languages as my brain began to fog.

The Darkness crawled into the edges of my vision, worming its way closer. A groan filtered out of my mouth as my head fell back even more, eyes closing.

"Scarlet are you okay you're making weird noises-" Her voice faltered out just as I grabbed the bullet and finally ripped it out.

The groan strengthened into an almost-scream. "Oh sweet baby Jesus." She looked green again as I harshly threw the bullet towards the sink.

Clink clink clink.

Snatching the vodka, I downed it. Stopping only because of my need to breathe... And the blood sliding slowly down my bicep. I muffled my scream as I poured the burning liquid over the weeping hole. The burns seeped into my whole arm, making its way to my pulsating heart as it echoed the drums of the darkness.

Tears steadily fell down my face, lips parted, a drop of saliva slipping out into the air and escaping.

Another deep groan came out as the darkness deepened. "You look like you're going to pass out."

I am.

I couldn't let my mouth form the words. I needed to stitch. Now.

I don't know how I did it, but before I knew it I had already stitched it up, without ever remembering grabbing my kit.

I was panting hard, when I keeled over... And fainted.