[Chapter Five]
Lullaby and good night,
With roses bedight.
It’s so soothing, she thought. The woman’s voice echoed through empty space. She felt all her fatigue waned away. The gentle rocking, she felt, made her mind slightly aware. She felt like she was left in a daze, unable to tell which was real or not as she found herself floating in darkness.
Creep into thy bed,
She was suddenly greeted by a bright light causing her to block it using her arms and hands. The voice became so much softer and the light became a bit dimmed, that, it was unneeded to shield her eyes. Afterward, she felt something warm crawling from her chest and slowly spreading towards every part of her body.
There pillow thy head.
If God will thou shalt wake,
When the morning doth break.
The heat seeped its way towards her eyes. She felt something hot gathering in her eye before slowly slipping off. When she touched it, it was suddenly not there but on her fingertips, she saw there was a wet spot at the tips. There were no more decays or worms crawling underneath and on her skin. It was plump and fair and glaringly transparent.
If God will thou shalt wake,
When the morning doth break.
Lullaby and good night,
Those blue eyes close tight.
She was pulled out of looking fascinatedly on her body, her hands roaming on soft and unblemished skin. The voice sounded directly near her ear, it was whispering words to her. The melody and the words were so familiar to her yet also distant. The tone of the song had turned sad as if it was saying goodbye to someone dear.
Bright angels are near,
So sleep without fear.
They will guard thee from harm,
The rocking motion became harsh and prominent, then there she noticed the light had come back and become brighter. Like before she raised her arms in front of her. This time though she felt something rough on her wrists and that she couldn’t move her arms.
With fair dreamland's sweet charm.
Brown eyes suddenly peered through the gaps of her eyelashes. Bubbles moved upwards blurring her sight. There were also voices mumbling somewhere as the voice had slowly dragged the last note of the song until it faded away.
“It’s five days from now”
“We can take a detour at lake Joger”
“We can’t swim carrying that glass of formalin… the boats won’t be available to us too”
“How about we leave this sample at the ruins near the lake?”
“And come get it later? It would be a waste of resources, the last one had escaped from the net”
A deformed face suddenly pasted itself on the glass of the formalin container. Blue orbs widen as it peered closely at the female inside. The girl slightly moved away from shock, bumping onto the glass and causing it to slide off from where it was propped on to.
“It’s awake!” The owner of the blue irises screeched as he hurriedly caught the container gaining the attention of his company.
“It can’t be! The drug isn’t supposed to wear off ‘till…”
The man’s voice trailed off as he helped the guy to put the container back into its original position. Brown irises met, he stared hard at the specimen submerged in formalin. The small ghastly face of the undead child they had caught in the woods looked on in interest. There was no fear that swirled around in the child’s eyes, there was just curiosity.
“Atsushi…”, the owner of the blue orbs huffed as he noticed the sudden added weight. “…why did you let go… help me!” He added. Atsushi was awoken from his momentary shock and helped the smaller male with the container.
“It’s awake Major.” Atsushi walked towards the man sitting on the log with a map spread on a stone beside it. The brown-haired male frowned in disbelief. Such a small thing can withstand the dosage of the drug? Maybe we should add a bit more, we’re a week away from the lab. His lips pressed into a tight line as he thought out how they should handle this unique development.
“Give it an additional shot, the dosage should be higher”, he nodded to the man on his left as he said it. The man stood up and went on with the others to prepare a tent where he would prepare the specimen and the materials. Four men gathered to the vehicle to take down the tent they had folded that morning.
“We will leave at 04:00 tomorrow, we’ll discuss precautions and strategies as we wait.”
“Sir, yes sir Major Isao!”
The men in military attires scurried about in precision and experience the deeds that were to be done. Once the sky had darkened considerably, the fire was already lit with meat that they hunted earlier.
“Major, Sergeant Joben came to inform that preparation for sedation is almost ready, he will commence the draining process”, the man said when he had entered major’s tent and saluting him. Major Isao in return, dismissed him afterward. He stood up walking outside his tent towards the bigger one.
The girl floated silently in her container. She comes close to the glass occasionally to clearly see what was happening or what made the strange noises. The place was well it, a metal bed was arranged in the middle. A man comes in front of her container to check up on her at random times. This time however there were three other men aside from the one prepping the materials and checking on her. She saw they all had a similar uniform but the man in the middle must have been important. She kept staring at Major Isao. His black hair was well kept in terms of length but was left messily and in disarray, he was second of the most well-kempt man that she had seen.
“Major!” The man suddenly jumped to attention when he caught sight of the man. When did he get here? He silently thought to himself, sweat rolled from his forehead down to his cheeks. He pulled out a handkerchief from one of the pockets in his uniform and wiped it off after the major acknowledged him.
“This might take a while, Major Isao, the formalin in that container has to be drained first.”
“We have all night Second Lieutenant Minori.” Major Isao plainly stated as he took a step forward, looking at the specimen that was staring at them then nodded to Second Lieutenant Minori. Minori in turn, gestured to one of the lower-ranking soldiers to fetch a chair for the major and the two captains behind him.
Second Lieutenant Minori wore his mask while another soldier distributed other masks to the three men in the room before swiftly leaving the tent and closing the flaps off. The second lieutenant walked towards the side of the container and crouched, checking whether the tubes were well connected and there were no leaks before he stood up pulling a lever. The clear liquid inside the glass container started to lessen slowly. She curiously stared at the below her when she saw little holes have opened and her blacked toes nearly touch the surface as the liquid no longer filled the container. She also was not floating anymore.
The formalin was drained into another glass container that was tightly sealed off to prevent the smell from reaching the people inside the tent from inhaling it. The girl was looking downwards, at the holes where the liquid was moving quickly towards to. She saw bits and pieces of flesh blocking the holes and prevented the liquid from flowing away from the container.