Chapter 5

"It was a success. We can now track #53."

~

#53's neck still stung. She had sat in the chair after the weird device had lodged something in the small girl's neck.

The man had left almost immediately after she had been chipped, and the woman had been gone for 15 minutes.

"Huff... huff,"

#53's breathing could be heard all across the room. She still had this feeling. She couldn't get enough air, yet her lungs refused to take anymore in.

It was suffocating.

She had been in this room for 1 or 2 hours, but it still felt like it had been forever.

There was a strange stillness in the air. It was as if time had stopped, #53 was the only one that hadn't been paused.

Everything felt heavy. The belts, the air, even the little girl's own body.

The world began to slid in and out of focus, like a camera that just won't get the right angle.

The small girl was fighting to keep her eyes open, but it felt as though someone was gently pushing her eyelids down, lulling her to sleep.

Darkness.

~

It wasn't soft, yet the surface under #53 wasn't hard either. She didn't know what this feeling was, but it calmed her.

Something light could also be felt on the small girl's back, it was warm, like a light embrace.

Her hand made its way to the fabric that was lying on top of her. She gripped it in her hand, and brought it to her face, burrowing herself in this warm feeling.

Headaches. Annoying things. It it like a hammer, pounding at your skull, making everything else hard to focus on. Reminding you that it is there're constantly.

For #53, this pounding was specifically behind her temples. She raised her hands to rub them, trying to relieve the tension. She squeezed her eyes shut, in an attempt to go back to her peaceful sleep.

Next thing she knew she was being shaken. #53 jumped up and hit the back of her head on the nose of the person above her.

"Ack-!"

The person above her was grabbing his nose, a trickle of blood seeping though his fingers.

"What the hell was that for!" He hollered, still holding his nose. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes from the pain.

#53 quickly jumped out of bed and headed over to the poor boy she just honked in the nose.

She ran over to him and grabbed his hands to show the damage she had caused to his nose.

"Ow, what are you doing?!" He exclaimed,

shocked at her sudden advance.

She after at his nose for a few seconds. It was bruising a purple hue and was bleeding out both nostrils. It also looked a tad bit out of place.

"Broken..." #53 softly muttered as she examined the boy's nose.

She turned away and walked into the bathroom she had changed in earlier.

"What the hell..." The boy muttered.

Inside the bathroom the girl was opening and closing cabinets and drawers looking for something, after opening a chest that was radiating cold air she ran out of the bathroom.

The boy sat down on his bunk, still holding his broken nose. She hurried over to him, clutching an ice pack in one hand.

The boy looked up at #53 who now had an ice pack in her hand, and was reaching to him.

"Where did you even..?"

She again grabbed his hand and tore them away from his face.

"Ack! Wait-"

The coolness of the ice pack pressed to his nose felt so heavenly compared to the throbbing pain that had been present.

She continued to hold that ice pack on his nose for another 10 minutes.

~

He grabbed #53's hand, "I've got it now." He grabbed the ice pack away from her and held it to his own nose.

"10."

"Huh?"

"10... more." The girl whispered, her voice sounded raspy, as though it hasn't been used before.

The boy's eyes were wide in shock. Not because of the words she spoke, but because she spoke at all.

'She can talk?'