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We all ignore the sound of Adley mouthing off, watching as Six interacts with the woman with features so similar to her own.
Her eyes are open, looking up at Six with tears rimming her pale eyelashes. And while Adley seemed to suggest that she was unintelligent, you can see from the look in her eyes that she is aware of everything around her—of everything that's been done to her.
It's at that moment that I truly notice her fully. The frailness of her body…The frightening slight roundness of her stomach that wouldn't be natural on her otherwise thin frame. I want to gag again.
Micah stands in front of the monitors that are back online, thumbing through what I assume are her records. He clears his throat before reading off some of her file.
“ProGen8 is the only other surviving member of the ProGen series. Her limbs and many of her organs never developed fully, and she doesn't seem to have the ability to speak due to brain injury or malformation—there's a brief reference to a trial that was done that might have caused the damage.”
He stops and takes a breath, his face paling as he reads through her chart. When he looks up again, his eyes are watery and full of pain.
“It seems they mostly have used her to test wildly experimental regenerative treatments and for…breeding trials.” He says the last part under his breath, like he can't bear to say the words out loud.
Luis stuffs a random cloth into Adley's mouth and punches him in the stomach. The disgusting waste of human life sinks to the ground, coughing and retching through the fabric.
“Breeding trials?” Six asks him, not looking up from her would-be sister's gaze. A tear falls from the woman's familiar light grey eyes.
“Eight…” He pauses, giving weight to the name he's given her. By giving her that name, he is marking her as an equal to the woman that we know and love. “They have artificiallyinseminated Eight fourteen times according to this chart, with nine successful implantations, none of which lasted past the first trimester. Her current pregnancy looks to be the longest successful experiment at fifteen weeks, largely in part to regular injections of plasma…from ProGen6.”
Aside from the pathetic whimpers of Adley, the room is silent. Six maneuvers herself to sit on the bed next to Eight's small frame. She caresses the frail woman's forehead and cheek, wiping away tears as they fall. Her eyes are searching, looking deep into the pools of grey, like a mirror reflection.
The two women seem to have a silent conversation as Tony comes through the ear pieces again.
“Alright, we have a plan to get you out of there, but you need to be ready to move in five minutes. When I say go, grab Bennet's gurney and whoever or whatever you're bringing with you and make for the exit. Lukas will meet you at the front. Whatever you see or hear, keep moving.”
Luis, Micah, and I nod as if Tony can see us.
“We need to move soon,” I say gently, coming to stand beside Six. My mind is racing, trying to think of how we can evacuate both immobile patients.
Eight is staring up at Six with pleading eyes. With tears streaming down her face, Six gives a tiny, almost imperceptible nod, agreeing to…what?
A flood of tears fall from Eight's eyes, but she looks…relieved. I don't know what just transpired between the two women, but Six bends down to kiss Eight's forehead before standing and straightening her spine.
Without a word, she looks over at the many machines that are placed around the hospital bed. Her fingers trace over the various lights and switches before she starts flipping them all at random. Moving swiftly, she unhooks all the tubes and wires keeping the poor woman alive.
As she works, Micah digs through the cabinets, filling a syringe.
Adley tries to protest, his shouts muffled by the dirty cloth stuffed in his mouth. Luis lifts him up by the back of his suit, his large hand holding his head steady by the throat so he has to watch as he struggles. Adley's face turns purple with a mixture of anger and lack of air.
Micah moves towards the two women, gesturing to them with the syringe. Six nods, trusting whatever cocktail he has to help her sister transition peacefully. She holds the woman's thin, frail hand and looks into her eyes as Micah empties the syringe into one of the many IV ports.
I hold my breath, watching as the pain and anguish melt away from Eight's eyes.
With time ticking down, Six kisses her forehead again and closes her eyelids. Then she turns her attention to Adley for the first time.
Luis holds him still as Six comes to stand directly in front of him. Despite the considerable height difference, the way Six looks at him, like he is lower than mud scraped off her shoe, makes her tower over him. She stares him down for a few extended seconds, while we all wait for what she'll say or do next.
With a strength that defies her smaller stature, Six throws her fist. It collides with Adley's cheek with a sickening crunch. And she doesn't stop there.
Six hits him again and again, pummeling his face without mercy. Adley goes limp, but Luis holds him up like he would a punching bag in the gym. Her face and arms are covered in a sheet of sweat and blood spray.
Adley's face doesn't look much better than ground meat when she finally gets too tired to throw another punch. Instead, she knees him a few times in the stomach and once in the crotch before she pulls away. Breathing heavily, she stares at the evil man with hatred and disgust.
Not sparing even a single word, further digging in how insignificant he is to her, Six gives Luis a meaningful look and a single nod.
With that simple acknowledgement, and without breaking eye contact with Six, Luis twists Adley's neck in one quick movement. I watch as his body goes limp, and he crumples to the ground. It seems almost too simple, too clean a death for what he's done, but the popping sound his neck makes also breaks a weight from my shoulders.
Stepping over his body, Luis pulls Six against his side before grasping her left hand. She reaches for me with her right. Hand in hand, we follow Micah out of the room, where he retrieves the gurney with our still unconscious brother, and we wait for the signal.
