The beast of innocence.

[Openots]

In the year 2013, not much has changed. 2012 didn't bring the end of the world, people moved on. Though a new form of technology has come into the light. Usually used for remedial purposes, genetic modification is used by the wealthy to change their physical appearance as well as other.... additions. But every blessing has a darker side.

Genecorp, the company that originally created the genetic modifiers for the public has been working on something much, much more sinister. The plan has been in the making for twenty years, gathering children, literally grabbing them from the hospital and replacing them with dying clones. From day one, the children were injected with a virus that would rip through the child's body and slowly turning them into something more. The virus always killed them though, literally reducing the child to a twisted husk.

The company went through hundreds if not thousands of children before finally hitting paydirt. The virus formed a symbiotic relationship with the host, giving the child the ability to modify, change, and twist her body. From turning her skin into titanium, to simply changing her face, Genecorp spent eighteen years studying, trying to find out why the virus attached itself to the girl rather than kill her. Though, the virus had a deadly side-effect. Ultra-violet radiation (AKA sunlight) caused the child severe physical pain followed by burns. The tech-geeks that helped with the project gave the girl the nick-name Nosferatu, a sort of twisted joke, especially after one of the guards who was stationed outside of the girl's cell got a little too close and was ripped to pieces.

No one would have suspected the teen of anything. In her natural form, 5'5, young face. Her hair was long, it hung down to her ass, which was firm and muscular, the virus morphed her body so it was in peak physical condition, though she didn't lose her feminine body. Eighteen years, and she had never been outside of the Genecorp building. Her cell, her home, her prison. Her cell was sterile, solid white walls, cot in the corner, a glass wall separating her and the rest of the world. Dark blue eyes stared at the wall outside of the cell. Her hair was shock white as a result of the virus, her skin abnormally pale. She could have easily changed shape to look like some buxom bimbo, but they shocked her whe she shifted without permission. Soon, she thought. A nurse, guard, doctor, someone would come to run her daily tests.

 

[Akatala]

RE: The beast of innocence .

Jina Yamaguchi studied the notes in the folder that she carried as she walked down the stark white hallway, her white platform boots clacking against the polished cement flooring. Her chocolate hair was pulled up into a bun underneath her nurse's hat.

With her Asian features, she looked at least ten years younger than 26. A standard white lab coat covered her lanky frame. Beneath was a white blouse and tight white skirt. For such a tiny thing at 5'2, she had more curve than most expected with 36C breasts and an ass to match. Her hose covered legs were toned with a tattoo of a dolphin leaping over a hibiscus blossom on her right calf. Make-up was applied lightly to the caramel tan skin of her face. A coffee brown shaded her eyelids in a gentle gradient that accented her topaz brown eyes. A soft glistening pink coated her lips. She wore simple hoops and studs in five different holes in each ear. A silver stud also glistened in the crease of her left nostril. The barbel in her tongue clicked against her teeth as she pondered the information on the charts.

Sure she was new here, replacing a previous PA, but she wasn't stupid. If what she was reading was correct, everyone in this place aught to be shitting in their pants. Which they weren't. They were acting like they had some spiffy golden goose. Sighing, she slapped the folder shut. She placed her palm to the scanner, then walked through the double sliding door leading into the special containment unit. Her eyes panned to the girl perched inside. She kept herself calm as she walked over to press the speaker on the intercom. When she spoke, her words were clear and her voice high pitched but gentle, "Hello. Your previous primary nurse has been reassigned. I'm Jina, the new gofer nurse. Is there a name that you would prefer that I call you by?"

 

[Openots]

RE: The beast of innocence .

To say the girl was surprised to see a new face would have been an understatement. The previous nurse had always been kind to her, that was probably why. The woman had even gone as far to sneak her in a piece of candy once. She wasn't bad looking, at least compared to the old nurse, or the women in the magazines the guards looked at. A name? The doctors who preformed the tests always called her by her serial number which was Y-2034, the there was that name the guards called her by, though she never quite understood it.

Slowly, a slender leg stuck out from beneath the thin robe they gave her. It was similar to a bathroom robe though it wasn't plush or soft. The girl approached the glass, dark violet eyes squinting at Jina. "Name? I don't have a name." Oh, it felt wonderful to speak again. "My number is Y-2034, I suppose that will have to do for a name unless you can think of something." She shrugged a little, getting a closer look. Her young face was partially obstructed by the pale hair though she had no trouble seeing. There was no reason to be hostile towards this woman, she wasn't carrying a gun, nor was she one of the surgeons who regularly did 'resiliency' tests on her which usually involved seeing how much they could cut off until she finally passed out.

"So.... Why did they send you down here?" Y asked, moderately curious.

 

[Akatala]

RE: The beast of innocence .

A red flag went up in Jina's mind as Y spoke of her lack of an actual name. The way the people here would refer to her as a serial number like she was some criminal in some high security prison was just plain disturbing. Jina turned her head away to cough, attempting to shake off the agitation she felt at such an implication. Then, returning to meet the girl's sapphire gaze, she proceeded to calmly answer her in an even voice, "Would you mind if I called you Winter? You have the look of beautiful freshly fallen snow." Jina smiled warmly as she said this, the genuine sincerity of her words becoming evident in her eyes as she let down her personal shields just enough to allow the girl a brief glimpse at the true self that existed behind the strict, regardlessly smiling yes-woman facade that she wore in the workplace. That brief glimpse said volumes if the girl known as Y-2034 was perceptive enough to catch it.

Jina was a woman fully capable of dawning an obedient professional attitude of a team player at seemingly the drop of a hat. However, if Y had also caught the glimpse of shock and unease in Jina's warm brown eyes, then it was also apparent that despite that seemingly easy professional mask, Jina was still a highly reactive woman at heart. The bared glimpse of true self that she gave said that she was both gut-instinctive in action and decidedly honest when she could afford to be.

"I don't know," she said in reply to the second question, honesty with a hint of worry and compassion in her eyes and slightly softer voice. A moment later, her shield was back in place--a picture of a woman with backbone. "Corporate didn't elaborate, as usual."

Then reaching into one of her lab coat pockets, she pulled out a blood pressure cuff. "If you could please hold out the arm you prefer..." she said as she resumed procedure. Though there was a look in her glance as she set her folder to one side and made ready the cuff for use that she was still open to previous discussion if Y wished to continue talking while Jina went about cataloging her vitals.

 

[Openots]

RE: The beast of innocence .

"Winter? Yes, that will do." The girl nodded curtly, she did acknowledge the compliment though it didn't mean much to her. Education had come in the form of panic stricken doctors and professors. They had taught her how to speak, how to write, basics. Winter visibly relaxed, there was no reason for her to mistrust Jina, nor was there reason to patronize her. The pale girl offered the woman outside the glass an awkward smile revealing perfect teeth, if Jina could pick up on it; it was painfully evident that the young woman rarely smiled though it was a real, sincere smile.

"Cor-por-ate?" Winter half-asked before shaking her head. "Usually the nurse takes my vitals, draws blood, then asks for an example of my abilities." It was true enough. Of course, several times they had brought guards in with a serum that repressed the virus for several minutes before taking a full limb or an organ before her abilities kicked back in. Slowly, the glass wall slid into the floor as Jina pulled the cuff from her lab coat. She had tried to escape in the past, Winter never made it past the checkpoint though. The doctors had designed some sort of field that kept her from passing through the door. Plus, when she tried to escape they repressed her abilities and hurt her, shocking, cutting, burning, pain was the best teacher, or so they said.

She quickly rolled her sleeve up, holding out her right arm for the woman. "Your being nicer than the other nurses ever were." Winter stated calmly as Jina did her work. She wouldn't struggle against the woman or hurt her. It would have been a simple enough matter to rip the woman in half and kill her like that guard, but why do that? This woman was actually being nice to her, no reason to ruin that right?

 

[Akatala]

RE: The beast of innocence .

Jina smiled gently as the girl accepted the new nickname. Something about this girl resembled a snow coated bramble that was merely waiting for spring to allow it the chance to bloom. And yet, the way the girl spoke and acted, it was becoming clear that the company was deliberately doing things to keep all this rose in a perpetual winter. She wondered if anyone leading this operation had any idea what happened when something's true nature was forcefully repressed for too long. That chill in her gut of what the medical reports suggested about this girl and the girl's own admission of how she had been treated was starting to morph somewhere inside Jina.

She remained unusually silent as she took Winter's blood pressure, counted her pulse, checked her temperature. She noted the results in the log inside the folder. The girl was right about the research doctors also wanting blood samples. As she began to work on drawing several vials for various different tests, Jina spoke in a low tone, a whisper really, "Winter, how long have you been here like this?"

She kept her eyes focused on what she was doing, however, there was something dark in them. The gears in her mind were quite obviously turning, chewing on something that bothered her.

[ooc: Gah! Sorry for shortness in this one. -flogs muse-]

 

[Openots]

RE: The beast of innocence .

Winter's body worked a little differently than a regular human body. Her pulse was ungodly fast, her skin fiery hot to the touch. She ran hot, hotter than hot. Her usual body temperature usually hanging around 110 to 112 degrees Fahrenheit. Blood color was normal, a dark sanguine. Jina could take as much as she wanted, her body would create more to replace the lost fluid. The woman's question surprised her a little, the dark eyes widening a little before returning to their narrowed state.

"How long have I been here like what? I've lived here my whole life. I used to have an actual room though one of the doctors tried to.... do things to me so I crushed him against the wall. After that they moved me here, sooo about five years?" All of this information was in her file, including the doctor making an 'inappropriate' advance on a minor. If Jina had ulterior motives hidden in her question, Winter had completely missed them. "What about you? Why did you choose this job? From what the guards said, only the.... saps? I think that was the word the guards used. Get this job."

((Hehe, it's fine. ))

 

[Akatala]

RE: The beast of innocence .

Jina was indeed surprised by the differences in this girl's physical nature, even though she had read the documentation that prepared her for this finding. Such a person surviving a body temperature high enough to put a normal person into a coma if not kill them was astounding to her. Though, some how, this girl's body had adapted to the effects of the virus she carried so as to carry a symbiotic relationship. To Jina's intellectual side, this was truly a remarkable discovery. And yet... she wondered what the long term side effects such a state would create. This girl had been through hell, she didn't deserve to go through more. Something inside Jina began latching onto that concept. Somewhere a decision had been subconsciously made, one that made her all the more keenly aware and interested in the girl. Not for the sake of the company, but for the sake of the girl.

Winter's reply to her question, and the events she described having to endure made Jina ill, though she gave her best to hide that fact. There were truly sick people working in this company. Which brought her to answer Winter's question straight forward and matter-of-factly, "I was drawn in by the promise of advancement in my career in medicine as well as the money it pays. My father had been a gambler, playing with people he should have never mixed with. He never learned his lesson, and now I'm paying for his mistakes after those mistakes got him killed. The guards like to fancy themselves as demi-gods despite the ease of which they can be replaced. They like to crow because they want to hide from the fact that the have issues with the size of their penis."

Jina was obviously not worried about the repercussions that her last statement could bring on her. She held no fear of the guards. This was a bold and undeniable truth. The hard look in her eyes said so. That look also said that she had grown up also learning the harsh lesson of the world's true nature. Life is pain. She knew this and had grown to fashion a life for herself despite that fact. Her passion for her job made it clear that she hadn't given up on dreams despite the futility of fighting such a world. Somehow, she had managed to achieve some of those dreams, even though they came at the cost of having to kiss ass to a group like this one. She was willing to make sacrifices to see through a goal, else she wouldn't be here in the first place. The guards were still right, she was a sap, just not in the way that they thought she was. Her brand of sugar came with its own spice, one that could have side effects on those who dared to try to stamp it out.

She changed the subject, opting for something less gloomy. Or at least she hoped it would be. "So, what are some of your favorite things in life?"

 

[Openots]

Winter knew the woman was surprised about her body. It always surprised people. The virus essentially put her body into a continuous overdrive. It provided the virus with enough energy to survive and in return the virus made her body resilient enough to survive it. Strangely enough, her regenerative properties and the ability to shapeshift were side effects. The virus basically reshaped the inner working of her body and as a result it somehow allowed her to change her shape. The Doctors still didn't quite understand, hell, Winter didn't understand it herself. It was her body though, and the viral visitor who set up shop made her strong. She didn't have to eat, drink, or sleep. Mind you she didn't have to, that didn't mean she didn't enjoy any of them. Though, the Doctors caught on several months back and cut back her meal portions to save money.

The girl listened quietly, it was interesting to hear about other people's lives, especially since hers never ventured past this cell. "Gamber? Penis?" Winter looked positively befuddled by the terms though she understood the gist of what Jina was saying. "I know sometimes they have magazines with them with pictures of people!" The young woman exclaimed, suddenly friendly. After all, this Jina woman was being nice to her, she might as well be nice back. "I think the last one was something like this." Winter screwed up her face before her body began to shimmer a little. Within a second, the young girl was replaced by a large breasted redhead who was completely nude. Winter looked down at her new body for a moment before shifting back into her natural form. "They always talk about "tapping" that or doing it. I don't really get it and when I ask I usually get yelled at."

It took the teen a moment to register what Jina was asking her. "Favorite things?...." The dark blue eyes looked confused for a moment before a clear look of recognition crossed her face. "Well, they used to bring me meat on Fridays." A bright pink tongue ran over her lips as she remembered the taste of the meat loaf they used to bring her. "Yes! I really like meat! Oh! And candy!" She exclaimed nodding. It was remarkable how quickly she was warming up to Jina, but she sort of felt a connection with the woman.

 

[Akatala]

Jina watched wide-eyed in shock at the girl's transformation from innocent near-albino teen to a porn magazine hood ornament busty broad. She would have busted up laughing at the impersonation if she wasn't so knocked off kilter by the display. She was use to encountering sheltered teens that hadn't been taught birds and bees by conservative parents. She was use to obscene pictures flaunted by guys who needed a lay. She wasn't use to seeing the entire image of a person morphing into something else, even after she had read of this ability in the information logs on this girl. To read about it was one thing, to actually see it, especially in such a starkly contrasting manner, was something that Jina was far less prepared for than she had known. Even after the girl returned to her normal form, Jina was stuck in shock for a good minute or two, her brain trying to process what she had just seen. Half of her was suddenly scared shitless by something that by all the laws of nature and physics that she knew, shouldn't exist. The other half of her was awed into near idolism at such a display of power. Suddenly, she knew exactly what the rest of the people here that had more than two brain cells were afraid of.

She took a step back and a deep breath as her face went expressionless while she thought about the problem emerging before her eyes. Not only was a young girl being held against her will, exploited, and endangered by this company and its desire to use her as a living weapon. The dangers presented to the girl by the way she had been treated were becoming even more blatantly obvious. How much psychological trauma could a person take before they broke? How much further could they push this girl before she became a danger to herself and others? That is, if that hadn't already happened, which remained to be seen considering that Jina knew those who had worked with this girl previously had vanished from the face of the earth after they had been phased out. Something else this girl hadn't been told, though Jina was reluctant to reveal this information just yet. There would be a better time and place for that. Right now, Jina realized, she needed to focus on figuring out how to get this girl out of this place, asap. Then there was the whole matter of how she was going to go about trying to supply what Winter really needed to heal, if that was even accomplishable at this late stage of her development. That might be better left up to Winter to decide what cracks she wanted to mend and which ones she didn't really give a rat's ass about after finding freedom. Could she even survive outside this place? Would Jina be making it worse by removing her from this facility?

Jina shook her head to clear it, tossing out all the unanswered questions. In all reality the only thing that mattered was giving this girl her chance at freedom. What happened beyond that was up to Winter and fate. Jina had no choice but to stick with her gut and her own code of ethics and honor. Winter deserved a chance to run from these people. She deserved a chance to live based on her own choices, no matter what the cost of that might be.

Jina thought about how others had asked her to display her power. She thought about all of the security measures in place. She thought about all that the girl was supposedly capable of. She glanced at her watch, then back at the girl, wondering how easy it might be for the girl to hide something on her person using her shifting gift to make it seem like there was nothing out of the ordinary. Then she thought about the ways security might use to try to repress her or knock her out of commission in order to keep her from using her abilities to escape. The end equation seemed to be that symbiotic relationship between the girl and the virus. How far did it really go? What could it do to preserve itself and its host if it were truly pressed into a life or death situation? Surely the girl must already have escape on her mind, somewhere. Jina's tongue barbel clicked softly against her teeth as she realized the majority of the tests this facility ran focused on physical abilities rather than mental. There had to be a loop hole they were missing with that. Genecorp only wanted to preserve its golden egg. What would it do if that golden egg suddenly started showing unexpected signs of illness? Surely, it would be possible to fabricate something like that using the virus itself. The question was, how far was Winter willing to push herself in order to get out?

"Candy? Like what kinds of candy?" she knew the response was extremely delayed, but she knew she had to pick the conversation back up. "Why did they stop bringing you meat on Fridays?" she asked, the oddity behind that nagging at her. There were two ways this could go, either use illness as a diversion, or simply find whatever it was her body needed most to trigger her strengths and deliver a supercharge of that substance through some seemingly innocent method. In either case, the girl's ability to maintain some sort of mental control over herself was critical to timing an attack. Jina let a faint look of mischief enter her face to see if the girl could catch on to Jina's derailing scheming.

 

[Openots]

All Winter could do was sit and watch. Maybe she went a little too far with her transformation. She always forgot that her abilities often had the tendency to freak people out. For the young woman though, shapeshifting was as natural as breathing. Though it seemed that the new woman was either frozen in fear, or still registering what she had seen. “I-I’m sorry.” The girl stammered. The last time she scared a nurse; the woman suddenly vanished. The doctors had told her it was her fault, that the woman quit her job and moved away because she was too careless. Of course, the company wouldn’t let someone simply ‘quit’ after seeing Winter. Usually they would send a liquidation team to the person’s house the day after they quit and the person would simply vanish off the face of the Earth. Of course, changing her body was minor compared to some of the things she could do. Turning her skin into metal, shifting her arms into weapons, she could even form viruses within her lungs before spreading it simply by breathing.

Winter had tried to escape once or twice, though there was a gate between the top secret facility where they kept her, and the wards where the ‘normal’ subjects were kept. It resonated some sort of frequency that made her shapeshifting go haywire. The doctors all carried keycards though it hardly mattered, if she even got close to the gate… well there was no real way to describe it.

When Jina finally spoke again, Winter broke out in a wide smile, glad that her new friend wasn’t completely horrified by her, or at least she wasn’t showing it. “Well, it was red and white striped, in a sort of spiral. Oh and it was shaped like this!” The girl put two fingers together and held them up forming a ring (or in this case a circle) with her fingers. “It was tart and sweet at the same time! I had never tasted anything so good!” She exclaimed, licking her at the memory of the candy, the memory obviously being one of the few happy ones she had.

The meat though, that was an entirely different story. “Well, the doctors said it was because I didn’t need to eat as much and it would be cheaper to serve that grey mush.” Winter pointed at a small bowl filled with something that looked like soggy paper towels. “Though one day they gave me this white, flaky meat. It didn’t taste bad or anything, but I remember I suddenly began getting hotter, and hotter, and hotter. My skin started turning red and my entire body felt like it was on fire. It hurt so bad that I passed out, when I woke up, I was in a dark room and they kept me there for a long time before moving me back here. I had black patches all over my body and other parts of my skin were bright red and hurt for a long time. It didn’t heal like my normal wounds do since normally I just regenerate; see, I still have a few scars.” Winter stated before sliding her robe down and turning around showing Jina several very, very faint spots that looked vaguely like third degree burns that dotted her back. “Most of them have healed completely, but a few didn’t.”

 

[Akatala]

Blinking, Jina inspected the scars Winter showed, her brows furrowing in concern. She could see a possible easy path to escape with this, but she wasn't so sure she could put the girl through that kind of pain. Then again, the alternative in this place...

"I'll see what I can do to bring some goodies with me next shift," she said as she smiled gently to Winter. "You must be bored out of your mind with so little to do."

She didn't know what else to say as she packed her gear back into her pockets. Yet, she was certain she would leave the decision to the girl in the end. To take such an awful risk just to leave. She reached out to gently hug the girl, disguising it as a simple friendship gesture when it was more like a worried apology for what she had in mind.

 

[Openots]

Winter had never thought about it that way. When you never have had anything to do aside from the occasional visit from the Doctor, boredom didn't really occur to her. "Y-you really don't have to." Winter murmured, not wanting Jina to do anything that would get her in trouble. The hug surprised her though, and it was quite clear that Winter was at a loss, another person being this close without some piece of medical equipment in hand. It was comforting in a way, to hear her breathing, though Jina's body felt a tad bit cold against her own skin.

After Jina left, Winter simply looked flabbergasted, her pale, pale cheeks tinted with a light red color. Outside of the containment area, Dr. Woods was waiting for Jina, an unusual smirk on his face. "You know, you really shouldn't get close to it." He stated, jerking his head towards the room. Dr. Woods was one of the chief researchers of the whole project surrounding Winter. Standing at 6'1, he certainly wasn't unattractive, dark brown hair, green eyes. He also was the man who performed nearly every surgery on Winter which allowed him to pull a considerable amount of clout within the department.

"I know you're new and all that, but you haven't seen what that... thing can do, first hand. Plus, once we figure out what makes her tick, the men upstairs want to scrap the whole project which means 'Winter' is going to be terminated. In fact, I think we'll be making a breakthrough any day now." The Doctor grinned, leaning against the wall.

 

[Akatala]

Jina tossed a sideways glance at the doctor as they walked through the corridors, "A break through you say, hmm? Any day. Well, let me know how that goes for you. As far as trying to scare me goes, I've had the boogeymen waving their guns at me since I was three. You do the psychology on that. If she does end up killing me, then my life would have finally ended on an interesting note. Everything else is same old shit, different day."

She plunked her folder into the processing tray at the computer station for one of the staff to catalog the data and file it away. Then she turned to head back up to the regular section to resume her usual rounds there.


Several days passed of short chitchat, in and out sessions with Winter before Jina finally arrived with a little more than the peppermints she had started bringing after that first day. This time she came with a thermal plastic bag one normally used to keep groceries warm or cold in the car. She waited until after she had taken the usual vital signs for the logs before revealing what she had brought with her.

"Since you have put up with a diet meant for morons in the hole for as long as you have, I decided it wouldn't hurt to be naughty for once and bring you something that normally I wouldn't bring anywhere near a hospital," she said as she opened the bag and pulled out two happy meal boxes. They looked identical, though one had a cheeseburger and one had chicken nuggets. The chicken had a piece of popcorn codfish slipped into it. Each came with plushie green plastic ball toys that could be bounced around. "Most kids get to eat so much crap food like this that we doctors tend to yell at the parents for starting them on it, but if there's anyone that deserves a happy meal, it's you." She passed the hamburger one to Winter first so she could have a real happy meal before the other one made her a very unhappy camper. "They're called happy meals because they come with free surprise toys for people to play with. Most of the toys suck these days, but the ball can never go wrong," she explained as she picked up one of the balls and bounced it off a wall then caught it.

Jina bounced the ball a few more times before purposefully missing so that she could use the commotion of going after the ball and looking stupid to toss a whisper into Winter's ear. "Only eat the other one if you want to try to run. A small piece in it will hurt."

She picked up the ball and bounced it around idly as she talked more to cover her tracks, "Sorry if these are stupid. I thought you might get a kick out of them for a little while. My brother and I use to get into fights over who got which happy meal toy. Half the time the toy would get broken somehow in the scuffle. Most kids take so much of their lives for granted. I'm ashamed of having been one of them. It's like... you're having to live your life backwards. Started with the hospitals and nursing homes with their irritating staff, half of which mistreat you just for the hell of it." She knew she probably wasn't making much sense with most of what she said, but she was in a rant mood. Pretending the ball she kept whacking against the wall was the head of one of the many people on her shit list. Blinking, she stopped and passed it to Winter to throw around. It was Winter's present after all. She just hoped the girl didn't hate her for what she'd set up.

 

[Openots]

The next few days were all quite odd for Winter. She found herself actually looking forward to Jina’s daily visits. It was nice to actually have someone to talk to, pus she brought her those little spiral candies she liked so much. Today was odd though, especially since Jina brought that weird bag with her. The pale girl was eager to find out what Jina had brought with her, though the smell that was oozing out of the bag was unlike anything she had ever smelt before. She knew she smelled meat, the odor caressing her overly sensitive nose like an old friend, but there were several other smells she couldn’t identify.

She wasn’t quite sure what Jina meant by “In the hole” but it didn’t really matter did it? In most of their conversations Winter only understood around half of what the woman said. Winter eyed the colorful boxes warily, not quite sure what to think of them. “Thank you very much Jina.” Winter nodded a little, taking the box and examining it for a moment, trying to figure out how it was supposed to open. She didn’t know why she deserved a happy meal though, aside from the occasional surgery, all she did was sit here in this room. After about a minute of tinkering, Winter ended up just ripping the lid of the box off before setting it down carefully next to her. She didn’t really know what she was looking at, which would have explained why she picked it up so carefully before looking at it like most people look at a loaded gun.

Winter bit her lip before taking a hesitant bite from the burger, her eyes growing a little wide as a variety of unfamiliar tastes flooded her mouth. Cheese, ketchup, mustard, pickles, and so many flavors she had never experienced before, and from the look on the young woman’s face, she was completely blown away by it. As much as she wanted to down the delicious meal in two bites, she figured it would be better to savor it, after all, when would she get another one? Quietly, she ate the burger, watching Jina bounce the ball off of the wall intently before her friend ended up missing, using the chance to whisper to Winter. Run? Hurt? Would it hurt her tooth or something because it was hard? She didn’t quite understand what Jina meant by it, but she was sure that she’d be able to handle a little pain, especially if it tasted as good as this meaty thing she was eating.

“What? No they aren’t stupid.” Winter replied, shaking her head, still watching Jina play with the ball. Of course, Winter had never seen anything quite like the ball before, so personally she thought it was wonderful. Finally, she took the last bite of the burger right as Jina handed the ball to her. Once again, Winter hadn’t understood most of what her friend had been saying, she had no clue what a Nursing Home was, though the word brother sounded vaguely familiar. “We should all enjoy what we have.” She replied simply, taking the ball from Jina’s hand gently. “Having a bad life is better than having no life at all isn’t it?” Winter asked, giving Jina a surprisingly sad smile before bouncing the ball against the wall a few times.

Next up was the chicken nuggets. After catching the ball one final time, Winter set the ball on the bed next to the lid before taking the box and ripping the lid off like she had done with the last one. If the burger had been good, these should be amazing. With a happy expression on her lips, she picked up one of the nuggets and popped it into her mouth before she began chewing. The effect was almost immediate, though Winter didn’t notice it. “Mmm, these are good!” She exclaimed, chewing happily, her eyes squeezed shut as she enjoyed the flavor. Slowly, thin wisps of smoke would begin to rise from exposed areas of her skin, her pale flesh turning a rosy color. Then, Winter’s eyes snapped open, the box falling from her hands and clattering to the floor. All she did for a moment was sit there as her now rosy skin turned to an angry red color before the girl collapsed to the floor screaming.

It felt as though her body was on fire, the light from the ceiling bringing wave after wave of blistering pain. The young woman thrashed on the floor as visible burns began to form, almost as though she were truly on fire. Then, the screams suddenly stopped as Winter lay on the floor, completely motionless, smoke still rising from her body. The pain had been great enough that she had actually passed out.

 

[Akatala]

Jina found that she didn't have to act too much to show the proper amount of alarm at the scene before her of Winter so rapidly turning red, burning and screaming in pain. She shot her eyes to the camera and yelled at the security guards that were suppose to be watching, "Get a team in here, stat! We've got a problem!"

Meanwhile, she automatically tried to make Winter more comfortable on the floor while making sure she laid on her back with a clear airway. She could feel the girl's skin turning so hot to the touch it burned her own skin. Jina put up with the pain in order to try and stabilize the situation. Noticing the hotter portions of skin seemed to be the immediately exposed areas, she shed her lab coat and used it to cocoon the girl's head and face, making sure to leave room for air pass. She didn't know if the lab coat, in it's thinness would help, but it was something. It was a real chore to calm herself out of shaking, enough to explain that the outside food she had brought as a treat for psychological benefits to the girl had apparently been tainted with something the girl's system unexpectedly couldn't handle. She was quick to point out her theory with the lights being an additional problem somehow. But the worry for the girl couldn't be erased from her expressions. Amazing how fast she had bonded in such short time to one girl when it usually took her months to bond with co-workers and anyone else enough to give a damn these days.

Though part of her was glad that Winter had passed out into oblivion away from the pain, another part was appalled that the pain had gotten so bad so fast. She was still a physician at the end of the day with the compassion of one who truly wanted to heal people. To watch someone go through such agony made her sick. It also had her questioning whether or not this little trick of hers was worth what Winter had to go through as a result, despite what would happen if she didn't try to intervene. Life was officially a sick bitch. She quickly shoved such thoughts out of her head, to focus on assisting the doctors in figuring out what was wrong and how to fix it. It was obvious though that the lights here were suddenly a poison to the girl. She had to be moved somewhere else if they wanted to keep her alive, and they had to do it immediately. Jina deduced that it was possible that only half an hour or less under these lights the way Winter was at current would likely kill her. She wasted no time in making that assumption known to the medical staff even though she was lowest on the totem pole. She didn't care much about rank in times like this, only about making sure a patient saw the care they needed.

 

[Openots]

Winter was completely unresponsive to the situation, considered how she didn’t react to Jina touching her at all. Still, putting her on her back seemed to help as the girl’s dulled breathing quickly sped up to a rapid pace, her chest rising and falling quickly. Almost the minute Jina shouted for a team, a group of three people wearing what looked like biohazard suits came running in with a gurney and what looked like a body bag modified with several ventilation ports so whoever was inside could breathe. Since they had it so readily available, it was quite clear that something like this had happened in the past. One grabbed Winter’s feet while the other took her by the shoulders, quickly lifting her up and setting her within the confines of the bag before zipping it closed.

The two who had put Winter in the bag quickly wheeled her away, while the one who had been observing stayed behind. Slowly, the person removed the helmet, revealing an older woman who was likely in her forties. Around the company she was known as Dr. Moore, one of the…. nicer doctors, and also one of the lead researchers. It was her job to monitor Winter constantly and record any changes in her behavior. Nothing happened without her knowing, and from the expression on her face, she was livid. “Do you have ANY idea what you’ve done?!” She shouted, fumbling around in one of the suit’s pockets before pulling out a small remote. Since everything that happened in the top-secret area was… well…. top secret, it wasn’t terribly uncommon for the superiors to smack their subordinates around. After all, if there was no video evidence who would they believe? The woman pressed the button in the middle of the remote, causing the camera on the wall to shut down before looking over at Jina. “Good, now that we’re alone, I’m sorry for yelling like that.” Dr. Moore cracked a smile before turning so she could keep an eye on the door.

“Now, this is the third time that girl has been through a food allergy. One that only happens when she consumes fish, or any sort of by-product that comes from fish. I don’t suppose you’d know anything about that would you?” Dr. Moore teased a little, giving Jina a sly wink. “But regardless, you’re the only person that’s ever shown that poor thing a lick of kindness, I’m sure you’re going to be the first person she’ll want to see when she wakes up.” Dr. Moore took one of Jina’s hands in her own before giving it a gentle shake. When she pulled back, there was a small slip of paper with crudely written instructions. “Anyways, I need to get back to my office.” She pushed the button on the remote, the livid expression returning to her elderly features. “I don’t ever want to see your face in this building again! Is this getting through to you? You’re fired!” And with that, she turned on her heel and stormed out of the room, leaving Jina alone with the note.

Written on the small slip of paper was a simple note that the Doctor must have written out right before coming into the room.

Jina.

I know you put fish in the girl’s chicken. The only reason I didn’t stop you is because this provides us with an opportunity that we may never see again. Winter is being kept in the ICU near the loading docks for the ambulances. If you can manage to get Winter out of this Hospital in the next 20 minutes, you will encounter no resistance at all. Her room will be unguarded, and at the loading docks there will be a laundry-van waiting for you. Take Winter inside and go with her, don’t ask any questions, don’t look at the driver, he’s risking enough as it is. After you finish reading this, destroy the note in a room with no cameras. If they link this back to me, we’ll both be in more danger than we already are.

And with that final line, the note ended.

 

[Akatala]

Jina barely repressed her fuck-you anger in response to Dr. Moore, though the change in attitude off the record certainly helped. Still, Jina wasn't sure how far she could trust the woman on her attempt to help. So it was with caution mixed with her anger that she shrugged her coat back on and stormed down the hallway afterward. She left her folder with the receptionist, then took the stairs up, knowing it was faster and an elevator would make her sick in this sort of mood.

She turned in her instruments at the station near the locker with her stuff. Out of the locker, she tugged a pair of black Sullen decalled tote bags, and a long pleather coat. She took them with her as she headed out to the loading dock and found the laundry truck. She walked the truck to inspect it quickly and stow her belongings before dragging a cart with her. She stepped into the dark room and lifted the body bag into the laundry cart as gently as possible before covering it and the lab coat that followed with a wad of sheets from the bottom of the cart. She then pushed the cart back to the truck at the loading dock.

Jina loaded the cart, then shut herself inside the truck. She moved the sheets to make sure the body bag remained concealed but air could flow properly. Then she secured the cart with the loading straps before hopping into the drivers seat. She pulled on her coat, dug out her purse to sit within reach, then started the ignition. Sliding the truck into gear, she drove out to navigate her way out to a main road. It wasn't until she was on the highway that she bothered to pull out her cell phone and ring her buddy from the morgue. She simply told him there had been another way out, happy to cut him out of the list of people to get their butts munched if this failed.

Two hours later, she stopped in a small town and drove to a trailer park where another buddy from her colorful past had a van waiting for her. She piled her bags into the front of this ordinary utility van with no back windows, then transferred the body bag into the back. After locking the back door, she carefully transferred Winter onto a bunking pallet, tucking a blanket around her that would keep light from touching her skin, including her face. Again, she was careful to ensure that air could flow. After setting up a baby monitor so that she could have a way of keeping an eye and ear on Winter from the cab, she passed through a curtain to the front. Ten minutes later, she was heading back out to the highway, leaving the laundry truck behind. One more derailed link in the chain.

Jina drove north, altering highways as needed to keep moving despite peak traffic hours. Every two hours, she would pull over to check on her charge for five minutes before resuming the trip. Around 1 am, she pulled off at a truck stop to climb into the other bunk in the back to nap for four hours. Then, she was up, checking on the girl, and resuming the trip again. This time, a joint and a set of various cds of rock tunes kept her awake. She idly wished she had pulled out the joint hours before to help calm her nerves. She blinked at it and laughed sourly at the irony. Of all the laws she'd broken in her past, she had hit a new record with kidnapping a ward of the military and busting ass for the Canadian border.

 

[Openots]

Through most of the trip, Winter didn’t make a sound aside from a few groans, or yelps. She slept peacefully, aside from the fact that she’d be in almost the same hellish pain she had been in earlier when she finally awoke. Finally, right as Jina pulled the joint out, the girl’s eyes flew open. It took her a moment to register what was happening. Was she back in the cell? She didn’t remember having a blanket like this. Slowly, she pulled the blanket away, spotting the ceiling of the van. “W-“ Then the pain set in. From the back of the van, an earsplitting scream rang out as Winter sat up, pressing her back against the wall of the van. It felt like her skin was on fire, she wasn’t in her cell, where was she. She was breathing rapidly, obviously in a panic. "Where am I?!" Winter screamed, frantic.

 

[Akatala]

Jina swore under her breath, clenching her lips around the joint as she applied the brakes and pulled off to the side of the road. She threw it into park and killed the engine.

"Winter, hun, you're with Jina. Try to calm down. I got you away from the people that were always hurting you. Is there something I can do to help you?" she spoke loud and clear as she transferred the joint to the fingers of her right hand and clambered out of her seat to peek her head through the curtain. It was still dark out and only occasional car lights flickering past on this stretch of highway.

"I would come hug you, but considering the burns, hugs will have to wait until you heal up a little more. It's only been like half a day since you passed out." She was rambling like an idiot, and stopped herself from making it worse with her thoughts on how impressive it was that Winter was awake already considering her burns. Jina idly wondered if the lights or something else at that place hadn't always had a negative effect that no one ever really noticed. That was a thought to ponder another day.

 

[Openots]

Winter had no idea what was going on. Suddenly the dark room jerked and swayed. The wall behind her was cool from the night-time air which felt wonderful on her burned skin. Still frantic, she had stopped screaming, though that didn’t mean she was any less terrified.

Finally, a voice. Hearing Jina’s voice instantly calmed the poor girl down a little. “A-away?! Then where am I?” She replied, her voice still somewhat panicked. Seeing her friend’s face helped calm her down more than simply hearing her voice. “B-burns?” Winter replied, genuinely confused before looking down at her arms and seeing the seared skin. So that hadn’t been a bad dream, the intense pain before finally passing out. This also meant she wasn’t in her room anymore; was this the rest of the world? Did everyone live in tiny little rooms like this, separated by curtains?

Dark eyes looked up at the woman’s face that was peeking through the curtains. “H-half a day? Is that long?” She asked, afraid to move since at this point it hurt to just look up at the woman. Days and nights didn’t mean a thing to her, especially since the girl had never actually seen a day sunrise to sunset. With one shuddering breath, Winter managed to calm herself down a little. Jina was here, she wouldn’t let anything happen to her. “J-Jina? How did I get burned like this?” She asked, looking down at her hands once more.