"Alice. Alice get back here." Pitri hissed, tracing my steps deep into the winding tunnels.

We were supposed to be on break, but I had snatched Pitri and dragged him the general direction of where the person was dragged away. I needed to know what happened to them, that they were okay and the pinching in my gut was a restless twitch and nothing else.

My feet were sure and soft as they traced at an invisible path I could see in my mind's eye. I knew what direction they took and a sniff could pick up the lingering smell of the people in white. They were such an odd smell compared to the other humans in the area and the deeper we got, the stronger it did. It reminded me of alcohol and illness, an overlying clean reek used to hid a disease. The sickness though wasn't anything I knew and I could pick out most, the scientists had ensured it by parading different samples of it in front of me. Nostrils flaring, I paused behind a corner. Pitri came to a stop beside me, shifting back and forth nervously on his feet.

"Alice, look I know it looked bad but it doesn't mean...I mean, it's just we are outsiders. People probably just don't react anymore cause they know they are well taken care of."

"Fine then I'll gladly give you my food rations if you are right, but I need to know. You're the one who said I need to come and learn about who I'm saving."

Pitri voice's dropped, words just catching the air, yet still enough for my Other senses to pick them up. "Yes, but I didn't want you to hate them."

I frowned, but ignored him checking the coast and crept forward along the wall to a plain oak door. Pressing my hand against it, I could feel and dark wave rumbling from within it...Other seeped through the pores of the wood. A jiggle of the handle proved it to be locked, a shifted ready to break the lock when Pitri rested a hand on my shoulder. Moving aside, he got to work picking the lock using a kit he pulled out from a band strapped around his waist under his pants. I turned, flushing at the state of him. A pop rewarded him quickly. I moved to open it, and he stopped me again. His eyes darted to a panel beside the door, an electronic look. Now that was rare since post-Others, something valuable for definitely hidden behind that door, something that reeked of Other, sickness, and alcohol. 

Closing my eyes, I felt down into my own brain and then to the thick blood sliding through my veins. Deeper and deeper into my past I dove, it had been so long since I had hacked.

"Alice..." He urged, a worry hinting in the tension.

Bright purple shone through my iris' when they snapped open, reaching a hand out the fingers flew across the panel. The feeling was very much detached from myself. It was like my body had flipped into an autopilot and the hard-wired reaction streamed out, efficient and exact. I was always good with computers. Science and technology was the hope of humans, I needed to be fluent in it and the scientists had drilled me for years as a child.

The door beeped once and swung inward. My hand dropped, leaden to my side. Tingles and spiders crawling through my skin, made me rub at my arms once I had re-connected to myself. It was always such an uncomfortable feeling that I hadn't done it in ages. I used to actually throw tantrums to get out of hacking because of the feeling; however, I was still strapped to computers day in and day out to master them. Once I knew how to do it though, they gladly stopped fighting with me, knowing the knowledge would never leave.

Pitri snuck in first with me close at his back, all senses on high alert.

"Wish we hadn't had our weapons taken before entering." Pitri grumbled, hands clenched and at the ready in front of his face.

Pushing large sheets of plastic out of our way, quietly as possible, we slipped our way through the maze of the room. Until we saw dark, blurry outlines behind an upcoming sheet. Pitri grabbed my hand, forcing me to the floor with him in a crouch. Laying flat on our stomachs, we inched closer and under a couple more sheets. Some medical racks were in the one, familiar needles and vials filling it. I gestured with a jerk of my head. We slunk over and sat up, our silhouettes hidden from those we watched.

The movements of the people had an odd fluidity as they rippled with the creases of the plastic around the room. There were maybe five of them in there, with four walking about and one in some kind of bed. I needed to actually see what was going on, but the plastic was a too opaque milky white. I reached out, enveloping a needle in my small hand. Pitri shook his head desparately at me; however, I need to know. Jabbing into the plastic, I slowly dragged it down to form a slit at my eye height, which was only about mid-leg for most people given my position on the floor. Leaning forward, I rested on all fours to get as close to the hole as I was physically able without disturbing the plastic.

There was six people in the area, I had miscounted, missing another person hovering near a door enveloped in flickering shadows by the lights. It was Malia, her goggle's whirling almost excited for the proceedings. Bright fluorescent lights were flicked on, overhead lamps moved and rearranged. They were preparing for something. I arched forward, turning my head. The bed was actually a table, a large solid wooden one with manacles on it. The straps securely tightened, holding down on the table the person from before. This close I could see the human was a middle-aged woman.  Her hair was clumped and missing large chunks from her head. She was oddly still on the table, her eyes closed and the only proof of her life was a slight rise and fall of her chest. Her heart sounded so weak and tired, like she was ready to give up on this life. She was the one pouring out the scent of illness...and Others.

"Test 297." A person in white, unidentifiable from their complete body covering of mask and uniform, was speaking clear and concise into a small recorder they held. "The testing unit is a female of thirty-three years old. She has been working in the mines for," They paused to page through a clipboard. "eleven years, one of the slowest rates of set-in found."

The white figured floated around the table. "She will be given a new version of the tonic. An increase of 0.01% in the solution compared to test 296, notes of side-effects in previous recording."

I trembled, my hands ready to give out from under me. What in the world was going on?

"The matter has been developed into a purer concentration by our own Dr. Malia Yotis.
She also changed the concentration of the active viral carriers from 12% to 15%." The recording was ended as they set it down on a waiting tray.

A long syringe was picked up and filled by a waiting vial. Its substance a glittering, bubbly mixture similar to those found in Malia's lab...with good reason no doubt. The white uniform approached and, no hesitation, inserted the needle with precision. The woman shuddered, her eyes opening to reveal bloodshot pupils. Her body raked, pressing against the table and jerking the holdings. The people all just watched though, secure int heir ability to keep her there. This hadn't been the first time after all. She screamed, but it wasn't in pain, it was almost in euphoria. Her eyes widening with the feeling as whatever the solution was raced through her vein, traveling farther and faster with each increasing beat of her heart. Her heart...it was beginning to go to fast.

The writhing escalated like she was on some sort of drug, in a way I suppose it was. All around her objects began floating. Her mouth stopped emitting sound, but a gurgled choking as foam began flowing out of it. I covered my mouth in horror. With one last bucking, the woman suddenly stilled. Her body completely relaxing onto the table. I gagged, bile rising in my throat from the experiment. I fell back onto my heels, quaking. Pitri reached over, pulling me into him. No need to know what happened behind that sheet, but only knowing I was in pain.

"That was far longer than the last person." Malia's voice drifted through the air.

A slight scratching of notes could be heard. "Yes it was. I believe we are getting close."

Footsteps tapped across the floor, Malia was approaching the table. "It always disgusts me how happy they are to have that...that vile Other flowing through them."

"I understand, but at least it means they aren't in pain when they go. Besides, it's not their fault. It can't be helped how the human body reacts to Others."

Malia spat, the sickening sound of the wetness slapping human skin. "A real hope of humanity would have fought it. Useless, unworthy of the human race creature, just like all the mindless cattle down there." 

I buried my head in Pitri's stiff shoulder. He may not have seen the event, but he would have heard it and the continued insults for the dead.

"Their sacrifices further our research, please show some respect."

A forced and harsh laugh cut through the air. "I'll show some respect when one of them finally succeeds."

"It will happen, these things take though." The voice was calm and rehearsed. It was obvious they had this argument many times before...297 times.

"Head back to your lab, we can finish up here. I'll have the blood work examined and report on your desk by the end of the day."

"Good." Malia clipped, walking away. "I will see them all dead for what they've done, even if I have to experiment and cart away bodies of every person in this compound to do it."

The door slammed shut behind her. Shuffling could be heard behind the curtain, they were cleaning up and removing the woman like she never existed...like people tried to remove me. A bubbling of rage began within my gut, boiling through the horror. I tried to get up, but Pitri held on tighter, fear in his eyes of what had happened and what I might do in response. He began scooting backwards with me in tow. I didn't struggle, seething inside.

Their Alice, their savior.

How could humans be so horrible to their own kind?

We crawled back under row upon row of plastic, heading for the door.

Why should I save people who didn't even care enough to save each other?

Slipping out the door, we shut the pain and experiments in to walk briskly away without looking back.

What made their lives worth it over those they killed?

Our feet carried us to the mines. We picked up our axes and chipped away at the substance that had killed a woman moments ago.

How many had the scientists killed in their own vigor to create me?

The axes rang out around us. The rhythm of pings drowning me in the questions. Each strike a nail in one of these peoples' coffins. Each blow a ringing bell of mourning. The fires of the forge crackled, starving for fuel, ready to dissolve the dead into nothing but ashes. 

This was the world I had been created to save. The people I had swore to protect and return to their place on the throne over the world.

I was no longer sure I wanted to do that...

Their Alice, their savior.

Their death...