⚠⚠⚠ This chapter contains things that may be disturbing or triggering to viewers such as blood, murder, and death!! If you proceed, please do so with caution!!⚠⚠⚠

"When you're at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on."- Theodore Roosevelt

(2 years later) Percy's POV

After the talk Winter and I had that night, Word-Man took us to the machine again. It scrambled my brain, and a lot of what was discovered was lost again. But I made sure to hold onto the fact that Winter was my brother more tightly than I had ever held onto anything before. That's the only real thing I can remember from that night.

The program only had 7 girls left, and they weren't having any of them dying anymore. There was only girls around 12 left, but there was one 5 year old. She was brunette and stood out from the rest because of it. Winter and I were moved into the dormitory when the girls weren't being killed anymore. I had actually grown pretty close to the brunette girl, and Winter took to her as well.

Her name was Natalia, and she was a strong one. She had to be. She was the only one left in the program under the age of 10. We had taught the remaining girls a number of things. Some things like how to assemble guns flawlessly and quickly, how to use blades efficiently, how to take a person down with no weapons, and Natalia took quickly to each and every new thing learned.

While I was a bit proud, I was even more ashamed that I even felt proud. She she was surviving, but no 5 year old should have to survive like this. They should have parents to rely on, pallys* to play with, and the only thing they should be worrying about is making a decent project in school or if they could get a pet. Not living to see the next day.(1930-40s slang: Pally= Friend)

It was late. My internal timer said around 2 AM. And I hadn't managed to fall asleep yet. I sat up, and I could sense that Winter woke from his light sleep from my movement.

"What?" He asked me in his monotone gruff voice. That's not right, my mind said but I ignored it.

I stood up and walked over to the door. I put my hand on the nob, and turned it very carefully. It opened! I closed it and went over to Natalia, shaking her awake. It was relatively easy, she never really was a heavy sleeper but she wasn't a light one either.

"What are you doing?" Winter asked me lowly, but his tone suggested curiosity, not anger.

I motioned for Natalia to get on my back and she did, still half asleep. She locked her arms around my neck, but made sure not to choke me. I went to the door and opened it again. I turned my head to Winter and he got the message clearly enough. He got up and together, the three of us silently made our way through the halls, Winter checking for people before we turned corners.

We made it out the door and past the guards. And all of a sudden we were in the forest. This is where Winter and I started sprinting away. It was slightly cold, but that didn't matter. The three of us continued on for an hour and then slowed, finding a place to rest. I put Natalia down and saw her curiosity.

"Why'd we leave?"

I knelt in front of her and put my hands lightly on her shoulders. "Because you deserve a regular childhood, not a facility that turns people into cold-blooded murderers."

"What about the other girls? What will happen to them?"

I paused because I knew only part of the answer. Some would die. Others would be made into the perfect assassins. Winter answered the first question for me. "We couldn't take all of you. If we could only make it out with one, I would be glad that it was you. With only you, we have less of a chance of being caught." He purposely didn't answer the second question.

"That makes sense. So what are we going to do now?"

Winter turned to me, with the same question in his eyes.

"In some of my missions, I had to take on a different identity. I could make different ones for all of us, turn them into real people so they will be protected by the law, and they would never be associated with us. We could go to an apple*, blend in, and leave the country. Once we get past the country's border, we'd have less of a chance for being tracked down, but we would have to move around quite a bit to keep them off our trail if we do. Change identities once or twice and we could lose them in the crowds of an apple."(1930-40s slang: Apple= Any big town or city)

Winter nodded before speaking. "We'll start moving again when the sun comes up. Be prepared to run a lot PAB-24." I nodded and settled down curling closely around Natalia, trying my best to shield her from the cold. Winter came and settled down on the other side, also trying to shield Natalia from the cold.

We dosed on like this, aware that we need to find our way to an apple in a few hours, so that we can disappear.

It had only been an hour when things went even more south. I woke up to the sound of quickly approaching feet, and I could hear dogs barking. By the time I woke Winter and Natalia up, they were already on us, twelve dogs, and 40 men with guns.

I did what I did best. I fought mercilessly, going in for the kill, and I could see Winter out of the corner of my eye doing the same. Even Natalia was fighting some of them off, using her training flawlessly on the men.

But then I heard a screech. I looked to it and saw a man holding Natalia with a heater pointed to her head and three men with him, also pointing heaters to her.

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"DON'T YOU DARE HURT HER!!" I screamed at the man. The man took his heater, raised it high and slammed it into her head. She slumped, unconscious in his arms. I saw red. There was a sharp tug in my gut and the men who had surrounded Natalia and pointed their heaters at her were suddenly on the floor with spikes of frozen blood through their heads. Dead. Every single one of them.

END ⚠

I felt like I had just run a small marathon, and wanted very badly to throw up, though I don't know why. I had been around dead people so much that the urge to rid my stomach of its contents no longer bothered me. Suddenly I was hit from the side by three forces. My head hit a rock near me, and my world disappeared, with me hearing the faint cry of "Percy!" in English from Winter.