Nov. 9, 2002/ Nov. 15, 2002

Her fingers relaxed their tension on my neck. A creaking breath cracked through my throat to my lungs, to my immense relief.

I heard a door slide open and feet hit the floor, coming towards me.

Fingers gripped my arm and pulled my limp body like a puppet into a sitting position. From there I was pulled into a standing position.

"Come on." I heard the person whisper.

I couldn't bring myself to move. I felt so weak.

"Come on." the person said again.

I managed to nod and tried to be easy for the person to lead. I stumbled forwards with the hand on my arm leading me.

I was led outside, into a van or car of sorts, and put inside. The doors closed with a jingling thud and the car lurched forwards. I toppled to the ground, falling on my hands.

I moved towards a wall, and pressed my back against it, trying to keep my balance. The weariness from lacking oxygen was wearing off. The dark confinement I was in rumbled as the van or car dragged me towards my destination.

About an hour later, the sunlight streamed in, temporarily blinding me, as the doors were thrown wide. A man-like shape rocked my confinement and offered me a hand to get up. When I hesitated, the hand grabbed me and dragged me to my feet.

I was pulled out of the van and, on the jump off, nearly fell again. I squeezed my eyes shut.

I was in a dangerous sort of haze. Nothing was connecting in my mind, and I felt so much pain. Everything ached and my body was sore.

I was led into a building and taken through room after room. Finally, the person leading me stopped and shoved me into a chair. From there, the room was flooded with light and when I finally opened my eyes, the person who had led me here was gone.

I was in a concrete square of a room. There was a thick looking door in the corner of the room. I looked around me, trying to see what was around me.

I looked up.

The ceiling was made of glass and I was staring at the the bottom of shoes. Eyes peered down at me.

I hated them watching me. Feeling weak, I just sat in that chair for a while, before dozing off.

Nov. 10, 2002/Nov. 15, 2002

Where was I again? I blinked a few times at my surroundings. Oh right! I don't know where I am.

That's when I noticed a dark figure in a corner next to the door. I swiveled around in my chair and faced it, confused.

"Who- who are you?" I asked the figure.

The jaw tensed and the person slowly looked up at me, the light from the single lamp reflecting eerily across the face. I waited for the person to respond.

"They call me Subject 58." he said, his eyes avoiding mine. "Listen, I- I'm the one who injected you. This- that is all my fault."

I swallowed down the rage inside of me and managed to speak from the good side of me, "No. It's not your fault. You didn't amp up the serum."

His eyes flicked to mine. "She did something to the serum?"

"Yes," I said.

"But it's--"

"Why are you here?" I interrupted.

His mouth closed with a snap. "The ceiling dwellers wanted you to get to know a fellow subject," he said bitterly. "And they wanted to know how long you'd be staying, so they know how fast to do your tests."

I felt myself glower at him. "To tell you the truth," I told him flatly, "-and you can tell this to them- I won't be here long."

He let out a harsh laugh. "Ha! That's what I thought as well, but I was here for months."

"No," I insisted. "I won't live long enough for any of these tests to be done." I watched the smile drip from his face. His pale, scarred face.

He stared at me warily, nodding distractedly.

"Well. I'll see myself out then," he said, moving towards the door. He looked back at me, watching for something. "I hate being the inciter," he muttered under his breath. I watched him carefully.

"I'll be going then." he announced loudly and pointedly. "Goodbye, Would-be Subject 400H."

"Why am I a would-be?" I asked him as he pulled open the door slowly and tantalizingly.

"Because if you're not going to make it, then there's no reason to make you a subject. You're just a volunteer for testing." He winced. "Her words, not mine." He leaned against the door, almost tauntingly.

"I'm not going to move." I said aloud.

He gave me a curt nod and left the room.

My rear end was sore from sitting in that chair for so long. Medically masked men had moved into my room, trying out different things on me. From different looks they gave to each other and different pieces of conversations that I caught, I could assume one thing for certain: my symptoms were progressing faster than normal. But the doctor-looking people soon left, much to my immense relief. The lights upstairs had flicked off, leaving me in a pitch-black darkness apart from the overhead hanging light.

I heard the door creak open. I whirled around to see the door. It was Subject 58. I hated referring to him as such.

"What's your-" I tried to ask, but he shushed me.

"Listen, you need to be quiet," he said in a whisper. "You need to get out of here. I'm not entirely sure what's going to happen to you here, but you can't stay here."

"I know that!" I whispered back. "But I'm not getting out of here unless you-"

"I'm going to help you get out. Or rather, I'm going to get you out." He said firmly. "I've already got the plan set out." He paused. "I got you into this, and it's only right that I help you get out as much as I can."

I shook my head, barely able to believe it. "I- Can you tell me what your name is?" I asked him in a whisper.

"It's- it's," he paused. "I'm Subject 58." he said.

"But what's your name? Or what was your name?"

"Who I was and who, or what, I am now are completely differently things." He sighed. "I don't have a name. I'm subject 58."

I rolled my eyes and glared at him. "Well, at least give me a name to call you by!"

He shushed me. But he said, "Fine. You may call me Osamu. It was my brother's name. Osamu Watamura. I don't remember my name."

"Okay, Osamu." I said.

An alarm split the air around us.

Osamu's face hardened. "Come on." he said.

"Hoo." I said. "You can call me Hoo."

"Come on, who!" he called a bit harsher. I stood up from the chair for the first time, and walked towards Osamu.

He reached out for my hand and I took his. Then he started running, pulling me along. We dashed down a hallways and there were people screaming and calling out in terror.

"What's happening?" I called to Osamu.

"I started a fire." he called back. "I'll do it again if I ever have to."

I don't see any fire. I thought to myself as I tried to keep up with him. We turned around a corner, and BAM. A huge wall of fire was at the end of the hallway.

He whirled around and I followed suit. We ran down hallways and through rooms.

Finally, finally, we made it outside. I gasped for air and nearly tumbled to the ground. Running hadn't hurt me up until I crossed the border to get out.

"Osamu!" I gasped. "Why is this-"

"There's less radiation out here." he explained, waiting for me to catch my breath.

I coughed a few times before I managed to gain control over the swelling and sinking of my chest.

Once I regained my composure, he started pulling me along again. "Come on, who. We've got to get you back to the main office."

"To Deborah? Why?" I exclaimed in the night.

"Well, that's where you want to go, right?" Osamu said simply. "I figured you might want to say goodbye to Wesley before anything else happens. And if you're not there, they'll just assume you died in the fire, if--"

"YOu set the place on fire!!" I nearly shouted, it finally connecting in my brain. "That's not a good thing!!"

"But it got you out!"

"But it also probably killed some people!!"

"And damaged some research! I don't see how you can possibly think of that stuff right now!!"

I sighed. It was going to be a long night.

I remember the days when I thought that what I saw was the worst of it. But it's not anymore. I've seen so much worse.

I run my hand along a wall. This new fire was the worst fire I'd ever seen. I know that this will go down as the Syntec fire. The fire that did the worst damage.

I press my figure up against a wall and face the place where I'd been injected, so long ago.

I traced the words on the wall in that dark, red, sticky substance that never let go of me.

Find me.

I didn't want to be found. But I knew what had to be done. I knew they had to find him.

Osamu set fire to save me. In doing so, he cursed a hundred others. But in doing so he saved humanity.

What a curse. What a curse.

find me.

I could only pray this would do more good than harm.

finD Me