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Aspen

Chapter 2.2

~~~

The last echoes of the sirens faded as my eyes slowly adjusted to the sudden darkness. The backup generators should have kicked in by now, I thought. That warning over the loudspeakers said we're under attack; they must have already cut off the backup power. But who were "they"?

Jenna cursed as she tripped over my chair. "I can't see! Where are you?"

I grabbed her arm, and she flinched. "I'm here," I said. "It's all right. I can see just fine. The power's been cut."

"Oh, really?" She said. "I kinda figured that one out already."

"Shush." I listened carefully, and soon heard it: Distant shouting, with some faint crashes and bangs. I couldn't make out much detail, but I was guessing it was coming from the front lobby. Suddenly, I heard footsteps rapidly approaching the door to the lab; moments later, Fuller burst in, using his phone as a flashlight. My eyes watered from the relative brightness.

"Aspen!" He said. "You're all right. Good."

"What's going on?" Jenna asked.

"We're under attack. I don't know who it is, but there's practically a small army outside of the building. We're in trouble."

"What do we do?"

Fuller looked back and forth between me and Jenna and came to a quick decision. "Jenna? You need to get Aspen out of here. Get him down to the access tunnels and go north until you hit the sewer main."

"What about you?" Jenna said. "Are you coming?"

"I have some records I need to destroy. I'll follow if I can, but don't wait for me. Whatever happens, do not let them catch Aspen. Find somewhere safe to stay, and lie low."

Jenna looked conflicted for a moment, then looked over at me and thought again. "All right. We'll see you once we're all safe. Good luck." She pulled out her phone and turned on her own flashlight.

"Oh, one last thing," Fuller said, pulling something out of a pocket. "Aspen, can I see your arm?"

I stretched out my arm, and Fuller grabbed it firmly, lifting up what looked like an injector of some sort and angling it against my arm. I looked at it curiously. "What's thaaAAAAAUGH!" I felt a sharp pain stabbing through my scales as Fuller pressed a button on the injector. "Ow, that hurt!" I rubbed my arm, feeling the pain slowly recede to a dull throbbing.

"Sorry. Call it an insurance policy. Now get out of here, you two." Fuller turned to the door and hurried out, leaving Jenna and me alone again.

Jenna sighed. "All right, let's get going."

"What are those tunnels he mentioned?" I asked.

"There were some maintenance access tunnels installed with the power and plumbing and such when they built this place. Fuller made sure they wouldn't show up on blueprints, but they'll let us get away from the building unnoticed."

"Huh. Handy."

"Yeah. The best access point should be in the southwest corner of the basements. We're in the southeast, so we should be able to avoid the north lobby."

I poked my head out of the door to check if the coast was clear. Nobody in sight. I slipped through the door, using my tail to hold it open for Jenna, and we dashed down the hall towards the stairs.

As we descended, I had a question for Jenna. "So, what was that thing that Fuller injected me with? He said it was an 'insurance policy.' What does that mean?"

"I don't know, to be honest. I trust him, though. He's poured too much of his life into this - into you - to risk losing you."

It made sense, but I was still uneasy. Fuller had too many secrets for me to really trust him, and despite our having been together for years, Jenna wasn't a whole lot better. I still had questions about why Fuller had wanted to make me so loyal to him; I was already rather indebted to him, so why try to build in some kind of psychological obedience? I figured he must have wanted me to do something that I'd have been strongly opposed to. _Now's not the time to speculate, though,_I reminded myself.

"There should be a small closet just around the next corner," Jenna said as we ran down the deserted hallway. "That's where the maintenance access will be." I paused for a second to let her catch her breath; I had hardly noticed the exertion, but she was panting slightly.

"Good," I said. "Let's get out of here." We started running again and rounded the corner -

• and ran straight into a trio of heavily-armed soldiers. By the looks of it, they had just come through a door labelled "Maintenance Personnel Only." Looks like our secret exit isn't so secret.

They saw us almost instantly and started to raise their weapons towards us. "Freeze!" The one in front shouted.

Time froze.

Adrenaline surged through my veins, and without even stopping to think, I sprang into action. With my tail, I gave Jenna a strong shove in the stomach, tossing her back around the corner. She'd have a nasty bruise, but at least she wouldn't have bullet holes; she could thank me later. In one fluid motion, I leaped into the air, twisting onto my back, and latched my claws - hands and feet - into the ceiling. It creaked gently in protest, but I was already moving again, crawling along the ceiling at almost the same speed as Jenna and I had been running a split second earlier.

The soldiers hadn't had time to properly react, but they were already opening fire, bullets slamming into the wall where I had been standing. I saw them trying to follow my progress up into the air and along the ceiling, but their reflexes and reaction speed were simply too slow; by the time they had really registered what was going on, I was already on top of them.

I dropped the front soldier first with a heavy tail smack to the head. He hadn't even collapsed by the time I grabbed the second soldier by the front of his armored vest, my claws cutting through it like tissue paper. I flung him headfirst at a wall and turned to the third -

BANG.

Pain blossomed in my chest as I fell to the ground. The third soldier, who had been a bit quicker on the uptake, was standing there with a smoking pistol, looking triumphant.

"ALAN!" I heard Jenna yell through the haze of pain. The soldier, startled, turned to aim his gun at her...

No.

I let loose a roar of fury, and the next thing I knew, I had my claws buried in the soldier's throat.

Silence.

Pure silence.

The soldier choked softly. I felt his heartbeat pulse - once, twice, three times - and tore my claws out, dropping him to the ground. He started quietly coughing as his blood filled his lungs, and grasped desperately at his throat, as if he could patch it back together. I watched - frozen in place, blood still dripping from my claws - as the light slowly faded from his eyes.

The whole thing - from the moment Jenna and I had rounded the corner - had taken maybe 30 seconds.

I turned to Jenna just in time to catch her expression. Shock, and horror, and... something else?

Repulsion.

She met my eyes and quickly looked away, carefully approaching the limp forms of the first two soldiers and desperately avoiding looking at the third. A sharp spike of pain in my chest reminded me: I had been shot. I looked down to find a surprise: The bullet had made a significant dent in my scales, but hadn't actually punched through.

They didn't even have a chance.

I looked at my hands, blood congealing slowly on my extended claws. I tried to wipe it off unsuccessfully, before giving up.

Jenna looked up from the two other soldiers. "They're dead," she informed me. "You broke their necks." Her tone was accusatory, and I couldn't really blame her.

"Let's get out of here," I said, and walked over to the maintenance door.

"Those soldiers came from inside here. It might not be safe."

"If we run into anyone, we'll try to hide."

Jenna nodded, and we entered the maintenance tunnels in silence. I could understand if she didn't want to talk; we were both still in shock at what had just happened.

I just murdered three people. Three innocent people. Their only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They probably had families, friends... people who cared about them, and will never see them alive again. Because of me. Because I lost control...

...No, that's not right. I was in control. I did that. This is all on me.

The one thought that disturbed me the most was just how easy it had been. It had been easy to kill those people. To reach out, and casually snuff out their lives.

As Jenna and I navigated the tunnels silently, my thoughts arrived at a single, massive question.

Is this really who I am? The kind of person who can act without caring for the consequences, who can kill without any hesitation? Is that all that I'm good for? What kind of person am I?

Who am I, really?