Chapter 2: Search

“Careful, you’re going to-”

“RUN!”

Her tone was harsh but she didn’t have time to baby whoever this idiot was. If they hung around so close to the warehouse, they would both be caught, tortured and probably killed. Like it or not this guy was a part of her escape now and the guards weren’t known for their reason; they would hold him to the same level of treason as Adira herself and, as much as she wished she didn’t care to make her life that little bit easier, it simply wasn’t true. She couldn’t leave him behind. Especially not when she knew the fate that would await him whilst he was oblivious to the danger he was in.

As she kept running, Adira grabbed hold of the man’s hand, bringing him along with her. She didn’t trust him to just follow her without explanation and she understood why he might not mindlessly go along with her words but it was mildly irritating under the circumstances. Instead, she had to be responsible for him as well as herself in the midst of a forest she didn’t know with no sense of direction and minimal reprieve from the suffocating heat of the sun rays.

Running wasn’t easy when it was impossible to see, especially when Adira now had this additional weight to drag along behind her. All she knew was that she had to get as far away as possible before she stopped and that she had to avoid being seen. Really, it should be simple, but her heart pounded against her chest as if trying to escape and the sun bore down on her making her overheat and her eyes burn as she kept readjusting her grip to make sure her new companion wasn’t left behind. Things didn’t seem as achievable as she originally thought. There was no turning back now, though. She was too far gone.

It seemed to be somewhere in the middle of the day, bright and with the sun at its peak. If Adira had known that, she would have taken more precautions. The time of day would never stop her, she knew how desperately she needed to get out, but she could have braced herself at the very least. Realistically, any preparations more than that wouldn’t have been possible even with the knowledge. It was hard to make time to prepare when she was either being prodded and tested on for ‘science’ or being watched over by the guards. She couldn’t afford the suspicion and, even if she could, there was no way for her to know the time within the warehouse. Days passed and a pen and paper helped to mark them off but exact time was withheld from them. Meals always came at different times of the day, no clocks were allowed and all the guards had to wear covers on their watches to keep the subjects from seeing them. It was just another way for them to try and disorient people, Adira supposed, to keep them obediently following orders. 

There were two very powerful emotions: fear and confusion; scare someone enough and they will do what you say, even if they know it’s wrong, confuse people enough and they won’t know what is right. The warehouse doctors employed both tactics, among others, with great success. Even Adira was compliant at first, too scared of what they might do to her if she refused. They clearly had broken morals, if any at all, and she worried what that would turn punishment into when they were already so cruel.

They made one mistake, though. They took Brax. They took her brother.

No one else seemed to be around, at least from what she could make out. At least she had some luck. Her hair was matted and greasy, her clothes torn and covered in filth Adira didn’t even want to identify and the young woman couldn’t even imagine how bad she smelt; she couldn’t imagine explaining that to a random stranger. Even more concerning was that she didn’t know if they would help her or just stall her and make it easier for the doctors to catch up, to spin some web of lies they probably had well practiced for times like this. It was much easier to avoid people altogether and Adira thanked whatever being or energy had blessed her with the woods being empty right now.

As Adira reached the depths of the woods, the sun grew less punishing, the trees providing a pleasant shielding shadow and making the rays much less intense. Her eyes still struggled to adjust but the initial shock was behind her. She was granted no sanctuary, though, a new problem arising instead. Dehydration.

Adira was no stranger to the feeling of overwhelming thirst. Some of the procedures the doctors put her through were extremely intense, completely draining in many instances, and water was just one of the things she found herself desperate for when they were over. At the warehouse, Adira had to grow used to constantly being unsatisfied and not having enough water or food, yet another way they tried to seize control she supposed, but that only made it more difficult for her to run.

For the first time since she got out, Adira looked back, checking there was no one following her. At least no one close enough to be massively concerning. No one seemed to be following her; there wasn’t a person in sight and the only sounds around were her own frantic footsteps and the gentle chirping of birds. If they were searching for her, which she presumed they would be, they weren’t looking in the right place and that knowledge was enough to reassure her.

She let herself fall into a much calmer walking speed. Her legs ached, feeling almost numb from how overworked they were after years of minimal exercise. There was never the chance nor the space to workout and even if there had been, the neverending stream of tests and experiments kept her too weak to make any kind of exercise sustainable. Now wasn’t much better but at least the adrenaline was masking her suffering and she knew that ending up back in the warehouse would be worse. If there was one strong instinct that outshone the rest of them, survival would be it, and this was evidence of that. Too bad the doctors weren’t there to experiment and research this, though something told Adira they would get the message.

As she thought, a gentle rushing sound caught Adira’s attention and the woman stopped walking to look around. It had been a while since she had embraced her heightened wolf senses and she was definitely out of practice so eliminating as many distractions and sources of background noise would only make things easier, and that included her own footsteps.

Focus, Adira, isolate the sound, her mother’s voice sounded in her head, reminding Adira of all she had learnt when she was young and just gained her wolf. Most parents would send their kids to someone else to train and learn everything they needed to know but Adira’s parents had insisted they teach her themselves. She was in martial arts earlier than most, before it was even certain she would grow into the curse of lycanthropy, when there was still the hope that her genetics would bless her and grant a miracle. They were always on top of things, always one step ahead, so it was unsurprising that they insisted on teaching Adira even if it was frowned upon and Adira had never been more grateful for that than she was right now.

She stood there for at least five minutes, maybe closer to ten. Normally, she was good at counting time but she needed all of her focus and concentration on the sound if she had any hope of identifying it. She turned slowly, as if chasing the sound with her ears before stopping when she realised the direction it was coming from.

There was still no one around, there was no need to rush, but Adira was filled with desperation. Despite not being able to identify the sound, something about it drew her in and she found herself moving forward before she had even made a conscious decision. Each step forward seemed to bring less cover as the trees grew more dispersed and Adira couldn’t help but feel vulnerable in the openness. The discomfort was soon replaced when she saw the clearing, though.

When she saw the stream.

The water.

A chance to rest.

She sat down on the rocky edge of the stream and looked over at the man, suspicion clear in her eyes as she analysed him, questions swarming her mind. Who was he? Did he know about the experiments? Why was he poking around near the warehouse? What were his intentions?

Adira knew better than to trust him but she needed answers and trying to fill them in herself would drive her mad. At least if he answered her she could pick up on the hints of dishonesty but she needed something to go off.

“Explain. Now.”