Chapter 7: The First Kill

Zara’s POV 

I could still feel the hum of the hidden room vibrating in my bones even after the screen had gone black. I still remember how my reflection had started at me and my own response to that, wide-eyed and trembling as sweat beaded down my temple. 

The room was still dark, and for a few seconds, I couldn't move. I squinted my eyes to adjust to the darkness.

"If only you had returned to your room." I heard my inner voice say to me.

But this wasn't the time to be throwing around what's ifs or what I should have done blames. I could still recall the holographic image of my younger self.

"Why couldn't I remember that aspect of my childhood?" I asked myself silently.

I was still afraid that maybe someone or something could be in laying in waiting for me in the dark.

"Trust no one, not even me." I remembered Kai's words to me as he told me to return to my room.

“Begin phase two.” Dr. Voss had said.

What phase?

And why had I been there? Much younger, like a child who belonged in that lab?

I heard a soft click echo behind me with a few rattles as if whoever was behind that door wanted to knock it open. I quickly spun around, looking for anything to hold as a weapon, but there was nothing. 

The rattling stopped, and I moved towards the door. Surprisingly, the door that was once opened for me was now sealed shut. No handle. No lock. Just a smooth small where an exit used to be.

"Surely this must be a game." I told myself as I refused to panic.

"It's all good." I whispered, pulse racing.

I began to look through the darkness to see if I could locate a switch or a symbol or even a light. Anything that could lead me out of this nightmare.

But yet, I couldn't find anything. The walls were still warm, alive somehow. I could feel a faint heartbeat each time my fingers came across the walls.

I instinctively placed a hand on my chest to feel my heartbeat and trembled in fear when I realized that the walls heartbeat was actually mine.

My heartbeat.

"How... How can this be possible?" I thought.

Just then, a faint whisper brushed through the edge of my thoughts. It didn't sound like a voice I knew but somehow it sounded familiar and my body seemed to have a connection with it as I no longer trembled in fear.

"Subject Night has awakened." It said.

I stumbled back, eyes darting around the room.

“Who said that?”

No answer. Just the low hum of the machines coming alive again. The blue lights brightened, forming symbols midair, shifting, glowing. They looked like words, but not in any language she knew. Yet, somehow, I could read them fluently.

BIO-SIGNATURE CONFIRMED

PROJECT LUNARIS: REACTIVATION SEQUENCE INITIATED

The air grew heavy. Electricity crackled through the room, lifting my hair.

I backed away, shielding my face as energy flared from the consoles.

Then the whispers started again, overlapping this time, like multiple people speaking in my mind.

"Containment breach."

"Protocol override."

"She shouldn’t be awake."

I screamed. The lights exploded in a flash, plunging the room into darkness.

Once again, I was in the dark. And the voices seemed to have become quiet, more like I had silenced them.

"That's a good thing right?" I asked no one in particular.

When my vision cleared, the holographic screen flickered one last time.

This time, there was no image of myself. Only text.

RUN.

That single word pulsed once… then vanished.

The door behind me hissed and slid open.

As much as I would have loved to, I didn’t wait to question why. I ran for my dearest life.

"That was one hell of a tough night."

The corridor outside was dim, lit only by emergency strips along the floor. Every shadow seemed to move. The air smelled of ozone and iron.

I could still feel static under my skin, like the machine had left something inside me. 

The alarm rang. It was a new day, and surprisingly, I'm sitting on the basement floor my bed.

"Hey. Are you awake?" I hear someone whisper.

I look up to see a fellow Omega with worry lines on her face.

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" I ask.

"You almost killed someone in your sleep." She said.

At that point my face washed with horror. I couldn't remember anything asides from my meeting with Kai. The events of the meeting seemed patched in my memory like it had happened but something was incorrect.

"Are you okay?" The Omega asked once again.

"I'm good." I responded shortly.

"Zara Night! Report to Dr. Voss's office now." I heard Lorn, her assistant say through the speakers.

I quickly freshened up and put on new clothes before heading over to her office.

I heard whispers on my way there. People seemed to clear the road for me to pass as if I frightened them. I guess I did, especially after turning into that creature the previous night.

"You begin your real lessons now." 

Lorn will escort you to the class you're placed in. Dr. Voss said before dismissing me.

I nodded silently as I turned to leave her office.

"Give her the academy uniform. Behave Zara!" She adds sending a shiver up my spine.

I walk into my new class after changing into my first ever academy uniform.

"Omega what are you doing here?" A tall weird guy asks disgustingly.

I don't know what prompted the next thing that happened. 

Maybe it was the title he still attached to me or the licking of his lips like he wanted to put me in my place or the word that appeared in my mind when I kept looking at him.

"Kill!" That was the word.

"You could follow me to know the reason." I respond as I leave the class.

He actually follows like a puppy. I sense eyes on me, Kai's eyes to be precise but I ignore it.

Out of eyesight, I lunge at the tall weird guy and he slumps at my feet with blood dripping from his neck. I touch his pulse and it feels faint. In that moment, I feel an unusual energy coming into my body.

The guy stops breathing and I stand up leaving him there as a penance. I begin to walk and my steps are quicker, faster than before.

"You absorbed his strength and speed." Kai says bringing me out of reverie.

"Now, we need to hide this from Dr. Voss." He adds.

"Shit!!! How's that even possible?" I ask.

"We'll just have to figure out." He snickers.

"Kai...." I pause unsure of how to throw the question.

"Yes Zara." He replies.

"What happened after I left you last night?" I asked.

You've been wiped clean." He replies before getting out of my sight.

Wiped? Clean? Who did that?