Kapitel 3: Chapter 3

"Anybody severely injured?" Tina questioned as she struggled to push herself up even with the help of a tree.

"Me and Brandon already healed from the impact. Ethan looks unconscious and he's still healing." Kayden replied, flicking dusts off his shoulders and looking up at the building to make sure that no guards were on to them. "Clear." he said.

"Where's Zephyr..?" Brandon asked, moving his head around to scan the surroundings as quick as he could.

Thinking that Zephyr had jumped off with them and landed somewhere nearby. However, no sights of the small fragile boy with black hair and green highlights could be seen lying around in the middle of the woods.

"He didn't jump with us." Tina replied as if it was the most obvious fact that everyone should've known.

"What?!" Brandon exclaimed in a whisper, still staying cautious of the situation they were in even though he was agitated.

"I said, he didn't jump with us. He was buried under the bricks when Ethan launched his attack." Tina didn't know why Brandon seemed so angered about just losing one kid that didn't even seem to have a stable mentality.

"You left him behind?!" Brandon yelled in a whisper, stomping towards her and reached out his hands to grab her collar before being abruptly stopped by his hands cuffed by the ever so familiar chains.

"Calm down Brandon. I'm angry that she didn't tell us too but we got to leave." Kayden said, looking up at the building they jumped off of. "Please Brandon." he whispered with urgency in his voice.

Without saying a word, Brandon dropped his hands and the chains vanished. He walked away and kneeled down and monitored Ethan's condition.

"Brandon, carry Ethan. We'll meet up with the others at the warehouse." Tina instructed, her hands on her ears, listening to the surroundings around her to make sure that no one was lurking around.

Surrounding them was a large vast forest of dead trees that were black in colour with oddly thin twigs that stuck out like claws. Every step the took, a large crunch sound could be heard.

Whether it was the sound of leaves or skeleton bones, they didn't care as their eyes were all extremely locked on the rocky path that stood ahead in their way.

Tina took a small map from her uniform pocket and sighed while scratching her heard. "Around 7 miles from here is the warehouse we are meeting up at."

"The kid is still unconscious, he's not breathing very well." Brandon said suddenly when he noticed the lack of hot air he felt on his ears.

"Put the kid down, I'll use a healing crystal on him that Anesthesia made." Grabbing her bag, she set it down and begun searching for a box that was hidden underneath.

Tina grabbed a small shiny green crystal and placed her thumb and index finger around the crystal and broke it. Green dust started falling down and flew toward the unconscious Ethan.

"He should be fine now..well, if his condition worsen, Anesthesia should be able to heal him when we get back." she placed the items back into her bag and walked away, still navigating the path.

Soon enough after a arduous journey, they arrived at a large red building that was covered in moss and webs, it seemed like it hadn't been cleaned or touched for years judging from it's appearance.

Brandon quickly ran inside the building and immediately looked around, searching for the person named Anesthesia.

"Brandon? You're bac-" a person wearing the same uniform said happily before his face expression changed to a worried one when he saw how pale the child was.

"Place him on one of the beds, I'm getting Anesthesia." the person said, wearing a serious look on his face as he placed down his book and started running to the staircase of the warehouse.

There were a total of 13 white beds in the warehouse, some were occupied with people wearing the same uniform. Brandon carried Ethan over to one of the beds and placed him down gently.

"This is one of the kids?" A person asked, pushing himself off from the bed as his curiosity grew about the unconscious youth on the bed.

"Yes, the other group with Damien has the other one." Brandon said, clenching his teeth when he remembered he left one of the kids behind that they were going to save.

"Eh? I thought we were getting three? What were their names.. Ethan, Castiel and.. Zephyr." The person stated, placing out his hands and counting.

"We were." Brandon replied, emphasising on the were as he glared at Tina who had a innocent look on her face.

"What? It had to be done. He was going to slow us down and he looked too weak willed to be with us." Tina walked over to Brandon and glared at him, not willing to back down as she knew and wants to believe that she is right.

"But Damien told us that Subject 23, Zephyr was an important piece!" Kayden suddenly snapped. His eyes widened in shock and he slapped his hands over his mouth.

"So what if he is? All I see is a weak kid and nothing more. We brought back what we could salvaged and that is Ethan. End of discussion." She said, looking down on the floor and clenching her fist.

"You're a coward. Why don't you look up and admit it while looking into my eyes." Brandon provoked, his eyes sparkling with anger.

"Shut up.." Tina murmured, she bit her lips until it started bleeding. She was undeniably nervous.

Before the argument could progress into a fight, a woman walked down the staircase, she had long blonde hair as shiny as gold and blue eyes as beautiful as the clear sky. She was the epitome of beauty.

"What's happening?" she asked with concern in her voice as she hurried down the staircase holding a med kit.

"Ah- Anesthesia!" Tina exclaimed, her tone immediately changing into a more pleasant one. Her eyes lit up with joy and her mouth turned into a smile.

"Tina. Brandon. Kayden." Anesthesia greeted formally with a soft smile as she immediately located her target who lied unconscious on the bed, he didn't even seem to be breathing anymore.

She placed her hand under his nostrils and made sure his breathing was still present. "this might hurt okay.." she whispered just in case the child could hear her and get ready for the pain.

Green aura started emitting from her hand as it entered his body, it was as if it was getting sucked in desperately as a last attempt to save the youth.

"he should be fine in a while. Damien told me you were getting 2 kids, where is the other one? Anesthesia asked innocently, pushing her sleeves up to get ready for another healing run.

Tina's smile immediately dropped as she looked away and avoided eye contact with Anesthesia, guilt washed over her. She knew how much her friend cares about saving people.

"Ti-" before Brandon could finish his sentence, Kayden pushed him and gave a nervous smile to Anesthesia who was eying them.

"We..couldn't find him. So we had to leave as guards were gathering around us." Kayden lied as he knew how Tina felt, it didn't feel pleasant to lie to Anesthesia but he pitied Tina.

"Is Damien getting him then? Or only.. subject 178?" Anesthesia pressured even more, her eyes glowing with worry.

"No.." Kayden replied, still holding Brandon back with all his strength.

Anesthesia was about to ask another question before a groan could be heard from Ethan's mouth. She immediately turned her attention to him and kneel down to Ethan's eye level.

"Are you fine dear?" she asked with a friendly smile.

"Fine..thank urgh." Ethan groaned in pain when he attempted to move his hands.

"It's healing slowly. Please try not to move too much. You can be at ease, you're at our headquarters." Anesthesia reassured to not stress out Ethan too much. "I'm Anesthesia."

"Right.. the lab." Ethan murmured, his head starting to ache. "Did the others get me here..?" he asked.

Anesthesia nodded and pointed to the trio. Brandon and Kayden waved to Ethan as they showed him they were fine and got out unharmed.

"Thank you.. " Ethan murmured, he felt tears were about to flow out from his eyes as he struggled to hold them back. He looked around and noticed two more people in the exact same uniform who he hadn't been introduced to yet.

What was more shocking to him was that Zephyr was nowhere to be seen. Ethan tilted his head even more just to locate Zephyr who could be timidly hiding in a corner.

"Zephyr..?" Ethan unconsciously blurted out when he was wondering where that person was.

This time, Anesthesia went tense and made urgent eye contact with Tina as she wasn't sure what to say.

"Is Zephyr your friend?" Anesthesia questioned.

"That bastard? No way. I was just wondering where he was." Ethan answered harshly.

"Ah..my team members couldn't find him in the lab so he isn't here." Anesthesia replied with the knowledge she knew.

"What do you mean? We jumped off together.." Ethan said, confused when he suddenly recalled that he didn't remember hearing or seeing Zephyr's voice at the cliff.

"You saw him?" Anesthesia asked, in absolutely shock as she turned her attention to the trio. "You lied?" she mouthed.

"Sorry..i-" Kayden started when he realized that he had been busted but he was stopped by Tina who raised out her arm.

"I left him behind as I felt that it was too much of a risk and he didn't seem to be too..useful." Tina replied honestly without a tint of regret in her eyes as she knew that Anesthesia would forgive her after knowing her thought process.

Anesthesia stood there, speechless as she tried to regain her calmness. "alright I got the memo. Go inform Damien that if you haven't. Take a break as you had it hard today, there's packed food in the fridge." She said with a small smile.

Ethan sat on the bed, his face showing signs of discomfort as his hands fidgeted around. He gulped and looked up to Anesthesia who was furrowing her eyebrows.

"They left him behind..?" Ethan questioned, his voice shaking.

"Seems like it." She replied, she seemed to have been in her headspace as her eyes were not focused.

"I hated him." Ethan suddenly started, the word hate got Anesthesia's attention immediately. "He looked so cold when he looked down at me while I was struggling for my life. That was the first time in my life have I ever felt so humiliated. It was as if he's saying to me that I was pathetic for crying at such a small matter of getting shots."

Before Anesthesia could questioned more into Ethan's perspective, he looked at her with a smile and nodded, indicating that he would continue.

"I was angered at his coldness. We rarely met again, if we did it was passing by each other at the hallways with our researchers, all cuffed and chained up. However, we shared a lab together once again as our researchers had a conversation with each other. This time, Zephyr was more beaten up, his face was filled with bruises while his neck was bandaged thickly. I let out a small laugh when I saw that, it was honestly hilarious to see him looking so strong while he was in such a sorry state." Ethan eyes were now starting to tear up.

"I probably shouldn't have laughed. I felt bad honestly when I saw his researcher-" Ethan began to choke on his words and looked down.

"sorry for rambling. I was just shocked. However, all I know is that it was a bad decision not to bring him along." He decided.

"Tina did say he seemed.. useless. I don't really know but I trust her judgement." Anesthesia replied, sounding unsure of herself.

"Did she really think that a kid who has been tortured for years can act so timidly like that?" Ethan started laughing, "sorry. I'll keep my mouth shut, would you mind if I have some water before I take a nap?" he said, changing the topic.

Anesthesia knew that she couldn't get anymore information out of Ethan as he seemed like a stubborn one, she sighed and grabbed him the item he requested for and looked for Tina to confirm some things.