Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Human error.

A simple mistake.

The trip relay tolerance had been set too low, and as emergency power surged on, it tripped and cut power to the facility, to the cells.

To her cell.

The lights went out and shuttered the room in darkness. The emergency lights flickered into life as if fireflies had risen from the dead and cast a mute, zombie pallor over the room.

For a moment everything had gone silent. Not even the low hum of electricity pricked at her ears. And then she understood. No electricity meant nothing charged the magnetic plates that sealed her cage. No electricity meant—

Freedom.

She kicked. Again. A third time and the metal cage door flew open. The squeal as it pivoted on its hinges raised hackles on the back of her neck and traced static down her spine. Without hesitating she slid herself out of the cage and put bare feet to the cold cement floor.

Freedom.

Her mouth twisted in a feral grin.

The cage was only supposed to be a temporary holding cell for her. They had recently cleaned out this room of most of its former inhabitants. The antiseptic smell of bleach covered up but didn't completely mask the smell of dead animals, presumably the former occupants.

She looked over her shoulder where her new home would be, or would have been, a new cage specifically built for her. Roomier than this portable cage, yet more strongly built with steel-reinforced concrete and three-inch bars. It was nearly finished, and for the past several weeks she had lain in silence trying to shut her ears to the pneumatic drills and other construction equipment used to carve out her cage.

Adjacent to her newly constructed prison was another cell. This one occupied. A wolf lay unconscious, or dead, from the smell of it—it didn't matter. She wouldn't have been surprised if it had been dead before they had moved her into this laboratory room.

The rest of the room was an austere, aseptic laboratory. Tables with tie-down straps, hoses with knock-out gas, scalpels, clamps, saws, and long hooked needles—tools all of them, tools for their pleasure. She shuddered at the memories.

Freedom.

The word was alien and had seemed so far away. But now...

Dressed in the same type of clothing she had worn for the past ten years since she had been brought here—a white camisole, blue and white striped pajama bottoms, and a white, cotton, long-sleeved button-up sweater rolled up to mid-forearm—Freya took her first tentative steps toward the exit, toward freedom.

Adrenaline flooded her with exhilaration and trepidation. She was finally free. But what if they returned? What if they came back? What if—

She shook her head. No time to think of that. She would worry about that when the time came, if the time came.

On silent feet she padded to the door and pulled the handle down. It cracked open and she let out a breath of relief. With the power still out, the magnetic locks could not be engaged, surely a design flaw but something she would exploit.

She peeked out. The hall was painted emergency light amber. In the distance she heard the sound of running feet and the chaos as soldiers barked orders and scientists scrambled about.

Freya slipped out of the laboratory on the balls of her feet, trying to walk calm and confident while still trying to maintain a semblance of stealth. She knew if anyone spotted her, especially wearing the laboratory attire, her jaunt would be all the more brief.

Behind her, the sounds of soldiers and scientists grew closer, their words almost discernible.

She picked up her pace to a lope and winced at the sound of her bare feet slapping the cold cement and changed her gait enough to cushion the sound of her steps without losing speed.

She came to a junction, slowed, and peeked around the corner. Two soldiers, armed with M4 carbine rifles, rushed a scientist in his white lab frock past the open hallway.

Freya ducked back and rose to her feet. She closed her eyes, took a breath, and stepped into the hall.

The soldiers and scientist were gone.

She continued through the junction holding her breath. Each step an eternity as she heard soldiers and scientists advance down distant corridors. At any moment they'd see her. Any moment and she'd run into them. Any moment and her freedom would end.

Just as she finished traversing the junction and out of the corner of her eye, a scientist rounded the far corner carrying a tray and came to a dead stop.

Freya bolted.

"Hey!"

Behind her she heard a clatter as the scientist dropped the tray and the glass contents exploded on the floor.

"Dennis, what the—"

"Dammit!" The prior voice wasn't the one who had shouted in her direction. "Get the containment kit. Quick!"

Doors blurred by her as she ran. She turned once, twice, and again and again. She lost count; she lost direction, all sense of where she was. She didn't slow until she saw shadows on the wall in front of her.

Freya stopped. Her bare feet slipped on the waxed, laminated floor and threatened to slide right out from under her and deposit her on her rear. At the last moment she caught on to the wall. The shadows loomed larger and the voices grew louder. There was nowhere to turn. She was stuck in the middle of a block of rooms with nowhe—

Of rooms.

Of course!

She looked at the nearest door where the black key card reader stared blankly at her with its dead LED eye. Freya grit her teeth and rushed forward hoping against all she could make it inside the room before the advancing soldiers turned the corner.

The handle twisted under her grip and the door, mercifully, gasped open. She slid in and shut the door as quietly as she could.

Hunched over and hands holding the door closed as if that alone would keep her worst fears from realization, she waited and listened as the boots grew closer then seemed to pause right in front of her door and then continued on down the corridor.

Heart pounding, Freya breathed a sigh of relief and wiped sweat from her brow. She was free. Somehow she had made it this far. Out of her cage, through whatever chaos that preoccupied the scientists and soldiers. All she had to do now was to make it outside. Then she would truly be free. Away from them. She could see it now—soon she would be able to bask in sunlight and let its warmth caress her as it had so many years ago. As long as she could make it out unseen.

Freedom.

A hand grabbed her shoulder.

The command center was abuzz with soldiers working smoothly and efficiently. There were no idle conversations, no rushing about wildly, no histrionics. Each soldier sitting at a comm station engaged fully. In a way, General Tasset was proud of his soldiers. Backup power was slowly coming online. Something he'd have to chew his electronics team over, but there was nothing to be done about it right now, so he didn't waste his time or energy dwelling on it. It had been a stupid oversight—one that would cost dearly. Still, the soldiers kept at their jobs—just like they were trained to do. And for that, he couldn't have felt more pride.

It was a small token to the pit burning in his gut. He wrapped his fingers even more tightly around the mug handle even as he tried to force himself to relax.

A soldier approached and saluted.

"General. I just received word from the advance electronics team." He paused.

"Spit it out, soldier."

"They isolated the problem and are sending in a squad to fix it."

"I just want to know when they're going to have it fixed."

The soldier swallowed. "Ten minutes, sir."

General Tasset nodded in dismissal. Don't kill the messenger.

"Ten minutes we don't have." He smoldered to himself.

He shuffled the schematics in front of him and followed the conduit lines from the command center to the backup relays.

As he unrolled another set of schematics, another soldier, this one a colonel, still tucking his shirt into his pants and patting down his sleep-mussed hair, approached. He sounded out of breath.

"General, I just got word. I'm—"

Tasset held up a hand. "I know, Jim. I don't want to hear it."

The colonel nodded. "General, if you don't mind. Why hasn't the Coleman responded? They're assigned—"

"Thirty minutes ago, two Tupelov 95s were spotted just outside Guam airspace. Twice they've crossed the international border only to make course corrections."

"Tupelovs? Jesus! They're designed to carry—"

"Nuclear arsenal, yes. I don't need a history lesson, Colonel."

"Well, about the Montpelier? Isn't she—"

"A hundred nautical miles away. Apparently some Russkie hotshot submarine pilot decided to ping her at about eighteen hundred hours last night and has been leading her into the middle of the ocean. Colonel, I know you're not fully debriefed and not up to speed yet, but sat relay just told us we're at DefCon 3 and we're within an ant's prick of going to DefCon 2. This just happened twenty minutes ago before we lost contact. Meanwhile, our beloved Commander in Chief is in the middle of his inaugural address. He doesn't have a clue about what's going on."

"Well, what about us?"

Tasset fixed a level gaze on the Colonel. "Jim, we're just a research facility to our superiors in Washington." Sarcasm dripped off the word 'superiors' and puddled on the floor.

To this the colonel paled.

"Don't fret too badly, Colonel. I don't think this is the Russkies."

"Then, who could it—"

Tasset stared him down.

"Colonel, escort Dr. Jennings to the Command Center and initiate Protocol 32."

"Sir!"

"And Jim? Prep for Order 293."

Jim blanched even more and patted the plastic key card hanging around his neck and under his shirt almost absentmindedly as if to reassure himself that he had everything he needed to be ready for Order 293... if it came to that.

In the dark silence of the room, an arm reached out and grabbed the collar to Freya's white cotton sweater. In her fright, Freya nearly screamed. Instead she reacted instinctively, spinning on her heel with hand raised in a claw to strike her captor.

The hand let go and zipped back into a cage.

Arm still raised and face twisted into a snarl, Freya crept closer to the cage. Two eyes shone from the deep recesses of the cage. As she crawled closer, a face resolved out of the shadows. Freya noticed a trembling finger pressed to her lips in the universal shushing gesture to remain silent. Then the hand moved away and pointed off to the side.

Simultaneously, Freya realized two different things. The first being that the person in the cage was a little girl, a couple years younger than she, dressed in the same striped pajama bottoms, white camisole, and white button-up cotton sweater. Even in the shadows Freya could determine her race—a little Chinese girl.

The second thing she realized was they were not alone. Her ears caught the mute sound of breathing—dozens of people breathing in and out in silent observation.

As she tore her eyes from the little girl's she noticed rows of cages, stacked two or three high, each with an occupant that could barely fit in the cage. Most of the cages had a thin sheet of plexi-glass on the outside of the bars. Only the top inch or so was open to the air.

The room was huge. And it was filled with people—some her age, some just children like the little girl in front of her.

Then her ears caught voices. They were quiet, yet had the air of calm reassurance that only the scientists or soldiers she had seen ever spoke in. There was the clink of glass on metal as they spoke. And from the sound of it, there were two of them somewhere in the bowels of this room.

Curious, Freya crept closer using the shadows cast by the multiple cages and built-in desks as cover.

"Dammit. Whose fault is this? The power's out and we have to do this by hand." A male voice said.

"Shut up, Henry. We've got plenty to do without you whining." This voice was feminine.

"No, seriously, Doris. Whoever is responsible for this SNAFU should have their balls roasted over a Bunsen burner."

"Now, there's an image one doesn't get in her head every day."

"Oh c'mon. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..."

"Please."

"I just don't want to have to do this manually. We had a system set up to do this automatically. I don't want to have to touch them." He pointed at the cages.

"You've handled them before, what's the big deal now, Henry? Protocol's protocol. We have to do it."

"You know it's more than that, Doris. I just have this... religious objection to holding them when they're—"

"Quit your whining, Henry. The only thing you believe in is the creeping spaghetti meatball or whatever."

"That's flying spaghetti monster."

"Whatever. Okay, if it's such a big deal to you, I'll inject them with the serum." A look of relief crossed Henry's face. "You just have to corner them."

"Why do I get the feeling I got the bum's end of the deal?"

"Hey, it's not like you're the one who's killing them. At least we don't have to do it the way we have to with normal lab rats: chopping their heads off."

"I think I'm going to be sick."

"Don't even think about it. You're not getting out of this that easy." Doris raised a needle, inserted it into a vial of yellow liquid, and pulled the plunger back slowly until she had filled the syringe with several cc's. She sighed. "Ten years down the drain."

Freya looked at the rows and stacks of cages. Each one filled with a small person. And here these two scientists talked so callously about terminating them as if they were merely dealing with some animal.

Freya felt a visceral anger rise. She grit her teeth to bite back the howl of primal rage that fought to escape. Without thinking, she circled around the bench. She let instinct and training take over. Already, Henry and Doris were wheeling a cart laden with their liquid death toward a bank of cages.

"C'mon Henry, we've got a lot of work to do." Doris said.

Glass bottles rattled and clinked on shelves and cages wobbled violently. Their inhabitants stirred from their somnolence as an explosion on the far side of the facility and far above them tore through the outer wall. Even this far down and this far away, the powerful bomb shook them all.

Henry and Doris stared at each other momentarily as silent understanding dawned. In a rush, they advanced on the first bank of cages.

Freya, startled by the distant rumbling, crouched low.

The time was now. She had to do something or these poor captives would die here and now.

She coiled herself into a sprinter's stance. In a breath she bolted down the aisle, her two targets unaware of her approach, the soft sound of her feet padding across the cold cement masked by their hurried, desperate words.

Freya leapt into the air and kicked Henry squarely between the shoulder blades. His head snapped back as his torso rocketed forward. In an instant, he slammed his face into the corner of a table and flopped to the floor unmoving.

Freya landed on her feet next to Doris who was still trying to comprehend what was happening. Doris's eyes stared at Freya in disbelief as she tried to figure out how she could have just appeared out of thin air.

Freya spun and swept Doris's feet from under her.

Doris's rump connected first with the concrete floor followed very shortly by her head. It sounded like a wet melon falling from a table and crumpling on kitchen tile.

Still seeing the red of rage, Freya rose to her feet hands ready to grasp the scientist and pummel the life out of her. She stopped and panted for a second as she looked her over. Sticking out of Doris's thigh was a syringe, the plunger fully depressed, the yellow contents emptied into her flesh. After a moment, Freya turned to Henry's still form and extricated a set of keys from his pocket. She snatched Doris's that had spilled on the floor. Then she stepped over her and headed back to the little girl's cage.

By now, the occupants of the cages had awakened and were shouting at her—their words an incoherent cacophony. As she padded back to the little girl's cage she noted the word above the door. 'Xiaofan'. Next to her name was a black silhouette of a mouse. Freya twisted the key in the lock and the door opened.

"C'mon, Exs-ee-uh—screw it. Whatever your name is, let's get you out of here."

The girl giggled. Freya stopped and looked at her quizzically. "Not 'X'. 'Sh'. My name's pronounced 'Sheow-fan'. 'Shiaofan'."

"Whatever, X." Freya said handing her the other set of keys. "Let's get the rest of these cages open, then let's get out of here before someone else comes back to finish the job."

Xiaofan stepped out of her cage with a little hop in her step. "Thank you, uh..." she paused and looked up.

"Freya."

"Thanks, Freya, for freeing me." An easy smile played on her lips.

"You can get all mushy when we're really out of here. Until then, help me get the rest out of these cages."

Moments earlier and on the far side of the facility...

"Corner him! Drive him into the cage!"

Surrounded by four lab technicians and two armed soldiers standing off to the side, a boar snorted in defiance as they tried to corral him. Holding a lab coat like a matador waving a flag in front of a bull, a lab technician lunged at the boar.

The boar tossed his head and aimed his tusks at the technician's leg. He jumped back with a yelp even though the boar's tusks missed his thigh by inches.

"Dammit, Emmett! Get back in your home." He shouted.

A third technician holding another lab coat in front of him lunged from the other side. He threw the spare coat at the boar's head and succeeded in getting it over the boar's eyes. Seizing the moment, the technician lunged again at the boar to body tackle him. Another technician jumped into the fray trying to knock the boar onto his side.

Emmett bucked his hind quarters and managed to kick the assailant squarely in the chest. He went down wheezing hard. After a second's struggle, the boar tore the lab coat off his head and charged the other technicians.

They dodged out of the way and the boar circled himself into a corner. He snorted several times, a porcine chortle.

"I think he's laughing at you, Thomas," one of the soldiers piped in. So far, the soldier's had stayed out of the mix, enjoying the show. "You know," he drawled, "I could just shoot him. Might be easier."

The first lab technician paled and stood straight up. "No! No. We can handle the protocol."

The second soldier looked over his shoulder at the rows of cages filled with an assortment of cattle—bulls, pigs, goats, deer—and in a few cages young kids, the eldest in his late teens. All of them dead.

"Besides, it's much more humane." The technician continued.

"Sure it is," the first soldier said. "Dead is dead. And it's our job to get you to your stations ASAP. We still have our jobs to do."

The boar bristled and lowered his tusks at the technicians slowly creeping up on him.

"Shhh!" The first technician shushed him. "He'll hear you!"

"What does it matter?" The soldier slid the strap of his M4 off his shoulder and put the buttstock into the hollow of his shoulder.

"I'm not in a rush to go to the SIP," another technician spoke up, referring to the Situation In Place room just down the hallway. "I don't even have my deck of cards."

The soldier laid his cheek against the plastic stock and sighted in on the boar. "He's just a stinking animal."

"C'mon, man. Give us just a few more minutes. It's not like anything's going to happen. These walls are ten feet of reinforced concrete. Nothing's getting through—"

The wall imploded into the room sending slabs of concrete and debris against the far wall. The force of the concussive wave picked up three of the technicians and tossed them against the wall as if they were rotten eggs. The nearest soldier, the one aiming at the boar was buried completely under one of the tremendous slabs.

Seconds ticked by as dust settled onto the ruins of the laboratory. The surviving soldier moaned where he sat, back pressed up against the yellow body of a forklift. Blood streamed down his temple and pooled under what remained of his leg. A chunk of concrete had cut through most of the calf muscle leaving bone and tendon exposed to the grit-filled air. A lone technician coughed from where he lay, face down and half-buried under a ton of concrete.

The boar lay unmoving, partially exposed amid the rubble.

Thirty seconds. The only movement coming from the wounded soldier and the half-buried technician.

And then soldiers poured through the hole. Their uniforms a mottled green and grey. They moved with the precision of months practicing the same drill over and over, hammering the layout and their tactics into their brains, into their muscles. One paused to examine the wounded soldier, after a brief second, he raised the barrel of his gun and fired a single shot into his head.

This shot was followed by another as another soldier put the remaining technician out of his misery.

More soldiers poured in through the gap and advanced down the laboratory. Moments later gun fire and explosions filled the facility.

As the last of the foreign soldiers crossed through the rubble, one paused and put the barrel of his gun to the boar's head. He nudged the boar, and when there was no response, he continued on to join the rest of his squad.

A minute passed by and nothing stirred. Finally, the boar opened his eyes and shifted. He picked himself up and shook the dust and debris from his fur. Blood dribbled off his fur and spattered in the dust. For a moment he stood there swaying and staring down the corridor, then the boar snurked and spat a blood clot onto the ground.

He would be long gone before they came back this way.

Emmett paused a moment at the breach, turned around, and came back into the laboratory. After a moment's rooting, he pulled out a lab coat and a pair of spare workpants kept near the back. They weren't anything special, just something the technicians kept on hand whenever they had to deal with the filth left over by the animals. Emmett tugged them free and with a shrug tossed them onto his back.

Stars twinkled uncontested in the night sky. No cloud obscured them, no moon outshone them. This night, they ruled the sky. It was all so clear, so endless. Emmett stared out into the vast expanse; it beckoned and drew his soul out. He snorted again and limped out the gaping wound into the night's jungle.

The door exploded off its hinges and Tigran rushed into the breach, carbine rifle tucked close to his shoulder as he swiveled left and right covering the blind spots. He kept moving and knew his comrades were close behind him checking and re-checking corners and blind spots. The room was dark except for a few eerily glowing emergency lights that reflected off large bays of water.

Though he had never been in this room, he knew almost every detail. The floor plans were etched in his memory not only from several months reviewing the schematics but constant training in a mock-up facility.

He pounded down the stairs with two others close behind him. They paused at one of the large circular aquariums.

"Tigran!"

"Sir."

"Get up there and give me a status report."

Tigran raced up the metal-grated stairs, each step echoing in the silent cavernous room. At the top of each aquarium was a little cell-like structure complete with a small bed, toilet, and a desk. At the bottom of the cells were several bars that could be released and the cell's inhabitant could enter or exit the pool. The aquarium itself was enclosed completely making the cell one of three ways in or out.

The ambient light from the emergency lights within the pools cast an eerie green pallor over everything. Tigran peered inside the cell. Lying on the bed was something he couldn't reconcile in his brain. Part of it was human, the other part... his cerebral guess would have made it to be cephalopod. Water, or mucous, dripped off the corpse onto the cement floor and tracked to the floor bars.

He looked over the railing, caught the section leader's attention and shook his head. The leader acknowledged this and signaled another soldier to climb the next stairwell. Tigran could have saved him the time and breath. Even from here he could see into four of the remaining cells perched atop the tanks. Two were empty and the others held the lifeless forms of children. They couldn't be older than fifteen; still children.

Dead children.

Tigran ground his teeth together. They had been debriefed on this, on what they might see and find on this mission. The horror in the cell behind him although it twisted his gut, didn't bite nearly as hard as the realization and complete understanding that the victims in the cells, the laboratory specimens, had all once been children. Yes, despite the slimy, misshapen mass with limbs and tentacles akimbo caught in the last paroxysms of death, that was inconsequential to the anger he felt now.

One boy, one girl. Naked, lifeless.

He took a deep breath to still the gall and anger rising from his gut. Focus. They were here for a job. Seeing this, he resolved to get it done that much faster.

Without waiting for his comrade to inspect the cell, Tigran began his descent when a flash of light, a pale reflection of the green aquarium lights, caught his eye. He paused to observe the aquarium. The cell up top was empty, but the light hadn't come from there—it had come from the pool's surface. And yet, the pool's surface was calm, no ripples, nothing disturbing it. Perhaps it was the eerie lighting in this room or perhaps he was shaken more than he cared to admit, but something had drifted by—of that, he was certain. It hadn't been his mind playing tricks on him.

A fin.

His mind finally made the connection and completed the association of what his eyes had seen. It had just taken that long to cut through the mental bureaucratic red tape to get there.

A fin drifting by in the tank and now it was gone.

Heart thudding against his sternum, Tigran pounded down the remaining stairs and rushed past his section mates to the large observation window built into the side of the aquarium.

Nothing.

Where his brain expected to see a large shark circling figure eights in the tank his eyes saw nothing. Absolutely nothing. Except...

Floating in the middle of the tank, completely submerged was the form of a boy—from his build he looked as if he was in his mid-teens. His hair drifted away from his head in a fan, an anemone in a tidal pool. The boy hung naked, motionless in the water, his head slumped forward and limbs akimbo.

Tigran clenched his fist fighting a long litany of profanity. For a moment the anger at seeing the dead children and horrendous things nearly consumed him, but a grim coldness settled in and consumed the burning rage. He placed his fist on the observation window and turned.

Two shots exploded inches from his head had been a mere moment ago.

It took only a matter of minutes to unlock the cages. Things progressed even faster when a spry little boy with buck teeth snatched the keys out of Freya's hands and clambered up the shelves to the second and third rows of the stacked cages. The sign on his cage read 'Timmy'. Not 'Timothy' or 'Tim', just 'Timmy'.

Chaos erupted as children clambered out of their cages. Instead of congregating and waiting, they burst out of the room in small groups. Freya closed her eyes and sighed. There was nothing she could do for them. And deep down she knew that with that many running amok the odds the soldiers and scientists would catch her grew even more in her favor.

"Done!" Xiaofan said, skipping past a group of six as they made a mad dash for the far door. Her eyes twinkled as she smiled self-satisfied at having unlocked the rest of the room's inhabitants.

A moment later Timmy returned and handed the keys back to Freya. Both of them looked up at her with expectant eyes. "Now what?"

Her stomach dropped looking into those eyes. She hadn't wanted this. With the chaos running amok outside, her chances of finding an exit had grown exponentially, but with these two tagging along, those chances were diminishing rapidly. Not to mention, she didn't want their deaths weighing on her soul.

"Now?" She began. "We're even. You saved me, I saved you. We go our separate ways."

She watched for a moment as their faces morphed from excited expectancy to confusion to dismay. Their looks were a kick to the gut and sour bile crept into the back of her mouth. She turned to go.

"Wait, but—" Timmy shouted.

"Timmy, it's okay." Xiaofan interjected. "I understand."

Freya paused at the door and crouched. She looked back at the two kids, another pang kicking her in the gut. Timmy still looked dismayed and confused, but there was something else in Xiaofan's eyes. There was steel in them, a determination, but what really piqued her interest was the tint of humor and the faint tug of a smile playing at the corner of her mouth. She nearly stopped to ask her what that meant.

"C'mon, Timmy. Follow me." Xiaofan grabbed Timmy's hand and they lined up behind Freya behind the door. When Freya looked back at them with a questioning look, Xiaofan cut her off. "Well? Are you going to open the door or are you going to wait for them to come back and stuff us back into these cages?"

Freya fought the smile curling at the corners of her own mouth. She nodded and again paused at the door, listening. Nothing. She opened the door and rushed out, Xiaofan and Timmy almost right on her heels. Down the halls she heard the sounds of the released children, for the moment they sounded giddy, like school children on recess. She knew they should be quiet, the better chance for escape and survival.

She ran down the hall, this time not bothering to hide. If anything, those children had obviated her need to remain quiet. Now she needed to put as much distance as she could from them and find her own way out. Behind her she heard the pitter-patter of two pairs of bare feet. At an intersection she paused and watched as they scampered up behind her.

"What do you think you're doing?" Freya spoke in a harsh whisper. In the distance she heard the high-pitched squeals as the other children ran free.

"What do you mean?" Xiaofan whispered back.

"Why are you following me? I'm not—"

"We're not following you. We can't help it if you're going the same way we are."

Their eyes locked. And as she stared down into the little oriental girl's eyes she first met a wall of defiance, but at the corners of her eyes sparkled a hint of light, of mischief. Before her own lips could turn upwards in a reflection of the smile she knew was hiding behind those eyes, Freya turned back. Smart-ass little girl.

"Whatever." She said, though deep down inside she felt some modicum of relief.

She raced out the door and down the corridor seeing no evidence of soldier, scientist, or even the freed children. Not too far behind her, Freya heard the slapping of two sets of bare feet scampering across the floor. She paused in the middle of a corridor and looked back at them. Xiaofan was the first to catch up with Timmy following close behind.

Freya simply stared down at them. Timmy couldn't hold back a buck-toothed grin, but Xiaofan pulled a poker face that could have beaten the best mahjong master and stared right back at her. They held that pose for a couple of heartbeats.

"What?" Xiaofan asked.

Freya continued to stare down at them and Timmy shifted uneasily.

"I told you: you just happen to be going the same direction we are."

Freya leaned up against the wall and folded her arms under the swell of her breasts. "If that's so, why don't you go on ahead?"

"That's okay. We're just taking a breather right now. Sorta like you are."

"Okay, smartass. Just keep on moving."

Xiaofan stood there her arms folded across her chest almost in an imitation pose of Freya. But after a moment, she rolled her eyes and waved Timmy up. "C'mon. Let's go. We're wasting time here."

Freya watched them scamper up the hall, pause at the intersection, and disappear around the corner. She listened to their footsteps as they continued away from her. Without waiting any longer, Freya bolted and ran down the corridor. She blew through the intersection and continued on, turning at the next so she was headed in the opposite direction from them. It dead-ended with utility pipes sinking through the walls. She chewed her lip and ran back to the main corridor.

A glance to her left told her she wouldn't get much further that way. So she continued forward, not wanting to backtrack completely. Somewhere up ahead there had to be an exit. As she reached the next intersection, she heard the approach of several feet on the floor. She slowed and tensed to pounce as they came running around the corner.

Xiaofan and Timmy skidded to a halt, Xiaofan actually slipped and landed hard on the floor. Timmy, close behind her, tripped over her but managed to keep his feet even as momentum carried him right into Freya.

"Will you watch where you're going?" Xiaofan squeaked out.

A smile tugged at the corner of Freya's mouth. "That way's a dead end," she said as she hooked a thumb over her shoulder.

Xiaofan muttered something under her breath and picked herself up, her eyes full of murder. "Why are you following us?"

Freya paused as she began to pass them. "I'm not following you, we just..."

"Yeah, uh-huh. You don't know the way out of here, do you?" Xiaofan asked.

The smile dropped from Freya's face like a stone. "I suppose you do?"

"Look. Why don't we work together on this? And once we're out of here we can go our separate ways." Xiaofan said.

"What do you suppose it looks like outside? I haven't seen the sky in years." Timmy said.

"Can it, kiddo." Freya cut in. "I've been here probably longer than anyone else and I haven't seen the sun in seven-eight years."

"Where do you think we are?" Timmy continued on without hesitating. "I bet we're on an island or in the middle of a desert or something."

"What makes you say that?" Freya asked, taken aback. She hadn't thought that far ahead, what to do once she escaped the facility. That might complicate things a little. Just a little.

"Well, the way I figure, we're all a bunch of experiments, right? And we're surrounded by a bunch of doctors and soldiers, right? And you seen how they keep us all locked up. They don't want us breaking out and getting free. There's no way they'd just lock us up in the middle of some city and stuff. So, we gotta be some place."

"We could be in the middle of the desert." Xiaofan piped in.

"Yeah, but which one? They only took me a couple of years ago, before they, uh, before, uhm..."

"Get to the point." Freya cut in.

Timmy swallowed hard before continuing. "Well, uh, that's the point. We don't know where we are. I used to love looking at maps and stuff. Had all sorts of maps all pinned up on my wall at home. But, I don't remember much of it anymore." At this he paused and looked up into Freya's eyes, tears rounding the edges of his as he asked. "Do you think what they did scrambled my brains?"

Freya let out a sigh and closed her eyes. She didn't want to have this conversation. "They did more than just scramble our brains. At least they did to me. I don't know what they did to the rest of you, but I'm certain of one thing." They looked at her expectantly. "I'm getting out of here."

With that, she padded down the corridor. Timmy and Xiaofan exchanged glances and took off after her. As they neared another intersection, Freya paused and looked about. In the distance she heard feet pounding down the adjoining corridor and unlike the pair coming up on her, these ones were booted and were by far heavier.

Soldiers.

Xiaofan tugged at her elbow. "This way."

Freya turned to see Timmy opening a door and disappearing inside. Not another room full of kids, Freya thought. But there was no time to go anywhere else. She could hear the soldiers approaching hard and fast.

Together, Freya and Xiaofan disappeared into the room, closing the door with a soft click before the boots came tromping by. Freya counted her heartbeats, racing as they were, and tried to calm down.

"Hey, look!" Timmy said in a loud whisper. In Freya's and Xiaofan's ears it almost sounded deafening and both simultaneously raised their fingers to their lips and ushered a harsh shushing.

Timmy ducked his head in embarrassment and continued in a quieter voice. "This is the agility room. Did they ever bring you here?" In the dim emergency lighting Freya saw that the room was a maze of narrow paths, ropes strung from one side to the other—it looked like an acrobat's dream room filled with all sorts of things from which to jump, dangle, and twist. She shook her head once. Xiaofan gave one curt nod.

"I love this place. This room was so fun!" Even in the dim lighting she could see the pure pleasure glowing from his eyes.

She pressed her ear against the door and listened another second. "I don't hear anything. Let's go." She cracked the door open and slid out, leaving just enough room for her to squeeze through. Seeing nothing she rushed to the intersection and paused. Xiaofan and Timmy scampered up and crouched against the wall next to her.

Without waiting another second Freya jumped into the intersection. That's when she heard the harsh barking as an M4 let off several bursts of gunfire.

The bullets struck the observation window where his head had been microseconds ago. Instinct drove him down to the ground even as he brought his rifle up, training it on where the bullets had come from. Next to him, the section leader went down as bullets tracked up his face and the last went into the observation window.

Tigran fired a short burst, but felt nothing as one of the soldiers jerked up and then slumped over the railing on the far side of the room. Already his section mates were moving, finding cover, seeking to flank their new targets.

He rose to his knees, getting ready to bolt for cover when he heard something that made his heart stop. He snapped his head back to the observation window, half-expecting to see a shark swimming towards him. Instead, spider-like cracks raced across the window screeching and squealing as the pressure of three hundred thousand liters of water bore down on the weakening glass.

Before he could get the first syllable of a curse out, the observation window blew outwards releasing all that water in one big rush. The wave picked Tigran up and tossed him casually across the aisle into the opposite aquarium wall. Unable to breathe, unable to move, he fought for something, anything with which to pull himself up.

As the rush of water receded, he felt something slam into his chest that knocked what little breath he had remaining out of him. Coughing and spluttering for breath while water quickly receded and worked its way into the drainage system, he looked down to find the still, cold, naked body of the boy lying across his lap.

Tigran had lived a soldier's life and this was not the first corpse he had seen, nor was it even the first one he'd been this close to, but for some reason this cold, wet body created such a revulsion in him he nearly panicked. Kicking his feet for purchase and shoving with his hands he fought to untangle himself from the body which was intent on clinging to him.

At last on his feet, Tigran finally shed the body and slipped behind the aquarium, surprised the soldiers above hadn't taken advantage and put a couple bullets to him. Scattered throughout the room, his section mates fired in short, controlled bursts, doing just as they were trained. They had spread out and were now taking advantage of their positions to focus on the one spot their enemies were concentrated, effectively pinning them down, despite their overlooking advantage. He took a couple deep breaths to calm his racing pulse and circled to the far end of the aquarium. Peeking out, he saw what remained of the little squad that had ambushed them.

Two soldiers remained, one at a time gophering over the small barricade they had erected to fire indiscriminately on his mates. Raising rifle to shoulder, Tigran advanced. And as one after the other popped up, he fired once then twice.

The room echoed in the silence that followed. Then one of his section mates raced up the steps, rifle at the ready and held position at the door. One by one, his section mates fell in behind and then advanced forward. Glancing back, he saw the section leader lying on the floor not two feet from where he had been pinned up against the aquarium. Tigran grimaced. Now he was the section leader.

He pounded up the stairs where two others waited. He patted one on the shoulder, the other fished out a cloth that had somehow avoided the thousands of liters from the aquarium. Tigran took it and wiped the water still pouring down his face. He tossed it back with a nod then pushed through into the corridor.

"Come on. Mission parameters just changed." Tigran said.

Time was of the essence now and every second counted against them.

Nicholas counted twenty of his breaths after the last sound of boots left the room before he raised his head from the cold, wet cement floor. He snapped his head back and slid blonde bangs back over his head. Water streamed down the back of his neck as he placed his feet under him.

In the eerie glow of the aquarium lights, things could not be going better for him. He smiled pointed teeth and crab-walked to the body lying in the still draining pools of water on the floor. The soldier was most assuredly dead.

His grin deepened.

Hunkering naked over the body, Nicholas searched the soldier over. He unsnapped the knife from its sheath on the vest and used it to slice through boot laces. In seconds he tore them off and tossed the boots aside. At this point he slid the pants off and donned them on himself. The man had been shorter and considerably thicker around the waist, but that didn't slow him as he rolled the waistline a couple times so they fit loosely on his swimmer's hips.

Nicholas paused half in thought. The soldier should have had a rifle on him, but apparently the flood had washed it from him. He grimaced and shrugged.

While waiting in his tank, Nicholas had watched the soldiers enter and then begin examining each tank for life. The short fire-fight had been exciting but most important of all it had given him his way out.

Nicholas again grinned pointed teeth.

Freedom.

Yes, he was free now.

Now all he had to do was backtrack the way these soldiers had come. Without looking back, he raced up the steps and out the hall. Time was, after all, of the essence.

"Twenty years!" Doctor Jennings screamed from between two MPs. His graying hair stuck out at odd angles and his clothes were in a state of disarray. He had been sound asleep when Jim had invaded his room with the two armed gorillas in tow. That they were armed was curious in and of itself, especially in his laboratory. Yes, his, by damn. For the past fifteen years he had spent his life in this isolated compound studying, testing, working. And now...

Jim led them into the command center frowning and muttering to himself. It had been a long walk from Doctor Jenning's room to the command center with an unending train of abuse sent his way. It had been a long time since anyone had dared to cross that line, but to make things worse, there really wasn't anything he could do at the moment.

"Twenty years, general! I don't know what makes you think you have the right—"

"Sit down, Doctor." General Tasset's flat tone was like a slap to the face and it immediately put a stop to his argument. Reluctantly, the doctor took a seat where he started muttering to himself all over again. Tasset met eyes with Jim who only shook his head; Tasset said nothing but he understood all the unspoken words.

"Dammit, General." Doctor Jennings began again as he re-gathered his will. "What in the hell are you doing? In less than ten minutes you are personally undoing twenty years' worth of my work. Twenty years. Do you know how many man hours in addition to my work have also been spent? Not to mention the billions spent in this project? And in less than ten minutes you have the chutzpah to knock it all down as if it were a house of cards to blow over at your whim."

"That's enough, doctor." General Tasset said in perfect equanimity.

"Enough? The hell it is! I've spent twenty years on this project, and that's just me. How many years have other scientists wasted on this project? Wasted now, all because of you. All because you got a bug up your ass to just simply throw it all away. Did you know that I started this project? Did you know that all of this," he gesticulated at random, "all this... crap you see around you is because of me? Did you? Even you. You wouldn't even be a general if it weren't for me and my project here. And you think—"

"Doctor, you will still yourself or you will be secured. Am I clear?" The calm, even tone of his voice cut through the rising histrionics. Doctor Jennings sat back in his seat, a look of incredulity crossing his face. He glanced up at the two MPs staring straight ahead in the 'at ease' position that belied their readiness. He swallowed nervously for a moment as he considered his position.

"Good. Now that you have yourself under control I will do something I normally wouldn't consider doing, Doctor." The way he said it bordered on mockery of his title. "A few minutes ago we were cut off from the rest of the world. We have no support. We have no communication. Moments ago our facility was compromised and our soldiers are now engaged in combat. I brought you here, Doctor, because of your relation to this operation." He paused long enough for the understanding to sink in. "Now that I have made that clear, I have more important duties to attend to. Colonel?" General Tasset said as he turned to Jim, it was more of a command than a question.

The general and colonel stepped back into the command center where more soldiers raced about frantically. Doctor Jennings sat in silence, brooding for a moment. Twenty years. He couldn't get over that. A lifetime for some and now it was all wasted. At the very least he had some of his notes captured on computer. But trusting these idiots they would likely be lost and irrecoverable. Twenty years. Lost. All of it. And the part that kicked him in the gut the most was that most of the successes had happened in the past five years. Fifteen of those years had seen failure after failure. And then he'd had several breakthroughs; one right after the other.

One in particular stood out in his mind.

He glanced up at the two MPs still staring off into space and calculated a moment. Finally he decided he'd risk it. He rose from his seat, and stepped swiftly toward where the general huddled with the colonel as they discussed the minutea of their dilemma. His act had been so surprising to the soldiers that he made it two steps before he felt their hands come down on his shoulders.

"General." He jerked out before the MPs could pull him back. He had to get his attention.

And he did. The general turned a weary gaze at him, one that spoke of a parent that has put their child to bed ten times already. "What is it, Doctor?"

Jennings knew he had to tread carefully. He calculated that if he sounded apologetic, not quite obsequious, the general would be that much more inclined to hear him out. "I understand, now, why you brought me here and I'm grateful for it. What is to become of the rest of my research?"

General Tasset sighed and began turning back to the table. "We will do our best to ensure we save as much of it as we can. At this very moment we have a team securing the Barstow collider." He sounded like a tired politician giving a trite, canned statement to a dogged reporter.

"I understand that as well. But..." he paused knowing he was already losing the general's interest. "Will we be allowed to rebuild after you've dealt with this, ah, situation?"

"That, I cannot say for sure. That is above my pay grade and will be up to the powers that be. Now, Doctor, if you will allow me to return to my work here, I will do my best to save your—"

"If I'm allowed to begin my research again, there is one subject that will shave years off that process. She is invaluable." Jennings pressed on. He reached into his coat and pulled out pen and notepad. On it he scribbled a name and room number. "This subject alone is worth millions. Bring her here and you will save me, you, and your superiors' years. Trust me on this."

General Tasset paused and looked at Jim for a moment who only shrugged his shoulders as if to say it really didn't matter, or it was outside his area of knowledge. He closed his eyes and passed a hand over his face. Standing up, he let out a sigh and stretched out his hand. "Give it here and I'll see what we can do."

Jennings transferred the paper to Tasset and then clasped his hands together, not quite worrying at the notepad and pencil. Tasset looked at it a moment then handed it to Jim.

"Colonel, send two men to bring her here on the double." He handed the paper over to Jim and then glanced back at Jennings. "Now, doctor, if you will."

Jim glanced at the paper and called two corporals over. Briefly he gave them their orders and turned back not bothering to watch them exit the command center.

"Branwen, huh?" General Tasset harrumphed. "Alright, Colonel, let's get back to this. I want..." But Jennings was already tuning them out as he returned to his seat. In his mind he had already wiped out the years of failure trying to perfect his techniques. Now he had the perfect opportunity to start anew without the years of errors and the baggage that brought with it. Now there would only be success. He crossed his legs, steepled his fingers, and lost himself in visions of his own grandeur.

Freya nearly lost everything when she heard the M4s barking their short bursts accompanied by the screams of horror and death. She continued her trajectory through the intersection and slammed herself against the wall. Heart in her throat, she tried to breathe and calm her nerves. She looked back at the squirrely Timmy and Xiaofan still hunkered against the junction wall.

Bullets hadn't torn by her, nor had they bit into her soft flesh. In fact, the muzzles of the carbine rifles hadn't even been pointed her way. So, what had given her such a fright? It was simple: her sharp ears had heard the shots and on top of that the screams of horror and death of those children she had just freed from the cages.

A seed of doubt wormed its way inside. Was it her fault? She's the one who had released them from their cages; if she hadn't done that, if she hadn't—

Stop! she told herself. That's pointless drivel. They would have died another way. She resolved not to take on the burden on her shoulders even as it tried to sink its claws in.

She glanced over at the other two, still huddled against the wall and staring at her in concern as if she had suddenly gone crazy. Xiaofan cautiously peered around the corner intent on seeing just what exactly had made Freya nearly stop dead in the hallway. From both of their expressions Freya guessed neither had heard the gunshots or the screams.

She peeked around the corner and saw nothing, then cautiously, Freya waved them over. The others may have died, but that didn't mean these two had to as well. Xiaofan and Timmy were part of her pack now. They'd make it out.

Gathering her courage, she rushed down the hall and found a flight of stairs. Up. Instinct clawed at her and demanded she move up, toward freedom. As she mounted the steps, she froze. The steps vibrated with the stomping of feet. Soldiers. More soldiers on the steps. She held her breath even as the two tagalongs pushed up against her.

Above and below them.

The soldiers below them descended deeper while the ones above sounded like they were at least a flight or two above. Cautiously, hardly daring to breathe, they ascended the staircase taking care as they rounded the first flight to not be seen from above.

As they climbed, Freya grew more certain the soldiers were on the next level up. She stopped below them and peered through the small window on the current floor. She cracked the door open and the three of them slipped into a short corridor.

Ahead of them in a small windowed room a soldier flipped through a stack of papers. Preoccupied, he failed to notice as they slipped up against the wall. Once there, Freya realized their folly. Not only could the soldier see the door through which they needed to pass, but there was also a red glowing light coming from the electronic key card scanner.

The power was back on. Or at least it had been restored partly to this level. The overhead lights weren't on, but they were on just on the other side of the wall where the soldier continued to flip through a stack of documents.

Freya rested her head on the wall and silently cursed. Why hadn't she bothered to grab one of the key cards from the scientists when she had had the chance?

"Hold on a moment." Timmy whispered. "I think I..." he paused and peered around his corner. "Yeah. Wait here."

Without a backwards glance he disappeared around the corner. Freya began to turn over to follow him but Xiaofan laid a hand on her arm.

"I think I know where he's going. You might just want to wait here."

They waited for a moment in silence. Time marched a dirge around them. Again, Freya shifted to follow, and again Xiaofan put a restraining hand on her. There was a twinkle in her eye and a half smile curving at her lips.

"Just wait for it."

"What the...?" They heard the soldier shout and jump to his feet. Farther on the other side of the wall they heard the muffled sound as something zipped down an unseen hallway. Seconds later, Timmy scrambled around the corner tucking his shirt into his pants. In his mouth he held a key card.

He pulled the key card out of his mouth and stifled a giggle. "You should've seen it. I flicked him in the ear with a rubber band."

Freya looked at him with one eyebrow raised as he settled his clothing about himself.

"It was, uh, a tight squeeze." Timmy managed to say while turning several shades of red.

"I'm sure it was." Xiaofan said with a tint of sarcasm and mischief in her voice.

Freya couldn't help but grin herself and snagged the key card. "Good job".

As she rose up to the door she heard Xiaofan whisper to Timmy, "Going commando? Really?"

"What? Aren't we all?" Timmy responded quietly a slow flush creeping up his face.

"TMI, Timmy. T. M. I." Xiaofan responded.

Freya slipped up to the door and held it to the pad and waited the interminable seconds as the LED lights cycled from red to orange and finally to green. She heard a soft click as the magnetic lock on the door released.

They passed through the door and ran down the hall. Doors gave way with a silent sigh as their newfound key card granted them access. They ran until Freya's ribs hurt and she was forced to pause and rest up against the wall. They were smiling. All three of them. Freedom was so much closer now. Freedom was in the air and tasted like the succulent juices of the most wondrous fruit.

"C'mon." Timmy said. "We're almost out of here. I can feel it." Half-skipping in his ebullience he hopped into the junction still grinning.

Bullets tore into his chest and threw him across the linoleum.

Shock sucker-punched Freya in the gut as she froze, mouth agape and eyes still latched onto Timmy's as life receded from them. She didn't even hear the scientist round the corner and wrap Xiaofan in a bear hug, placing the tip of a needle against her carotid artery.

"Hold it right there." A soldier barked.

"Wait!" The scientist holding Xiaofan shouted. "Don't shoot her. We can use her. She's one of the first."

A second soldier put the butt of his M4 into his shoulder. "I don't care, doc. Orders is orders. And we got a protocol to follow."

It was at that moment that the second wave of missiles struck the facility rocking the very foundations and scattering dust and debris throughout.

The second strike was designed to create further confusion within the Hospital, as its residents had nicknamed the facility. Unlike the first strike which had been a surface strike, this one was a bunker-buster designed to penetrate deep into the ground into heavily fortified places. This was meant to serve as another distraction to keep the Hospital soldiers from organizing a solid resistance. And deep in the facility it succeeded as soldiers and scientists alike picked themselves off the ground.

A soldier coughed while the other cursed at the falling debris. Conrad McCoy had fallen to the floor taking Xiaofan with him. After the initial shock wore off, she began to struggle.

"Hey, now! Stop that! Don't bite me or I swear I'll use this needle on you. Understand?" Conrad said. She ceased struggling as she felt the needle prick her in the throat.

A sudden silence fell over the area. The air, choked with smoke and dust, grew heavier and everyone could feel the barometric pressure drop as if a musty, old blanket had been thrown over them. Somewhere deep, buried beneath his cognitive-brain, instinct began to rouse from its academia-induced coma.

Run.

Conrad's heart kicked against his breastbone.

Run.

Get up and run.

No. He scolded himself. There's nothing—

The smoke eddied and swirled in front of him, parting like ethereal curtains on a stage. A snout wrinkled back in a snarl and exposed long, glistening fangs.

No! Horror gripped his mind and shook his soul as a dog would a rabbit.

The thing lunged forward, quicker than thought. His mind tried to register what he had seen but all he could fathom was that it was the biggest wolf he had ever seen. And instead of trotting past on all fours, it shot past him, propelled on two legs.

One of the soldiers recovered in time to raise his M4 carbine rifle to his shoulder and pull the trigger. The burst went wild as the thing drove in at him, snarling in deep guttural tones. He cried out once and then fell silent as the sound of flesh being rent filled the air.

The other soldier screamed in terror and revulsion as the horror tore out his compatriot's throat. Still recovering from the explosion, he tried to rise to his knees and bring his rifle to bear. He was too late as the beast leapt from the still-warm corpse and swiped one long clawed arm at him. The claw connected with his helmet saving him from being brained but it was strong enough to knock him against the wall in a daze. Unhesitating, the creature took advantage and tore the rifle from his hand, snapping his wrist in three places. Two large, fur-covered claws grabbed him by the body armor and hoisted him into the air. He was slammed once, twice against the wall. Then the monster let him go, his feet holding him up for the brief second before the clawed hands latched onto his head. With a quick twist, his neck broke and his spine severed. With a casual shrug, the beast threw his corpse aside.

Conrad, still clutching Xiaofan, whimpered to himself and used the wall to lift himself off the ground. He shuddered when he heard the second soldier thud to the floor. He clutched the little girl closer and dug the hypodermic needle into the upper layers of skin on her throat. "Hold still!" he commanded in a shrill voice, as she reflexively fought against the needle burrowing into her flesh.

The soldiers had fallen silent as the grave and the only sound the two survivors could hear was their own harsh breathing coming out in ragged gasps. He didn't dare turn his head to peer over his shoulder; he didn't want to see the thing as it slowly rounded the corner to face them. He sensed her presence, sensed her stalking in a wide circle around the bend, eyes intent on him.

She slowly strode out of the smoke before them. Blood matted her hands and droplets fell to the ground where they congealed in the dust and debris. Her eyes, though, large and yellow, were what held Conrad in place. Never in his life had he felt such malice as he did in that moment. And then he took in the whole of her. A wolf. Not just a wolf, a werewolf—a hybrid man-wolf creature standing before him. Her face was mostly lupine, but it held a roundness only a human face could make and the muzzle only a wolf could bear.

His bowels clenched as the dawning realization struck him. They had been successful. Yes, he knew that. He had been part of that for the last five years. They had been successful in melding the bodies and souls of man and beast together.

But now their creation was free.

Free.

What had they done?

What sort of abomination had they unleashed on the world?

Free.

And there was naught he could do about it.

"Stay back." He whimpered. He raised his elbow to emphasize the needle in Xiaofan's neck. "I'll use it!"

The werewolf paused a moment and cocked her head to the side as if to ponder the strange little man holding the little girl hostage.

"Listen. If you'll just let me go. I pro—"

The werewolf lunged.

She caught his head in one clawed hand and slammed him into the concrete wall. His head cracked open, sounding like an overripe melon splatting against the wall. His arms fell away from Xiaofan and then he too fell as the clawed hand released him.

Xiaofan stumbled forward as his corpse hit the back of her knees and pushed her towards the snarling beast. As she regained her balance she stared up into the haunting, yellow eyes. She sighed.

"So Freya, that's what they did to you."

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