246

The man looked down met with the big eyes of a tiny girl. "246, huh?" The girl jumped a bit at the sound of her name. "Y-yes..." she whispered quietly. "It"s a pleasure to finally meet you." He smiled. "If you"d like, you can call me Rick." "Rick." The girl repeated back. "Yep!" The man smiled once more. The girl gave a slight nod as she held her hands to her chest. "Why don"t we have a seat?" Before she could respond, Rick lifted her up and placed her carefully on top the table. "There we go." He then noticed the girl looking down steadily. "Not the type to strike up a conversation, huh?" He chuckled. She kept looking down. "Well," Rick began. "Why don"t we start with blood work." The girl looked up. "I don"t like needles." She quietly whispered, then winced presumably at the thought of a needle. "Hm." Rick said as he looked around the room studying it. "Well," he clapped his hands together. "Lets make a deal!" He smiled. "Huh?" The girl looked up. "If you let me draw your blood this once with a boring band-aid, tomorrow I"ll bring in special band aids, just for you!" The girl looked up amazed. "Really?" "Really!" He nodded. "C-can they be bunnies?" She looked hopeful. "Bunnies huh?" He thought for a second. "Alright! I"ll try my best!" He smiled. The girl gave s nod and smile. Ok then! hold out your arm for me, please." He looked and saw her carefully raising her arm towards him. "Good girl..." "On the count of three, follow my finger around the room, please." She raised her head and began following his finger." And done! He smiled as he finished blotting, then putting the band-aid on the spot where the needle had been. The girl looked at him amazed. "That didn"t hurt!" She exclaimed excitedly. Rick sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "I"m glad to hear that!" He smiled. "I can"t wait to tell 245!" She smiled happily. Rick froze. "Uh... yeah!" He looked away. "Oh! It"s lunch time now!" She said hopping down from the table. Rick looked nervously around. He didn"t have the energy, or the mentality to tell her her best friend was now dead, especially because of him. As the girl opened the door they heard a woman screaming, and crying "YOU KILLED MY SON!" "YOU KNEW OUR DEAL, AND YET-" Rick quickly grabbed the child"s shoulders and carefully pulled her back into the room. "It"s probably not safe out there." As he held her shoulders he felt them bobbing up and down. That"s when he heard a sniffle. "246?" "Hey-" "That was 245"s Aunt." She then broke out into full sobbing. "Is he..." She began with breaks in her sobs, raising her head to look up at Rick. "I"m afraid," he began as he felt a tiny body grip onto him. 246 began sobbing into him. Rick glanced out the peephole. There were men carrying the corpse of the child he had killed. This is the first time in forever since he had felt so guilty, so dirty for committing a murder. But all he could do now was protect the girl, the victims best friend, the promise. He began stroking her hair gently as he let her fully embrace him.

It"s 3 am, and I"m here searching up how to draw a bunny. Rick scratched his head, annoyed. After he left 246 he immediately went to a pharmacy in search of what he thought would be a no brainer. How the h.e.l.l do they not sell bunny band aids? He sighed as he carefully drew the ears on the last bunny. There. He sighed. "This place..." he began quietly to himself. We need to get the h.e.l.l out of here. He flicked the lights off and drifted off to sleep.

As he walked he let out a big yawn stretching his arms. He hadn"t gotten much of a sleep after all. "Oi." He turned, looking to see who was talking to him. "Huh?" He responded as he let out another yawn. "You"re not in this department today." The man looked around. "I think you have the wrong person-" "No-" The other man began. "You"ve been too soft with these experiments." "You"ve been moved to the adults department." Before he could protest the man sneered. "Hugging those things dirties your pretty white coat y"know." He laughed, walking away. Rick stood there astonished, but he didn"t have time to get angry and start a fight. He began running down The hall, not stopping until he reached the bulletin. He skimmed through the numbers on the "to die" list. That"s when his heart dropped. He noticed "246" on the list. No. He thought to himself in utter disbelief. Her abilities were starting to kick in, she was blooming to be what they would refer to as a successful experiment. So why. Why. But he had no time to think, he thought about the plan he hatched up but threw to the side. Not thinking this would happen. He had to hurry. They had to escape. He began running once more.

"Well kid," the doctor began. "You know, what happens when little brats don"t behave here, don"t you?" He smirked. "I don"t know-" The girl began. "That was a rhetorical question, dummy." The man then laughed. "Then again you probably don"t know how to write your own name." He snickered. The girl sat their quietly. What happened to the nice man, Rick, he forgot to keep his promise. They always do. She began to tear up. "Ah you"re crying!?" The doctor began. "There"ll be no room for tears where you"re going now sweetheart." He flicked the needle once. "More like screaming of the d.a.m.ned." He laughed. Twice. He rose the needle in her direction. "Demons like you should"ve stayed right in h.e.l.l!" Three. She looked up horrified as she saw the needle coming right at her, panicked she screamed, closing her eyes and by reflex, swatted the needle away. There was a silence. One. She breathed heavily. Two. She began to open her eyes. Three. She looked down to see a body lying on the floor. Horrified, she began sobbing uncontrollably. It was an accident. She just hated needles. She was scared because of the screaming. She didn"t mean to. She didn"t want to. Suddenly the door opened up. She jumped up. It was the doctor from yesterday. She sobbed even wilder than before and pointed towards the body. "I didn"t mean to!" She was hysterical. He couldn"t even begin to care about the scene. She was safe. She was alive. And that"s all that mattered. "246." He grabbed her by the shoulders. "We need to get out of here, and fast." "Do you trust me?" He looked her in the eyes. The girl couldn"t even begin to comprehend what was happening. But she nodded. "Good girl." He picked her up carrying her under his arm. And ran. He ran into a a medicine cart. But that didn"t stop him. He kept running, like his life depended on it. With her tucked under his arm he ran like h.e.l.l. He noticed the door towards the end of the hall. Freedom. He thought. He hadn"t looked back once, but heard the alarms going off. But it was too late. They had made it outside before lockdown began. Despite being outside he wouldn"t dare risk it and kept running as fast as he could. He then turned a corner and noticed a cab. He banged on the window starting the driver inside. The drive rolled down his window. "I could"ve choked on my sandwich!" He cried. Unfazed, Rick opened the door, quickly put 246 inside, then got in himself. "Where to." The driver grumbled. "I don"t care, take us to any town you can think of." He breathed heavily. "Oh don"t worry buddy, I"ve got just the place." He laughed. "Wait-" He began. "Just go!" Rick cried. The driver quickly put the car in drive and drove off. "Cash or credit?" He asked impatiently. "Cash." Rick sighed still out of breath. He then glanced down, he momentarily forgot about the girl accompanying him on their escape. "246-" He took his coat off, wrapping it around the girl. He smiled, collecting his breath. "We made it." He laughed. No response. "246?" "246-" "its winter?" She questioned. "Ah, well actually fall just began." He brushed his hand through her hair. "It"s cold." She looked up at him. "Yeah it is pretty chilly." He chuckled. She stared at him for a long second. "Hey." She tugged his arm. "Hm?" He looked back down towards her. "Are we-" She began. "...free?" She kept her gaze on him. Rick looked out the window of the other side. "I sure hope so." He smiled up. "Also," she began." "Hm?" He looked over. "Did you get my bunny band aids?" She asked hopeful. Kids... he thought amused. "As a matter of fact, yes I did!" He dug into his pants pocket, and pulled out three band aids with bunnies drawn onto them. The girls eyes twinkled. "You kept your promise!" She beamed. He chuckled. I sure did. As he began to nod off.