Bleeding Color

"Alice. Alice get back here." Pitri hissed, tracing my steps deep into the winding tunnels.

We were supposed to be on break, but I had snatched Pitri and dragged him the general direction of where the person was dragged away. I needed to know what happened to them, that they were okay and the pinching in my gut was a restless twitch and nothing else.

My feet were sure and soft as they traced at an invisible path I could see in my mind's eye. I knew what direction they took and a sniff could pick up the lingering smell of the people in white. They were such an odd smell compared to the other humans in the area and the deeper we got, the stronger it did. It reminded me of alcohol and illness, an overlying clean reek used to hid a disease. The sickness though wasn't anything I knew and I could pick out most, the scientists had ensured it by parading different samples of it in front of me. Nostrils flaring, I paused behind a corner. Pitri came to a stop beside me, shifting back and forth nervously on his feet.

"Alice, look I know it looked bad but it doesn't mean...I mean, it's just we are outsiders. People probably just don't react anymore cause they know they are well taken care of."

"Fine then I'll gladly give you my food rations if you are right, but I need to know. You're the one who said I need to come and learn about who I'm saving."

Pitri voice's dropped, words just catching the air, yet still enough for my Other senses to pick them up. "Yes, but I didn't want you to hate them."

I frowned, but ignored him checking the coast and crept forward along the wall to a plain oak door. Pressing my hand against it, I could feel and dark wave rumbling from within it...Other seeped through the pores of the wood. A jiggle of the handle proved it to be locked, a shifted ready to break the lock when Pitri rested a hand on my shoulder. Moving aside, he got to work picking the lock using a kit he pulled out from a band strapped around his waist under his pants. I turned, flushing at the state of him. A pop rewarded him quickly. I moved to open it, and he stopped me again. His eyes darted to a panel beside the door, an electronic look. Now that was rare since post-Others, something valuable for definitely hidden behind that door, something that reeked of Other, sickness, and alcohol. 

Closing my eyes, I felt down into my own brain and then to the thick blood sliding through my veins. Deeper and deeper into my past I dove, it had been so long since I had hacked.

"Alice..." He urged, a worry hinting in the tension.

Bright purple shone through my iris' when they snapped open, reaching a hand out the fingers flew across the panel. The feeling was very much detached from myself. It was like my body had flipped into an autopilot and the hard-wired reaction streamed out, efficient and exact. I was always good with computers. Science and technology was the hope of humans, I needed to be fluent in it and the scientists had drilled me for years as a child.

The door beeped once and swung inward. My hand dropped, leaden to my side. Tingles and spiders crawling through my skin, made me rub at my arms once I had re-connected to myself. It was always such an uncomfortable feeling that I hadn't done it in ages. I used to actually throw tantrums to get out of hacking because of the feeling; however, I was still strapped to computers day in and day out to master them. Once I knew how to do it though, they gladly stopped fighting with me, knowing the knowledge would never leave.

Pitri snuck in first with me close at his back, all senses on high alert.

"Wish we hadn't had our weapons taken before entering." Pitri grumbled, hands clenched and at the ready in front of his face.

Pushing large sheets of plastic out of our way, quietly as possible, we slipped our way through the maze of the room. Until we saw dark, blurry outlines behind an upcoming sheet. Pitri grabbed my hand, forcing me to the floor with him in a crouch. Laying flat on our stomachs, we inched closer and under a couple more sheets. Some medical racks were in the one, familiar needles and vials filling it. I gestured with a jerk of my head. We slunk over and sat up, our silhouettes hidden from those we watched.