Page 17

A n hour has passed since Alphose found the Wolfhunters dead and their leader missing.

He'd come to the conclusion that the leader had aborted the mission when he saw the dead bodies of his colleagues, he might already be on his way to report back to his superiors, probably for reinforcements.

It's no longer safe for them to be here.

He came out of the shadows, looked around the hospital and followed the route he remembered Ismena had followed.

He has to get Ismena back to Naturiah. He'd seen the time when her mother left the hospital, so he knows it's only Ismena and her sick younger sister remaining in that room.

He got to a hallway where he didn't know which route to follow anymore. So, he closed his eyes and allowed his cougar's scene of smell to do the searching.

The scent of the Alpha King caressed his nose. He followed the scent until he arrived in front of a door. He knocked once and opened the door .

"Ismena, we have to go—" He stopped suddenly when he realized she had company. And the company was... Her.

The cougar stretched inside him and growled with pleasure.

"Alphose! What are you doing here!?" Ismena gasped in surprise. Then, she found out what she just did, her eyes widened more and she snapped her mouth shut.

But, then again, Sandra—always the smart one—already picked it up. Her own eyes widened, she looked at her friend, "You know him?"

Hector continued his story. "Hazel was barely conscious when I took her and ran, by the time I got far enough away from the facility, she'd lost full consciousness.

I didn't want there to be problems when I arrive at the hospital carrying her—I didn't want to create any suspicions—so I laid her by the roadside, stayed in the nearby bush and waited. "

"Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long.

A young couple saw her and stopped to help her.

I pretended to be a passerby who also saw what was happening and stopped to help with the situation.

A few other cars stopped too. Together, we loaded her up and I directed them to the hospital where I want her to be treated. "

Simon, in his chains was still trying to wrap his head around everything Hector was telling him.

"When Amelia heard her daughter has been found but she's in the hospital, she came running.

" Hector's eyes went hazy fled with memories, "I can still remember that look of relief in her eyes to have found her daughter alive but at the same time, the look of fear and horror at the condition of little Hazel. "

"She stayed day and night in the hospital. For weeks. Hazel's condition was so bad that every day that passed, she goes one step closer to death. Her fever was 105 degrees, she had perin eal laceration so bad it was horrible and—"

"Wait, what's that?" Simon interrupted. He knows what perineal laceration is but maybe Hector doesn't, for him to associate it with this case.

Hector let out an empty laugh filled with pains, "You're a doctor too, Simon, so you know. Her vágina skin tore so bad down to her perineum. There was no demarcation left between her vagina hole and her asshole. That was how bad he tore her up." He stated without mincing words.

Simon winced. Okay, even he has to agree that that's a bad situation for a child to be in. "It must have hurt like hell." He grumbled.

"It did. Little Hazel had to be put into deep sleep all the time, and whenever she's awake, she is always in pain.

Her mother was right there with her, but I watched her die a little more inside everyday.

" He paused, "Apart from all that, little Hazel's womb was heavily battered from that ordeal, which shocked the hell out of all the doctors including myself because she was pregnant. "

"Wait, first. How is it even possible for an eight-year-old girl to be pregnant? Talk more of being pregnant with a battered womb?" The doctor in Simon forced him to ask.

"It would have been called a medical miracle if it was a good it.

It wasn't." He ran an unsteady hand through his hair, "Carol admitted to me that Hazel strangely started seeing her menstruation a week after she started working at the Facility.

She told me that while it's strange, it doesn't worry her because she knows that some girls see it earlier than the others. "

"I know all that too, but eight years was just too early." Simon shrugged, "Well, either the sperm of that animal, Number 6, is strong as hell or God wanted our experiments to be a success too. Even He must have been very tired of these anima—"

"Oh, shut the fuck up." Hector interrupted, "Never bring God into the sick cause of the Facility ever again."

Simon wanted to mock him for being a religious man now, but the fact that he wanted to survive forced him to bite his lips. "Sorry, sorry. Anyway, you said something else. She had a battered womb but she was pregnant?"

Hector glared at him before looking away. "The child was growing outside her womb."

Simon blinked. That was unexpected. "What!?"

"Even the doctors were shocked too, but that was how it happened."

Okay, a lot of all these are unbelievable. The Facility needs to hear this. Simon thought.

Aloud, he said, "Those animals... Apart from being a freak of nature, their sperms must be quite persistent.

A good thing to know. It will work in our favor.

" He added with a nod of his head, "So, she carried the child to term and give birth to her, but you took the child as yours?

Knowing fully well that she belongs to the Facility? "

"Nope." Hector answered simply, "Within two weeks in the hospital, with all those poking and prodding, she had a miscarriage. It was way too much for her. She lost the baby at five weeks."

"What!? That's a lie. Algro, that wolfhunter we put in charge of keeping an eye on her told us that the pregnancy stayed even though Hazel Smith was traumatized. He kept the Facility updated for eleven good years before we stopped hearing from him— "

"I killed Algro a week after I ran away with Hazel.

" Hector interrupted easily, "That was his second day on the job the Facility gave him.

I noticed we had a tail, so I killed him before he spilled the beans about me to the Facility.

I was the one that kept feeding the Facility with false informations so that they'll think that their plans are still solid, that everything was alright, so they won't come after Hazel the second time until I'm sure they would be unable to find her. To find us."

"What the fuck!?" Simon glared at his captor.

Hector shrugged unconcerned, "I let y'all believe the child was still alive even after Hazel lost the pregnancy and her womb was battered because of all the damages to that organ, to try and save her.

That child was only eight years old. Eight!

" He spat the word to his prisoner, "It was too much for her. Too much."

Simon was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that the Facility's child died, that there's no child of changeling blood for the Facility. It was heartbreaking.

"She died, you know." Hector confessed after a long pause. "Hazel, that child, she died."

Simon snorted again. "Now, that's dramatic. That's funny too, considering that I know for sure that she is the woman in that hospital room."

"She died in the hospital three weeks after loosing the baby.

" Hector continued, "I was starting to suspect we might loose her completely when there was a sudden change in her condition.

It worsened. The doctor informed us to prepare for the worst. I thought hard on what to do, knowing fully well that Amelia might die if that Hazel dies. "

"So, that very morning I went to my bedroom cupboard and picked up Number 6's blood sample I took some time ago from the lab, because I wanted to work from home then.

I put that tube in my pocket before going to the hospital, I had no idea what I was thinking when I decided to bring that with me, but I did anyway.

Best decision I ever made." He added, sparing Simon a glance.

"Only to get to the hospital to find Amelia screaming so loud.

" He went on, "I knew something had gone wrong.

I followed the screams only to see Hazel's whole body was covered, including her face.

She'd died." He swallowed tightly, "Amelia was crying.

.. pleading... screaming. She begged her child not to go.

The pain in her voice... till today, they haunt me. "

He rose from the chair then and began pacing, "I was desperate then. I rushed out of there to find a syringe. Luckily, I saw a doctor leaving his office, so I ran into it and took two syringes. Number 6's blood was the only choice I had and I know I had to try it out. So, I did."

Simon's eyes went wide. "Wait. Don't tell me you—"

"Yes, I did. I was hugging her and crying for her not to die, I used my body to cover hers to shield what I wanted to do from other people's eyes. I injected her arm with those two syringes." His pacing increased, "That girl was dead, Simon, but she came back to life."

"What!? That's unbelievable!"

"She did. I found it hard to believe too but it happened. She came back to life!"

"This is a breakthrough..." Something else to tell the Facility. Wow. Just wow.

"Not only that, she started recovering. Every day, she made more progress. Within two more weeks, she was well and okay. But we found out that she suffered dissociative amnesia of that ordeal. It was a blessing."

"What? Wait... Hazel lost her memories of what happened to her in the lab?" Simon asked incredulously .

"Yes. She has no memories whatsoever of the last four months of her life.

Everything that has to do with the lab—down to her stay in the hospital, her young mind forgot everything about it as a way for her to cope with the trauma of what she went through.

" He stopped pacing, coming in front of Simon, "Children's minds are an amazing thing, don't you think? "