Prologue: Get Out
A deep, prolonged ticking sounded in the vast room. Along with the ticking in the large white room was a soft humming. A tall woman with pale, almost white, blonde hair strolled down the center of the glass room. Her thin fingers ran along a wall to her left, gently scanning her hand print. A projected screen loomed out in front of her from the glass door before her. The woman casually pressed holographic buttons, stopping the ticking sound. A satisfied smile crept from her pale, chapped lips as she entered through the glass door. The room was filled with vials upon vials of pale red liquid, held in large coolers with racks.
The sound of the woman’s shoes echoed off of the marbled floor. She halted, stopping only to examine a vial which had crashed onto the floor. The pale liquid was spilling out, humming with energy. A sharp piercing feeling protruded from the back of her neck. Upon reaching for the source of the pain, she felt a needle sticking out from her flesh. A fearful look now plagued her face, horrifyingly contorting her features. Even the slightest contact with the virus would mean certain death. She wailed, arms flinging every which way to try and gather her senses, losing the balance on her feet when a figure stepped out from behind her, their face hidden in the shadow of their hood as the light was cast from behind them. However, some of their features could be seen due to the glow from their pale blue eyes. A significant scar could be seen running from the outside of their eye, down their smile line, and tapering off toward the chin. Everything else blurred together.
The person stepped, almost lackadaisical, toward the woman who was now crawling on the ground to escape. From within the unknown person’s black hooded jacket, they pulled out a metallic weapon. The woman quickly noticed this, and clawed at the marble floor, managing to only scramble herself a mere few inches away from the perpetrator. The cloaked figure didn’t hesitate to fire their gun, killing the woman instantly.
The hooded figure released a soft sigh, and pinched their nose bridge. A younger boy joined them, patting a firm hand against the cloaked figures back all before walking through the glass door. Upon opening the door, a loud, shrieking alarm suddenly rang out through the multistory building.
The attacker, and the boy, each looked grim as shock pierced their bodies. The attacker motioned for the boy to hurry along, and gathered as many vials as they could, and shoved them in a black duffel bag. Through the glass walls, more cloaked people could be seen running down the lengthy corridor. The attacker waved their comrades away, telling them to find a way out. The alarm would hijack the elevator, keeping it locked in place, so that wasn’t a possible way out. It seemed that the only way up was through the never-ending stairwell, but the time it would take to escape would cost a few lives.
With all the vials secured, the cloaked attacker carefully stepped around the broken vials and the quickly pooling blood. The room across the hallway housed two windows perfect for escape, if one could scale down the side of the tower without falling to their death. This was the fastest way. Stepping out into the hallway was the riskiest part however, noted by soldiers who were already firing their bullets. Each bullet quickly flew down the length of the hallway.
The cloaked attacker pushed the glass door open, their hand shook but they raised it slowly. In time, the bullets slowed to a complete stop, new bullets stopped as well. This created an opening. Now more protected, they ran out, hurrying to the other room, watching as an instant rain of bullets poured back into motion. Smirking, the attacker burst through the room, leaping over furniture and other medical supplies, and jumping for the window.
Glass burst out every which way, spilling out as the cloaked attacker flung themselves down to the street level, down towards an alleyway. The fall was fast, faster than they expected, and they tightly gripped their bag full of vials. In the quick time it took to fall, just before hitting the ground they found themselves hovering in the air. The cloaked attacker quickly glanced around and met the gaze of the same younger boy from earlier.
A knowing, yet silent, nod was shared between the two before they were released from the hovering ability. Once secure and on the ground, they rummaged through the bag holding the vials. After checking that the vials were secure, and the attacker found themselves steady on their feet and took in a deep breath. Now was the time to remain cool-headed. The cloaked person patted a hand down the length of their body, brushing dust off the fibers of their clothes, and walked out onto the street, mixing and blending in with the crowd.
