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“The coast is clear.” The pair dashed out of the corner across the courtyard back into the shadows. Infiltrating the last laboratory on Earth wasn’t easy, it was so heavily guarded that only someone who knew the ins and outs of it could sneak around undetected.
While Player may have been able to hack into the makeshift security systems easily, he needed the help of Carmen the red wolf hybrid to get in. Or perhaps she needed him. Either way, they relied on each other. Especially with Zach and Ivy gone, trying to take down the Last Men’s project V.I.L.E. from the inside, they needed each other then more than ever.
Carmen leaped on a crate to get up to a vent and threw the cover to the side and crawled inside with Player following. She was too familiar with the system, having crawled around as a child in the facility. Finally, she could use those painful memories to take down the organization that did that to her in the first place.
Arriving at the other side, she froze. “What is it, Red?” Player quietly asked. “I smell nothing. They completely erased all scents with some chemical.” The wolf responded, panicked. “They knew we were coming this way!” In the small space, the two of them tried to turn around and leave the other direction. Player started crawling back, but swiftly stopped. “They found us.” Carmen peeked over his shoulder, and sure enough, one of the guards she knew well was standing right there. the duo flipped back around and dashed out the scentless side, knowing the danger.
Carmen shoved the grate away and ran out, holding Player’s hand to drag him along. Landing on the concrete, they were met by the Cleaners, two high ranking guards. Carmen stepped in front of Player, protecting him. Her ears pinned back and her tail swished as she growled, baring her fangs. “Don’t you dare hurt him.” she barked. The Cleaners seemed unamused and kept approaching. One of Carmen’s clawed hands held onto Player’s arm, preparing for the scenario of him being taken.
Player reached in his pocket for a device he had hoped to never use. A small taser. It was simple, and it wouldn’t do much damage, but it was all he had. If only he wasn’t so scared of hurting others.
The taser didn’t help much when the pair heard movement behind them. The hybrid gripped onto Player even harder and turned around, ready to fight. No fighting skills could have stopped the sleeping darts that pierced the skin on their arms. Carmen and Player started running, trying to escape, but they couldn’t escape sleep. Their sight became blurry and their eyelids became heavy. Player passed out first, and Carmen picked him up and continued trying to get away from the chasing guards. However not even the wolf could outrun her tiredness, slowly collapsing to the ground, cradling Player in her arms to protect him from harm. Carmen tried to slash at the approaching security guards with her claws, but she couldn’t muster the strength to do any damage. The last thing she saw was Player’s body being ripped away while she was unable to help.
…
Carmen’s eyes slowly opened and she found herself laying on a large bed. The ceiling’s chipping paint displayed a hand drawn image of the night sky, with a big full moon in the center. Next to her on the bed was a small plush sheep, the same one she knew as good as the back of her hand. She sat up and took it in her hand. It was as old as her, and it was designed to be a dog toy. It had sewn up holes all over and was missing an eye from how violently she had once played with it.
She looked around the room and it was the same as she had left it all those years ago. The only difference was one of the walls had a curtain over it, blocking its contents. Taking in the scent of her lost childhood, she walked over to the door, careful not to make any sounds. She tried to open the door, but it was locked. Even trying to unlock it, nothing worked. She ran over to the window, and it had been reinforced since she last stepped foot there. “Damn it!” She shouted, punching the unfamiliar glass.
Her pointed ears swiveled around when she heard the locked door open up, and she rushed to attack whoever entered. She tried to sink her fangs into the flesh of the enemy, but they wouldn’t go through. The door closed and the person was fully in the red wolf hybrid’s room. Instincts taking over, Carmen tried to thrash around to do more damage, but she was stopped when she felt a heavy hand petting her head. The bite force lessened and Carmen finally looked up to see who she was biting. It was a familiar face, and it made sense why her bites hadn’t worked.
Out of all of Carmen’s caretakers when she was growing up in confinement, Brunt had seemed to care for her the most. She had leather coverings over her arms and under her sleeves, protecting her from the bites when the canine was playing. She lifted her jaws away and stepped back, teeth bared as a warning, watching the human’s every move. “Calm down, Pup.” Brunt said, holding out a stick of jerky. “What did you do with Player?” Carmen snarled, refusing the treat. “We can talk about your friend later. The real question is why did you leave us?”
She put on a face of fake sorrow, walking over to the bed and sitting down, holding the toy sheep and acting clueless. “You just wanted me as a weapon.” She growled. Brunt raised her arms, showing she had no weapons. “We love you, we care about you. You’re like a child to us. We would never do anything to hurt you, so we just don’t understand why you hurt us by running away. Won’t you come back to us, Pup?” Carmen balled her fists, angrily striding up to her. “I would rather die than join you, and you know why.”
Brunt’s face fell as she rose to her feet, slapping her knees. “I guess we have to do this the hard way.” She started walking over to the obscured wall and pulled back the curtain. It was a pane of one way glass. On the other side was Player, still unconscious, tied to a chair in an empty room. Carmen darted over instantly, banging on the glass, but it was useless.
The boy slowly woke up and soon realized where he was. He started trying to shake the chair, and his screams pierced the air as he called Carmen’s name. “I’m right here! Player, I’m here!” She shouted back, trying to let her voice reach him. He seemed to not hear, but his gaze went from looking all over to a fixated spot in the room. His breathing quickened even more and he was even more determined to escape. Carmen shifted positions to see what had struck fear into his heart, and she screamed louder too after seeing it.
Maelstrom stood there, facing Player with a smile. He held a crossbow in one hand and slowly loaded it, making it as agonizing as possible for Carmen and Player. Tears started streaming down the hybrid’s face as she realized there was nothing she could do. He slowly aimed the weapon up, and fired. Directly into Player’s heart.
Carmen wailed at the sight. He was alive, but wouldn’t be for long. Maelstrom left the room, which gave Carmen an idea. Brunt watched her as she ran out the door, which was now unlocked, and into the other room. Player’s face lit up. “Red..?” he coughed, blood running down his chest. “I’m here now, don’t worry.” She soothed, untying him. She stared at his wound. There was no way for him to survive it. She lifted him up into a hug and crumpled to the floor, the dying boy in her arms. The blood stained her clothes, but she didn’t care. “Carm-“ he wheezed out, interrupted by coughing up a scarlet liquid. “Shh, don’t try to talk.” Carmen weeped. It was inevitable, but she wanted to prolong his life every second.
Player ignored her warning, continuing with what he was attempting to say. “Carmen, you’re the best person I’ve ever met. I’m sorry I couldn’t help more..” “No, you’ve done way more than enough.” She rebuted through broken sobs. “I should be the sorry one.” Her tears fell onto Player’s bloodstained jacket. He weakly raised up a hand to wipe the tears from her face. “Meeting you was the best thing to ever happen to me.” he smiled painfully. Carmen couldn’t deal to watch her best friend be in more pain than he had to be, so she understood what she had to do.
She pulled the arrow out of his chest and watched the blood flow out in a heavy stream. Player smiled, glad the last thing he would ever see would he Carmen, and he closed his eyes.
Carmen remembered something she heard Maelstrom once say. She overheard a class she was giving to new Last Men recruits. He had said “Emotional torture is the worst punishment you can give someone. However, it can have a drawback. While making someone lose all hope, all reason to keep going, can make someone obedient, it could also lead them to seek revenge.”
She refused to be their obedient little dog.