Chapter 32: Gene’s Guilt

In one of the gymnasiums of the university, Eve laid on the floor groaning in her sleep. She was feeling the effects from the blood loss, but besides the weakness in her limbs, she didn’t feel the chill, which she found unusual, since when one loses too much blood the chill is the most obvious followed by fatigue. Eve forced her eyes open and then noticed that a needle was sticking out of her arm. She was about to yank it out, but paused when she heard a voice say, “Keep that in a little longer.”

Eve glanced up only to see Gene sitting before her with a small tube connected to a needle in his arm. She noticed that the tube was connected to the needle in her arm and that blood was traveling in the tube.

Eve stared at the tube and asked, “Is this a blood transfusion?” Gene nodded saying, “I couldn’t just let you die from blood loss.”

Eve muttered her thanks as she sat next to Gene and then asked, “So your blood type matched mine.”

Gene nodded saying, “Good thing I looked into your file, Eve.”

“…That’s right, I told you my name before I passed out.”

Gene nodded and then smiled at Eve saying, “I know you don’t know me, but you still prevented me from getting hurt. Can you tell me why?”

“What do you mean?”

Gene sighed, saying, “I knew that the Users were mistreated in the Facility and yet, just like Exodia said, I did nothing. Don’t you feel angry at me for being a worker there?”

Eve shook her head.

“I don’t know exactly what the workers did to other Users, but I wasn’t mistreated as far as I can remember.”

“You weren’t?”

Eve shook her head saying, “The nurses and doctors who saw me were really nice and the security guards would play with me sometimes, but that was only after I took my medicine to control my power.”

Gene’s eyes were wide with disbelief. As he had mentioned Users were forced to practice and some of the practice sessions were brutal and nearly killed some of them. Some Users were even traumatized. So why was Eve different? When he read her file a long time ago, he only knew that she was a weapon summoner and so she should have gone through weapon training and yet she says she was treated nicely.

“Did you go through any training?”

“Training…I was given books to read to learn about different types of weapons and I was allowed to do target practice with the guards, but they called it playing.”

“Really?”

Eve nodded. Gene’s bewilderment about Eve only grew, but then paused when Eve added, “But it was lonely in the facility.”

“Lonely?”

Eve nodded adding, “I never got to meet the others. I wish I had.”

Gene frowned saying, “Be glad you didn’t or you might have ended up scarred just like them.”

Eve looked saddened, but flinched when she felt the needle being pulled out from her arm.

“Your blood level should be stable now,” stated Gene as he discarded the rubber tube and needles to the ground. He then stood up only to fall to the ground again with his hand against the metal clasp around his leg.

“Do you want me to remove that?” asked Eve. Gene nodded with sweat against his brow.

“Just be gentle as much as possible. Don’t just rip it off.”

Eve nodded and held out her hands revealing an orb of light. When the light reached a certain size, she clasped it revealing what looked like a small pen. Gene looked at the so called weapon in bewilderment, until Eve clicked it revealing a small red laser. He remembered seeing such a weapon in the lab when they needed to cut some metal for a sample. Using that laser pen, she carefully sliced off the metal clasp, until it snapped off and fell to the ground allowing blood to seep from the wounds on Gene’s leg. He cringed as Eve tossed the laser pen and then materialized the healing device that she had used many times.

As she ran the healing device over Gene’s injured leg, she looked at Gene and asked, “What Exodia said before…was it true? Did a doctor of the facility really do that to her?”

Gene frowned and nodded.

“It really happened. Exodia was hurt and I did nothing to stop it.”

“Why?”

“I was scared. Dr. Jones had the power to fire me and at the time, I really needed the money, so I just watched and comforted her when it was all done.”

“Do you regret it?”

“I do, that’s why I allowed her to place these braces on me as punishment for not helping her, but even I can tell she doesn’t plan to end this, so I planned to escape after a week of this.”

Eve finished healing his leg and suddenly held his hand saying, “I think it is best for us to escape now.”

Gene chuckled saying, “Now? Eve, we are trapped here and she changes the shape of this metal prison every hour with just a wave of her hand. How do you plan to get out?”

Eve stood up and looked around the metal passages before facing Gene saying, “We walk, until we see a wall. You have me here, so we can escape.”

Gene was silent before smiling and struggling to his feet. He grabbed Eve’s hand and followed her into the maze leaving the blood covered braces on the floor behind them.

Area 40 Facility

Staff: 89 (Dead?) 1 (Alive)

Users: 8 (Alive) 8 (Dead) 29 (Unknown)

Genome Detention Center

Staff: 90 (Dead?) 0 (Alive)

Prisoners: 5 (Alive) 50 (Dead?)

School

Staff: 50 (Dead) 0 (Alive)

Students: 2 (Alive) 140 (Dead)

Earth Dome Faction

Members: 70 (Alive) 0 (Dead)

Strong Faction