Seven Clues Trilogy: Reflection

Prologue: Operation Lazarus

1934

"I'm a person! Stop! Please, have mercy! I'm a person! I'M A PERSON!"

The shrieks of pure agony and terror pierced the atmosphere around them. Rosalind stood frozen in her fear as both William and Dr. Huntington raced around the cramped office, searching through the cabinets and drawers.

"No, no, please! I don't want to die! Please, I'm a person! I'm a per-!"

Rosalind's stomach flopped and her heart jolted as though someone sent a bolt of electricity through her body. The person screaming was her newfound, best friend, Rachel Durham.

"She's dead...Rachel's dead!" Rosalind's delicate, thin hands cupped her mouth as she tried to process what was happening. Everything was so different yesterday! How can their fate turn so sour so quickly?

William brushed back his shaggy, blonde hair and spotted Rosalind standing in the middle of the room, stiff as a board and pale white. She came from such a simple and innocent background, she wasn't use to this kind of intensity. Then again, who would?

Dr. Huntington dug through random filing cabinets, scooping the contents in a large suitcase. He didn't even bother to look at what he was taking, for he knew time was something they didn't really have anymore. If he wanted Rosalind and William to make it out of there alive he couldn't waste another second.

"Rosalind! C'mon, sweetheart, ya gotta get yourself together, now...You haven't much time until they track us down in here." Dr. Huntington snapped the suitcase shut and pushed it towards them, making the piece of luggage slide across the slick, waxed floor.

The suitcase crashed against Rosalind's ankle with a muted thud. She didn't even flinch as William snatched the case and took Rosalind's hand. They didn't feel pain like they used to in their old lives. Rosalind was still deciding if it was a good or bad thing.

Sirens blared all around them, shrieking and pleading broke the usual still-silence of the laboratory, and nobody but Dr. Huntington was on their side. What were they going to do? They barely knew one another and were forced to start a new life, a whole new species, together. Before, the thought wasn't so bad, but now they were hunted and marked as dangerous predators. They were innocent...Why was this happening to them?

Dr. Huntington peeled his lab coat from his shoulders and threw it on Rosalind. "They'll be looking out for those dressed in a normal, civilian wardrobe, not lab coats. Though I want you both to survive and flourish, it is extremely important that you, Rosalind, stay alive. You're healthy and your body is ten times stronger than your old one," Dr. Huntington paused, pulling them both by the hand and away from the window as he heard footsteps. He waited for the steps to fade away before he began speaking again, "Childbirth will provide no complications this time..."

Rosalind's heart skipped a beat. In her old life, she died during childbirth. Her child was born as sickly as she and did not survive the night. Before, she was thrilled to hear that she could have children again, but now she wasn't even sure if she wanted this new life anymore.

William sensed her discomfort and uneasiness and draped an arm around her shoulder, hugging her to his side. As far as he knew, they were the sole survivors of their new species. He loved this woman and was willing to start this new life with her. Nothing had changed for him even if the same people he shared a planet with sought to put an end to his existence.

Dr. Huntington pushed back one blind from the window across from him gradually with his index finger. Holding his shallow breath, he peered through the tiny slit and examined the room. He could see long, smeared streaks of blood where some were dragged through the halls.