Chapter Ten

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??????'s P.O.V

??????: 'I couldn't believe it, a living backpack was standing right in front of me! They were very tall and they seemed shocked to see me, actually they seemed kind of worried?'

Liam took a step towards the girl, she backed away in a scared manner, Liam understood why. The backpack knelt down to try and reach her level.

L: "I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm not that type of person. I just wanna ask some questions, if that's alright with you."

??????: 'They gave me a smile, they seemed friendly so maybe I can trust them.'

The girl nods towards the backpack, showing she's fine with the questions.

L: "What's your name and how old are you?"

E: "M-My name is..Evelyn and I'm seven years old..."

Liam's eyes widened at the response, he put a hand over his mouth and looked away from the girl. They brought a kid in here!? A f***ing kid for gods sake! Liam hasn't had any experience with kids, apart from Tomato but that wasn't for very long, he also never babysat any siblings since he was the youngest so what was he to do with her? With the backpack not moving, Evelyn's first instinct is to tap him because that is the most logical response in this situation, touch a creature you know nothing about. Liam jumped from the tap on his shoulder and quickly snapped back to reality.

E: "Ah! I'm sorry, I didn't mea-"

L: "It's fine, it's alright. I just kinda zoned out..."

E: "Do you have a name?"

L: "Oh, uhm....Well...I-....uh.....You can just call me...Plecak! Yeah...Plecak."

E: "Okay Mr. Plecak!"

E: 'I gave Mr. Plecak a big smile and he smiled back at me! I think I just made a new friend! He might help me find mama like Mr. Cemal promised. He said he'd help find her and I had to wait here but that's nothing I can't do, I'm a big girl!'

Liam's P.O.V

L: 'That son of a b*tch brought in a child to do this sh*t on? I can't imagine that he hasn't done this before. I also can't let her get hurt, I don't want to see another kid get hurt because of some deranged psychopath...I'll just have to do the best that I can and hey, free experience on how to care for a kid I guess, might need it someday..'

L: "Evelyn, was it? Why don't you sit up on the bed and tell me a bit about yourself?"

E: "Okay!"

Evelyn kept that big smile on her face as she made her way over to the bed, she needed some assistance from Liam to get up but soon she was up and ready to talk. While Liam was listening to the girl ramble about her life, he examined her appearance, like he did with Cemal. She had greyish hair, Amber eyes and a light skin colour, lighter than both Cemal and Avani. She wore a light pink top and light blue trousers that went almost all the way down to her ankles....her..ankles..

L: 'She has a bracelet...She's a subject...damn f**ker...What number is on it?'

The backpack glanced over to the girl's leg and got a glimpse of the number, 11639. As bad as it may sound, it seems more reasonable of a number than 18022. Liam began to pay no mind to it anymore than he has and continued to listen. He enjoyed what Evelyn had to say, she had funny stories to share, nice memories with family and so on. Liam also found out that she was a little prankster when sh-......

E: "......-she turned on the shower and got covered in paint! It was worth getting grounded for, the look on her face was hilarious! Have you pulled off any pranks?"

L: "Hmm, I don't think so. I might've when I was younger but I'm unsure. You are really creative I must say, putting paint in the shower head when your mom was to take a shower seems pretty funny, I wouldn't have dared do that! I would've chickened out."

E: "Aw, thanks Mr. Plecak! What about you? What's your life like?"

The backpack froze at the sudden question, questioning himself on how to answer, what was he to say?

L: 'Sh*t...what am I to tell her? I can't tell her about my life. She'd think it's weird that I had a job and a house or she'd think I'm joking. Ugh...I'll..need to lie. It's bad to put kids under the influence of lying but I think it's for the better...'

L: "Ah, it's nothing interesting. I'm just your average run of the mill backpack except I'm alive, you get me? I didn't do much other than walk around when no-one was there."

E: "Why don't you come home with me and mama when I find her? We can go on adventures together and play all day!"

L: "As much as I'd like to accept your offer Evelyn, I don't think I can. People would freak the fu-....heck out if they saw a nearly six foot backpack roaming the streets and besides, I have made some plans on what I'd like to do with my life when or if I leave."

Liam had said the "or if" part under his breath, quiet enough that the younger girl couldn't hear. Evelyn had a slight saddened look on her face as she heard the backpack talk.

L: "But hey, why don't we make the most of our time here memorable? I'm sure we'll have a blast!"

E: "Yeah! You're...*yawn*...right.."

L: "You seem tired, how's about you sleep on the bed, hmm?"

E: "But there's only one bed, what about you?"

L: "Don't worry about me, I'll figure something out. Just lay down and rest, okay?"

Evelyn lays down on the mattress and closes her eyes, Liam stays sitting on the side, like a parent watching their child after they read them a story. Liam leaned back against the wall as the lights dimmed, making sure he didn't bump the girl. He wasn't exactly tired himself although he probably should be resting because of earlier.

L: 'I won't stay on the bed, I'll sleep on the floor. I am used to it anyways, the Plane, Bryce's apartment......God I miss you so much..I hope that you're actually okay with whatever you're doing.........Love you...'

Liam closed his eyes and sighed as he got off the bed. He crouched down and sat on the floor, his back facing the sh*tty handmade wooden frame. He turned to the now sleeping girl and smiled a bit. He would do the best that he could to protect her from the deranged f**kers in this place, he wouldn't f**k up again by letting a child die in front of him. His purpose wasn't to let that ***hole do weird a** sh*t to him, no, it was to protect those around him, wasn't it? It's what it was since he got back to San Francisco, it was the reason to why he wanted to stop ONE in the first place and if he can't do that then he can with Evelyn. Maybe he shouldn't have accepted that being an experiment was his fate, it never was, he was just being pessimistic about his situation and he swears that he'll find his way out. Get himself, Evelyn and any others out of this place even if it kills him.

We're back to square ONE aren't we? Something determined him to stop whatever is going on and he would do anything to complete it. Maybe that's a good thing.

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