Experiment Zero

24. Sleeping Assassin

      A loud bang suddenly resonates through the air before I can give her an answer.

My head jerks to where it came from, realizing its in the direction of the camp.

"Dad." I breathe. Without a second thought I take off, dashing back to the camp. I hear Becky call out, then pounding footsteps as she runs after me.

I crash through the brush, now only a few yards away. When I finally sprint into the camp, I see a bunch of wakened guards gathered around Zero's cage.

Breathing heavily, I tilt my head upwards at the night sky and groan. Why does he have to have a tantrum now?

Becky catches up to e and comes to a halt, spinning in a circle as she takes in the camp.

"Woah." Is all she says.

I march towards Zero's cage, then start pushing my way through the guards. A few glare at me, and one even gives a little shove back, but I continue forward until I reach the bars of the cage.

Zero stands there in his full bodysuit, rage coating every feature, as he grips the humongous bars threateningly. I'm surprised to see he's even dented them a little.

"Zero." I snap, walking up to him. His grey eyes shoot up to meet mine, instantly changing from rage to elation.

I sigh, rubbing my temple with a hand. "Now is not the time for a temper tantrum."

He growls, before making a grab for me through the bars. I step beyond reach, waving a finger at him.

"No. You don't get to touch me after that whole thing. You nearly woke up the whole camp."

He rolls his eyes, as if to say, Yeah? So what? It's not like I care about these idiots.

I heave another sigh, growing more and more frustrated.

"I'm going to go check on my dad. Try not to cause any more heart attacks while I'm gone."

With that I turn and make my way out of the circle of guards, but not before staring down one of the soldiers who's holding a taser. He cautiously puts the taser away and out of sight. Good idea.

Zero lets out a few whimpers, but I ignore them, even going as far as too try to block the bond. I don't know if I'm doing it right, but so far nothing from Zero has been entering my mind so I'll take that as a good thing.

Becky waits for me at the edge of the crowd, tapping her foot impatiently. She trails behind me when I walk past her, a tiny skip to her step.

"I like this place. I think I'll stick around."

"Sounds great." I say distantly, not really hearing what she says but responding anyway.

I finally reach my dads tent and slowly unzip it, peering inside. 

The snoring reaches me first, and I see the lump of my dad's form in his sleeping bag, soundly sleeping.

I step back and zip the tent back up, slightly more clam now that I know he's okay.

Now for the other problem.

I turn to face Becky, looking around the camp. 

"I don't think we have an extra tent, so is it okay if you sleep in mine for tonight?"

She shrugs, blowing a piece of hair out of her face. "Any where's fine. I've braved the wild nearly my whole life, my strength building up over the years. I can sleep in almost any environment-Hey, don't walk away!"

Too late. I already am making my way towards my camp, stumbling more than walking.

She catches up to me, pouting, but I'm so tired I'm past the point of caring. Ad to make things even worse I failed in my quest to gather firewood.