Hear Me (Camila/You)

Chapter 21

My eyes flickered from monitor to monitor as I watched the forest and sea for any signs of intruders. I bunched my fists inside my jacket, the cold weather being foreign against my California sun-kissed skin. My eyes felt heavy from the lack of sleep but instead of relenting and letting it take me in, I pushed from my chair and took a long sip of hot chocolate.

It wasn't my first thought to fly out to Iceland on such short notice but my dad made me do it.

Well, he didn't really tell me personally but it seemed like it was what he wanted me to do. Once I ran out of the house with my laptop in tow, I only had one thought in my mind—to replicate the serum. But where exactly could I do it without anyone bothering me?

More importantly, without Grim and Beth knowing.

And so I went to the nearest Starbucks—probably the last place I should be but I needed my caffeine kick—and briefly looked at the files again. Under the serum folder, I saw some peculiar maps with names of different countries scrawled on the bottom. I randomly picked one, namely the map with Iceland written on it and caught the earliest flight out.

Money wasn't a problem since I had a bank account Beth didn't know about. She always gave me a weekly allowance but I never really needed it since I lived in the dorms with Shawn. So, I put it in a savings account without her knowledge.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid to be out here by myself but I knew my dad wouldn't put me in danger on purpose. And so I believed he'd lead me to the right place. Now, I was in the archipelago of Vestmannaeyjar, just south of the coast of Iceland. I followed my father's map to a lone cabin in one of the uninhabited islands. The only security feature was a small keypad asking me for a password. Instinctively, I typed in the same password as the USB and the door opened for me.

Now, I've been here for three days now, trying to replicate the serum with no success... yet. I was still hopeful that I would have a breakthrough sooner rather than later.

A low, rapid beat, pulled me from my thoughts. I stood up and walked over to the table, wearing my gloves and turning off the centrifuge. Once the cycle slowed down and halted, I took the test tube from inside and studied the contents. I jotted down, 'Trial #4' in my notebook and moved to the table on the far end.

Two small eyes stared at me from the table and I stretched my hand out, caressing the rabbit's fur assuring it that it was going to be okay.

I didn't want to experiment with animals, I really didn't, but I had no other choice. I had to know if I managed to replicate the serum. I found the rabbit while I was walking around the island the first day I arrived. Its foot was stuck in a bear trap and, judging by it not running away when I freed it, I knew it was weak and was probably stuck there for no less than two days.

And so I took it to the cabin, fed it, and put it in the lab. I had hope that the serum would heal its foot and maybe even give it enhanced abilities but the last three attempts didn't yield any results. I knew I was being impatient and the results might not arrive immediately but I didn't have time on my side right now.

Once I transferred the liquid to the syringe, I carefully injected it on the rabbit's upper leg. It didn't move away from me and looked like it didn't care what I was doing to it. After waiting for a few minutes for anything to happen, I finally sighed and put the rabbit back in the cage, knowing that I failed once again.

A soft beeping made me turn around and look back at the monitors. Right there, in different views and angles, I saw Tee walking towards the cabin with the five deviants I've called my friends all this time. They were all looking around, unsure of where the older scientist was taking them. I decided to pause my work for a while and left the basement once I put some food inside the rabbit's cage.