Evolution # 5

The Letter

XVII

As Evan lay in the dark hallway, feeling way too sorry for himself suddenly, he heard Lily's voice in his head, repeating their favorite refrain to each other, "Me and you, anywhere, together, forever and always." He smiled for a moment and then accepted Lilywhites' hand to help him back up to his feet.

"Well, that was fun," Evan sarcastically shouted to Lillywhite.

"Yeah, let's not try that again. I think you've had enough for tonight buddy. You ready to head back?" Lillywhite asked.

"No, not yet. Let's hang out with the Unit 14 party for a bit longer, if you don't mind. I could use the company honestly."

"Ok," Lilywhite replied, "but not for much longer. I've got my own life to live you know."

As they turned and walked back towards the party, Evan could hear the laughter of a female. Although, he certainly was not sure how Lillywhite would react to the females being at the facility, he knew it was a risk he had to take. He reached his hand around to his back pocket and felt to make sure his letter was still there. It was.

As they entered the room, Evan could instantly see that only a couple of females had made it over from facility #4 and neither was his Lily.

He approached Captain Brunache and a female that he was chatting with in front of his fireplace. "Hey, Captain Brunache, I'm back for one more shot," Evan shouted.

"Evan, please meet my very dear friend, Juniper. Unfortunately it appears that only her and her sister made it off the reservation tonight so won't quite be the party that we were hoping for tonight."

"Oh, no worries. I really just want to ask her one question. Do you know a Lily at your facility? She would be fairly new there," Evan asked earnestly.

Juniper looked at Evan quizzically. "Lily? Sorry lovey, don't think I know anyone by that name. But that's not a surprise really, if she's new, she'd be meeting with the Recruiters and I wouldn't meet her until after she evolved. Well, after and if she was able to evolve, so many don't make it through the entire process, you know."

"Don't make it through the process? What do you mean? They fail the physical or something?" asked Evan.

"No, sugarplum. They don't make it through the process. They are DOA. Dead, dead, dead as a limpy goldfish out of water gasping for a breath. They haven't started your training yet, then, I take it? You really are a novice," she laughed as she turned her attention back to Captain Brunache.

Evan had sensed all along that this whole operation, Bellamy and Congo were certainly sinister or shady at best with what they were up to but now he was certain that himself and Lily were in great danger. And they fell deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole the longer he was stuck here and her there.

He had to ask. "Sorry, Juniper, I know you say you don't know her. But do you think you could get this letter to her?" Evan asked as he pulled the letter from his back pocket and placed it in her open left palm.

Juniper took the letter and placed it under her shirt and tucked it under her bra.

"I can't make no promises, honey bear. But I'll see what I can do for you. Now, can I get back to my captain? I only have so much time and we have some intimate plans to discuss," she finished as she reached her right hand down towards Captain Brunache's crotch and stroked the outside of his pants.

"Well, thanks so much. I appreciate you trying to help," Evan responded.

Captain Brunache glanced at Evan and pointed his head towards the door. "Good night, Evan. It was great to meet you but now I have a critical mission that needs completing." Evan watched him grab Juniper's hand and lead her into his bedroom and the door closed quickly behind them.

But for the first time since he had awoken from the explosions, Evan actually felt that he was close to finding Lily. Well, at least, he had a faint hope that Lily would get the letter and know that he would be on the way to rescue her.

In the meantime, Evan had to keep his focus on rebuilding his strength and stamina while keeping the monsters here at facility #5 at bay.