Chapter 16
The men entered the house, nervous but sulking nevertheless. Much to their surprise the house wasn’t anything like they had expected. Instead of the little Old-English cottage they had, had in mind, they found themselves in a modern, but messy, house. The black furniture was a contrast to the yellow walls. Some of the cream titles had little pale designs on them.
The state of the house was something quiet different. Papers piled the tables and stationary, worn away files, and- much to their surprise and distaste- a lost gun, carpeted the floor.
26 noticed the men taking in the mess, “We had to leave in a hurry.” She explained dryly.
“Some hurry that must have been…” Aj muttered.
26 turned to him, eyes alight with flames, “We were a little late for a meeting, after your little stunt.”
Aj swallowed and began praying to a god he ad forgotten about long ago.
26 glanced over the man once, satisfied with the sheer fear on his face, and turned to pick up her lost toy. “There are four guest rooms up stairs,” She told them studying her weapon critically, “Share amongst yourselves, how ever you see fit.”
“What’s that smell?” Howie asked, catching the all to familiar scent of a fire.
26 froze, then turned elegantly and marched purposefully towards the kitchen.
Kevin raised an eyebrow at her back, “I’m feeling belittled.” He muttered, when he was sure she was out of earshot.
“You’re telling me.” Thomas muttered, frustration playing on his features, “You have no idea Kev, no idea.”
26 stared at the kitchen. A horrified moan chocked in her throat. Some one had forgotten to turn off the popcorn maker. As a result, one corner of the kitchen was inaccessible. In another corner, the coffee machine had been left on, again by someone. The smell of burnt coffee filled the whole room.
“Are you alright—holy shit! Who died in here?”
26 looked at the men standing at the kitchen door. She could just see them laughing. “We had to leave in a hurry.” She said as though that would explain everything. “Come.” She ordered, walking away from the crime scene, “I’ll show you upstairs.”
They followed the agent, up the stairs.
“Your rooms,” She said pointing at the four doors at the end of the hallway. “This is my room, that one’s 73’s. Unpack, do what ever you want when you’re finished.” With that she turned on her heels, and headed back towards the garage, to unload the gifts she had received from Heck, and to clean the mess in the kitchen.
Kevin stalked into one of the rooms followed by Aj. “I really hate this! I’ve got a kid half my age bossing me about—.”
“And let me guess, you don’t like it?” Aj snapped, throwing his bags on the bed. “Look around you Kevin, do you think any of us does?”
“No way am I sharing a room.” Thomas’s voice carried over
“What makes you think I’m gonna share a room?”
“The fact that I’m older than the rest of you!”
“You know,” Aj said suddenly, a strange glow in his eyes, “If we annoy her enough, we could probably get her to drop this case and get locked up like her pal.”
Kevin looked up from the cloths he was pushing into the draw and smiled. “You know Aj,” He said, “I’ve never doubted your intelligence.”
Curled into a tight ball,73 waited, too afraid to fall sleep in case they turned the water on her again. She hurt. That was the only way to put it. There wasn’t a single muscle that didn’t. 73 hated water. She had ever since the day, so many years ago, when her life had changed.
73 remember the boat and her parents. It was her birthday. 73 could still see the cake in the eyes of a child. They were having fun., and when people have fun, bad things happen. There were shots fired, and before 73 knew it, her parents were putting her on a little floating pyramid. She had drifted away from the boat and it’s chaos, only to watch it explode. She had stared at it for so long, she had felt she could see trough her burning object.
A few hours later , she had been picked up by another boat. That’s when all the training had begun. The agency she served had killed her parents. It was ironic, but 73 had never know another way of life.
A few months later, they had dressed her up and sent her to sell a box of cookies to a man. The house was strange, dark and dull in colour. The man himself had been a scary sight. But instead of running, 73 had smiled. The man bought two boxes from her. Back in the safety of the car, surrounded by people she knew and trusted, she had watched the house go up in flames. Only then had she realized what the rest of her life was going to be like.
She heard the soft swoosh again, and groaned. Moments later, pain shot trough her bruised body, cutting her like a knife.
“What’s for dinner?” Nick asked the girl. She had been buried behind her table for hours, and the men’s stomachs were demanding to be filled.
26 glanced at him from behind her laptop. “Bread’s in the cupboard, peanut butter and milk in the fridge.”
“What?” The group chocked.
Thomas cleared his throat nervously, “Um, excuse me agent, but you can’t feed us peanut butter.”
“Okay.” She said, not even looking up from her papers.
Kevin crossed his arm in front of him, “Okay what?”
“Okay nothing.” She replied calmly.
“What are we gonna eat?” Nick demanded of her, his voice probably a little louder than he had intended.
“Mr Carter I don’t know what you’re used to, but yelling and screaming isn’t going to effect me.”
“He’s sorry 26, but what are we gonna eat?”
“Anything you find in the kitchen.”
Brian looked at the contents of the fridge. There was fruit and vegetables-things he couldn’t even consider eating- a whole shelf dedicated to cans of diet Pepsi, and fruit juice and milk. He wasn’t quiet sure, but he thought that he could see the out line of a black metal object as well.
“There’s gotta be something wrong with them.” He concluded closing the fridge and opening the freezer. Three frozen vegetarian meals stared back at him. “Out of all these numbers we had to end up with vegetarian ones.” He then cursed-quiet brightly.
“There’s nothing but coffee and some pop corn in the cupboards.” Nick reported with a dull face.
“These taste alright.” Kevin said referring to the bottle he was holding.
26 appeared at the kitchen, “Oh…”
“What?” Aj snapped, pissed off.
She ignored him, “I suggest none of you drink any of that stuff Richardson is.”
Kevin paled visibly, then managed to regain himself, “Why?”
“It’s drugged.”
“Bitch!” Kevin yelled and slammed the bottle against the wall. The colourful glass smashed into pieces, and blended with the liquid to make a pretty pattern on the floor.
26 rolled her eyes almost childishly, “What the fuck are you on?” She spat at him. Her tone burnt with fury, in contrast to her expression.
“The stuff I just drank down I guess!”
“listen to me Richardson, I’m only here to keep you alive, not to feed you , or to clean up after you. Is that clear?”
“We’re sorry 26, it won’t happen gain.” Thomas pleaded, not really wanting to have to explain to the media why Kevin’s body had been found mutilated to pieces.
26 glanced over the men and walked out.
“Are you bloody mad?” Brian hissed at Kevin.
“Kevin just looked down at him.
“Damn you Kev say something!” Brian yelled slamming him against the wall.
“Hey, hey ,hey, break it up!” Thomas ordered. He held Kevin back with Nick’s help, while Howie and Aj slammed Brian to the ground.
Kevin freed himself of Nick and Thomas’s grips, and was planning to do some serious damage , when suddenly he couldn’t feel angry any more.
“That’s better.” Howie said, letting go of Brian and helping him up.
“I think I’ll go clean up the mess." Kevin said almost dreamily. “Any one know where the mop and stuff are?”
They watched stunned, “I think There was something in the cupboard there.” Nick said.
Kevin floated over to the cupboard.
Nick rose a brow. “Now, back to the rest of us on earth, who are hungry.”
“How about we go back to the frozen foods?” Howie suggested.
“One packet is barely enough for one of us, so don’t even suggest us sharing.” Nick told him mildly.
Kevin finished his work and joined the group, “I dunno what came over me guys, but the next time I act like that, hit me with some thing heavy.” He pleaded.
“Hey , I’m sorry man, it was my fault too.” Brian apologised.
Kevin made a face, “Next time I offer to mop up a kitchen.”
“Oh.”
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