|Her name is Ellie-Jo Pasco, and her purpose is to serve the United States of America |

~***~

"Desdemona, you've disobeyed me," Clarence's voice is like a distant echo as I regain consciousness. I furrow my brows upward in confusion, unable to focus on his face as it constantly jolts across my vision. "Wake up," he slaps my sore head, and I shake it furiously, unable to be rid of the awful ringing noise.

"Why would you do this to yourself?" he asks as he curls up his fist and slams it against my right cheek. I spit out blood before he grabs my neck, squeezing it as I try to focus on his face.

"Look what you've done, Desdemona!" he punches my face again, this time hitting my temple. I fall out of the chair, and I lay on the floor as he bunches a handful of my hair in his fist branded with my blood.

How long have I been here? How long has he been doing this? He pulls me up from the root of my hair, and I grab my scalp as I scream in agony.

"These long brown locks were once so pretty," he mutters as he threads his fingers through my hair. I'm kneeling on the cold, hard floor as I hold my throbbing head with tears escaping my eyes. He pulls me up by the throat, and my numb legs move with his movements as he holds me up, choking the life out of me.

"We tried to protect you from all of this, but you're just an ungrateful little bitch," he growls as he pushes me back in the chair. I roll my neck slowly, trying not to weep at the stiffness of my body.

I open my eyes when I realize he's restrained my wrists on the arms of the chair. A woman in a white lab coat slowly approaches from behind Clarence with a giant needle in her hand. She squirts some of the liquid out before sticking the needle in my neck and telling me to calm down in a soothing voice.

"The pain will go away soon, I promise," she whispers as she injects the numbing liquid into my neck. I feel a cold sensation enter my veins from the needle, and it spreads through my body, causing me to sit limply in the chair. I can't move. I can't feel. And soon enough, it clouds my vision until I cannot see anymore.

"We tried to protect you from this correctional serum, but you left us with no choice," are the last words I hear before...losing...consciousness...again...

~***~

Clyde's features deform into disgust as he sees Mona walking away from the building, and he hurries to her. He grabs her face and trails his fingers across her bruised features. Clyde's brow furrows, and he grits his teeth in anger. "What did they do to you, Mona?"

"They corrected me, father," Mona responds with an uncharacteristically soft tone. Clyde raises his eyebrow, "did you find the last clue?" she just stares past him, and then he shakes his head, remembering their escape plan.

"Nevermind, we have to go," he says as he tries to pull her with him. Clyde's arm stretches to its limit, causing him to suddenly stop. He turns around to see Mona refusing to move from her spot. Clyde grabs her shoulders as he cries out, "Mona?" while he shakes her frantically. She stares past Clyde, straight ahead with empty eyes.

"Father, I am sorry, but I do not understand why you keep calling me that," Mona replies in a monotone voice. Clyde's face scrunches upwards in utter confusion.

"Stop calling me father," he does not release her from his grip, "It's me, Clyde! Whatever this is, you need to snap out of it, Mona!"

"My name is Ellie-Jo, father," she looks into his eyes, tilting her head innocently, "you named me that, remember?"

Clyde's grip loosens until his hands fall to her wrists. His eyes become glossy as he sees the life he once saw in her completely gone. "What have they done to you...?" he asks in a low whisper, brushing his thumb along her bloody and bruised cheek. He did not plan for something this drastic to happen, but he has to get her out.

Suddenly, Athena, Gidget, and Margaret appear from the side of the building, all running frantically for their lives. "We need to go, NOW!" Gidget screams as he grabs Mona's arm. He's suddenly pulled back and almost falls as he looks at Mona as she continues to be a statue.

"What's wrong with her?" Gidget asks Clyde as he approaches closer to Mona.

"I don't know...they, did something to her," Clyde replies with a solemn shrug.

Margaret brushes her fingers across Mona's face with watery eyes, examining every bruise and scab. Mona's right side of her face is completely purple and covered in fresh scabs. Her neck is darker, almost turning purple from the markings of someone's hands imprinted there.

"I've never seen anything like this," Athena whispers with a hiccup, "they never physically harmed anyone before."

"My name is Ellie-Jo Pasco, and I serve the United States of America," Mona says in a robotic tone. Everyone's eyes widen, and Gidget grabs her shoulders to shake her.

"Snap out of it, Desdemona!" Gidget yells as he continues to shake her. "We have to leave!"

"Why would I ever want to leave my family?" Mona responds with a plastic smile.

"We are your family, Mona!" Athena yells, trying to get Mona to look in her eyes. Mona does not flinch as Gidget and Athena try to snap her out of this strange trance she is in. Margaret looks over her shoulder and then shoves the two kids out of her way.

"Mona, if you don't snap out of it, you're gonna make me do something I'm gonna regret," Margaret growls.

"My name is Ellie-Jo Pasco, and I serve -" Margaret cuts her off with a strong fist colliding with Mona's face. Everyone gasps and Mona falls on the pavement, completely knocked out cold.

"Wha--why'd'ya do that!?" Gidget asks in an octave higher than his usual pitch.

"She's been brainwashed. We'll never get out with her like that," Margaret explains with a shrug.

Clyde picks her up and holds her over his shoulder with a nod. The earth suddenly shakes as an explosion goes off behind the building, and they all brace themselves.

"Run!" Gidget screams, and everyone starts making a break from their getaway place.

Clyde looks over and notices all of the children running around in panic, and the soilers and recruiters are struggling to calm them down. Mona falls in front of Clyde, and he trips over her. He stumbles up and notices the prick in her neck. He brushes his finger against the mark and then gets an idea. He pulls out a match and lights it up quickly before holding it against the marking on her neck.

The pain and agony of the burn snapped something in Mona's brain, rewiring the way she thinks as a memory spurs through her head.

~***~

My eyes open with a jolt, and I stand up, screaming and grabbing my neck in agony. "Stop it, mother!" I scream, feeling tears stream down my cheeks, "I didn't mean to!" I continue to cry out as I'm suddenly pulled into an embrace. I look up, and my eyes widen when I realize it's not my mother.

"Clyde?" I cry out, and he smiles at me with a tear streaming down his cheek.

"How...what?" I look around and realize where we are and what's going on. "Holy s***, what happened?" I ask, realizing I'm no longer in the headquarters building with Clarence.

"You have to run, Mona!" Clyde yells over the loud booming noises, and I nod reluctantly. We begin running, and I notice other children all over the place running with us. We all finally have our chance to escape, and I wasn't even conscious for most of it.

A little girl with long brown hair leaps over a large branch and then she suddenly falls limply on the ground. I feel nauseous as I turn around. I notice soldiers with rifles, shooting us all down like animals. A bullet pierces through my left arm, and I scream, catching Clyde's attention.

His face is covered in blood, and his skin has seemed to lose all colour as the horror around us takes over him. I ignore my arm as I force myself to run faster than I'm comfortable with, fearing for my life more than I ever have in my entire life.

Another explosion goes off, and the force pushes us all forward onto the ground. All I hear is horrible ringing, muffled bullets, and screams all around the high pitched tone humming in my head. I'm suddenly pulled up to my feet until I'm lifted right up into the arms of Clyde. He runs, his features disfigured with blood and scars as his eyes focus on the wall ahead of us. I look behind us at the fire engulfing the remaining soldiers and children. They're all like puppet silhouettes traced in crimson flames. What once was a sunny day is now covered in a thick black cloud, and snowflake ashes coat us as Clyde tries to outrun the fire around us. He runs to the ropes we set up last night, and he gently places me down on my feet.

I can't hear him as he points at the rope and tells me to do something with it. I nod, understanding he wants me to climb the rope, and I struggle to pull myself up. I hold the rope and I walk up the wall, trying to keep my focus on what I'm doing and not on the children around us screaming in agony.

As I make it to the top, I look down to notice Clyde is right behind me. A flake of ash burns the rope and causes it to snap. I reach out, and grab Clyde's hand, crying out as my arm pops out of its socket. I grab him with my right arm and start pulling him up by standing up slowly. He makes it high enough to swing his leg over the top of the wall, and he rolls on the top as I grab my left arm in pain. Not only was it shot, but it was pulled out of its socket too. Clyde notices my pain and tells me to hold still as he grabs my shoulder. He pushes it in place with a crack, and I scream. I start to sob, and I look down, noticing three kids near the rope, laying on the ground. Their eyes are staring up at me lifelessly, and my sobbing becomes louder as I recognize them as Athena, Margaret, and Gidget.

"No!" I scream, and Clyde pulls me close, allowing me to cry into his filthy shirt.

"We have to go, Mona," Clyde whispers in my ears, and I nod in his chest. I wipe my face with my sleeve, and I slowly start walking away with Clyde. We watch the camp in horror as everything, including every person in it, is engulfed in flames. We cough harshly as the smoke around us cloud our vision, painting a true apocalyptic scene in front of us.

We approach the gates, and we start slowly climbing down the ladder beside the gate. I hop on the ground and start trudging my way through the forest. I kick the ground as I sluggishly walk through the trees, and Clyde supports my weight by holding my side. I suddenly look up at the little house we parked in front of however many weeks ago, and I tilt my head at the monkey bars covered in plants.

"The back window," I stop, and Clyde looks at the house with my finger, "the back window's open," I mutter with a rough voice from the smoke.

I suddenly hobble my way to the window, and Clyde tries to stop me. "We have to get out of here."

"I just wanna look," I look up at him in front of the window, "aren't you curious how Ralph knew about this place?"

"This will all be covered in flames soon," Clyde notes as he gestures to the smoke emerging from the camp behind us.

"Which is why we should look now before it's too late," I reply with a raised eyebrow. Clyde sighs, rubbing his hand through his stringy hair before nodding slowly. I weakly prop myself on the window, and Clyde helps me climb the open window. After I hop in, I sneeze from the amount of dust blowing around in the room. It looks like this window was open somewhat recently, maybe a bit before we got here.

We're in a kid's bedroom, actually wait - two kid's bedroom, since there are two beds. I walk up to the bed nearest to the window, and glare at it with boiling anger. Clyde looks at me as I lean over the bed, and pick up the note on the bed with my mother's handwriting. "Sonofabitch," I growl under my breath, "we wasted our time in that goddamned camp!" I scream as I crumple the note and throw it at the wall. It bounces off of a picture frame, and Clyde picks up the note while I examine the picture frame.

"Congratulations, you re-visited your past. Now meet me about two miles down the highway from here. It was where it all started, my dearest Desdemona," Clyde sighs, shoving the paper in his pocket. I brush the dust off of the picture, and my eyes widen at the photo. Clyde looks at it over my shoulder, and then he pulls it from my hand in disbelief.

"This is Delilah Baytes' house!" Clyde notes as he points at the little girl in the photo. Cynthia, Delilah, their mother, and Ralph Baytes are all posed in the photo. "Ralph is Mr. Baytes..." Clyde looks at me with wide eyes, "he wasn't dead this whole time, right under our noses," Clyde takes the photo out of the frame and folds it in his chest pocket.

The sound of a gun clicking catches our attention, and we turn to see none other than Agent Benedict standing in the doorway with his gun aimed at us.

"You killed Delilah's father," Clyde growls as Benedict holds his gun on Clyde.

"He got in the way," he aims the gun at me, "I was trying to put down this savage animal. Hunches lead me here, and I'm glad I got here when I did."

Clyde steps in front of me, "put the gun down, agent."

"I refuse to listen to the orders of a rogue agent," Benedict mutters with an arched eyebrow. I look over at the dresser and notice a gun peeking out from underneath it.

"I'm not a rogue agent," Clyde clenches his fists, "you are, Benedict."

"I just want to put down a monster," Benedict arches his eyebrow, "and I'm not afraid to shoot you to get to her."

"You're a sick bastard," Clyde reaches his arm back to push me towards the window. Instead of backing away, I leap to the drawer, and throw the gun at Benedict, causing him to drop his gun. Clyde leaps forward and grabs a gun, pointing it at Benedict as he picks up the other gun, aiming it at Clyde.

"Don't make me do this, agent," Clyde pleas as he doesn't falter his stance. Benedict pulls the trigger, and Clyde pulls his at the same time. One gunshot is heard.

Benedict drops his gun as he falls to his knees. Clyde doesn't pull his gun away as he shoots again, shooting Benedict in the forehead.

"Holy s***," I breathe out under my breath, "you..."

Clyde tosses the gun to the floor and turns around, pulling me up to my feet. "You just killed him in cold blood," I finally say, knowing that the second shot was unnecessary.

"Sometimes you have to do things you don't agree with in order to survive in this world," Clyde pulls me towards the window, "let's go before someone else gets here."

We climb out of the window and hurry around the house to Clyde's truck. He starts driving away before I can get my door closed, and we make a quick U-turn to drive straight out of these willowwacks. I turn on the radio, and Lean On Me starts playing over the speakers. I stare at the rearview mirror on the side of the truck and watch the smoke take over the blue sky. It feels like all of that was a complete waste of time, and now everyone there is dead because of me. I think about Gidget and Margaret, how hopeful they were to be free of that place - and Athena. A girl who was afraid to take that risk, and I cruelly convinced her everything would be worth it in the end. Was it really worth it? Any of it? I slowly lower myself onto Clyde's shoulder, and he reacts by pulling me closer with his arm wrapped around my back. He rubs my right arm in soothing strokes, and I feel a salty tear sting the cuts on my cheek as I stare at the road ahead of us.

Is anything ever worth the risk? Am I just a Pasco who serves the United States of America? Or am I a girl who serves myself?

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