lionobsession
|• thank you for giving me courage to roar like the lion you are •|

Anier covered her mouth as she yawned. "Come on, Kay." She rapped on his door. "We have patrol duty now, come on, stop sleeping you sleepy head." She yawned again while leaning on the door, she closed her eyes. "Come on, Kay, if you don't come, I'll tell her you fancy her."

The door was pulled open and Anier nearly fell into the room. "Ay!" She slapped her hand on his forearm as she balanced herself.

"You would do no such thing." Kay scoffed as he pulled her on her feet and adjusted his shirt. "What are we doing exactly?"

"We." Anier rubbed the grogginess from her eyes as she spoke. She couldn't sleep last night, every time she closed her eyes, she would see blood all over Lyra. Why it bothered her, she didn't know, but it did. "Need to patrol this building, ground to top, and search for the Hunter, if we find it, we shoot it." She placed a gun on his arm as she yawned again. "I'm a bit tired today—"

"I can see that."

"Shut up, I'm tired, so you need to protect me and make sure I'm safe, okay." Anier squinted in the morning light as she slung an arm around Kay.

"Always your human shield." He muttered under his breath. Kay wasn't the typical clueless kind. He was vigilant, caring, one person he cared for more than the world, was Anier. She knew he loved someone else, but truly, he loved her, he just couldn't tell her. He hated betraying his heart, it hurt, but he'd rather endure pain than lose his best friend.

—

"I said hold it you boron!" Lyra gave Lincoln her warning glare. "How can one be so clueless?"

"Did you just call me a boron?" Lincoln gaped at Lyra in astonishment. "You are unbelievable!"

She scoffed and playfully slapped his hand. "Me, unbelievable? And before you say ouch—"

"Ouch!"

"... it was a playful slap." She sighed as her words seemed to be ignored by him, again. "Anyways, let's breathe for a second and get this work done, okay?" Lyra turned to the crates by her feet as she picked one up.

Lincoln did the same and grunted. "Okay, but I'm not forgetting that... boron insult."

"Fine." Lyra rolled her eyes as she advanced to the second hallway. "We drop the rations off to the Pitch hall and come back for the third batch, they must be starving."

"I'm starving!" Lincoln whined.

Lyra mentally slapped her head and sighed. "Of course you are. I'll give you something to eat, after." She turned around and glared at him. "You have finished working." He pouted but remained silent. "Good boron." She silently giggled to herself as she hastily walked on.

The Pitch hall doors opened as Lincoln and Lyra approached it. Slumping the crates down by their feet, Lincoln and Lyra took out packages of food and handed them out in sync.

Lyra had searched every room in the building for the Hunter, in the process, she found things that would help them survive this lockdown, like the packets she found to serve food in. The warriors had all agreed upon rationing food since there are only two people going out to hunt and the current stock of canned and processed food was good, however not enough for a year.

"Thank you." They chorused one by one as they picked up their food. Lyra nodded in response, silently wondering how Anier and Kay were doing, she didn't want another corpse in hand.

Adam squeezed through the crowd of hungry teenagers and reached for Lyra.

"Hamza is calling you, it's an emergency." He whispered in her ear with anticipation and fear. "Hurry." Lyra handed a package to Alice and featured her to take her place as she paced out of the hall. Lincoln followed at her heels.

"Is everyone okay? Is it the Hunter?" Lyra was almost running, another death would have betrayed her heart, she wouldn't be able to live with herself.

"No, no it's all fine." He glanced at Lyra before he carried on. "Hamza and I somehow opened the USB thingy and we found a video recording of... you." Lyra found herself blinking fast, why on earth would there be a recording of her in a USB? She hadn't even seen one of those things.

They ran up the stairs and into a laboratory, where most of their research and maintenance were controlled. As soon as they advanced the projector, Hamza pressed play.

"I know you're watching this Lyra. I'm you. Yes, it's hard to get it through your head but I'm you from like a week or two ago." The Lyra from the video rushed. "I don't have much time so listen." A bang came from the video and the Lyra in it disappeared somewhere and came back as fast as she left.

Lyra heard her heart thudding, she was scared as to what she might hear. Anier and Kay slipped into the room, their presence helped Lyra calm her erratic heart.

"You think that you're in the Elite Program which you created, you're close but wrong. Your memories have been erased that's why you can't remember." The Lyra in the video pressed a few buttons as she continued. "Duncan is dead. Yes, this starts with Duncan. Candace lied to you and told you he was brain dead. The Elite Program has just been created. Candace said that the Elite Program could save Duncan, but he wasn't brain dead, he was dead, dead. And Candace wanted to bring him back for whatever sick reason she had." Another thumping sound came from the other side of the recording. "You are in T.P.R.P, it stands for 'The Prime Resurrection Project'. It's in the name, she wanted to resurrect her dead son. You have to find a way out, I can't quite remember how, except that there will be a sacrifice needed and it'll be in a cave. Don't make the same mistakes I made, do not trust the Candace in your head. Most importantly, the Hunter—"

And the video went black.

Kay swore and punched the wall, leaving a dent behind and giving himself split, bloody knuckles. Anier ripped a strip of cloth from her shirt and silently wrapped it around his hand. Lyra watched them intently.

"Anier, what's your birthday?" Lyra asked.

Anier's brows knit in confusion. "Why?"

Lyra licked her lips and wiped away a tendril of sweat from her forehead. "I had a dream last night. I think it was more of a memory. You were in it and you were my best friend. I have a feeling, if there's a way out, the answer is in your birthday. It sounded important when you spoke."

Anier took a deep breath and whispered, "Thirtieth of August."

There were thirty caves surrounding Prime, the eighth one must the exit, but which one was the first?

—

The ultimate revelation (or maybe not, hehe)

We are getting to the end of this novel, I can feel it!

Thought?