My eyes shot open.

“Pick on someone your own size, bastard.” A figure stood in the doorway, flashing a malicious grin.

“A… Ayumi…” I gasped.

Ayumi rolled her eyes. “I know my name.”

“What… What…?”

“We got bored and decided to kill some people,” my former rival smiled, her hands undoing my binds. Only the kids at the Academy would kill when boredom struck. I cringed as I looked at Dau’s body in a pool of blood.

“You feel sorry for that idiot?” Ayumi snapped.

“No… I just don’t think anyone deserves to die…”

“You’re weird,” Ayumi shook her head. “Here’s an AK, have fun.” She tossed me the weapon.

“Where’s Sacha?” It suddenly occurred to me.

“Eh, he’s already out of this hellhole. Don’t worry about loverboy.”

“We’re friends, not lovers. He’s, like, five years younger than me.”

“That’s what you think,” Ayumi laughed. How I hated the evil in those dark almond eyes, the smile of malevolence, and the laugh of a maniac. Perhaps if Ayumi had grown up in a normal home, she wouldn’t be like this.

Perhaps.

“Are you coming or not, soft shell?” Ayumi called, using the pet name I loathed. “I didn’t have to come and get you.”

“Why did you, then?” I joined her in the hall, stumbling from the lack of chains on my feet.

“I’d have to listen to Sacha whine. Besides, who would I be able to bully?” Ayumi smiled. “Just shut up and let’s get a move on it.”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

We whipped around. A soldier had his gun pointed at us.

“Raise your weapons and I shoot,” the soldier hissed. I recognized him as Donald Fitzgerald, the whole mastermind behind the program.

The man who turned us into sociopaths using a form of entertainment was now realizing that this plan had its flaws.

“Now, Kyra, you were a failure. You should be eliminated. But Ayumi…” Fitzgerald snarled. “You were a star. What has happened to you?”

“Why would I care about you?” Ayumi shrugged, staring at him with a confuzzled look.

That was when a bullet from behind us hit Fitzgerald in the stomach.

Fitzgerald only said one word as he fell. “Elizabeth…”

Turning around, I saw none other than Dr. Howard.

“Sorry it took so long, Kyra,” Dr. Howard said.

“Who are you? You’re with the government,” Ayumi asked.

I knew what Ayumi was thinking. To kill or not to kill… It was that black and white for her.

“I’m here to help,” Dr. Howard murmured.

“Probability reckons that you are a spy,” Ayumi said. Her voice was colder than ice, colder than the nuclear wasteland that was once Russia, cold as a sociopath. “Target must be eliminated.”

“Ayumi! No!”

It was too late. Ayumi had fired without hesitation. Straight into Dr. Howard’s forehead. Killed her instantly.

“Let’s go,” Ayumi shrugged, glancing at the bullet hole in Dr. Howard’s head. “I don’t want to waste any more ammunition.

Ayumi was the monster. We were the monsters. And I was about to become one.

“She was going to help us!” I yelled.

“Keep it down or they’ll locate our position.”

“Is that all you can think about? Murder?”

“We were trained this way,” Ayumi said. “It’s our life. This is who we are.”

“It’s not who I am!”

“Then, you are a liability. You pose a risk. You would have to be eliminated.”

“The real Ayumi has to be in there, somewhere! You can be free now!”

“Don’t make me shoot you,” Ayumi snarled. “You talk all these big words, and that will help us when we meet with the rebellion.”

“You had a family! They cared about you!” I pleaded.

“Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t. Either way, I’d never let myself sink to emotions. Emotions will kill you. Look at what they’ve done to you!”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. Ayumi didn’t have time to raise her weapon.

Without a moment’s waste, I fired.

“I’m sorry. This life turned you into a monster,” I held back tears. “And I will make this world pay for what they have done to you. To me. To all of us. I will become the monster.”