It's been like almost a year since i've updated any of my stories so why not update the one nobody rly asks for :)

Chapter Twenty-Six

September 26th, 2015

Singh had given me multiple warnings to not push myself so hard. I pretended to listen when he was lecturing me, but I'm not going to follow his advice. I have no intention of playing it safe and Icah knows it. I thought playing fair would gain me respect but all it's done is make me seem weak in the eyes of James and those around him.

I walk into the gym precisely at 4:00 a.m. James, Ximena, the guy with a tan that I still don't even know his name, and a new man beside her all stopped to look up at me. 

I could see it in all of their eyes. They aren't surprised to see me, but they are annoyed that they are at all.

"What are you doing here?" Ximena asks, and I keep my focus on James, who was staring at me, waiting for a response.

"I want to train."

"I told you the rules and you broke them."

"When I am in distress, Icah comes out whether or not I tell him to. I would have died had he not done so."

"That's only a reflection of your capabilities." He retorts, "If you would die so easily without the help of your pet then there is nothing I, or anyone here can do for you."

"I don't see why using Icah is such a weakness." I stand my ground, "In fact, I see him as an advantage."

"An advantage that can't be trusted. I will not trust a parasite to save my life."

"It's not your life he cares about. It's mine. Let me train with you, Icah will not be seen unless I am in danger."

"You are a danger, do you not get that?"

"You act like I chose this." I feel my body grow hot with anger, "You act like I should sit in my bedroom and waste my life. Icah is not a danger, he is an opportunity. He knows these creatures better than any of us because he is one. He knows the blood in his veins, and he knows how to work with it. If I tell him to protect you, he will. If I tell him to kill you, he will. He has never gone against my wishes out of cruelty or hate. He is not a selfish thing, and everything he has ever done has been for my health and safety. This is beneficial."

"Did you hear what you just said?" Ximena interrupted, "You just said he disobeys you. It doesn't matter the reason, you admitted that there are times he goes against what you tell him. That is enough reason for me to not trust either of you." She crosses her arms, and I feel as if I'm speaking to a wall.

And then Icah speaks to me, "This is not working. They are only growing colder to you, we should leave."

"They just don't understand."

"Rosie."

Despite my hesitancy, I decide to listen. "Fine. Starting tomorrow I will train on my own. I've never needed a group anyway." It feels like I'm not only giving up but giving in. I hate it. With each step out of the gym I feel like they're mocking me louder and louder.

They are older than me, most of them. I'm a stupid kid to them. They have no idea that Icah could take them all out within seconds. They are arrogant.

Perhaps that is what needs to be done. I should hurt them, give them a warning they won't forget. I could break Ximena's legs, or James' hands. Make sure he could never throw a blade properly again.

Something warms in my chest at the thought, and I realize quickly that it's not me who likes that idea, it's Icah. He wants me to hurt them. He wants me to hurt James.

"New plan, Icah."  I tell him as we ride the elevator back down with Jay. "I'm training alone, and if any of them mock me, we will make them regret they ever did."

"Yes, Rosie."

"I think this is the route I should have taken all along. I don't need their respect, I need their fear. If I have any hope of stepping outside, it's not to be one of them, it's to be better."

The plan now is not to impress them, it's to impress Singh, who is always watching.

I decide to go to the pool and swim laps instead. Sitting around and fantasizing about freedom isn't going to get me anywhere. With just me and Icah alone in the pool room, Icah comes out. 

I count eighteen laps, Icah sits on the edge of the pool watching me. I can feel his eyes locked on every move I make. My heart is beating quickly and it's not just because of the strenuous exercise. The reminder of last night comes back to me, his long arm wrapped around my body. The moment replays itself over and over in my mind and for a moment I feel intoxicated with it. I should do two more laps, but I can't. I take a break, leaning against the edge of the pool while still half submerged in the water. I take in several deep breaths, trying not to acknowledge the fact that Icah knows I'm thinking about last night. He can see my thoughts, he can hear them. He knows I'm thinking about him, and yet he never shows that he knows it. We make eye contact, he sits so quietly on the edge of the pool, I'm tempted to pull him in just because he's ability to read my mind bothers me. 

Our eyes meet for a brief second before we are both shaken with a loud screech of an alarm. Red and white lights flash in the room as I try to make sense of what is going on. 

Why is the alarm going off?

Icah returns to me immediately as I hoist myself out of the pool. 

I quickly pull my jacket over my wet clothes as Jay comes running into the room. "What's going on?" I ask him, but he only beckons me to move.

We leave the pool room, and the flashing lights are nearly blinding in the hallways. The alarm is excruciatingly loud and I can feel Icah cringe every time it screeches in our ears.  I try to head towards my room where my clothes are, but Jay grabs me by the arm, and shakes his head, beckoning for me to head towards the elevator. I'm dripping pool water, leaving puddles on the floor with each step as we move quickly to the elevator. I don't bother asking him where we are going because I know he won't tell me. Instead, I watch as he punches the button for level 2.

There is no reason we should be going to level 2, unless there's been a security breach. Even then, James and the others are well trained soldiers, they should be able to handle any breach that confronts them.

I feel a strange spike of anxiousness in my nerves. Not necessarily fear, but something else. A deep anticipation for the unknown. I sense Icah is on high alert, and though I know he can handle anything, I still wonder if one day there will come a job too difficult for him to handle.

When the elevator doors roll open, we are greeted with Sing, who is breathlessly leaning against the wall, his coat covered in a mixture of red and black blood. He looks pale, and when he sees me, I notice his shoulders stiffen. "Rosie." He limps over to me, "This is against protocol, but it is an unnatural occurrence."

I stare at the blood on his coat. None of it is his. "What happened?"

"We don't have much time, follow me." He guides me down the hall as he explains, "Often we bring infected to this floor as training opponents for those who need it. We never give our soldiers more than they can handle, and we never allow infected above a category four outside of floor one." 

Floor one was my floor. Meaning the worst of the infected were mine and Icah's problem.

He stops us in front of door 217. I can hear pounding from the inside of the room, which shouldn't happen as the rooms are insulated. I shouldn't be hearing anything at all.

"Rosie." Singh grabs me by the shoulders and forces me to look at him. "There's been a mistake with one of the infected. She had always shown signs of a category 3 infected, never did we think she had the capabilities that she has."

My heart is racing now, I feel almost excited. It's been a long time since I've felt this way. "What do you mean?"

"I allowed six infected up to this floor to be taken out by our soldiers. Rosie, subject 1743 consumed them."

I stared at him, not understanding. "Consumed them?"

"She ate them. She ate every infected vessel in that room."

I shake my head, "That's not right, they don't eat each other."

"She did, with every body she ate, she grew more resilient. This has never occurred before, it is as if they are evolving somehow."

"She ate them to take in their power?"

"I don't know if that was her intention, but it was the result." He stiffens his posture as if trying to regain composure, "Rosie, it is extremely dangerous in there. You understand this."

I nod once. "Of course."

"Kill her."

"Yes Dr. Singh." He punches in the code to open the door, and I step through. Immediately the door shuts behind me, and I am contained with the creature.

James is standing alone against the infected woman. Her head is bent back and the sides of her mouth are ripped as if she tried to open her jaw past the length it could open. Every muscle in her body is twitching with the pulsating power inside her. Her human flesh is just not strong enough to wield it. 

"Icah." I breathe in, and the bitter smell of copper and blood almost makes me gag. I should be used to it, but this was a whole other level of gore. The room was soaked in blood, gallons of it painted the walls and the floors. Spattered blood marked even the high ceiling, which was evident of a gruesome line of murders. 

I don't even have shoes on. My wet clothes cling to my body to tightly I feel I don't even have room to move properly.

I am not prepared for this.

"Icah." I say again, and he appears beside me. The look on his face is cold and calculating. His eyes never leave the infected woman. None of this feels real. The compound has always been so controlled. Contained. Nothing like this has ever happened since I've been here.

There is no explanation for this, unless Singh was right, and the infected are evolving. 

"Do you have any idea what is happening?" I ask him, as I was James and the infected woman stare each other down. There is complete silence in the room, with the exception of the woman's slick movements against the squelching pieces of flesh under her feet.

Icah stands tall and ready, "Evolution is absolute, not contrary."

My heart sinks, "You never mentioned that."

"Can you two stop yapping and help?" James snaps at us, I can feel the urgency in his tone, "I thought you were supposed to be an all powerful being?" 

I grit my teeth, "And I thought you and your group were supposed to be unstoppable. Where the hell are they anyway?"

His eyes don't leave the woman, his voice low and clipped, "You're stepping on them."