Part 2

Inside, there was only one person. A woman, blood on her face, in a hospital gown. She had long, dark brown hair, her eyes closed. She was restrained with leather straps on a strange table, shaped like a T. Two straps held her torso, one across her legs, and one on each of her arms on the protrusions of the T. It looked like she was a medical experiment of some sort. Parts of the straps seemed to have a red, organic growth on them. She was breathing, but did not seem to be moving much.

"Who are you?" asked Williams. There was no response. Maybe she was deaf? The younger woman walked up to the straps, and looked around the room. Syringes were everywhere, from ADAM to other serums. Other medical equipment was also there. There was a symbol on the door, a circular symbol with a concentric circle and archaic markings, an isoceles triangle with more such marking inside of it. A book was on a the table, opened up to a page with another, more complex circular symbol.

Finally, the restrained woman spoke, her voice very soft, too soft to hear well.

"What was that?" Picking up the book, Williams continued her search, putting it down afterwards. She could use a bit of backup in getting to her weapon and to Adán.

The woman turned her head toward her potential savior. Her eyes were cold and dead on the surface, but a war seemed to rage in their depths. This time, she was louder, though her voice was hoarse, weak. "Let me burn." Strange way to greet someone.

The dark haired Runner turned toward the possible experiment very slowly, muttering under her breath. "...O...kay..." This entire situation was beginning to weird her out even more than that woman had disgusted her.

"Lobsel Vith... A man offered a serpent to the sun, and prayed for salvation..." Great. Now she was speaking nonsense.

The Runner stopped listening to the ramblings. Finally, she saw a scalpel. That, she assumed, would work for the time being. She grabbed it, and walked back to the woman. "Hold still."

Her eyes seemed to register some kind of recognition on seeing the symbol, and she mouthed some words, five syllables. Again, she repeated her request, turning to Abigail. "Let me burn."

"I don't know who you are," On that word, she sliced through the bind on her left arm. "or what drugs you're on," This time, the other arm. "but you aren't burning." One of the torso binds. "I'm Headshot. If I know I can trust you, I'll give you my real name. Now tell me your name." Another few seconds, and she had the other one.

The woman's hazel eyes opened. The right arm reached out for her, and Abigail took the hand. She instantly regretted doing so.

Fire erupted around the room, this woman's body charring black before her very eyes, the sound of crackling flames filling her ears as the burning flesh gripped her. Pain, so much pain. Those eyes were blue now, the hair black and burning away, the gown aflame.

"Look at me. I'm burning."

Horrified, Abigail wrenched her hand from the woman's grasp, aiming her shotgun at her. "Give me your damn name!"

That face was normal, the room normal once more. "Ale--" The name caught in her throat, and the pained voice panicked for a moment as she sat up. "N-no! I'm not, I haven't been...."

Abigail filed this under a vast multitude of things that she did not need to deal with right now. But whatever was being done, she could still stop it. With some more effort, she cut the last binding, then took several steps back. "Now, your name, and no crazy sh**."

After some effort, this woman spoke, her legs over the side of the bed. "Ch-Cheryl. Cheryl Heather Mason." Cheryl looked to the book again, and spoke, a bit louder. "Halo of the Sun."

Abigail walked back over to the book. Perhaps it would be of some use. She closed the book to see its cover quickly. Mother's Caress, it said. It would not have surprised her to see that name being a code for something evil. She then opened it again, and took a look at the complex symbol.

"This? What, part of the Church?"

A shake of her head. "Order. Death is not the end."

"...that didn't sound encouraging." No response, as Cheryl turned the page once.

The symbol from the guard's forehead was on it, labeled Mark of the Serpent. "The Yellow God... The crank... I gave them..." Her voice died off.

"What were these sick b******* doing to you?" Horror in her eyes. "Forget I asked." Though creepy, Abigail felt sorry for her. Was that fire thing even her fault? She looked to the book, and tore out the two relevant pages, shoving them in her back pocket.

She looked to the door out as she picked up one of the EVE syringes on the table, injected the blue liquid into her bloodstream through her left wrist. "Can you use a shotgun?"

Quickly, she nodded, almost scarily fast. "Y-yes."

With both hand, Abby handed the gun to her, making sure she had a good grasp on it before letting go. "How long have you been here?"

"...I don't know, Lisa." She looked broken, but knew how to hold her gun. Out of respect, Abigail did not correct her on the name, deciding to ask later.

Williams nodded, walking back toward the door. "We've got a few doors down. I've just got to get my gear and a friend, and we'll get you out of here."

"Now is the end of days." Silence for several seconds. "...Sorry, Audrey."

"Look, if you're going to talk li--" The gun went off behind her, a sound of a dropping body directly after. The Runner froze, then turned slowly, seeing the damage. Blood and brains on a nearby wall. The entire front of Mason's head was gone, her body leaning against the table on which she had been restrained. More gore was splattered on the hospital gown. The gun itself was coming to a rest in front of her feet. Dead before she could even help her, find out what she knew, help to repair the apparently damaged psyche.

"Sh**..." Their experiments were like this. Nothing was safe, nothing any sane person would recognize was sacred. She slammed her hands down on a nearby table with every word that then came out of her mouth. "Sh**, sh**, sh**! Why the hell did you do that?! What was the point?!"