Chapter 4: Judieth Redwood

Walking down the hall a woman with a light complexion, fiery red hair, freckles, and rectangular glasses, was muttering to herself. This woman is Dr. Judieth Redwood, looking both exhausted and frustrated.

The halls were mostly empty but the few people she did pass looked at her in shock. Dr. Redwood seemed to have a dark cloud hanging over her, the opposite of her usual cheery personality. Her usual laid back, but professional posture is nowhere to be seen, currently she's walking down the hall slouching, like some unseen weight is upon her.

If you were to look at her eyes you would see dark circles underneath them. That by itself isn't unusual but combine it with how the doctor is acting now those dark circles look even more prominent and darker than usual.

Eventually Dr. Redwood found herself in the hall where all the test subjects are located. eyeing one of the rooms on the right-hand side of the hall labeled room eight Dr. Redwood debated whether to go inside or not.

She wants to talk or just have some company to blow off some steam, but going in there seems a little weird. Only she would struggle with a decision like this, since she's also the only one that seems to treat the test subjects like people.

Because of her friendly relationship with the test subjects, she's not fully trusted by the staff at the facility. She would normally have an escort with her at all times to keep an eye on her. Luckily for her the evacuation made her a low priority and she was temporally forgotten.

Obviously keeping someone you can't trust is risky and Dr. Vancer knows this. But she's also brilliant and is the only staff member that can placate the 30 test subjects when they start to get rowdy.

Dr. Vancer is also the reason why she's here in the first place. Eight years ago, during 'Project Crimsons' second year of operation, Dr. Vancer Brought in a 16-year-old Judieth, he was hoping to groom her into his successor. After all she was a prodigy child that hasn't been seen in years.

As a result, she was assigned to room number eight; The room Twenty-four, Yuki, and Morella were located. Dr. Vancer did this for two reasons: One was because he wanted his successor to interact with Test Subject 24-C more. The second reason was to see if having someone closer in age to the test subject will make them more compliant.

The answer to the second question turned out to be a yes. Compared to every other staff member, Twenty-four would only really listen to Judieth without too much trouble. There was just one thing Dr. Vancer didn't account for, that Judieth would show compassion to the test subjects.

Most of the original test subjects died and got replaced over the years, but the ones in room eight managed to survive. As a result, Dr. Vancer's chosen had become too attached to them and became unreliable and untrustworthy in his eyes.

After that Dr. Vancer decided to limit what she could do. That meant one of her only jobs was to watch over room eight and go over some of the more complicated documents. She wasn't allowed to do any of the more 'extreme' experiments, which was fine with her since she didn't want to do those anyway.

This didn't mean she was trusted by the test subjects either, they just happen to like her more than the other staff members. Plus, since she's still working for them means she hasn't fully lost their trust either.

Which brings us back to the present where Dr. Redwood is now debating whether or not to enter room eight. She would like some friendly company right now, but how exactly would they react to her showing up unannounced.

They aren't friends and Dr. Redwood knows this. She has tried to get closer with them, and she's had mild success, but not enough where she could say they consider her a friend.

'No use thinking about it here, if they don't want me there, then I'll just leave.'

____________________________________________

Twenty-four and the other two girls were readjusting a vent cover in their room underneath the middle bed. This is where the girls hide all their contraband. They aren't small enough to fit inside it so this is the only thing they could do with the place.

After putting the vent cover back, the girls got from underneath the bed and grabbed a deck of cards from the desk. These were given to them by Dr. Redwood, same as the art supplies.

Sitting on top of the same bed that's covering the vent, the girls were about to play a game when they heard a knock at the door. For several confusing seconds nothing happened, usually someone would've walked in immediately after knocking.

After what seemed like forever, which was probably only a few seconds, the door opened to reveal an exhausted looking Woman. Her red hair is placed in a messy ponytail with multiple strands sticking out. The lab coat that is worn over a black sweater is hanging off of one shoulder, and only one pant leg is tucked into her black boots. Even though the woman is the same height as Twenty-four, with her slouching you wouldn't be able to tell.

Dr. Redwood showing up was a surprise for the three girls in the room. After all she usually only comes when scheduled or something out of the ordinary happens. Plus, with the good doctor looking so frazzled they couldn't help being curious about what happened to her.

"Hey, Dr. Redwood, are you alright? Did something happen?" Yuki asks, tilting her head to the side in a curious manner.

"Yes, hello Doctor, you look quite fatigued today, are you okay?"

"...Hi Doctor, how are you today?"

Following up on Yuki, both Morella and Twenty-four also greeted Dr. Redwood. Just like Yuki, they also couldn't hold in their curiosity. In response to their questions, the doctor gave a tired smile.

"Hey girls, how are you?" Greeting the three of them, Dr. Redwood gave a small awkward wave, not responding to their questions.

Twenty-four frowned slightly at this. For as long as she could remember Dr. Redwood was always cheerful, full of life, and a very sociable person who was never awkward with anyone. There were a few people who were exceptions to this, of course, but her and the other two definitely weren't one of them.

Something was going on with the doctor. Even though Twenty-four didn't fully trust her or consider her as someone close to her, like Ella and Yuki, she did like the doctor a whole lot more compared to the other staff in the facility. Honestly, if it was just the doctor that found her, and only the doctor, she wouldn't have mind being here... much.

Plus, Judieth Redwood, the person, reminds her of her old care giver. Her presence brings a certain sense of comfort and familiarity. Because of this, she unconsciously lets her guard down around her.

'Anyway, if she didn't want to talk about what was wrong with her, I'm not going to pry. After all, it's not any business.' So instead, she decided she would just change the topic.

"... What brings you here today, Doctor?" Twenty-four asked, noting the pause Dr. Redwood did before she answered her.

"Well, I'm not here on any official business..." Trailing off Dr. Redwood looked down at her feet. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "If it's not too much of a bother, I would like to join you for some company."

Twenty-four raised an eyebrow at this, more than a little surprised. Morella and Yuki were also just as surprised. Even though she was friendly, they didn't think she was trying to make Friends with them. They figured that her kindness was just a weird quirk of hers. Nothing more than a joyful personality.

"...We don't really mind, Doctor." Twenty-four said. the other two nodded in agreement.

"We were just about to play a card game, want to join~?" Yuki asked.

Smiling Dr. Redwood nodded to them and made her way over to the bed they were sitting on. Twenty-four moved a little to give the Doctor a place to sit. Since the bed was narrow, everyone had at least one foot hanging off the bed so they could all fit.

Since Dr. Redwood was so close to her Twenty-four was able to pick up her scent. The Doctor's scent was that of damp earth. There was something else mixed in that gave the feeling of a calm, endless sleep coming from her. It was almost dark in a way that Twenty-four couldn't put her finger on it exactly.

'It's familiar, really familiar.' But since she was used to the Doctor's scent at this point, she didn't pay much attention to it and focused on the game.

"Soo... what made you want to hang out with us today, hm~? Ouch!

"That's rude. Be more mindful." Said Morella, pinching Yuki on her side.

"It's fine. Some people are just- uhg, I don't know."

"... Could it have something to do with how the staff have been acting recently?"

"Kinda, I'm not at liberty to say, sorry. But to answer your question, Yuki, well, uh... I just needed to find a place to calm my nerves and some friendly company, and I found myself here." Dr. Redwood said with a slight blush of embarrassment.

"Oh? is that all?" Yuki asked. Dr. Redwood once again hesitated before answering, which did not go unnoticed by Twenty-four.

"There was one other thing that brought me to this room." Dr. Redwood said before nervously looking around the room. "Ever get the feeling that you're being monitored even if you can't see any physical evidence of it?"

All three girls gave the Doctor very dry looks. Realizing what she said and feeling the air around her becoming heavy, Dr. Redwo- Judieth cleared her throat in an attempt to cut the tension.

"Well, just in case I'll do this." She said before getting up and making her way towards the desk. Grabbing some paper, she started to write something down.

"Here." She said, handing Twenty-four the paper.

Reading over the contents of the paper, Twenty-four was greeted with a clarification of the events that were happening in the facility. It was only a brief explanation of things, but it did tell her about the evacuation, the Hero, and the experiment that would take place tomorrow.

What surprised her the most was that Judieth's note said that she would leave an opportunity for them to escape tomorrow. It didn't say how or why tomorrow specifically, but it wasn't something Twenty-four was expecting to read.

Another thing that she noticed was that some of the information that Judieth had definitely wasn't something someone of her standing in the facility should have. There was still missing information on twenty-four's part, but it was now obvious that Judieth had a lot more information than she should. Passing the paper to the other two, she looked at the red-headed woman with questioning eyes.

"I can't explain now." Judieth said when she saw Twenty-four's gaze. "All I can ask of you is to trust me. At least for tomorrow."

"...I'll trust you. Just answer one question for me."

"I'll answer to the best of my ability." She said, taking her place on the bed again.

"Why exactly tomorrow. Why, specifically this day."

"Well, that's the day when the Hero shows up. What better opportunity to escape. During the confusion, we slip out through a hidden exit. Sounds fine right Twenty-four?" She said in a low whisper.

How she knew this Twenty-four didn't know. But she decided to put her trust in this disheveled red-head woman. For now, anyway.

"... Thank you." She said, getting up and holding her hand out for a handshake. "Let me re-introduce myself. My name is Ruby. It's nice to be working with you, Dr. Redwood." Ruby said.

Frozen in place for a few seconds on hearing Ruby's real name for the first time, she stood up and took her hand.

"Glad to help."