The Red-Riding Hood

The bullet went through the thin metal sheet, piercing a deep hole right next to the little girl's head. She was hiding inside a vent, praying that she wouldn't be found. If not for the GOLEM's poor aim, that shot would've been fatal for her. Just a little to the right and it would've finished her right then and there.

Hearing no response, only the crisp sound of metal hitting metal, the GOLEM changed its approach, switching its Assault Rifle to Automatic. And for the little girl, it would be the end of her puny resistance. Upon realizing this, she closed her eyes and surrendered to her fate. But somehow, fate never came knocking on her door.

Shwaaak!!

Suddenly, a sharp long blade penetrated the GOLEM's heart as well as pushing the GOLEM toward the ventilation where the little girl was hiding. As such, the blade also penetrated the metal sheet, startling the little girl with the sudden appearance of the shiny blade.

"Fucking... USELESS! I said find her! Not kill her!" shouted Number 9 in frenzy. Madness could be seen in his exaggerated gesture. He still needed her, alive at that.

The little girl was frightened by the scene unfolding before her. She almost let out a squeal, but she forced herself to stand still, holding her breath all the while squeezing her mouth with both hands.

After ending its life, Number 9 pulled his Gunblade that was impaling the GOLEM to the vent, and the latter plopped on its knees. It was then that through the small vertical gap on the vent caused by the blade, both the little girl and the weakened GOLEM made eye contact. It found her.

'This is it. This is the end,' thought the little girl, resigning to her fate. A small teardrop fell on her white blouse.

Founding the girl whom the master was looking for, the GOLEM turned around to show him. Too bad, in the eye of its leader, it already lost its chance.

Slash!!

A thin line of blood was drawn on its neck, and a second later the GOLEM's head fell, followed by the thudding sound of its lifeless body. Although she hadn't been found yet, it was just adding to her fear of how dangerous the 'people' before her were. At least, for now, the little girl felt a bit relieved, knowing she hadn't been found yet.

Opposite to what the little girl currently felt, the aggravated Number 9 turned toward his mindless puppets and shouted, "I want her alive! Find and take her to me!"

Ignoring the scene that just happened before them, the GOLEM complied with the new order and split into a few small groups, and dispersed. Within a moment, the twenty or so GOLEMs couldn't be seen anymore.

Now, inside these long hallways, there were only the two of them left. Number 9 muttered a few words and the little girl tried to listen to his monologue, but alas, her hearing sense was not good enough to eavesdrop on his words.

After what felt like a decade, finally, Number 9 made his move. He strode away with his back hunched. The little girl wondered where he would go. As he walked further and further, she gathered her courage and carefully made her way out of the ventilation without alerting Number 9. She slowly pushed the hatch and crawled outside.

However, her escape didn't go as smoothly as she thought it would be.

Slam!

She accidentally let go of the small ventilation hatch, causing loud noise to travel through the silent hallway. Number 9, hearing the noise, immediately stopped his advance. He turned around and looked at the ventilation near the lifeless body of the GOLEM he killed. With a single leap, he landed in front of the vent and examined it.

His hands pierced through the small gap caused by his Gunblade and widen it with his strength. His smile widened thinking that he found her. But soon enough, that smile turned into disappointment as there was nothing inside but a mutated rat. Out of frustration, he swung his gunblade, cutting it in half.

"Where are you!?" shouted, Number 9, as the rat dissolved into slime.

Little did he know, the little girl managed to escape and hid at the opposite side of the wall, where a huge pipeline covered her small body. She was laying on her stomach, snuggling to the crack between the pipes.

'How did it come to this?' wondered the little girl as she watched Number 9 moving away.

All kinds of memories started flashing in her mind. She recalled all of her experience after she awakened in the strange lab, under a blinding light. When she first gain consciousness, the first thing she saw was her own reflection on a wide mirror, not knowing that behind it, stood the upper echelons, watching her, as if she was an exhibit in the zoo.

It was a small frame of a little girl around 5 to 7 years old. With short blonde hair and blue eyes. Her small round face would captivate anyone around her age if she ever stepped on the outside world. But she hadn't realized it yet. How could she? She couldn't remember anything.

No. To be exact, he didn't have any memory or knowledge of it. She didn't know the concept of beauty, time, or danger at all. She was like a baby, trapped inside the flesh of a toddler. Yes, she was a newborn. A clone of the mutant agent, Aya Brea.

It had been a year since she was born into this world. In that short time, she was subjected to countless experiments to exploit her ability, her gene. She inherited most of Aya's ability, along with the ability of Eve, the godmother of the pandemonium creatures called Neo-Mitochondria Creature. Through her DNA, countless Artificial Neo-Mitochondria Creature was born anew to this world.

She was labeled the predecessor or the second coming of the original Eve, and thus she was named Eve as well. This facility was built to exploit her and create endless NMCs for their own selfish purpose. Selling it to the highest bidder. However, it all went down when their creation rebelled and take everything for himself. And that creation was none other than Number 9.

Little Eve kept waiting and waiting for Number 9 to go away. She was at her utmost limit, both mentally and physically. She just wanted to escape this endless labyrinth, and go to the outside world. She didn't know how it looked like. She only saw it through some pictures given by some soft-hearted researchers who took pity on her.

She wondered how'd they fare. By now, they would have probably died, or worst turned into Artificial Neo-Mitochondria Creature. Though she was abused a lot, she never blamed them for what she went through because she thought it was normal. Because she thought that was how people live all this time.

As Number 9's huge body disappeared at the end of the hallway, Eve slowly stood, eyeing at the other end of the hallway. It was where the GOLEM and Number 9 came from.

'That must be the way out.' thought Eve, feeling hopeful.

Clutching the end of her white robe, she hastened her footsteps all the while taking her surrounding into account.

Currently, she was inside the main facility, called The Ark. It was the innermost section of the Shelter, where the "product" of their research was put on display. Of course, there were a lot of NMCs, both artificial and natural. But, they ignored her, as if she was one of them.

She arrived in a dome-shaped hall, countless circular glasses adored this place, like a gallery without paintings. The further she got, the more unfamiliar her surrounding was, which was good because it meant she was on a right track.

She tightened her clutches on her robe as he arrived at a strange gate. She looked around and found a card reader with a red light glowing, right next to it. It was locked.

Instead of feeling despair, her hopes spiked up. She released her clutch on her robe, revealing a blue I.D. card. It was something that one of the researchers gave her while saying, "use it when something goes wrong."

She reached out her arms, however, no matter what she did, she couldn't reach the card reader. She was far too short.

"Umph!"

Not even standing on her toes helped her. She bounced like a rabbit but still didn't work. As a vein appeared on her delicate forehead, she threw the card at the door, but it bounced back and the edge hit her forehead.

"Aw..."

There was a small red dot on her forehead. She rubbed where it felt hurts while small crystal clear tears formed on her eyes. But, she wasn't giving up. She picked up the card and clutched it between her fingers. She walked and walked, roaming the dome-shaped hall from earlier.

After what felt like a century for her, she finally found what she needed. A chair with a wheel on it, she wondered where it came from as she didn't see it earlier. But she threw it at the back of her head, as her escape was more important than how a chair magically appeared when she wished it.

While pushing the chair with all her might, she returned to the gate from earlier. Now, with something to stand on, she felt confident in escaping.

Beep! Beep!

After shoving the card into the card reader, the red light from before became green. With a loud noise, the metal gate started moving. She lightly hopped down the chair. A smile formed on her face. Finally, she could get out of this place.

Suddenly, a voice disturbed her joy, "What a smart little girl."

Frightened, the little girl turned around, only to see Number 9, all with his small entourage clapping at her 'performance'.

" Not bad." he continued. "It felt like watching a small cute rabbit, hopping around playfully. Now now... Don't be scared, I won't harm you."

His huge hand ruffled Eve's blonde hair. His complement from before, although genuine, she felt humiliated rather than joyful. She was leering on the now fully opened metal gate. She was one step away from getting out of this place. But could she make it?

"Come, little girl. There is a limit to my patience," said Number 9. All of the GOLEMs from before appeared one by one behind him. And as if he knew what Eve was thinking at the moment, his voice then turned deeper, "and you're stepping on it."

Eve turned desperate and scared. She recalled the cruelty of the monster before her. She knew that her choice was very limited.

'Should I do it?', she thought. But the real question should have been 'can she do it?' Eve had never done it on purpose before. Everything was done either accidentally or when she was unconscious.

She gathered what's left from her courage, and thankfully it responded to her. Suddenly, her blue eyes glowed, glaring at both Number 9 and his group. The atmosphere suddenly turned dark as Number 9 took out his gunblade.

"Not only you stepped on it, but you're also spitting on my face now, little girl!" he snarled.

Multiple roars and howlings resounded from the dome-shaped hall. The GOLEM's turned around, taking out their weapons. The ground they were standing on was vibrating, and that vibration turned into a tremor.

Like a wave of rampant flood, more than a hundred NMCs stampeded before them. All the GOLEMs aimed their weapons at the incoming monsters and started shooting the incoming horde.

Eve sweated bullets and rains, it took a toll on her body whenever she used this power. More than this would put her in a short coma state. She dropped to her knees, all of her energy was drained out of her. Seeing that Eve wouldn't be able to escape with her current state, Number 9 turned around to face the horde as well.

They varied in form and sizes, but they were all came from the animal kingdom. With number 9 in lead, the GOLEMs started slaughtering the controlled NMCs.

It was then that Eve stood and ran to escape. However, Number 9 was watching her. He clicked his tongue and slashed a mutated lion that was clawing at him. Consumed by rage, he left the GOLEMs to fend for themselves and dashed toward Eve.

The gap between her and Number 9 was closed in an instant. The disparency between him and Eve was too much to scale. She caught her by her nape and slammed her on the corridor's wall.

"That's it, little girl! I'm in no mood to play!" shouted Number 9, madness took over his mind.

Eve's small flickering hope vanished in an instant, there'd be no way to escape his clutches. Her life was now at the spare of his blade. From here on out, she would lose her freedom and became a puppet like before or maybe it would be much worse. Either way, she won't have any chance to see the real blue sky anymore.

Number 9's eyes stared down at her leg. He grabbed her neck, holding her up, and said, "Where you will go, you won't need them anymore. Let me release you from these shackles!"

She understood what he was trying to do. He was going to cut her leg so that she couldn't escape anymore. A crystal clear tears fell from her cheeks. She was doomed to be trapped inside this place, forever, without any hope to see the blue sky in that textbook.

"Someone... anyone... please..." muttered the little girl, gasping for air, yearning for help.

However, no one replied to her prayers. No one but a single black butterfly flying past her.

'A butterfly?'

She knew what a butterfly looked like. She saw it in pictures. But what was a butterfly doing inside this place? It landed on her nose, its wings covered her eyes, as if helping her hiding from the menace in front of her.

"It seemed you won't need a hand as well. Why not cut it? Oh wait, I already did it for you."

It was a voice she never heard before. But somehow, she felt relieved to hear it. Her body started falling, but a hand caught her before she hit the floor. Looking up, it was someone wearing a black trenchcoat with a full set of military body armor inside. He also wore a gas mask, hiding his face.

"Kuaaaaaagghh!!!" screamed Number 9 in pain while holding his right arm. His separated hand was still twitching on the floor as blood keep oozing out of his arm.

===

Amidst the chaos before us, I glanced at the little girl in my arms. Why did she look much younger than I remembered? Aren't she supposed to be my age?

I couldn't help but think that it was a part of the butterfly effect caused by my existence. But how? I never had any contact with whoever it is that was running this place.

"That mask! That coat! Why are you here!?"

Number 9's yelling snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked at him and the ongoing battle behind him. A group of NMCs were having a time of their life it seemed. They were busy reaping the life of the much weaker NMCs.

What should I do now? This event was not in my memory. Should I let it slide and repair the storyline? Or should I wreck it apart?

"Ahh... I don't care anymore...".