Section 53: It's Tristan Time!

"Hey, big brother".

"Hm?" the man looked at the shadowy figure next to him, the figure he knows so well. The familiar voice he was able to recognize from the distance.

"You'll come back to me, right?" the young girl put her index finger at his lips beggingly.

-Tristan POV-

I woke up from my dream instantaneously as I heard the voice of my rumbling stomach. I'm hungry, I want to eat so bad. I've been hiding inside a room filled with papers and cabinets, it looks like an archive room. Aria told me to find any info concerning this camp which I'm currently procrastinating.

My stomach rumbling in hunger, I should have carried some snickers with me to munch. Anyway, I shouldn't procrastinate and get my work done. I brought my mini laptop with me in case I need any hacking done. However, all I can see in this room is just a stack of papers. I prefer digital copy to manual copy, thanks.

"I saw someone silhouette in this room, Caleb! I swear!" someone is yelling in front of the room.

Wait, did someone spot me procrastinating here? That's impossible.

"You saw the silhouette clearly?" a deep voice replied to that girl's inquiries.

"Yes! But I'm too scared to check it out" the girl replied with a stutter.

"I'll volunteer to check if you're that scared" I could hear Aria replied arrogantly toward the girl.

"No, you're an outsider" the man replied stiffly. "I can't let a stranger inside this archive room".

This is my cue to hide since Aria is not allowed inside. Although, I don't know where to hide right now.

"Should I climb the shelves and hide there?" I muttered to myself.

I climbed the shelves as quiet as possible, the rattled shelves made me nervous. As soon as I reach the top of the shelves, I'm confused about what I should do next.

"Alright, where the heck should I go from here?" I scanned the whole room for an exit.

My eyes happened to spot the rooftop window above me, I think that could be my only exit. My wobbly legs tried to stand on the rattled shelves, my hands desperate to reach the windows.

"I'm going in, you three stay here" the man's voice echoed inside the room.

I can't risk being seen by them, I duck as soon as the stranger entered the flickering archives room. I laid myself on the shelves to avoid being seen. The man searched the floor below for any sign of an unannounced guest. The flickering lights somewhat helped me from being seen.

"We should change the bulbs, I'm going to tell Elizabeth about this" he sighed in defeat and exited the room with an annoyed expression.

"Huh? That's it?" I raised my brows.

"Elizabeth, that flickering light is killing me! We need to change the bulb! I can't see a damn thing inside there!" the man growled.

An unfamiliar voice replied to the man snarkily.

"Geez, fine! What about the silhouette Vanya mentioned?".

"I didn't see anyone, but the flickering lights made that room look like a cursed room".

"Like a haunted room?" Aria added playfully.

"Yeah, you got that right" Caleb grunted. "Sometimes it gives me shivers".

Now they're making me scared with the haunted room assumption, I need to gather the files and get out from here ASAP. They walked away from the archives room, it looks like I'm saved for now. I climbed down and sighed in relief.

"They almost caught me, but why is Aria siding with the enemies? She has something in mind that I don't know?" I thought to myself as I recognized Aria's voice.

She's being chummy with the enemy, that's a rare sight. That girl is not even that chummy to us, she approached them for a reason. The reason might lie in this archives room, it's my job as a hacker to find out that information. I rummaged through the disoriented stack of files on the shelves.

"Alright, what do we get here" I smiled as I skimmed through the papers.

I'm surprised to see a list of children and teenagers inside the stack of papers. There's a picture on each of the papers, children, and teenagers wearing a white hospital robe.

"What's this?" my senses are tingling.

I read the papers one by one with curiosity in mind. These children have names, but they were labeled in a codename.

"EX001, EX002, EX003" I skimmed through the papers and saw a bunch of deaths and failed experiments.

There are several children on the papers that have this big red stamp on their papers.

FAILED

FAILED

FAILED.

"What the heck? Did the children that have 'failed' stamps died?" I gulped as I read the files.

Some of the children had gruesome wounds, barely unrecognizable. I could only guess that these files are reports about some inhuman experiments. They used teenagers, young adults, and children subjects for this experimental project. The experiment project name is Project Alpha and Omega.

It says that these files and reports are classified, but for some reason, they're left here unattended. People could use these files for misconduct, and yet the fellows in the camp didn't do anything about these files.

"Unless they already know" I assumed in my mind. "Or maybe they're the participants".

I decided to take some of the files, the important one that involves the experimental procedures. I barely had the time to read, so I'll read later. Just when I was about to give up gathering all the important papers, I found a shiny blue harddisk between the files. The harddisk is inside a small plastic bag with a white label "EX007 SUCCESS".

"Nice! Finally, something I can tinker with!" I grinned.

I plugged in the hard disk to my laptop, as expected it blocked my entries.

"Hmph, I'll hack this baby in no time!" I grinned in satisfaction.

My hands typed on the shining blue keyboards as light as a feather, hacking comes naturally for me. It is what I do for a living after all. It may be a sinful job, but I'll do whatever I can to support my younger sister and myself. This job is what makes me stronger, it's Tristan time to shine!

Truth to be told, we lived in a harsh world, even before this chaotic drone attack happened. The only change I feel is there are fewer annoying humans around.

"Alright, let's change the bulb" I heard a voice outside the room.

"Oh, man" I cursed under my breath as I could hear the sound of footsteps coming closer toward the archives room door. I packed my stuff and the papers inside my laptop bag and climbed the rattled shelves again.

"Whoops, it's the wrong bulb" a giggling girl could be heard outside the room.

"Vanya! We talked about this before! The bulb is in the toolbox room! Sheesh, where did you get this?" the man scowled annoyed.

As soon as I reached the top, I tried to stand again. This time my hand will reach the window frame.

"Crap! Hurry up!" I yelled internally to my slowpoke self.

My legs wobble because of the rattled shelves, I wonder if I can open the windows. Luckily, the two people outside were still bickering about the bulb.

"Hurry up, if Caleb caught me sneaking in to fix the bulb with you he might mock me!" The man's voice spoke in high tones.

"Mock for what? Big bro Caleb is always nice, no?" the girl answered back.

"You don't understand, nevermind" the man grunted.

My hand finally reached the window handles, I pushed the windows and slowly climbed my ways away from the archives room. Now I'm on the roof, still lowering my back so that no one can see me. After climbing my ways out, I closed the window as quietly as possible to avoid suspicion.

"Phew, I'm finally safe" I grinned.

However, not long after I saw a shadowy figure behind me. I am drenched in sweat when I know that there's someone behind me. My hand froze and trembled in fear.

"I have to reach my gun! Now!" I shouted to myself internally.

When I reached for my gun holster, the stranger behind me kicked me swiftly and pinned me on the ground.

"Who says that you're safe?".