WHO: Rae, Elliot, Evan and Marigold (NPC) WHAT: A rescue, a reunion and an introduction. WHERE: The government facility, Rae's room to start with. WHEN: Forward-dated to June 4th, 2019, night. RATING: Medium-high for language and violence. STATUS: In progress
"Go fish," Rae said softly, looking up from the cards in her hands and giving Marigold a half-smile as she glanced down at the deck on the table. For the most part, she took it easy on the girl when they played these games. She was clever, though, and she was starting to pick up on the fact that Rae wasn't exactly playing at her best. The first hint had probably come when she'd grabbed two cards instead of one the last time they played.
Only one, silly! she'd chastised, and forced Rae to put one card back.
After that moment when she'd decided that she'd be as strong as she could, she'd spent almost every moment with Marigold, and they'd built something of a trust. As much of a trust as a four-year-old could develop in a relative stranger, anyway. The only time they'd been separated was for their daily blood drawings. After that, Marigold always came back to Rae's room instead of going back to her own, only returning for a few moments to pass the nightly bedroom check. No more than twenty minutes after the guards left Rae to her business, she heard a soft knock on her door, and there was Marigold, ready for another game. Or sleep, depending on her mood.
That particular day, though, their game would be cut short. Completely unexpectedly, an alarm started blaring through the lab and red lights flashed in the hallway. Rae's eyes widened and she stood, holding her index finger up out to tell Marigold to stay in place until she determined it was safe. "Stay right there, sweetie, okay?" she told the child. "I'm just going to look out the window."
She stood by the doorway, but didn't open the door. Her head craned to look out the window and down the hallway, trying to figure out what was going on, but she didn't see anything. Not at first.
A few seconds passed, though, and she saw a group of three men running down the hall, guns in hand, like something serious was going on. Rae wasn't sure what it was, but if they were that determined, it couldn't be anything good. Turning around, she tried to think quickly. "C'mon, sweetie. Let's hide out in the corner. We don't know what's going on, but... I'll make sure nothing happens to you, okay?" She sat down in the chair in the corner, pulling the child to her chest and staring at that window.
It wasn't until the first sound of gunfire that she jumped and closed her eyes, burying her head in the child's hair and trying to keep herself from panicking.
When the noises got closer to her room, though, Rae pointed under the bed. "H-hide, okay? I'll come and get you when it's all over." The child was hesitant, but Rae nodded her head and tried to look reassuring. "I-it'll be okay. I promise."
Only when she was safely hidden, did Rae hide herself. Kind of. She pressed her back against the wall beside the door, prepared to attack whoever it was that came in, watching the doorknob as it turned.