Work In Progress III

CLASSIFIED

Name: Lorza
Location: Sonoran Desert, Arizona
Birthdate: Approx. 1995

Specs: Hispanic. Eyes Brown. Hair Brown. Birthmark behind ear erased. Scar on left knee erased. Deformed pinky toe on right foot normalized. Teeth are cracked and uneven, fillers set in place. FP removed 3/14/97. Gene scan 3/15/97. Tracker: 3/16/97. Update 4-06-97: Congenital insensibility to pain.

Abilities: Human biology, household weapons, marine corp training, jujitsu, krav maga.

Notes:

3-12-97: We found Lorza in the Sonoran desert. Her parents, both shot execution style beside her. Typical in these parts, greedy coyotes. From the looks of it, her parents have been dead for a week. Lorza is amazingly, doing fine, she must of had water to drink from that freak monsoon 3 days ago. She took to me quite easily, which is a nice change.

3-16-97: Tracker reading low desire levels which is a good sign. This girl is emotionless. Must have seen the violent death of her parents. She likes to jump off the table, look at books and scream. No talking just screaming for everything. Training starts tomorrow.

4-02-97: Lorza broke her arm. No crying. Break was noticed by night guardian. This child is special, I always knew it. Set the bones that night.

4-05-97: Testing for CIP. Broke two metacarpals in the right hand, no crying. Bones have been set. I'm certain she has this disease, will do more evasive testing to confirm diagnosis. In the interim we will start giving her doses of Naxolene.

4-06-97: After 12 hours of testing, it has been confirmed. Lorza has CIP which explains the cracked teeth, as those suffering keep grinding their teeth until they are gone. I'm surprised she doesn't have more injuries. The sleep pod and mouth guard will keep her safe through the night.

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Lorza drew in a short breath as the thin cable of the Hooksin shot through her inner ear, then skull then to its destination, the tracker. She fell over like an old rag doll.

Aiden hit the retracter key. Gurgling, slurping sounds echoed in the abandoned house. Hot blood spewed from Lorza's left ear and into Aiden's hands as the tracker's light slowly dimmed to nothing. The Hooksin's tiny hooks buried themselves deep into the tracker and into some of Lorza's insula. Aiden quickly thought of a small chewed pieces of bubble gum to keep himself from vomiting. He quickly snipped the Hooksin wire, grabbed the boulder he found in the backyard and crushed the tracker. He reached for Lorza's gun, pulled it from her holster, and aimed it at the imaginary X she drew. After 5 seconds of doubt, fear of failure, and remorse, Aiden angled the gun and shot Lorza in the head.

He played the story in his head over and over as he rushed to the site. Aiden thought, "The tracker disappeared from the radar suddenly. I wasn't far from the kill point and I didn't hear a gun. I figured who ever did it would get the hell out of there as fast as they could. I found her on the ground, unconscious. Someone tipped them off, they knew exactly where she was."

"Stop being so shaky. You can be scared but not like you care too much. Be leveled man, Aiolena will sniff you out so fast. Who cares if she does? You're doing the right thing, Lorza too. Let them do what they want, I don't care anymore I won't be apart of this anymore," Aiden's thoughts were building too fast, he almost missed the site base.

Punching the keys quickly, the gates slid open and the driveway opened up to the tunnel underground. The check engine light on the old Civic was telling Aiden it was tired and he whispered to it, "We're almost there baby, then I'll let you rest." As soon as he reached the double doors to the infirmary, Aiden kept his promise.

Busting through the doors with a bloody Lorza with 12 minutes left on the clock, a gurney is waiting for them; complete with type B+ blood bags on it's sides and a mess of wires to keep Lorza's ticker ticking. Doctors and nurses strap Lorza in and sweep her away without a word. Running to catch up with them Aiden is cut off by the guardians.

"Report to Aiolena. Don't mince words Tech," says Carson, one of the nicer guardians. His furrowed brow tells Aiden there isn't a chance that he'll be allowed inside, so he makes his way down to his mother's office.