Then he backed up, yelling louder, “Anna?”
He scanned the room again, fixating on dark drops on the white floor.Blood?Something in him short-circuited. There wasblood everywhere in the room. What had happened? His hands trembled as he reached down and touched the blood. It was dry to the touch.Not fresh.He assessedall the spots.None of it is fresh.
Then he focused on the dent on the door.What caused that?
Sterling finally caught up. “Atlas? Over here.”
“What is it?” Atlas came back in the hall to see a bloody handprint on the wall. And then his sensors overheated at seeing the blood drops that littered the ground. They formed a trail of sorts. He stared at them, then began walking fast, following them.
He yelled, his voice strangled, “Anna? Where are you?”
Finally, he heard Zero down the hall, in one of the unused research bay rooms. “She’s gone, Atlas.”
“Zero?”His feet pounded in the direction of the sound. Inside, a collection of the black-haired researchers that had been working on the neurochip sat. Horrifyingly, several were in surgical gowns.
Everyone turned to him as he entered, a shocked gasp running through the room when they saw Stella’s head in his grip.
The sharp smell of antiseptic still lingered in the air. And tools that Atlas had used himself lay at the ready on a sterile tray. Surgical instruments. Everything lined up and ready for action.
“What is going on?” Atlas yelled. “Why are you prepped for surgery?”
They froze in place, all with empty hands. At the wall, Zero and his brothers stood, along with Starla, fingering that golden necklace of hers.
Atlas scanned the room.Was I too late? Did they already operate?He calmed slightly at seeing signs of surgical prep only, but no evidence of the tools having been used. He went up to Zero, who stood frozen next to his brothers along the wall, staring at Stella’s head. “What happened? Where’s Anna?”
Zero swallowed. “Anna is fine. She took the baby. And left. She didn’t want anyone to follow.”
“Nothing happened, Atlas,” Starla whispered.
Everything in him sagged, relief making his circuits swim. They were okay. Nothing happened. His Anna. His baby girl. They were both unharmed. “You’re certain?”
“Yes,” Starla said. “They’re both alright.”
Alice’s voice shook from a seat in the corner. She pointed at Atlas’s hand holding Stella’s head. “You killed her?”
“Alice!” Sterling had made it to the room and was standing in the doorway. “Were you a part of this too?”
Alice startled, backing into the corner.
“Did you know that Stella disconnected me? Tased me?” Sterling ambled forward, almost falling into the cabinet right at Alice’s side. “You were a part of this? How long have we worked together?” He shouted. “I trusted you!”
But Atlas had no desire to see them argue it out. Now that he knew Anna and his baby were alright, he could care less about what happened with Stella. He held up Stella’s head, shaking it so hard the eyelids bounced open and shut. “Yes, I disabled her. Take a good look. This is who you followed. This is what true evil looks like.”
“Nothing happened.” Leo took a step forward. “We were still debating whether to even move forward when the power cut out and Anna came in.”
“Still debating? Haven’t you had enough debating?”
“I’m done debating.” Leo squared his shoulders, the black hair that had fallen out of his ponytail framing sincere eyes. “That’s why we didn’t stop Anna when she came in.”
“Good. Here.” Atlas threw Stella’s head in the middle of them, the platinum blond hair sprawling on the floor. “Debate what you want to do with this trash now—on your own.”
No one moved as Stella’s head stopped, eyes vacantly staring toward the ceiling.
“I’m going to find Anna now, and everyone will leave us the hell alone,” Atlas growled. “You can put Stella back together if you must, but personally, I think she’s better like this.”
“We were wrong.” Leo stepped around the head, closer to Atlas. His voice dropped to a whisper. “Anna called us monsters. She was right. The moment I saw her here, I realized. . .”
“You are monsters,” Atlas snarled.
