The Imprisonment of Lauren Barnes, Part Two.

[TheSpotConlon]

Three months! Holy crap! I'm really bad about following up on these, but I guess that later is better than not at all. I suggest that those of you without photographic memories go read the earlier parts at the story archive, and then come back to read this installment. Comments are appreciated. Cheers!

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I was running. I had no idea if anyone had noticed; it looked deserted, but white on white on white could conceal anything. My eyes could be playing tricks on me, or they could have just designed me not to notice. Either way, I’m certain that someone would have stopped the 18-year-old with blood on her jersey. Maybe the red didn’t show as much as I thought it did; I hadn’t looked down, so what did I know? I just heard his neck snap, and then I took off. The skin might not have even broke. What kind of death would that be, ending up with a corpse that showed no signs that you were gone aside from a severely kinked neck?

Shit. I’m losing it. That wasn’t me talking. That couldn’t have been me talking. I’m just some farmgirl with an overdeveloped interest in baseball and screwing, so what do I know from death and killing? This was something new, a piece which that bastard had slipped into me sometime since I got here. Hristopher Quint. I knew he was responsible for every part of my mind that I had, but he was equally responsible for how screwed up that same mind had become. Lauren Barnes was dead eight times over, at least the one who had been known around the campus of SCULA. That amnesiac with the cute girlfriend was as gone as the Dodo, President Bush, and the Washington Bullets. I was her, she was me, and neither of us knew just who the hell we were anymore.

What I could figure was that I was one of six. There were six of us. I was one-sixth of what was collectively the worldwide experience of Lauren Amanda Barnes. Were all the rest of them like me? Did we all have the same screwed up mind, and did we all bleed grey? As depressing as that sounded, I wanted it to be true. I didn’t want to be the only one who had no God. My God was gone, dead from a broken neck and head trauma which I gave to him. God was dead. A scary thought, but the more it sunk into my artificial mind, the more I liked it. Bloodlust. Tension. Release. All is permitted.

I took a minute to survey myself. There were no marks of violence on me, no sign that I had recently killed the man. My attire was somewhat out of place for what I could only assume was a military instillation, but if that was my biggest grievance, then I could consider myself lucky. Still, I needed a remedy to my current appearance. There had to be other Laurens in this facility, and my only chance of survival would be to feign their identity until I could find my way out. There had to be other Laurens in this facility, and they would be sympathetic to my plight. There had to be other Laurens…and I had no idea how to find them. Where would I go? Yeah, like I had any idea. I was the lost toy, completely alone in the world, and, as far as I knew, everyone in here was my enemy, out to shut me down. What was I going to do, roll down my window and ask for directions?

A flash. A blinding light I hadn’t seen in far too long. I managed the pain, clutching at my head long enough to focus the image. Another Lauren, definitely not me, and she’s pushing through the wall. She put her hand up against one of these godforsaken white panels and went right into another room. They were optical illusions, or holographic, or something. Son of a bitch. The pain fades, and so does the memory, but I rush as quickly as I can down the hall. I don’t even care if anyone sees me this time; in a few minutes, they won’t be able to tell which one I am. Hand up. Wall down. Falling through.

I see her. Me. It’s one of the newer Laurens, just off the assembly line, hair in a neat little bun. She has none of my faults, no problems of waking up with a human delusion. But she also lacks my newfound expertise, and my insatiable drive to stay living. She doesn’t recognize me, and blurts out a standard little greeting asking out I can be assisted, or rather how she could be of any assistance to me. I rattle off a few quick letter and number sequences and watch her ass drop to the ground. When Quint gave me my memory back, he should have left the control codes out of it. I take a moment to reflect on her. Technically, she’s not me. She hasn’t had the little time I’ve had out in the world. She doesn’t know the little minutiae I’ve got shoved into my silicate brain. She’s never loved like I have. But still, I see a bit of me in her. I haven’t aged enough for my knuckles to rough, for my eyes to become dull, for the bottoms of my toes to callus. There’s no indication that anything on me does that, but I took solace in what kinship I had to this ersatz Lauren. Then I stripped and dressed her in my clothes. I was going to miss my jersey, and it provided a much warmer ensemble than her examination gown. It didn’t matter; I wanted survival, and anything was worth sacrificing for that.

A matter of seconds later, a young blonde by the name of Lauren Amanda Barnes walked out of that room wearing nothing but a standard examination gown. Little did she know that the same action was being repeated five times throughout the building. Lauren was disabled, Lauren was dead, Lauren was escaping, Lauren was collaborating.

There was every chance that I was already dead.

[Trace Venom]

That's Quality right there

It would suck to wait another 3 months for a new chapter, but I will if I have to.

You can't rush inspiration, and well, there's that little thing called "real life responsibilities" that everyone has to deal with, so I understand.

Guess I'll just have to take up Yoga or Tai-chi between installments.

[DollSpace]

Wow...it's been a long time but it was worth it Please continue this awesome story...please?:) I always look forward to reading new stuff from you!

*hug*
Catie

[confusitron!]

Always worth the wait.

[33cl33]

Keep it comin'!

[TheSpotConlon]

Update! Update! Update!

...Yeah, so I've brushed the cobwebs off and started another installment of this story. I hate that I'm taking three months between, but life, combined with uncertainty on plot structure, is making it a hell of a time. But yes! New installment soon! I swear!

[Trace Venom]

Update! Update! Update!
New installment soon! I swear!

Woohoo!!!

[valtech1218]

worth the 3 month wait
want more