As always, any and all criticism and support is greatly appreciated. I would love to hear how you guys feel about how the story's progressing.
Thanks for reading!
Apo
* * * * *
The morning after I carried Amaki to her room started off much like any other. I went about doing my work as Head of Production as I would any other day. However, I didn't receive word from Amaki's handlers at 12:30 as I was scheduled to. Annoyingly, it wasn't until an hour afterwards that I noticed as I was absorbed in doing paperwork. Usually the handler team that worked directly under me had a stellar track record, and thus I contacted Johnson, the lead of the handler team, to find out what had happened. Calling him on my remote, he picked up before it had even rung once.
"Johnson, you're late. I expected to hear from you over an hour ago. Has Amaki been alone in my Pacification room this whole time?"
"I'm sorry Sir" he responded respectfully. "I thought you were aware of the situation. Apparently it showed signs of being sick at some point last night. As per company policy, it's being kept in an isolation room in the infirmary so as not to infect the other livestock. The medical staff said that-"
Feeling a pit form in my stomach, I cancelled the call and started towards the infirmary. On the way, I accessed our Ortian information database to find Amaki's entries. It seemed that sometime before 4am "Subject 20390-D"'s biomonitor showed increased heartrate and body temperature, indicative of a fever. This triggered an automatic quarantine response, one which I was wasn't alerted about. Sickness was rare in the facility, as it was mostly self-contained and new batches are thoroughly screened for infections. This was the first time one of my personal projects has gotten sick, so I hadn't set up any sort of personal alerts.
When I arrived at the infirmary, I had the staff fill me in on Amaki's condition. Apparently, their scans hadn't found any traces of an Ortian or human-borne disease. The staff had concluded that the symptoms were stress related, but Amaki had been left in isolation while the medical staff ran another battery of tests to confirm. I was advised to cancel all training until she could be given a clean bill of health. While they didn't foresee any danger to myself from interacting with her, they wanted to avoid any possible spread of disease no matter how unlikely. Frustrated, I resigned myself to leave, but not before I checked up on Amaki myself.
Walking down the pure white hallway lined with mostly empty isolation cells, I arrived at the one designated to Amaki. Peering through the narrow window on the door, I was greeted with an equally colourless padded room, furnished only with a small cot bolted to the floor in the corner. Standing out starkly against the expanse of white was a blue figure sitting huddled up on the bed. Dressed only in a white hospital gown and with her back facing the door, her silky blue hair and one arm propped on the bed behind her were all I could make out. I was relieved to see that the staff had at least washed her. I kicked myself for leaving her to be discovered in the middle of the night in the state I'd left her in.
However, looking closer, I noticed a slight swaying of her hair. As if it was being brushed by some artificial breeze. Knowing this was impossible given the nature of the containment cell, I pondered what it could be. After a moment, Amaki's head tilted back to face the ceiling, and it was then that I noticed it wasn't just her hair, but her entire body that was shivering. With the temperature being controlled, that only left one conclusion. She must be in tremendous pain.
Feeling a swell of rage at Amaki's state, I stormed off to confront the doctor in charge of her treatment. If her symptoms were brought on by stress, or because of how I had left her last night, it was no understatement to say that I was the reason she was sick. As the person responsible I couldn't sit idly by as she suffered. Amaki's attending was a long-term employee at the infirmary, Doctor Hadley. When I questioned her, she was adamant in being unaware of any need for painkillers.
"Sir, we haven't been able to find anything wrong with it other than a low-grade fever. If there is no infection present, I don't see any need for that."
"I see. Well I won't allow her to suffer alone in there. There must be something mild that you can give that has a low risk. Give me whatever you can and I'll give it to her myself."
Discounting the doctor's protests, I collected a couple compound painkillers to take back to Amaki's cell. When I returned, the narrow window showed her huddled in the corner just as I'd left her. Before I entered, I used the screen on the wall to activate the cell's intercom.
"Amaki. It's... I have some painkillers for you so I'm coming in. Stay right where you are and don't move."
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Amaki's shaking stopped as soon as I said that. She must've been terrified to see the person who inflicted this pain upon her. Adamant to try and help, even if she refused, I unlocked the door and entered. As I heard the door seal shut behind me, Amaki slowly turned to face me. The look on her face instantly told me something was wrong. Her big green eyes had a crazed look to them like a cornered animal, with her pupils contracted into near pinpoints.
Instinctively, I took a small step backwards. However, this prompted Amaki to slide closer and slowly pace towards me. Before I knew it, my back had hit the closed door of the cell and Amaki was getting closer by the second. I was confident that she couldn't have gotten a weapon in, but that did little to abate my fear. From what I could tell, it seemed that the fever and pain had sent her into a delirious state. Right now, the only thing on her mind was taking revenge on me. I had no idea what she was capable of in this moment.
Right as I was in the middle of slowly reaching for the remote in my pocket to call for help, Amaki closed the rest of the distance with one big step. On the balls of her feet, she leaned in close to hold her face an inch from mine. My eyes widened in fear and I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears. All my instincts were telling me that I was in danger. Prey in front of a skilled predator. Frozen in fear, I gave up on reaching for my remote in fear of angering her further.
With her eyes scouring over my face as if to take in every last detail, Amaki's face drifted even closer to mine. I felt her hot breath on my chin as she strained to make up for the height difference. As she grew closer, her delicate lips slowly parted giving me glimpse of her sharp teeth. However, what happened next couldn't have surprised me more.
I heard her take a deep inhale through her nose, and suddenly her whole demeanour changed. Her constricted pupils abruptly dilated, and her muscles slackened noticeably. A muffled moan escaped her mouth as her nose lightly brushed against my chin and she inhaled again. She then stepped even closer and let her face drift down towards my chest before resting there comfortably.
Taken aback, and still on high alert, I wasn't sure how to react. In the midst of an adrenaline rush, I had to control my fight or flight response. At any moment I was waiting to feel some impossible shiv slip between my ribs or a chunk to be ripped out of my shoulder by sharp teeth.
Instead, I felt Amaki step closer to press her body against mine. Inhaling deeply as she nuzzled against my chest, she seemed to be trying to have as much of her body in contact with mine as possible. She even wrapped her arms around me in a hug to pull herself closer. All of a sudden, the huntress had turned into a kitten seeking attention.
