Project Z-1664: Chapter Four

When the elevator doors opened on the ground floor, Sergeant Hartby was waiting for her. His crossed arms and firm expression told her what was coming. “So, what happened? I trust you messed everything up? I’m surprised I’m still standing in this building!” he fumed. Elfy giggled. “Cool your lid Sarge, everything’s ok. He’s not showing her off to the press anymore tomorrow, but he is gonna release details about her. She’s not in the tank-thing anymore; he took her upstairs, now he’s waiting for her to wake up. He’s gonna wait ‘till she decides she’s ready to go outside.” She smiled, and ran her fingers through her hair. “And he thanked me for helping him.”
Hartby blinked. “Helping him?! If this turns into a scientific and/or moral war, I’ll be blaming you then!” He turned, and left the reception room. Elfy sighed, and trudged reluctantly after him. 

-

Three floors up, the girl opened her eyes slowly, and took a deep breath. Before Samuel had the chance to do anything, the girl tensed, and gave an ear-splitting screech. She sat up in the bed and started to tear the duvet to pieces. Samuel could only hold his head in agony from the noise, and he cried out for Greg. Greg was already running down the corridor, and as he entered the room, the girl started to screech again. She jumped out of the bed, and ran towards the window. Samuel yelled and ran after her. The girl turned to look at him for a second, then jumped, crashing through the window. Samuel’s face was an expression of complete and utter horror, as he leaned out the window and watched her fall.

Elfy had started the car engine, and was about to drive away, when she heard a strange noise. Hartby had his PDA and out, with the headphones in, but he heard it as well. Elfy opened her door and looked up at the building. A few seconds later, a figure came crashing out through a window of the third floor. She gasped, and they both got out of the car. Hartby ran to attempt to catch it, but the figure was falling too fast. They both could only watch as the figure hit the ground with a sickening CRACK.

-

A few minutes later they were all out in the car park, gathered around the body. Samuel had not said a word to anyone, and now looked the perfect imitation of a statue.
There she lay, her body intact but in a deep crimson pool of her own blood and little shards of glass.
Samuel kneeled down next to her. He reached out his hand, as if to put it on her shoulder, then he stopped. He gasped, and stood up, backing away a little. Greg went to his side and asked what was wrong. “S-s-she…moved!” he stammered. Greg sighed sadly. “I’m sorry Samuel…” he said sympathetically. Samuel shook his head. “N-no, seriously! Look!” he cried, and went over to her again. He hesitantly patted her on the shoulder. The body twitched a little. Everyone jumped and moved away this time. Elfy even screamed. Samuel patted the body again, and this time, it raised its head slowly. This time Samuel did not back away. “H-hello?” he said quietly. The body lifted itself up, which got another scream from Elfy, and it rubbed its head. “Uuuuh…” it groaned. Hartby thought this was all too similar to some zombie horror movie he’d seen a couple of weeks ago. Samuel put his hand on the girl’s shoulder. “My God…” he breathed in disbelief. The girl looked up at Samuel and smiled wearily.
A few moments of silence passed. A few tears ran down Samuel’s cheeks. Greg’s eyes widened as he slowly realised. Hartby and Elfy simply stared in horror.
Samuel helped the girl up slowly, checking her arms and legs. There were no scars or wounds anywhere, but she was still covered in blood.  “Don’t just stand there with your mouth open, Greg! We’ve got to get her washed up!” he cried. “Elfy, help me with her.” Elfy hesitantly took an arm. “Sergeant, help Greg please.” he instructed.
They entered the reception room, which was pretty quiet as it was now getting late, but the three receptionists were still there. Two of them screamed and one of them fainted at the sight of the little girl drenched in blood walking slowly towards them. Sure, she was being aided by their boss and the girl they’d seen earlier, but it was still pretty terrifying. The group went towards the lift, all of them getting in. Greg took out a phone and started calling various people to run a bath and get towels and new clothes and to prepare a bed right away. As soon as the lift reached the third floor and the doors opened, there was a whole group of people there. Samuel and Elfy helped the girl towards the bathroom, while Greg asked Hartby to help him with something else. Hartby was still too in shock to ask what, and just agreed. Greg said something about gathering evidence and considering variables, and they went back to the room where the girl had jumped from.

In the bathroom, a large tub of hot water waited for them. They made sure there were no more pieces of glass on her, then the girl got undressed and Elfy helped her into the tub. She seemed alright now, calmer. They checked her body for any injuries or wounds, but miraculously, there wasn’t even a scratch. While the girl laid back and soaked for a while, Samuel called for the others, and tried to explain what happened, to himself as much as to Greg, Hartby, Elfy and the group of scientists. 
“Well. I mentioned before Z1664’s special abilities…the ones given to her by the amounts of reptile DNA in her blood. One of the most significant of these being the ability to heal herself. Now, as we all probably know, reptiles are great at healing themselves. Any wounds almost instantly seal up, and even entire limbs can be severed, then grown back in a matter of hours. I think what we saw here tonight was that ability on a larger scale, and at greater speed. You might call it ‘freaky’, but it is nonetheless one of the most desired traits that scientists wished for humans to have. This…this healing ability, could potentially make her…almost invincible!” he concluded excitedly.
All were silently in awe.
A soft, slightly raspy voice was heard. “Invincible? Woah…”
All of them turned. The girl was looking up at them smiling. “That’s so cool!” she giggled wearily. Hartby and Elfy were clearly shocked. “She can talk?!” Elfy yelled. Samuel rolled his eyes. “Of course she can talk, we were training her brain for the Police Force with computers, remember? She probably knows more than you do…” he said smugly. He went and kneeled next to the tub, smiling. “Are you alright now? How are you feeling?” he asked. She rubbed her head. “I’m alright…a little sore, but I’m just tired most of all…” she replied. He nodded. “Alright, once you’ve finished your bath you can just go to bed.” he smiled, and turned. “Greg? Is the window in her room replaced yet?” 
Greg was taken aback a bit by the question. “Um no, it’s still broken…but don’t you want to leave it as evidence?” he asked. Samuel frowned. “No. Why do we need it as evidence? I don’t think we’ll need to be reminded of this horrible incident ever again.” he said darkly. Greg nodded, and made another phone call to order a new window immediately. Mr Hal was the kind of person who could have a window fitted at night or indeed any other time of the day, quickly, no questions asked.

It was now night, and some of the other scientists were heading home or up to the residential area. The girl was asleep soundly in her bed, with Samuel sitting next to her again, deep in thought as always. Greg stood by the door, making sure the hall was quiet. Hartby and Elfy approached him. “It seems everything somehow turned out alright here…we’ll be going now, if that’s alright.” Hartby announced. It had been long day. Samuel looked up. “Yes. Though we’ll be meeting again tomorrow. As you probably realise, we have all sorts of things to discuss.” He glanced at the girl.
He reached over to her, and lifted her arm. Tied around her wrist was a thin, white plastic band, the same as those that patients receive when in hospital. He took it off. It read:

Z LABORATORY 
Project Z-1664
Band Issue# 0032 80085

“She doesn’t need this anymore.” he said, removing it.
Elfy tilted her head to one side, and went in the room. “Oh yeah! There’s one thing you never told us.”
Samuel gave her a look that said he didn’t believe her.
”What’s her name?”
“Project Z166-“ He stopped, a look of utter shock on his face. He held his head in his hands. “I…I…I never thought. She has no name. She never needed a name, she was a project. Even when I looked after her as a baby… I only referred to her as a little girl… my little girl…zee-one-six-six-four…that’s no good a name! How could I miss such a thing?! How?!” he cried.
The girl turned over in her sleep.
”Wait, let me see that band?” Elfy held out her hand and Samuel gave it to her. She read it, and giggled a little. “Heh, ’boobs’…” she mumbled. Hartby and Samuel exchanged startled looks. Elfy rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, you guys never put that in a calculator before? Boobs?” she laughed. Samuel looked even more confused. Hartby looked bewildered. “What?!” he asked. Elfy shrugged. “When you type eight-zero-zero-eight-five into a calculator, it looks like it says ‘boobs’. C’mon Sarge, I think just about every schoolboy’s done that at some point! There’s heaps of other words too, um, a three is an ‘E’, and ‘G’ is six…Only way to stay awake in Maths.” she giggled.
Hartby was just about to lose his patience with her for wasting time, when Samuel jumped in. “What, so each number means a letter?” he asked. Elfy nodded. “Well, yeah, but some letters aren’t…I mean, what number would be ‘F’?” she laughed.
“Hmmm…so I guess only the numbers one to nine have letters…Yes, I think I have heard of this before.” he said, his head resting on his hands. “Greg!” he suddenly called. “Yes?” Greg came over to the group.
“Please let me borrow your calculator.”
Greg took a small calculator out of his pocket. He always seemed to have everything that was needed. Samuel punched in a few numbers. “Alright Elfy, what does this say?” he asked, showing her it. Elfy looked at it. “I guess it would say 'IGGY'.” she told him. He nodded slowly. “Of course…” he said. He studied the calculator for a few seconds.
“Project Z1664. Z-IGGY. Project…Ziggy? Ziggy. That is her name.” he said, smiling.

It was now two hours later, and Hartby was at home, watching TV. Already the reports were spreading across various news networks, reporters speculating on what exactly Z labs were going to unveil tomorrow, and of course, people were already starting to protest against it. Hartby sighed, as he reflected on the events that day. How did he get mixed up in all this? Of course, being a Sergeant of the NYPD was a dangerous job which came with all sorts of risks and complications, but he’d never seen anything like this.
He was going to have to speak to the Chief about this tomorrow.