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"Status report." A voice echoed above her, hazy and faraway.

Her mind felt foggy, unable to really comprehend what the words meant. Her body and mind were separated, the latter being unable to successfully connect to the former. At least I'm not floating in the gray. Being in the gray place, in a world devoid of color, terrified her. She hated it when the scientists strapped her into the Machine and sucked all the color from the world. They would leave her in that limbo, until splashes and hues of color finally bloomed. Her mind, exhausted from the blurry gray landscape, would latch onto them and suck her in.

Whenever she woke up from that horrid place, she would find her memory lacking. Black, gaping holes. . . Though, later on, when she would dream. . . She would catch glimpses of what she did.

Of who she killed.

"Biometrics are stable. She's currently under sedation, but it's likely she's still awake. We programmed her to stay awake at all times - not very surprising." The man continued, chuckling slightly. It sounded warped, as though he were speaking into a voice-alteration program.

"Then explain the lapse we had on the battlefield."

A pregnant pause. Zero was about to turn her mind away from the conversation and get lost in her thoughts again.

"After reviewing the camera she was wearing, I can say it was the teen boy. The one she killed before she moved into the way point. It reminded her of her old cell mate. We've been trying for months to get rid of those memories, but her mind won't let them go. . . Anyway. It caused a lapse in the training, and her mind snapped. We're keeping her here until we can reset the conditioning."

What. . . A cell mate?

A face flashed in her mind, and instant pain ripped through her. If she could have groaned, she would have. Her head. . . It hurt. It was hurting so, so bad. An annoying blaring sound started to pulse next to her ear, and she wanted to moan again. It was only causing more pain, more agony -

"Get her offline. Now. We can't-"

Strange popping noises kept punching through the blaring beeping and the pain in her head. She faintly heard screams, and then some muted orders. The alarm next to her ear shut off ( finally ), and then she was being touched, body being moved upward.

"Hang in there, girl. It's going to be a bumpy ride."

I know your voice. . . She thought blearily, mind struggling to connect to her body again. She wanted to, so she could open her eyes and look around, but. . . She couldn't. It was like there was a wall between her mind and body, and while it was crumbling, it just wasn't fast enough. She wanted to regain control of her body, find out what was happening -

"Okay. Alright, Zero - god, that hurts - it's time to wake up, sweetheart. I gave you everything that you need."

Zero found her eyes opening slowly, light stabbing them. She was. . . In a campground? Frowning, she made her body move to sit her up - her muscles obeyed, albeit slowly. She scanned the campground, and a frown tugged at her lips.

She was alone.

And she was free.