As she watched the small four year old girl jumping up and down black hair bouncing on her shoulders in excitment over the new teddy bear she was presented with, she knew she had made a mistake agreeing all those years ago. She closed her eyes and thought back to the conversation she had over heard.
"We cant take the possibility she will betray us, it is in her blood"
"Then we kill the expriment once she does what we want" the other man replied and her heart nearly stopped in her chest.
"Yes" was the reply and she wasnt sure if that was the end of the conversation or not, she ran before she could hear anything further.
She was snapped out of her thoughts when a weight settled on her lap after the child had scrambled up onto her chair.
"Read me story?" she asked with a smile, showing off the gap where her two front teeth had yet to come in, and still clinging to the stuffed bear she held in her arms. The woman nodded with a smile taking the book from her and opening it to the first page and starting to read the story she knew almost by heart. She knew what she had to do, even if it broke her heart to think of it.
XXX
Two nights later she silently snuck into the room that was in the next hall from her own. The room wasnt very big, but she had done her best to fill it with things for the child inside. The toys and books and even the blankets had been snuck in behind the backs of her boss and his partner, even some of the others who was here. She grabbed a bag she had stashed behind the bookshelf and set it on the floor. She grabbed some clothes from the dresser and put them neatly inside, followed by some books and toys, all of the childs favorites. Once she was done she brushed the sleeping little girls hair from her forehead.
"Your not safe here, not forever anyways. But dont worry, I'm going to take you somewhere that you'll be safe, I promise. Just remember I'm doing this for you" she whisperd. Once she straitened back up she quickly grabbed the bag before scooping up the child and leaving the room.
She ducked behind walls and crates and doorways, avoided the cameras locations and moved silently through the base. She couldnt risk being seen, not by anyone, if she was, they would kill her and the child she held. She couldnt allow that, couldnt allow them to harm her child, her little girl, not now and not ever.
She never stopped running, not even when she was outside, she chose a direction and kept running. Doing her best to avoid rocks and fallen branches and uneven patches of ground and kept her pace.
She continued to run even when her lungs burned and her legs ached, she wasnt far enough away, not yet. She tried not to look over her shoulder at every noise, that would only slow her down. When your running from people who would kill you withot hesition you couldnt afford much that would slow you down, you had to move quickly and silently.
She looked down to the still sleeping child in her arms, one she had gave birth to, one she had carried inside her for months, one she had felt kick her at all hours of night, one she loved more then anything, even though she had never thought of herself as being a mother. She had never wanted to be a mother. Had never seen the appeal in it, not until she had one atleast.
That was why she had agreed to what they had offered. They needed a surragote to carry the child, that was all. After she didnt have to even care for the baby if she didnt want to. It was simple, just carry it and then hand it over, wipe her hands clean of it. And that had been her plan, carry it, give birth to it, then give it away and never have anything to do with it. But all that had changed somehow. She didnt exactly know where, all she knew was that somewhere along the line she had started to love the baby. And now she was running to protect that very child. And she knew that whatever happened to her, this sleeping little child was worth it. Would always be worth it, no matter what happened in the future.
XXX
She didnt stop running until she reached the town at the end of the forest she had spent so long running through. She stopped for just a moment to catch her breath a little, breathing the cold har deeply, the relieff of it making her lungs nearly burn. Then she pulled the small blanket she had wrapped the child in, tighter around the small child. She was not nearly as light as normal children her age, but she was used to carrying her. She had built up muscles which made it east to carry her for a little while. But even then, she couldnt carry her forever, and her arms were threatening to give out very soon under the weight.
She walked a little further until she stopped at the enterance to a club and shifted the child to one arm before raising the other and waving it in the air. A bright yellow taxi stopped infront of her and she sighed in relieff running to the back door before someone else could steal it. She quikly laid the child down in the backseat before sliding in herself and closing the door. The man behind the wheel eyed her, probably wondering why a woman had a sleeping child outsid a club, but didnt ask. She gave him the adress and the order to go as fast as possible, before leaning back in her seat with another sigh.
She had the man stop not far from her destination and handed him the money, calling over her shoulder to keep the rest, before hurrying to the place she knew her child would be safe.