I never was a fan of the whole "Vigilante Justice" thing. An edgy billionaire swooping out of the night to pound criminals into oatmeal, a kid with spider powers cracking jokes and stopping crime, or whatever other characters comic books managed to dream up. In most cases, your actions made you comparable to, if not worse than the people you were fighting, and there usually was a much more civil, reasonable, and acceptable alternative that would achieve similar, if not better results.
Not this time.
I guided the car down the old maintenance road as the rain pounded the windshield.
Let me correct myself: the *fake* old maintenance road.
Of course they wanted to hide it, and hide it they did for these many years. If anyone knew about it, they'd have the entire United States Army on top of them in no time flat. Then again, it's not like anyone would believe it. It's so ridiculous and horrible that even people who enjoy conspiracy theories would pass it off as being "too extreme" or "too horrible to imagine."
The winding road was interrupted by a small barricade that looked like it hadn't been touched in years. The trees on either side blocked any chance of going around it in a vehicle, and we still had quite a ways to go. Thankfully, I'd done this thousands of times by now.
Exiting the car, I approach the run-down shack, shielding myself from the rain with a small umbrella, and knocked on the door. Two quick—pause—three slow—pause—one. I couldn't see it, but I knew they were watching, as always. Without any other response, the barricade slowly lifted.
Returning to the car, I gripped the steering wheel tightly, steeling myself. I heard a quiet sigh from the passenger seat. Oh yah, she was the one responsible for me being here. After she left this place, they needed a new doctor. She knew they wanted me, so she got to me first.
"You good?" Focusing on the road ahead, I break the silence that has persisted for the past few miles.
A pause. "Y-Yah, I'm good. I'll be fine."
I was reluctant to bring her along. Sure, she probably hates this place even more than I do, but I'm still not sure if she's ready for what we're going to do. I know for a fact that she has had semi-regular panic attacks for the past few years as a result of this place, and our last attempt left her in such a state that she needed a good week to recover to the point where she could talk about what had happened. Still, she insisted on doing this, and knowing her, there wasn't much I could do to stop her.
"We practiced this. You know what to do." I try to be reassuring, while also trying to hide how tightly I'm gripping the steering wheel. I'm supposed to be the strong one here. If I crumble, so does she. I steady my nerves, relaxing my grip on the wheel ever so slightly.
"I'm ready, John, trust me. I can do this."
Oh yah, I should probably introduce myself. In this story, I'll go by "John," though you can call me whatever you want, I don't care. It's a fake identity anyways, but she has made a habit of referring to me by it all the time in order to prevent accidentally slipping up. It's a simple system and it works. And yah, her name's Monika, but you probably know her by now anyways.
I look her in the eyes. They're vivid green and full of determination and hate, but the latter isn't directed at me. You could probably see it in my eyes too if you looked hard enough. We both hate this place, both for what it's done to us, and for what it's done to others.
Three "others" in particular.
The sound of rough gravel underneath the car's wheels abruptly disappeared, replaced by a smoothly-paved road. We were almost there. My hand went to my side, underneath my coat. My fingers connected with cold metal. Yes, it was there. Yes, it was ready. Glancing her way, I see she's doing the same thing. Again, our eyes meet. I nod, she gives a determined smile.
I pulled the car into the lot and swung it around to face back down the road. I stopped the engine, but left the keys in the ignition.
"Last chance to go back."
Her face was slightly pale, but she set her jaw, "We're not going back."
"Alright, remember, you get 110, I'll get the other two. Meet back here, and if I don't show up, don't hesitate."
"Got it."
I took a deep breath and exited the car, grabbing my bag as I went. She followed a moment later. Resolutely, we walked towards that horrible building. I'd lost count of how many times I'd descended into those depths over the years. Over time, they'd taken something from me, but it was nothing compared to what they'd taken from others. This time was different though. This time the monster had no idea what it was swallowing.
For three years I'd walked into those doors every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Often I'd get calls in the middle of the night. 'One of their experiments went too far and I was needed to save their test subjects.' 'One of them attempted suicide for the 15th time.' Whatever reason they had, it was never good. Often I wondered how those poor innocent souls were even still alive after all this, or how they hadn't been driven into insanity years ago. Somehow, they always seemed to hang onto their lives and minds by just a thread. Maybe it was the hope of one day getting out? Maybe it was some side effect of what they were going through? I'm the doctor here and I still have no idea.
But it was time for all this to end. If it ended with us dead in some god-forsaken hallway of this god-forsaken place, so be it, but this monster would *feel* it. We would make sure of that. We would take its precious "experiments" and leave it wounded and weakened, and if we couldn't, we would go down fighting.
We reached the door. I drew my weapon. She drew hers.
It was time to be heroes.
Or die trying.
As one, we charged down the monster's throat.
We burst in from the storm, making our own thunder. The entrance hall was clear in a matter of moments. We had the element of surprise and the guards there never stood a chance. I lined up the sights of my weapon and channelled all my hatred for this place and the people who ran it. I recognized these guards and could name each and every one of the unforgivable things they'd done while I watched. I'm sure there were more things that happened when I didn't.
We charged further into the compound. Time was not on our side. The further in we got before they realized what was going on, the better. We followed the route that I'd traveled many times before, but never like this. At the end of a hallway we spotted a group of guards rushing towards us. Evidently they'd heard the gunshots and were coming to investigate. I flattened myself against the nearest cover I could find, an open steel door, and began picking them off one by one. She did the same. The gunfight was short and the surprised guards only managed to get a few, inaccurate shots off in our general direction before we finished them. It wouldn't be long now. We had to get moving.
I reached the big double-doors to wing A and burst through with her right behind me. We surprised another group of guards who were standing on the other side. I held down the trigger until the magazine was empty and all the guards were down, then stopped to reload. "GO!" I shouted. Without hesitation, she ran off down one corridor towards her target. I flipped the bolt back into place on my weapon and rushed down a different corridor. I had two targets to grab, she had one. The ones I was after were more heavily guarded, but hers was further away.
I gritted my teeth as alarms began to sound. They finally knew we were here. Things were about to get a whole lot more difficult.
I slowed my pace. Now that they knew of our presence, the whole "burst around a corner and shoot everything" tactic would be a great deal less effective. Plus, I was nearing my first target. The last thing I wanted was for a stray bullet to hit one of the three people in this hell hole that didn't deserve it.
This was it, the last corner before holding room 108. I flattened myself against the wall and slowly poked my head around the corner. A bullet ricocheted off the wall about three inches from my face and I snapped back around the corner.
Shouting, running feet, probably 4 or 5 guards. I couldn't get into a gunfight here, not without risking her safety. I ran back down the hall where I'd come from and dove into the first open door I saw, carefully closing it behind me and praying they hadn't seen. The pounding footsteps and shouting approached, growing louder and closer.
The sounds passed the door. I smiled, then pushed the door open. There they were, all running down a long hallway, all shouting, and all facing the wrong way. Within moments, they were all sprawled on the hallway floor. "Always watch your six," I muttered and raced back up the hallway towards the cell.
Rounding the corner, I saw that the containment room door was open.
That's strange. Something wasn't right.
I slowed my approach and moved as quietly as I could, listening closely. As I neared the cell, I could hear someone softly crying and heavy breathing. I stopped, frozen, just a few feet from the door.
Those two sounds weren't coming from the same person. There was at least one other person in the room with her. I swore under my breath. This wasn't good.
"We know you're there, Doc!" a raspy voice called from inside the room, "If you don't get in here with your hands up, I'll blow it's brains out!"
I remained frozen. How the hell am I going to play this one?
"I'm going to count to ten, and if you don't come in with your hands up—!"
"Alright, alright!" I called out. I carefully placed my weapon and bag just outside the door, stood, and entered the room with my hands up.
Sure enough, there were two guards in here, along with the subject. She knelt in the center of the room, and both the guards held a sidearm to her head.
"See? That wasn't so hard!" the taller one with the raspy voice laughed. I recognized him, the one with the huge scar on his cheek.
"Hey guys, how's the day going?"
"Shut up and get down on your knees!" the scar-faced one shouted.
I remained standing. "I see you're still cranky as always. Good to see nothing's changed around here since Wednesday."
"I SAID SHUT UP!" he shouted. "Knock some sense into him!" he said, turning to his companion who nodded and grinned in response.
"You know, I've always wondered," I continued, putting as much sarcasm in my voice as I could manage, "are you this cranky just because it's who you are, or does that scar make you look so horrible that you are forced to match it with your personality?"
The guard was seething at this point, and he couldn't seem to decide if he wanted to shoot me right then and there or keep his gun to her head. Without realizing it, he was now aiming at empty space in front of her head, halfway between me and her. Perfect.
Without warning, I leapt at him, knocking his companion to the side in the process. I'm no football player, but I'm certainly not a small guy. The gun went off, a deafening explosion in the tiny room, and I prayed that it had stayed off-target. I knocked him to the floor, and there was a sickening crunch as his head hit the concrete. He didn't get up.
Spinning around to face his friend, I saw that he was rolling on the floor, clutching his side. Apparently the stray bullet had found its way to him. I wasn't going to complain, I needed the luck right about then. Borrowing a dropped weapon, I considered putting him out of his misery, but decided against it. No need to scare the girl any more than she needed to be, and he clearly wasn't going anywhere.
Now for the girl. This was the one they never fed, right? One look at her and it was pretty obvious. She wasn't much more than skin and bones and her glassy eyes remained fixed on the door as she sobbed quietly. Her pink hair was greasy and matted with blood, and her face alone was bruised and broken in more ways than I care to describe. I groaned. Of course, that was why we had wanted to get them out two weeks ago. They had some horrible stuff planned for this one and our hope was to get them all out before that could happen, but things didn't go very well with the quiet and careful approach. I didn't even have clearance to know what they had planned, and that meant it had to be pretty bad, even by their standards. I knew one thing though: the poor girl was starving. Normally she was kept hungry, but you could see it in her eyes, this was more. She had yet to make eye contact with me or even acknowledge my existence.
I quickly retrieved my bag from outside the door and began rummaging around in a side pocket until I found what I was looking for. I unwrapped the little protein bar and held it up to her. Her eyes slowly came into focus and she weakly reached for it. (My god these people who did this to her deserved to die.) I placed it gently in her shaking hand and guided that hand to her mouth. The bar was gone in no time flat, and she finally looked up and met my eyes. Her eyes had regained some brightness and she seemed to be trying to say something. I couldn't tell what it was though, because clearly she'd lost her voice somehow. I tried not to think about how that could have happened.
"Hey, I'm here to get you out of here, ok?"
The way her eyes lit up made everything worth it.
"Can you walk?"
She tried to stand, but I had to catch her when she started to fall forward. She whimpered in pain. She was covered in cuts, bruises, and crude bandages in various stages of falling off.
"Don't worry, I'll carry you. Just stay still."
I picked her up and cradled her in my arms, being careful to hurt her as little as possible in the process. I was amazed at how light she was. It was like she weighed nothing. Of course she weighed nothing, she hadn't had one decent meal in her life.
"M-M-More?" her voice cracked.
"I don't have any more with me right now, but I've got plenty of supplies in the car, ok? Just hold on. You'll be safe soon. I promise."
She didn't respond, she just closed her eyes and kept herself close to my body. She was shaking, and I wasn't sure if it was from cold, fear, hunger, or something else.
As we exited the room, I glanced above the doorway at the white skull that still hung there. Poor kid. If he'd had as much brains as he had heart he might have been accompanying us right now. Well, maybe his poor soul would get some peace now.
Now things were more difficult. I couldn't carry her and shoot accurately, nor could I run very fast. On top of all that, I still had to get to my second target. This was going to be interesting. Thankfully it wasn't far to room 114. I just had to—
Gunshots echoed ahead of me. Shouting. Screaming. Horrible sounds. I hunkered down around the corner and waited, holding the girl close and whispering to her to keep quiet. She was clearly shaking from fear now, so I held her as tightly as I thought I could without hurting her.
The sounds continued for a few minutes, then suddenly there was silence.
I waited a minute, then slowly peaked around the corner.
At the end of the hall, there were guards lying everywhere.
None of them moved.
What on earth…?
Oh.
Oh that explains it.
The door to room 114 was open.
Was the whole "hold a gun to the test subject's head" thing a protocol I wasn't aware of?
Clearly some idiot pushed things too far.
Well, things seemed quiet.
I made my way quietly around the corner. Nothing happened. I carefully set the pink-haired girl down up against the wall. "Don't go anywhere or make any noise, ok?"
She looked scared and held a hand out to me. I held it briefly, "I promise I'll be back, ok? Trust me."
After a moment, she nodded slowly, still looking worried. I gave her a smile, squeezed her hand, and continued down the hall, stepping over bodies as I went. Some had been shot, some had been stabbed, and others I wasn't sure what had happened.
I reached the door. I didn't want to startle her. That would end very badly.
"Hey?" I called out softly.
"G-Go away." A soft voice from inside responded shakily.
"I'm here to help."
"N-No you're not. D-Don't lie."
"I'm not lying. If I were lying, would I have come on my own?"
Silence. I took it as a good sign and slowly walked into the doorway, hands in the air. (And no, the irony wasn't lost on me that this was the second time I was doing this.)
In the far corner of the room, a taller, purple-haired girl covered in blood and ragged bandages sat, hugging her knees and sobbing silently. When I entered, she quickly looked up as if expecting a blow of some sort. After a moment, her expression changed to that of confusion. I crouched down in the corner across from her and waited for her to say something.
"Y-You're a d-doctor."
"I *was* a doctor, yah."
"Y-You hurt us."
This was already going badly, shoot.
"Actually, I was the one who got to patch you back up. I didn't do much hurting for the sake of hurting."
"T-This is just some experiment, i-isn't it?" Her eyes flew around the room, clearly looking for some sort of threat.
I did my best to be patient, but I knew that time still wasn't on my side here. "If I were here for an experiment, wouldn't I have guards with me?"
The girl continued to scan her surroundings, still not believing what I was saying. Then I got it.
"What's your name?"
Her eyes instantly stopped looking for danger and locked on me, surprise clearly written on her face. Doctors and guards were heavily discouraged from using test subjects' names, instead instructed to refer to them by their room number. This was quite possibly one of the few times she'd heard that question in her life, and it took her a moment to process it.
"Y-Y-Yuri."
"Nice to meet you, Yuri. You can call me John. Now would you like to get out of this place?"
Slowly, she nodded. I stood and held out a hand. Carefully, she rose to her feet and cautiously took my hand. She seemed to expect that at any moment I would pull her off to another experiment, but I kept my grip gentle and slowly lead her out of the room.
The moment she saw the dead guards, she stopped and looked as if she was going to be sick.
"Eyes on me, ok? You can make it. Just say that I did this if it helps at all," I gestured to the gun on my hip. She looked at me again, visibly swallowed, and nodded.
Slowly, I guided her down the hall and to the other girl. I was relieved to see that she was still there, and she seemed equally relieved that I had returned. As far as I was aware, these two had never seen each other. The one in room 110 was the one used most often for situations where interaction with equals was required. My assumption was proven correct by the way the two looked at each other.
Yuri turned to me, "I-I only knew there was…" she trailed off, tears forming in her eyes.
"There's just the three of you, as far as I'm aware. I only know your name, but the one in room 110 is the only one who has seen everyone. Now, we have to get m—"
"N-Natsuki," the smaller girl croaked.
I was slightly surprised, but before I could say anything, Yuri had already knelt down andheld out a hand to the other girl. "I-I'm Yuri. N-Nice to meet you, Natsuki."
Natsuki glanced back down the hallway at the carnage, then back at Yuri, concern on her face, but just as Yuri looked like she might cry, the smaller girl smiled warmly at her and weakly gripped her hand.
I hated to break up such a moment, but we really had to get moving. "Ok guys, we really have to get going."
Yuri stood up resolutely and again held out a hand to Natsuki, who's smile faded.
"She can't walk right now," I explained, "I'll have to carry her."
"B-But what if we run into guards?"
I drew the sidearm I'd taken from the guard earlier and handed it to her. "We shouldn't, but if we do, I'll need your help, ok?"
Yuri looked at the gun as if it were something that could bite her at any second, but she set her jaw and nodded.
Finally we began moving towards the exit, me carrying Natsuki and Yuri following close behind. The only way in or out of this place was through the main doors, and I just prayed that backup hadn't arrived yet. I wondered if Monika had gotten the other one yet, and I hoped that she hadn't left without us if she had. This had taken significantly longer than I had wanted and I just hoped it wouldn't cost us.
It would cost us.
As we approached the exit, someone started shouting behind us. "I'VE FOUND THEM! THEY'RE GOING FOR THE EXIT! YES, HE HAS 114!"
"RUN!" I called to Yuri, and I began running as fast as I could with Natsuki in my arms, holding onto my neck for dear life. Behind us, I heard voices growing louder. Gunshots. Bullets wizzing past, striking walls all around us.
I felt one strike my left arm just above the elbow. I twisted sideways from the impact and pain, but managed not to fall or drop Natsuki. Yuri was running for all she was worth and Natsuki was on the verge of choking me with how hard she was holding on.
Come on.
Just need to cross the parking lot.
Just need to get to the car.
Ignore the rain.
Monika will be there.
We can get out of here.
Just a few more feet.
I nearly collapsed against the cover of the car. They were still shooting, but I doubted they would have a good chance at hitting us for a bit. I was about to jump in the driver's seat when I realized Monika wasn't there yet. My heart sank. How long could I afford to wait?
Then I remembered it.
Quickly, I placed Natsuki in the back seat of the car and had Yuri sit with her. They should be safe there for now. The doors were thick enough and Yuri still had the gun if she needed it.
Carefully, trying not to expose myself, I went around to the trunk, opened it, and grabbed the case from inside. Opening it quickly, I pulled out it's contents. To put it simply, compared to this gun, we'd been using pea-shooters this whole time. The only reason I didn't bring it in with us was that its length made it impractical for close-quarters gunfights. I smiled. If anything could buy Monika time, it would be this thing.
Bracing it on the trunk of the car, I lined up the nearest group of enemies and held down the trigger. The gun kicked hard with every shot and my injured arm screamed in protest, but the guards quickly learned the hard way not to poke their heads outside. The unfortunate part was that I only had one magazine.
For a solid minute I stayed like that, gunning down any guard who popped outside trying to take a few pot-shots at me. Then it happened. The gun went 'click' instead of 'bang.' I swore under my breath, and immediately it was clear that my enemies realized this too. It was time to go. I'm so sorry Monika.
Just before I could dive for the driver's seat, motion in the doorway caught my eye. A guard was standing there, but he wasn't holding a gun. He was standing like he was about to pitch a fastball…
Oh god.
He had a grenade, didn't he.
Time seemed to go into slow motion. As I reached for the door to get Natsuk and Yuri out of the car, I saw him begin to accelerate his hand forward. There was no way I'd get them to safety in time, and even if I did, we'd have no car, no way of escape. We'd come all this way just to be stopped by this? I couldn't believe it.
Suddenly, the man crumpled forwards, grenade still in his hand. From the shadows of the monster's mouth, Monika emerged. Her uniform was tattered, she had blood caked on her left side, and her hair was an absolute mess, but in her left hand she held her sidearm, still aimed at the falling guard, and in her right was the hand of a young girl with dirty, peach-colored hair. She had made it after all.
My joy turned to horror as I realized that the guard's dead hand still held the grenade.
"LOOK OUT!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, but Monika barely had time to look confused before the world behind her turned into a ball of fire. Without hesitation, I charged directly toward the inferno. A few guards seemed to have survived the blast, but they were still recovering. I didn't care. Where was Monika?
I found her, struggling to her feet and holding her head about 10 feet where she was when I last saw her. Her back was smoking and a few new patches of blood were appearing, but she seemed to be ok for now. I helped her to her feet, pointed her towards the car, and looked around for the girl.
I saw her. She wasn't moving. I ran over to her. She was breathing, thank god. I picked her up and began running back towards the car. She seemed to come to her senses and started hitting and kicking me. Of course, she doesn't recognize me. That's ok, we can sort that out soon, we just need to—
"MR COW! NO!"
what—?
"HEY!" I exclaimed in surprise and pain. She bit my arm! My bad arm! Reflexively I let her go and she started running back towards what looked like a mud-covered stuffed cow and a wooden box.
As I turned to chase after her, time went into slow motion again. I heard Monika running behind me, felt the cold rain falling on my face, and saw the guard in the doorway, lining up a shot at the girl.
I shouted to her, but she didn't respond. I drew my sidearm again, but I knew I'd be too late.
A gunshot, seemingly ten times louder than the rest, echoed across the parking lot. I fired off three shots in the direction of the doorway, but in the corner of my eye I saw the girl twist and fall to the ground. I bellowed with anger, continuing to fire towards the doorway. We hadn't come this far just to lose one. I refused.
Then she moved. She was crawling towards us, clearly in pain, but clutching the stuffed cow and box in one arm and puling herself forward with the other. I watched Monika rush out and grab her while I did my best to provide covering fire. My handgun clicked, and I called to Monika to get back to the car.
Under a hail of bullets, I jumped into the driver's seat and started the car while Monika practically threw the girl in the back seat with the others, slammed the door, and jumped into her own seat. I stomped on the gas and we were off, tires spinning, bullets ricocheting off the car, and rain whipping the windshield.
As we careened down the road, the ringing in my ears slowly subsided and I became aware of what was going on in the car. Natsuki and the other girl were both crying, and Yuri looked like she wanted to melt into the seat. Monika was doing her best to calm them down and to tend to them. The third girl alternated between crying about her shoulder, crying about her stuffed cow, and crying about Yuri for some reason. It probably had something to do with the experiment done between them. I hadn't been told what had happened, but I got to patch her up afterwards so it wasn't too hard to figure out.
Natsuki stopped crying the instant Monika brought out food for them, and while Sayori eventually stopped crying long enough to introduce herself, she never really stopped sniffling and whimpering. A bullet to the shoulder isn't just something you brush off and I understand that. I mean, I really understood that considering that my left arm felt like it was on fire *and* splitting in half.
Now I can't tell you where we went because that's where we are now and I'm positive we aren't in the clear yet, but I can tell you that it's somewhere cozy in the middle of nowhere. These girls will never fully recover and I never held the belief that that would for even a second. Hell, I know I won't ever fully recover and I didn't even go through half of what they did, but that's besides the point. The point is, you don't just drop them head-first into society and expect things to go well. Even the concept of a fork was new to them, as we learned during our first real supper together (when Natsuki tried to eat mashed potatoes with her fingers and Sayori tried drinking them) so they've got plenty to learn.
The first night was quite an adventure. It wasn't a short drive to where we were going, and by time we reached it both Yuri and Natsuki had passed out. While I tended to Sayori's shoulder (thankfully it wasn't nearly as serious as it looked), Monika went full "mother hen" and threw together some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fussing over the girls the whole time. Natsuki and Sayori both ate them so fast that they ended up throwing up afterwards, but Monika made them each another sandwich and made sure they ate them slowly.
Later, after Monika made sure they got cleaned up (which was an adventure in and of itself or so I've heard), they all wanted to sleep on the floor as opposed to the beds we had for them. I guess it makes sense considering the only beds they ever experienced were either the doctor's bed or had something to do with an experiment. We managed to convince Natsuki and Sayori to try them, but Yuri quietly refused and we decided not to push it.
Monika managed to get away from the whole adventure with nothing more than a few cuts on her side and a very scratched-up back, whereas I ended up with my arm in a sling for the next few weeks. I already knew Yuri was going to be a mess, but I was not prepared for the sheer number of cuts, burns, and scars on her body. Sayori had a few of her own, but the thing that stood out to me the most was the huge bruise encircling her neck. Apparently that was something that they either considered too serious to call me for, or not worth the effort. Either way, it hadn't been treated very well and I made sure to change that.
Natsuki was a whole other story. Honestly to this day I'm not sure what they did to her because every time you even get close to asking about it she totally shuts down, but good god I have no idea how she survived it. She wasn't even able to walk on her own without help for the first week and a half, though that could also be partially attributed to her being starved. Thankfully Monika knows how to cook well, and Natsuki seems interested in learning the skill herself. You should have seen the pure joy on her face the first time she had a hot meal. All those years of it being just out of reach, and finally she had it. Oh yah, she did get her voice back after a few days and she turned out to be a real chatterbox along with Sayori. I have my guesses as to how she lost it, but I'd rather not put them into writing, especially when I don't know anything for certain.
The girls' relationships with each other haven't been quite as happy a story, however. Sayori refuses to talk to or even sit near Yuri, and you can clearly see just how much it hurts Yuri when it happens. Natsuki was a little guarded around Sayori to begin with, but they appear to be on pretty good terms now. Yuri and Natsuki have also grown closer, though they often disagree and argue about things. The worst part seems to be Yuri not getting along with herself. She has it in her head that she's some sort of monster and that she doesn't deserve all this, but she has yet to even begin to act aggressive in any sense of the word. I'm not sure what's going on in her head, but Monika and I hope that she grows out of it and recovers soon.
As for the whole "Third Eye" bullshit, I'm still unsure what exactly it's supposed to be, how real it is, and how much of a problem it might be. By this point each girl has mentioned something about "voices," and both Yuri and Sayori have commented something along the lines of them being quieter now that they're not in that place. Unfortunately, "quieter" doesn't seem to mean "gone." We've already found Yuri cutting herself several times, and every time it's been because of these voices according to her. Nightmares are a regular occurrence, I'm not at all surprised about that, but what I am surprised about is how they always seem to include these voices somehow, at least when the girls share them.
My only regret in all this is that I didn't run into any doctors, and Monika didn't find any either. As bad as the guards are, they're nothing compared to the doctors. They're the ones who come up with all this messed up stuff, after all. (I was the only exception, since I was mostly just there to patch up what they broke and to make sure the test subjects kept breathing.) That being said, I can't help but wonder why there were no doctors around. I would have loved to have had a word or two with them, especially that Dr. L character. He always made me sick, and somehow he always felt more dangerous than the others.
But anyways, whatever happens, we intend to stay here for quite a while. These girls need time and that's ok. I've got more ammunition for my "Cow Gun" as Sayori has taken to calling it, and I always keep it just a few steps away at most. I don't intend to break that habit anytime soon, so if anyone fishy comes knocking, they're in for a treat, I'll tell you that. (And yes, Sayori came up with the name because she'd heard how it protected us. Apparently she views her little stuffed cow as her protector, so it was a no-brainer for her.)
Oh yah, Monika managed to fix Sayori's cow plushie and I've never seen anyone so happy before. She takes that thing everywhere, and if I'm being completely honest, it's kind of adorable. That new bird with a top hat plushie was also Monika's idea, and boy has she latched onto that one as well. As for the music box, she has yet to give any explanation for it, but she always winds it up and lets it play as she falls asleep. The tune is haunting and sad, but also beautiful and soothing. She must find comfort in it.
Yah, yah, I've rambled long enough.
Who knows, maybe you'll hear from me again, maybe you won't. No news is probably good news in a situation like this. Don't worry, I'll take care of all of them. Monika is already almost like a mother to them, and I guess I'm the dad...? Not sure about that one. I guess we'll see.
Looks like we've found that special day.
See you all on the other side.
