CE 74

Minutes later, Sarik was abruptly stopped when Stella lurched forward and forced the water from her lungs, then fell onto her back and took in a deep breath. Sarik watched as her chest rose and sank.

She's alive! he thought, truly amazed. The chances of her actually surviving something like this were infinitesimally small. They were made even smaller by the circumstances, and the lack of the modern technology generally used to perform such a feat. The modifications of an Extended truly could produce some amazing results.

But just as quickly as she had come to, Stella then let out a pained gasp, and her breathing suddenly stopped.

No, no, no! Sarik thought in frustration and despair.

Sarik bent back over her and felt her chest directly for a pulse. There it was. Faint and slow, but existent.

Then, while Sarik's hands were still touching her body, it abruptly stopped.

Before he let panic set in, Sarik attempted CPR once more. After a couple of cycles, Stella was still not breathing. Reaching over, Sarik ripped open his medical kit and desperately tried to find something. Anything.

Then, calming himself, Sarik replayed his dream in his mind. In it, he had stabbed her four times with a blurred object. If experience was worth anything, Stella was most likely a full-fledged Extended. They put her through those same, painful surgeries that had made him into the creature he was now. Most likely, that meant that she had to undergo some sort of recalibration similar to his, if they used the same operations.

But they were probably more refined, he deduced.

Sarik pulled out four previously filled syringes full of his liquid maintenance and a single, large hypodermic needle, which he filled with his small supply of pure adrenaline. He quickly injected the cocktail directly into Stella's heart, followed by the adrenaline shot.

Sarik quickly pulled the needle out and stepped back, in order to avoid any mishaps. There was no telling how Stella would react with all her programming, which was most likely far more excessive and even less restrained than his own.

But Sarik counted to ten seconds, and still no reaction. Fifteen. After twenty, he knew something was wrong.

The young man fell down by Stella's side and felt for a pulse. It was nearly undetectable, one beat every few seconds, and Stella still wasn't breathing. Sarik had to get her breathing again, or her pulse would stop completely, and the adrenaline would do irreparable damage to her heart.

Sarik began assisting Stella's breathing immediately, giving her his strongest breaths and pushes.

After his third attempt, her eyes shot open, the iris's barely visible. Stella let out a scream, then grabbed the nearest thing she could find, which happened to be Sarik's unsheathed knife.

Sarik jumped back as the girl attempted a slice out at him, barely catching himself in the now-slippery snow. He kept moving backwards, allowing Stella to gain ground on him as she lunged at him with his knife. Her suit had fallen down to her waist from the cutting he had done, leaving her upper body covered with nothing but light underclothing. From the way she fought, Sarik realized that she could keep going on for a little while, having had the maximum safe dose of adrenaline and being freshly re-calibrated.

Sarik was careful with his movements, as these were not desperate, uncalculated attacks. The girl was well trained with a knife, and she showed it in every aspect of her movements. However, as she moved close to Sarik and stabbed, Stella overextended just a little bit. This was all Sarik needed to get his leg around hers and trip her to the ground with a mere push. As Stella slammed into the snow, Sarik bolted back towards his supplies and grabbed the medical kit.

Stella was charging towards him as he pulled out three automatic hypodermicals filled with heavy anesthetics, supplies that he never planned on using, but brought along nonetheless. Sarik threw himself out of her way, rolling to his feet. Stella charged at him once more, letting out a desperate, animal-like scream. She was growing frustrated. She moved in on Sarik once more and let loose an outward slash. Sarik barely avoided death, receiving a nick strong enough to cut through his dry suit and grip at his clothing.

As Stella attempted to bring her knife hand back into a defensive position, Sarik grabbed her wrist and squeezed while twisting it, forcing her to drop the knife. He grabbed the young soldier's other arm and brought her closer to himself, pinning her arms to her sides in a position that looked similar to a hug.

Stella began flailing, desperately trying to break Sarik's grip. He was caught off guard by her strength, and was soon knocked back as she pushed off the ground and drove him forward with the strength of her legs alone. Sarik lost his grip on Stella as he fell and dropped the anesthetics in hand. Stella straddled Sarik and gripped her hands around his throat, forcing his neck to the ground and choking him. He brought his hands up to try to fend her off, but it was useless. The girl was just too strong and determined.

Sarik was on the verge on passing out when he managed to grasp one of the syringes with his fingertips. He quickly gained a hold on it and stabbed it into Stella's side.

Instantly, her grip grew weaker, most likely from the surprise. Sarik used the distraction to pull Stella's hands from his throat and throw her aside. She quickly jumped to her feet and charged him, showing no sign of fatigue. She leaped and flew towards him, extending her leg in mid-air.

Sarik barely had time to brace himself before the crazed Extended smashed into him, her kick landing directly in his stomach. Sarik tried to ignore the pain, but it was still enough to force him to hunch over slightly. Stella took advantage of this, throwing up another kick, this one hitting him square in the face.

Sarik fell onto his back, his face a bloody mess. By this point, he was truly contemplating on whether to give up or not, but quickly quelled those thoughts as he somersaulted backwards to prepare his defense.

Stella charged Sarik once more, somehow having found time to retrieve his knife. She slashed and slashed at him, but Sarik had examined her pattern of attack, and was far more prepared to defend himself this time. Still, he had nothing with which to take her on, and he knew Stella would cut him to shreds if he tried to engage her unarmed.

Sarik almost lost his balance on something as he was walking backwards. He slammed his foot down on it, hoping it was what he needed.

He was right, and a long stick several centimeters thick flew up out of the snow, which Sarik snatched out of the air. Wasting no time, he stabbed it at Stella, catching her in the center of the chest.

Stella let out a gasp as the wind was knocked out of her, then a yelp as Sarik expertly brought the other end of his stick into the side of her head, knocking her to the ground.

Sarik knew she wouldn't be down long, so he dropped the stick and sprinted back to where he lost the anesthetics. He quickly found them, then prepared himself for another wave of Stella's brutal attacks.

She was not far, only a meter or two away when Sarik turned. Stella lunged at him with the knife, but this time her attack was sloppy. She was growing tired, and it was effecting her performance.

Sarik dodged out of the way of the child's attack and extended his leg, tripping her. He quickly jumped onto Stella's back and used his body's weight to hold her down, her struggles no longer a significant concern to him.

Quickly and accurately, Sarik stabbed the remaining two syringes into one of her arms, then put his full weight into Stella's back as her flailing reached a new ferocity, the anesthetics having yet to take effect.

A few moments later, Sarik could definitely tell she was calming down, and rolled Stella onto her back when he was sure she couldn't fight any longer.

"It's alright," Sarik told her. "You're safe."

She stared at him for a moment, a combined expression of rage and spitefulness dominating her otherwise innocent face.

"I'm going to try to move you," Sarik informed. "Let me know if I'm hurting you and I'll stop."

She simply nodded her head in compliance, the sedatives obviously setting in.

Sarik picked her up in his arms, carrying her back over to the emergency blanket still laying open on the snowy ground.

As he carried Stella, Sarik never broke eye contact with her. By the time they arrived back at Sarik's things, Stella's purple eyes had softened to the point where she no longer looked angry or desperate. She was looking at him almost as if she remembered him.

As Sarik set Stella down onto the blanket, a smirk formed on her mouth, then she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Sarik didn't worry. She wasn't dead. He knew that. Simply sleeping. Simply sleeping...

* * *

Stella stared up at her captor, for some reason, no longer afraid. No longer angry. No longer alone.

Shinn? she thought for a moment.

No, this was someone else. Shinn didn't have those cold blue eyes. His eyes were a fiery red. Filled with so much sorrowful anger, yet still caring. And he looked different, younger. This was someone older. Someone even sadder. She couldn't quite remember who he was. But that happened a lot. It was like living in a world of de ja vu.

As darkness threatened to consume her, a short memory filled Stella's mind.

She was hurting, but not alone. Someone was holding her close. Like a sibling or a parent trying to comfort another.

Sarik.

Before she fell asleep, Stella smiled. She didn't know why, just that it felt right.