Hey everyone! I finally have the next chapter up for this story! Enjoy!

I wandered down the main hall, not even knowing where I was going. For once in my life, I had no escort to accompany me down these halls, no one to guide me to my destination. I was trying to find the Medical Bay so that I could speak to my mother, Anya, but I had no idea where the room was in this blasted building. After a while of walking, I noticed a guard walking past me in the hall. I stopped and called out to him, "Hey!"

The guard stopped and glared at me, "What do you want, you stupid creature?!"

My voice faltered a bit, my face looking a bit crestfallen, "Um . . . I, uh. . ."

"Spit it out," he snarled, "I don't have time for you to be standing there stuttering like an idiot!"

I jumped a bit from his outburst, "Right! Sorry! Uh, do you know where the Medical Bay is?"

He grunted in contempt, "Can't you read the signs?" He thrust a thumb at a white, rectangular sign bolted to the wall with Russian characters on them.

I stared at the sign in confusion; no one had ever taught me how to read. I looked back at the guard and sadly shook my head, "No . . . I can't."

The guard rolled his eyes and pointed to the letters at the top with an arrow pointing upwards, "Medical Bay's on the second floor. If you can't find it, look for this sign," he pointed at a red cross beside the arrow.

I nodded, "O-okay! Thank you!"

He snorted, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now get going and leave me alone! I've got duties to attend to."

"All right!" I ran off towards a small door in the side of the hallway and opened it, running up the stairs two at a time before entering the first door I saw at the end of the staircase. I stepped past the door, closing it behind me and looking at my surroundings. The second floor looked exactly like the first floor. Plain rooms with wooden floors and black, metal doors. The only difference was that the rooms were different, and the layout was slightly different. I looked around the empty hallway before going left and walking a straight path. Soon, I managed to walk past a door with a faint red splash at the top. I paused, turned my head back, and backed up until I was right in front of the door. At the top of the black door, although faint, was a red cross. This must be the Medical Bay.

I eagerly opened the door and walked inside. This room was much different from all of the others I had seen so far. Most of them were dark, cold, either made of stone or metal with few windows and little lighting. The rooms were normally dark, with black walls, floors, and doors. This room however, was a clean, pristine white with just as pure a color of hospital beds lining each wall. Thankfully, it seemed that not many of them were filled with soldiers in need of care. Any that needed treatment were there for minor wounds. The nurses were bustling around, checking their patients before checking on their equipment and then repeating the process. I eventually found Anya in the sea of people with white coats. She was sitting in a gray chair for a break.

I smiled and walked over to her, "Anya!" I greeted happily.

Anya looked up, widened her eyes, and smiled, "My child! My darling! What a surprise this is!" She enveloped me in a tight hug. "I haven't seen you in a while, I was beginning to worry."

I smiled brightly and returned the hug, "I know, Anya, I've just been busy."

"You and I both, sweetheart," she murmured softly before letting me go and looking at me. "My, my!" You're so thin! Did they not feed you?"

"No, Anya, they give me food. I guess I just burn it off really quick." I didn't want to tell her that they were giving me barely edible food. I didn't want her to worry.

"Ah. Well, how has your training been?"

"Good. The Headmaster's a rough teacher, but I've been learning a lot." Again, rough would be an understatement, but I didn't want to make Anya worried sick. It wouldn't help with her work and who knows what would happen if someone caught her working sloppily.

"Has it been hard? You look so tired!"

"Yeah, it's kind of difficult, but I was good enough at today's training to get a day off."

She smiled, "That's wonderful! And you decided to spend your time off with little old me. How sweet!"

I giggled, "You're not old, Anya!" Indeed, she was only about twenty five or twenty six, so I had no clue why she was saying that she was old.

She chuckled softly, "It's just an expression, dear."

I blushed a bit from embarrassment. That actually made sense, "Oh. . ."

She gave me a warm smile, "It's all right."

I then remembered the small, fluffy brown creature I had seen outside my window a few days ago. "Anya, I need to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Well, uh, my room has a window, and I was looking outside of it and I saw something. It was this really small creature with brown, fuzzy fur and a curling, bushy tail. It held things in its front paws and it climbed trees. What was it?"

Anya smiled, "That would be a squirrel, my child."

"Sq-quiwerel?" I asked, trying to pronounce it and utterly failing. Why was this word so hard for me to pronounce? Curse my childish voice and my ignorance!

She chuckled, "Yes. They're all around forest and park areas. The little guy was probably trying to get a few more nuts before the worst of winter came."

"They eat nuts?"

She nodded, "Yes. They're pretty jumpy little things, though."

I giggled a bit before yet another bothering question entered my mind. "Why don't I have a name?"

Anya looked at me, surprised by my sudden question, "What?"

"Why don't I have a name?" I repeated, "I noticed that everyone else here has at least two names, like you, with your name being Anya Desyatkov, or that Marusya Abalyshev you keep talking about. But, I don't have any names, only that weird Project Z title and stuff."

"Ah, well," Anya began, "The Headmaster never named you, and I was trying to think of one for you, but I always got busy with the duties around here that I didn't have much time, not to mention that none of the names I came up with seemed to fit you."

"Oh," I said quietly.

"However," Anya continued, "I think I finally found one."

I looked at her with wide eyes that sparkled with excitement, "Really?"

She nodded, "Yes. What do you think of Mischa?"

I smiled, "It sounds wonderful!"

Anya smiled brightly at me, "I'm glad you like it! You can use my last name as your own, since we're kind of like family, aren't we?"

"Yeah!"

She chuckled softly, "Mischa Desyatkov. Kind of has a ring to it, no?"

I nodded, "Yeah, it does! I could get used to being called that."

"Me too."

Just then, a loud grumble came from the back of the room, "Anya!" a harsh, female voice called out. I could hear footsteps stomping towards us, "Break time's over!"

I looked towards the voice and found a tall, skinny old woman with her face wrinkled and her skin hanging loosely over her frame. Her eyes were dull with age and her bony fingers had ugly warts on them. There was also this huge mole on her left cheek. I widened my eyes at her appearance and hid behind Anya. The old woman had looked like a witch, and witches ate children like me. "Yes, Marusya," Anya calmly replied.

"Well, get back to work!" at that, the witch Marusya stalked away.

"Horrible old hag," Anya whispered before looking at me, "That was Marusya Abalyshev, she's the Head Nurse. She oversees all of the patients and nurses here. I should probably get back to my station. See you later, Mischa."

I nodded and ran out of the room, heading back to my own room after noticing that it was starting to get dark out. I finally had a name! I was one step closer to being normal, well, as normal as a kid living in a base could get.