In Lab 2, a few hours later, Mavis awoke, sitting up in her cell. The glass was completely repaired. Had it all been a dream?

  She felt the bandage on her leg. No it hadn't. But her leg feels fine.

  She tore the bandage away, revealing that the wound had completely healed. Walking over to the glass, she hit it hard. It instantly fractured. She hit it again, and it shattered to the floor. Was this glass just weaker, or had she gotten stronger, she thought. She thinks twice about leaving the cell - hesitating at the thought of what had happened earlier. But still, she took the step.

  The alarm down the hall outside activated. Mavis heard the guards run down the hall to the doorway.

  The guards burst into the room and began to swarm around her. She wound her way around the benchtops in the centre of the room to try and avoid them. They had surrounded her. She jumps on top of a bench. She tries to run across, making a beeline for the door, but some guards grab her legs and bring her down. She kicks and fights back against them, knocking one out with a punch, and overpowering the other two.

  Just as she is free, another guard zaps her with his taser. The electric shock stuns her, but she quickly recovers. She grabs the arm of the guard and twists it unnaturally, crushing it. He screams. The taser which had been in his hand falls to the floor. Then she bashes his head - he falls to the ground unconscious.

  There are still two other guards to her left, while the door is immediately on her right. They hesitate before approaching to try and stop her escape. They draw their pistols.

  “Don’t move!”

  “Stay where you are!”

  Mavis remained still as she eyed them intently, filled with rage.

  She can feel every molecule of their bodies. Every organic compound of their flesh, and every atom of metal in their guns. It was all the same. In her mind, she just wanted to rip it all apart, to dissolve it, so they would disappear.

  The guards begin to tremble uncontrollably, their weapons falling to the floor and shattering into a billion tiny fragments. Then the guards themselves were completely vapourised – a cloud of smoke took the place where they once stood. The only remnant of them being a pile of dust that had fallen to the floor.

  Mavis was taken aback by this newfound power. She walked over to the pile of metal shavings that used to be a gun, and bent down, running her hand through it. She smiled devilishly.

  One of the other guards in the centre of the room began to regain consciousness, grunting. Mavis walked over to where he lay on the ground, and placed her foot on his neck. She left it there for a moment, then brutally crushed his neck, severing his head from his body and causing a splatter of blood which coated her foot and ankle. She laughed maniacally.

  Rubbing her foot on the side of the guard, she wiped the blood off and used her gown to clean it up further. It's wasn’t perfect, but would do. Then, she went over to the door and exited the room.

  Mavis looked down the hall both ways. The coast is clear. She walked hurriedly down the hall, but before she could get too far, A CIA agent emerged into the hallway behind her. As he walked towards her, he drew his pistol and fired three shots, all hitting her. She stumbles and falls to the ground, winded. But the bullets didn't penetrate her body that far. They are lodged in her back. It was still incredibly painful. She rolls over to look at where the bullets had come from.

  The CIA agent was almost upon her, ready to fire another shot, as Mavis was still moving. But she vapourised him first. She crawled along the floor, still in pain from the bullets lodged in her back. She reached behind to dislodge them and they came out easily. Mavis stood and continued walking down the hallway.

  It wasn’t long before Mavis came to an empty guard dressing room. Here, lockers and cupboards lined the walls containing all different sizes of black tactical gear and equipment. Mavis looked through the closet. Here were some spare guard uniforms - black tactical jumpsuits. She found one which would fit her. Casting off her blood-stained prison clothes, Mavis donned the new outfit. She released her hair from the back. She put on some socks and black army boots. After a brief moment pondering the next course of action, she though she heard something nearby and quickly turned around. Maybe it was just the dripping of a tap perhaps.

  *DRIP*

  There it is again. She followed the sound.

  Over in the nearby breakroom, Mavis slowly walked over to the sink. She felt the droplet hit her fingertip. She turned on the tap and bent over to drink. When finished, she's startled by the fridge - it begins to hum. She opened it, but there's not much inside, just milk and some other drinks.

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  ??????

  After some brief discussions on the findings in the sample, John and Miriam had both retired for the night. But they were both rudely awakened by the sound of the siren alarm going off, for the second time today. Miriam had taken her time getting dressed. Was it really even necessary? Miriam had thought the guards surely had everything under control. Still, procedure dictated a second person to accompany John in his oversight of the matter. Besides, he had requested her presence.

  “Hurry up, let’s go!” John called from outside her door. Why couldn’t he have taken Francis with him? Miriam thought to herself. Half asleep and annoyed, she joined John in the hallway. She hoped this would be quick so she could get back to bed.

  They walked across the underground facility corridors, towards where the sound was emanating from. They arrived in the section with the lab entrances. It was strange, why was the alarm still ringing? It had been at least 15 minutes now. Did they forget to switch it off? Slowly, John crept down the hall. There were some strange particulates strewn across the floor in this area - almost like a layer of fine gravel or dust. It produced a crunch underfoot. He saw a figure emerge into the hallway up ahead. Hang on - is that who he thinks it is?

  “Mavis? What –“

  Before he could finish speaking, he was vapourised by Mavis.

  Horrified, Miriam who had been behind him, screamed, turned around and ran back the other way. Mavis chased her down. She caught up to Miriam, grabbed her arm and held her back. Miriam stumbled.

  “Please! I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't do anything. I'm sorry. “ Miriam begged for her life.

  Mavis grabbed her by the neck with one hand and shoved her against the wall, lifting her up off the ground, choking her. Miriam struggled but she was powerless to do anything. She passed out, dead. Mavis threw her lifeless body down the hall and vapourised her too for good measure.

  Some time later, Mavis was walking through a commercial kitchen, which was connected to a small cafeteria area in the facility used mainly by the guards and other workers. She looked around, searching for anything to eat. She was still starving. Opening the door to a large fridge, she found a tray of macaroni - leftovers. Placing it out onto the countertop - she had a taste. It is stone cold. It's not very appetizing like this. Maybe there is some way to warm it up, but all of the equipment here was unfamiliar to her. Instead, she scoops some of the macaroni onto the counter and focuses on it. She tries to compress the molecules, so that they are pushed closer together, so they can heat up. It works - but the pasta melts and fuses with the countertop, that is also glowing red hot and partially melted. It's inedible. Disappointed, Mavis tries again except this time uses a ceramic plate she finds nearby. The same thing happens except this time the ceramic melts as well. Frustrated, she hits the counter, causing a dent in the metal. She will just have to eat it cold. Taking another plate, she scoops up a portion for herself, retrieves some cutlery and then goes over to sit in the empty cafeteria area. Hungrily, she devoured the food.

  ??????

  Francis turned over in his bed. His sleep hadn’t been restful. What is that noise? An alarm is still ringing in the distance somewhere in the facility.

  Groggily, he opened his eyes. The clock at his bedside showed 6:36AM. He got out of bed.

  Now in the hallway dressed in his lab coat, he checked on the adjacent dormitories - the doors were open.

  “John? Miriam?” They were not there. They must have already awoken before he did.

  Francis went to investigate the cause of the alarm and check on Mavis.

  “What's going on here?” he muttered silently to himself as he observed the hallway leading to the lab entrances. He went inside lab 2.

  He is horrified to see the dead guards. As the realisation dawns upon him of what must have happened here, he is terrified.

  Francis emerged into the cafeteria. Strange. The light was already on. There is a plate on one of the tables where someone had finished eating some food. He goes over to the counter, and sees the dent left by Mavis and the place the metal melted. He hears someone on the other side of the room and turns around. Francis stands still, frozen, petrified with fear. It's Mavis. She stops short of vapourising him - recognising who he is, she decided to spare his life. He was the only one who had ever been kind to her in this place.

  “Goodbye.” She said to him coldly. Then she exited back through the hallway from where she had come.

  ??????

  The morning sun shone brightly across the Nevada desert outside.

  A sign affixed to a metal fence read:

  RESTRICTED AREA

  NO TRESPASSING BEYOND THIS POINT

  PHOTOGRAPHY IS PROHIBITED

  The fence cordoned off a wide stretch of land around the facility. This place was just an airstrip. At least, that’s what the government wanted everyone to think. But word had gotten out over the years that there was something more going on here. Though the extent of that was still very much unknown to the general public – for the facility was largely buried underground. But there was a part of it that was above ground, mainly used to house vehicles used by the guards

  On the side of a small concrete building, there was a door. Mavis opened the door and emerged out into the daylight. She squinted, adjusting to the light of the sun outside. Taking a breath of fresh air for the first time in her life, she admired the scenery. She runs and feels the breeze in her hair. Skipping across the sand, she jumped and ended up higher than she expected, losing her balance and falling over into the sand. Crawling up and back to her feet, she ascended a small hill. Then, with all her strength, she jumps, and flies into the air. As she is falling back down, she steadies herself and manipulates the air around her, so she remains still, floating in the air. Mavis begins to fly - slowly at first, and then as she gained confidence, faster. Now higher in the sky, she flew off.