Everything was warm. Soft. There was no sensation or form to anything. Baby floated in the blissful nothingness of her suspended world, her slumber so deep it was uninterrupted even by a single dream or thought. Emptiness enfolded her in a tight, smothering embrace.
The machine next to her made a spluttering, choking sound, like a bottle of water being turned upside down and emptied. Dozens of small red lights illuminated on the control panel, and a piercing repetitive alarm sounded throughout the room. Baby’s brow twitched slightly, as if in concern. But her eyes remained firmly closed. Somewhere deep inside her mind her consciousness flared back into life. She was trying to run but her body was too heavy.
Looking back over her shoulder she saw her stepfather, he was coming after her, getting closer and closer.
Baby’s eyes sprung open. The light was painfully bright. She blinked until the world came into focus. She was surrounded by water, but she could breath. She stretched her hands out and looked down at herself. She was suspended naked but for a thin white body suit in a large glass capsule filled with water. What was this? Her hands went to her face, she felt a thin plastic tube running across her cheek and into her nose, delivering oxygen into her lungs. Looking down at her body she saw strings of intravenous lines that fed into the veins in her arms. Was this a nightmare? She reached down and snatched at the needles that pierced under her skin. They came away with a sharp sting, sending small red plumes into the water surrounding her. No, it felt too real to be a dream. Her heart began to beat faster, as her mind started to return to her. What was this? What had happened? Was she in the hospital? Had there been an accident? None of it made sense. She twisted her head left and right, her long blonde hair drifting around her head like seaweed in the ocean. She pressed her nose to the glass. The room outside the capsule was lit by harsh fluorescent lights, machines and control panels lined the chrome benches around the room next to microscopes and racks of test tubes. Baby knitted her brows together, her palms pressed against the glass. A lab? She banged on the glass and screamed but nothing came out but a long stream of bubbles. She cast her gaze around the tube, there was a hatch at the top but no matter how much she pushed it wouldn’t give, it was locked fast from the other side. She swiveled around like a fish in a glass bowl and pressed her hands to the glass once again. She had to get out of this thing, whatever it was. Paddling backward she pressed her back firmly against the back of the tube. Stretching her arms out to either side for support she brought both legs up in front of herself. She took a deep breath and watched as the bubbles floated upward in front of her face. Then, with all her might, she shoved her feet heels first against the glass in front of her. The tiniest fracture formed, spreading into a little web of cracks. Baby drew her feet back, steadying herself. She took another breath and squeezed her eyes tightly shut. She shoved her feet into the glass as hard as she could and felt it shatter. The glass chamber shattered into thousands of pieces around her and the water poured out into the lab like a tidal wave, pulling Baby through with it. The thin tube was wrenched from her nose and she lay spluttering and cold in the spreading pool of water on the lab floor. She gasped, rolling onto her back. Her drenched hair stuck to her head and face, and the nylon fabric of the white body suit clung wetly to her goose pimpled skin. She shivered and pushed herself up on her elbows, looking around through squinted eyes. What was this place? And why was she here? She tried to scroll back through her memory to what might have happened. Her eyes flicked around the room, coming to rest on a lab coat that hung on a peg near one of the benches. She turned her head to the side slightly, noticing the badge clipped to the top pocket. It bore a familiar logo, a red and white umbrella. The same logo that appeared in all the letterheads on the documents in her stepfathers office. Bits and pieces of the past flashed before her eyes. She saw her sister, Grace. Then her stepfather, he was chasing her. Her mind felt full of fluff, she couldn’t quite grasp her memories. She pushed herself slowly to her feet, her muscles felt like they hadn’t been used in a long time. Avoiding the broken glass as best she could she crossed the wet floor of the room and pulled the lab coat from the peg, slinging it around her shoulders. The relentless beeping sounds that emanated from the machinery in the room pierced into her mind sharply. Her fingers found the badge and pulled it off, she held it up in front of her face and examined it carefully. It was definitely the same logo. Her stepfather worked for umbrella. She remembered that much. Looking down at her wrist she noticed the plastic tag attached there. The name read ‘M Reeas, her name, but why was she here? A banging noise from across the room made Baby jump with fright. The badge slipped from her hands and clattered in the puddle on the floor. It came from the door. Baby backed up against the wall, she had no idea who or what might be coming through that door. It burst open.
