9.

What kinds of monsters were these people?

She wondered as the BloodHound kept dragging her after him, down a hallway and to the left, then to the right and so on, her mind slightly dizzy and her feet aching as she struggled to keep up.

And why the sudden change? Why would this creature want to save her?

Her gaze momentarily fell to that gloved hand wrapped around her wrist, failing to even notice when he had suddenly taken a halt, her forehead inevitably smacking against his bare back.

She stumbled back with an "oof", mildly rubbing her forehead before she took a step and warily peered from behind his broad shoulder, noticing that same young woman she'd only seen once before into her sterile prison along with a young male she'd never seen before.

Both looked pretty shocked as their gazes kept shifting between her and the BloodHound, the latter wasting but a single breath before he expertly pulled out that gun strapped to his thigh and pointed it straight at them, making the dark-skinned young woman escape a small and surprised scream.

"Soldier, stand down," The young male carefully demanded even though he was already holding his palms up into a surrendering manner, the BloodHound only tilting his head in an openly defiant way as he attentively kept looking at the both of them, assessing their movements.

"What is he doing? Why is he acting like this?" Dr. Nasri hissed under her breath, not even daring to shift her gaze back to her partner as she was already fearing of what could possibly happen next.

"I don't know!" He frustratingly hissed back as he was also internally panicking as well. They had never found themselves thrown into such a situation before for there had never been a BloodHound to ever try and defy orders, let alone escape.

"Soldier, report back to your unit! Immediately!" Dr. Nazarov tried yet again, only to receive the same defiant response.

"Why isn't it working?" His co-worker whined with fear, her body trembling and her neck starting to sweat as the grim thought of her imminent death poked at the edges of her mind.

For an uncontrollable BloodHound was definitely something to fear.

He was basically an emotionless killing machine, designed to obey and execute. He wasn't even supposed to be capable of thinking on his own.

"I think he might be damaged," Madeleine heard the young male whisper, his wide green eyes still trained on the creature standing right next to her and ready to end both their lives.

"Shit! What do we do?" The young female cried, Madeleine's heart filling with pity at the sight of her tears, regardless of what the BloodHound had previously told her about their devious plans.

They were human beings too, after all.

And with slow and hesitant moves she turned and placed herself in front of him, staring up into his galaxy eyes as she timidly put her hand over his arm, silently pleading for him to spare their lives.

The BloodHound blankly stared at the human female's features contorted into a peculiar way, inevitably altering the course of his actions as before his brain could register his arm was already lowered, inadvertently bending to her will.

However, he did not question himself and instead proceeded to continue his initial mission; her saving.

So with a swift and effortless move he wrapped his arm around the back of her thighs and hoisted her up in his embrace; the girl letting out a surprised squeal, finding herself forced to hold onto his neck as he resumed to his determined stalking through the halls like a man on a mission, simply leaving the two young doctors standing there like two idiots as they stared after them in utter bewilderment.

Madeleine held onto the BloodHound like a baby monkey would against its mama as they travelled through the maze-like facility, her gaze darting to the dog tags chained around his neck from time to time as they dangled over his muscled chest as if beckoning her to just grab them and have a look. And not soon enough, curiosity got the best of her as with a timid and careful touch she did lastly grab them and read the inscriptions; utterly surprised to discover that he actually had a name.

0410

Emerick Corden

"Emerick..." She uttered under her breath, the small sound immediately reaching the BloodHound's sensitive hearing and grabbing his attention as well as this was the first time anyone had ever said his name and not just that insignificant number attributed to him.

"You have a name?" She voiced out her curiosity, earning herself a simple blink in response as the creature appeared so focused on the task at hand, seemingly rather inclined on ignoring her.

"Where are we going?" She questioned as she casually noticed that they had passed through two sets of sliding doors, heading straight towards an odd-looking third door.

"You are not safe here on Earth anymore. They will hunt you down and they will find you, no matter where you hide. Hence, we will travel to Laxian, my home. We'll have better chances there," He quickly informed her, his tone emotionless as he carried her past the threshold.

The girl immediately became stiff in his embrace at the sound of his words, her panic-induced mind already screaming at her to escape from his clutches and run the other way as fast as she could as her trembling lips uttered a single word,

“W-what?”