I sit on the cot, glaring at the hulk of a man sitting in the corner, eyes staring at the down.

I have not forgiven him yet for smashing my key card to bits and trapping me in here. He knows I'm upset with him, but I don't think he understands why I'm upset with him.

Oh ho ho, If only I could tell him. I may not be that similar to my father, but one thing I've picked up from him is how to give a long, painfully dull lecture.

Now Zero sulks in the corner, staring at me and trying to catch my gaze, which I stubbornly ignore. Sighing, I lean my head back against the wall the cot is up against and close my eyes.

Nothing to do now but wait.

And that's what I do.

The curtains that cover the huge glass wall are open, revealing the main downstairs lobby and the digital clock that sits on one of the tables, conveniently facing the cell. I wait patiently for someone to come, checking the time every now and then as it keeps ticking by.

Before I know it, an hour has passed, and still no sign of anyone. Where are they?

I try hard to remember the schedule of Braun lab when it was pulled up on my desktop computer, but recall there were no special meetings or experiments taking place today.

You'd think they would check up on their precious experiment every once in a while at the very least, so what's the hold up?

I huff in annoyance, standing and stretching before pacing the room. Zero starts to stand too, but one glare from me and he's back on the ground.

Suddenly there's a clicking sound, I whirl to face the huge metal door, where a rectangular opening that wasn't there before suddenly appears.

Sitting in the opening is what appears to be a plastic cup of water, and I furrow my eyebrows looking at the glass wall and still not seeing anyone out in the lobby.

Could it be this room is set to give Zero timed meals and drinks? That way the Scientists wouldn't have to be downstairs in order to feed him, which seems actually really convenient.

I approach the door, taking the cup and trying to peer out the opening, but the second the weight of the cup is removed the opening snaps shut, making me jolt.

Shaking my head, I turn to Zero, who perks up when he sees my attention on him, and I hold the cup out to him. Embarrassingly, at that very second my stomach decides to let out a huge gurgle,and I cruse myself for not eating breakfast before coming to Braun lab.

I offer the cup to Zero again, but he shakes his head, waving his hand as if saying for me to drink it. Could it be he's worried since heard my stomach growl?

Hate to break it to ya Zero, but water isn't going to cut it in relieving my hunger.

Of course he wouldn't understand that, so I attempt one more time to give it to him, taking a step closer, but he glowers and I sigh. This won't get me anywhere.

I lift the cup to my face, taking a sniff, but not detecting any scent. Doesn't have a scent, and appears to be completely clear, it's most likely and hopefully water.

I take a small sip, and exhale in relief when I don't taste anything strange, before continuing to drink the rest of it, hoping it'll parch my semi-dry throat.

Oddly enough, it only seems to make my mouth and throat drier, and I stare at the cup in confusion, before shaking my head. I must have been more dehydrated than I thought.

I walk over to the sink, placing the cup down and turning the water on, letting it run for a few seconds while trying to decide if it's clean enough to drink or not.

Thump!

My heart pumps loudly, the sound echoing in my ears as the beat of it accelerates. My vision blurs and I exhale sharply, grasping on the edges of the sink to hold some type of balance.

What's happening?

My strength seems to flood out of my body and into the air, my knees weakening. This is not good, I'm going to collapse soon.

In an attempt to reach the cot which is only two yards away I push off the sink, taking a harrowing step in it's direction, but the sudden movement only makes me feel like throwing up, my vision spinning out of control like a kaleidoscope.

I start to fall, but something suddenly wraps around my upper arm, feeling like a large, warm hand. Another hand rests against my back, and half-leads, half-pushes me to the cot, where I sit down heavily.

Zero pushes gently on my shoulder, making me lay down and my head spin.

Am I sick? I've never had a sickness that pops up this quickly before, or even heard about one for that matter.

Zero's figure appears in my vision, low, concerned rumbles coming from his chest.

"Ashie," He , but I can't respond. He shakes me, making me feel like throwing up even more.

"Z-Zero!" I say, in-between pants. "Water."

While the last thing I want to do is consume anything else for the fear of hurling, my throat has been becoming increasingly dry to the point where it's nearly unbearable.

I'm so grateful Zero understands the word 'water', because a moment later, the sink-water is going down my throat, the cup I had drank from just a few minutes ago pressed against my lips.

Fortunately, the water seems to do it's job this time and my throat is no longer dry, even my vision starts to clear up, and I'm able to make out Zero's worried expression, hands fluttering over me with no idea what to do.

While I am starting to feel slightly better, I'm not out of the woods yet.

I cough, feeling very warm all of a sudden. Is this maybe some type of fever?

The warm feeling turns hot, until my stomach feel like it contains burning acid, and I groan in pin, squeezing my eyes shut. Can I please have a break? Could this be the doing of some weird parasite living on this island? Am I dying?

No, I can't die yet,I still need to go to college....and get a boyfriend.....but most importantly college.....but the boyfriend thing would be nice......

I would like to blame the thoughts passing through my head right now on delirium.

I open my eyes to see Zero kneel beside the cot, making growling noises in the back of his throat. I feel beads of sweat start to form on me, my skin hot like I've been laying in direct sunlight for an hour nonstop.

I start to close my eyes again, but then I hear Zero go silent, and curiously, I look over at him, surprised to see his face stoically stone-faced, eyes focused not on me, but the off in the --distance, as if preparing for something....or just staring at a wall, cause that's definitely a possibility.

Zero inhales deeply, his eyes falling shut, and I wonder if he's given up on me, when suddenly his eyes slowly open again, but something's different. I can't put my finger on it for a few seconds, but then I realize what's different.

His eyes.

They're not a pale shade of grey anymore, but almost like an icy blue, so light that I mistook them for grey. That or they really are still grey, and the delirium is getting to me again.

Zero eyes suddenly meet mine, holding my gaze and he lifts his hands, almost cautiously moving them to where they hover over my shoulders.

Okay, what is he doing, I think in-between soft pants, more sweat dripping down my neck and face.

I notice Zero's hands are shaking, and he holds them over me for a second longer before lowering them to meet my shoulders.

I open my mouth to say something, but suddenly feel something new happening inside me. Where it was burning hot before, now there's a slow coolness that seems to be spreading outwards from my shoulders to the rest of my body, although I wish the refreshing cool would hurry up and move through me quicker.

Wait. A. Second.

Is this Zero's doing?

I roll my head to the side to see his hands where they're placed on my shoulders, but they seem normal, nothing different about them, so then why did his eyes....and the coolness?

My eyes start to droop, the slight chill that's spreading through my body providing relief from the strain of the what, and also making me very sleepy.

I can't fall asleep yet, I need to figure out what's going on.

I meet Zero's eyes once more, his expression now softer than it was before, as if telling me to sleep.

Finally, I blacken out.



* * * * *



My eyes slowly open to bright light, blinding them for a second as I blink awake.

My head throbs, and I try and move my hand up to feel it, but something is holding me down.

I panic, struggling against the unknown force, but then I see the object holding me down is a muscular arm, and I relax slightly, my eyes following the arm to the torso then to Zero's sleeping face which is angled towards me, his breaths coming out in soft lapses.

The events from before I fell asleep suddenly come rushing back to me all at once, and I continue staring hard at Zero's eyes, wondering if they will be that icy blue color I had seen before blacking out.

My head starts pounding again and I groan, hating the migraine.

Zero's eyes snap open, their steel grey color back to normal and how I remember. Was I just hallucinating?

I'm inclined to believe that, since it's the most realistic thing to happen here. We already know Zero has the power to kill just by skin contact, but my dad never said anything about other powers, and even then it seems really unlikely for Zero to just bust out ice powers like Elsa from Frozen all of a sudden.

I shake my head, erasing the picture of Zero in Elsa's light blue gown from my head.

"Good morning, Zero." I say, my voice cracking and hoarse.

"Good morning, Ashie." He repeats back, but with my name. I manage a smile, trying to show him that what he said was good, and a corner of his lip turns up.

I pat Zero's arm, and he removes his arm from my waist, albeit a little reluctantly, and I sit up, my head not seeming to like that as it hammers in protest.

I try to stand, but suddenly, I'm back on the bed, Zero standing over me. Brows furrowing, I try to get up again, but he shakes his head, using a hand to adamantly keep me down.

"No, Ashie." He commands, and I look up at him with a small glower. I wanted him to learn some words, but he just had to pick up the word 'no' so quickly.

"Zero, enough, I'm fine." I say in an irritated voice, really not in the mood after everything that has happened.

But Zero isn't listening. He goes over to the sink, grabbing the cup from before and filling it with sink water.

I look to the side and see the glass wall curtained off. Someone must have been here, and dang it, I was sleeping. They must have at least seen me though, so why wasn't I removed from the cell?

Zero walks back over, the cup in his hands, and holds it to my lips, urging me to drink.

I take a few sips, and I admit, it helps my head a lot, but I still need some medical care. Who's to say the sudden fever I had won't come back? I definitely don't want to experience that for a second time.

Suddenly Zero leans down and I freeze, wondering what he's doing, but his hands only move to grab the thin sheet on the bed, unfolding it and laying it on top of me, hands continuing to tuck me in.

"Oh, so you're the one taking care of me now?" I ask, raising an eyebrow and nodding at my now swaddled position.

He just smiles, before continuing to stand there, looking lost, and I sigh, scooting to the wall and pressing up against it.

I pat the spot on the bed to me, and Zero eagerly sits down, the weight causing me to slightly shift towards him as my hip presses against his back.

I exhale, relaxing slightly.

My head still throbs, my body aches, and my mouth tastes like bile, but other than that, it's peaceful.

..........Again, I spoke too soon.

I manage to catapult myself up and out of the thin sheet in time to lean over the bed and hurl.

Zero, seeming shocked by my sudden movements takes action and quickly gathers my hair, almost like a mom which makes me want to laugh, his other hand carefully patting my back.

Finally, I stop wretching and wipe my mouth, trying to swallow the vile taste in my mouth and feeling completely disgusted by what I just did on the floor. I wish I could have at least made it to the toilet.

Movement suddenly catches my attention and I look up to see the curtains are being pulled open to reveal Mrs. Clark and my dad.

Dr. Cartwright looks furious, his expression livid as he takes in my form and the throw up beneath me.

Mrs. Clark just studies me, a cold expression on her face that makes me feel like I'm in trouble.

I gulp.







Dear Readers, This is the redone chapter of Experiment Zero, so if things seem a little off in the next chapter you know why, since I haven't gotten around to editing the next chapter yet. I hope you enjoyed, and I wonder what exactly went wrong with Ashley. Vote, comment, and make vanilla pudding, put it in an empty mayo jar, then eat it in public. Lots of Love,

Dangeroustoken