Deep in the bowels of the research facility, a lone alarm started blaring.  Large screens that took up entire walls switched to show topographical maps of the surrounding area.  Red dots clustered in one spot on the map blinked slowly.  A young man reached for the phone on his desk, waiting for the person on the other end to pick up.<br/><br/>Upstairs in an office, a red phone set on the corner of a desk began to ring.  Dr. Nowak looked up from his reports.  The last time this particular phone had rung, it was to inform him that Reed was dead and Clara was being returned to the facility.  He picked up the phone.  “Hello.”<br/><br/>“Dr. Nowak, sir, there are a series of alarms that have been triggered in the woods approximately five miles due west of our location.  Based on the cluster pattern, sir, I’d hazard a guess that it’s more than wildlife.”<br/><br/>“Thank you.  Keep me informed if whateve- it-is starts to move.”<br/><br/>“Yessir.”<br/><br/>Carl Nowak replaced the receiver in the cradle and smiled a knowing half-smile.  After a beat, he picked up the regular phone and dialed four numbers.  When the person on the other end answered, he said, “Tell Clara to suit up.  She’s going outside.”  Since her return, Clara had been used as a test subject for whatever strength or feats of endurance he could dream up and now he would get a chance to see her in action, alone and without her partner.  He would finally be able to see if these soldiers could function alone as well as they functioned in pairs.<br/><br/>Once the order was given, everything happened quickly.  The man who had been guarding her door fetched her from the cafeteria where she’d been shoveling a plate of food into her mouth, desperate to put more calories in than her body burned throughout the day.  He at least had the decency to wash it all down with a glass of chocolate milk, the sweet calorie-dense beverage one of her favorites.  She was escorted back to her room and given a time limit of five minutes to get herself dressed in the skintight tactical suit she wore on missions.  Twisting her hair into a bun on the top of her head, Clara stepped into the hallway and eyed the man still waiting outside her door.  “Now what?”<br/><br/>“Now you come with me.”  Another man rounded the corner and offered a cocky grin.  “I’m your escort today.”  He was dressed simply in cargo pants, a fitted long-sleeve t-shirt, and a vest.  The helmet on top of his head and the gun holstered on his thigh completed the look.<br/><br/>She huffed a sigh and headed down the hall, mumbling something about ‘stupid stinky squishy humans.’   Benson jogged to catch up before taking one step ahead of the woman to lead her to the exit that would lead them outside.<br/><br/>The second the heavy steel door swung open the various scents perfuming the air filled her nostrils.  Her brain immediately sifted through and cataloged the various smells - pine trees, birch trees, various prey animals trying to remain hidden from the predators that stalked them, fresh water.  Smoke.  Freshly turned earth.  Clara’s head tipped to one side as she<i>listened</i>.  Benson opened his mouth to speak but she held a hand up to silence him.  Her nostrils flared delicately as a new scent filled the air.  Ozone.  And behind it was something else, something human but also not fully human.<br/><br/>Curiosity got the best of her.  Rather than running away and trying to escape, she turned her body to the west and set off at a pace that she’d be able to maintain for hours if she had to, heading right toward the multitude of smells that was drawing her in like a trail of breadcrumbs.