The Perfect Machine: Kingdom Of Glass (GxG

45. River is...

A knock on the door made me sit up. I rub my unbearable head, which is aching. Landon opens the door to the insulation room.

"What are you doing here? Or maybe I should ask how you got to the lab without a key?" He adds I'm not sure whether he's mad or amused. But I pull the key card out of the pocket of my trousers. He's coming closer to take a look at it.

"That's Arthur's key," He snaps it out of my hand and storms out of the room. I'm following after him with a wide yawn.

"How did you get this?" He demands, putting the key on the table.

"I borrowed it," I shrugged.

"Why? This is a confidential area, and you need my permission to be here," He sounds angry.

"Calm down, I just wanted to sleep," I try to explain, but we are interrupted by a knock on the front door. Landon looks at the computer screen, most likely staring at the camera outside the entrance.

"It's Arthur," Landon says and lets him through.

"Did I lose my card in here?" Arthur asks.

"Harlow took it from you," Landon said.

"Well, that's impressive," Arthur beams my way.

"Thank you," I say to him, at least someone respects my talents.

"How did you do that? I had it well hidden," Arthur asks curiously.

"I'm not going to tell you," I grin at him. He laughs as he walks over to the chair I'm sitting on the other day. I get the hint and roll my eyes as I sit down.

"So, what's the judgment, doctor?" I ask as I stare at Landon, who's focusing on the computer screen.

"I'm still looking," His eyes are intent on the screen.

"I still have a few questions from yesterday that we can run over," Arthur tells me, and all I want to do is find a hole and disappear.

"Great idea," Landon suggests and I roll my eyes as I let out a loud breath.

"How much are you sleeping?" Arthur questions and I sigh in resentment.

"I don't know, here and there for a few hours," I shrugged.

"Why?" He asks.

"Maybe it has something to do with the intense headache and pain in my shoulder," I snapped.

"Is there any other reason you can't sleep; can it be that you're nervous or anxious?" He wonders, and all I want is to get to the door and escape.

"I need you to be truthful with me," Arthur says as he watches me with care and worry. I can't seem to make people stop looking at me like that. I don't want their pity as I clearly don't deserve it. I did this to myself. There is no one else to blame.

"I can't sleep because I'm scared to wake up and harm the people around me," I say as my gaze is fixated on the ceiling. To feel fragile and broken is not a thing I enjoy.

"You're afraid of what's inside of you is going to take control?" He wonders, and I nod. Every time it happens, I can't recall anything. Imagine that you don't have the power of your own body; it's a nightmare.

"You feel constantly agitated?" He asks.

"I feel it often, worse when I'm not sleeping," I clarify to him, and a concerned look comes to his face.

"Will you sleep better in the insulation room?" Arthur questions and writes something down in his journal. I think he is making a report or a file about me. They did that often in the military. Especially after they had turned me, multiply people would take notes of our state.

"Yeah, because I know the room is designed to hold me in," I say as he nods lightly.

"Okay, I've got a personal question to ask you now," He seems a little frightened to ask.

"How does your relationship with River affect you?" Arthur takes a step back from me quickly. I almost wanted to laugh, but his question was too uncomfortable.

"I am not answering that," I state, trying to be as polite as I can be.

"I need you to tell me," He says, and I clench my jaw in annoyance. There's nothing to know about what's going on between River and me.

"It's complicated," I mutter as I rub my pondering head.

"The relationship between River and me makes me infuriated," I clarify to him, thinking about the things that River and Lara said when they were in the common area yesterday afternoon. River isn't wrong because I am impatient, angry, and reckless. It's the pain that has twisted me all around. I can't think clearly sometimes. People who are around me can be a trigger to my anger.

"Why?" He asks, and his questions make my head hurt even more.

"I don't want to talk about it," I say, uncomfortably shifting in my seat.

"I think this is something that really bothers you, Harlow, and maybe you need to open that door," He says softly and for some strange reason, I can see his point.

"River is ..." I breathe.

"River is the best thing that has ever happened to me," I grit my teeth as I clench both my hands into fists.

"I can't have someone so fragile placed into my hands. I'm not steady nor secure enough to contain it. If you understand what I mean," I explain to him and he nods slowly, his eyes sparkling with sympathy.

"You're afraid that you're going to hurt her, maybe even end her life, because it's horrifying to do it to somebody. Even worse when it's someone we care for," He continues to write down in his journal. I have the impression that at this very moment he's thinking about his son. Maybe Noah got to the point that he needed Arthur to do things he couldn't do.

"Yes," I replied.

"Okay," Landon breaks the ice as he comes along.

"I've obtained some data about you and your situation," He says unsurely, but I nod. I am not worried because I already know that I am dying. Yet, I don't think that is the worst part. River might disagree but hurting someone is the most horrible thing I could ever do. These people shouldn't be around me. River shouldn't be around me.

"With the present rate of your infection, your heart will stop beating in three weeks," He tells me, scared of my reaction, but I know that I only have a few weeks left.

"I'm going to set up a team of people I know will help me with this issue and maybe we'll find a solution for you," Landon beams, smiling like a child who just got a piece of candy.

"Landon, will you be more excited about this?" Arthur asks as he places his hand over his forehead and shakes his head.

"I'm sorry," Cowan offers a small smile to me.

"It's just that this is a bizarre case," He states, but I don't really care. Landon disappears back to his computer and gets lost in his tech world or whatever it's called. Technology is something I have never had an interest in. I prefer being on the battlefield than to be hidden away behind a computer.

"If Landon finds you a remedy and it succeeds, do you think the relationship with River will work?" Arthur asks and I look at him thoughtfully. I've never thought about it going that way. I am still settled on dying. Yet what if it does work and I could figure out this thing with River. We would still be in this situation. The government is going to hunt me down until they find me. I am a danger to her even if I would survive.

"I don't know," I shrug, and he nods as he looks at the time.

"Breakfast is ten minutes away, but you can stay here," He gestures to the tiny white room on the left.

"I will bring you some food while you're resting," He offers.

"Yeah, I'd like that," I respond gratefully.

"But you're going to join us for dinner," He points out.

"We'll see,"