The permafrost of our souls

Kara walked slightly ahead, biting her lower lip until it bled, thinking about what she had said. Was she right to have told them about her “brother”? Should she tell what she had learned while imprisoned? Yes, the Soldier had been with her almost the entire time, but some things were hidden even from him, leaving the girl alone with her anxieties. “The pipes are humming,” James pressed a hand to the wall, feeling the vibration even through the layer of plaster and paint. “Yeah, loudly,” the girl exhaled, lightly touching the dusty wall with her fingers. She pulled herself from her thoughts and turned to the man. In a way, she felt sorry for him, but more than that, his sudden appearance had stirred feelings she thought had long been buried deep inside. Kara couldn’t look at him without a painful, wrenching feeling in her heart that paralyzed her insides each time. The girl pressed her cold fingers to her forehead, forcing a nervous smile. Maybe she really had lost her mind. “So what’s the point of us being here then?” Bucky caught up to her with a wide stride, walking shoulder to shoulder. “There’s something I need to finish,” Kara flinched, hearing his voice near her ear, and adjusted her backpack straps. “And what’s that?” James looked at the girl, but she couldn’t meet his eyes. “We shouldn’t linger here.” “I know,” Kara glanced at one of the unpleasantly flickering lamps and turned the corner, recalling the route. “I’m surprised they’re still outside and not searching for us in here.” “This place was sealed for a long time after the experiments on you,” Bucky saw the dark, scorched marks on the walls that the girl seemed not to notice. “Probably because of what happened.” “Does that usually stop them?” Kara placed her palm on the handle and pressed it, a bright green light bursting the lock. They entered a dark room that needed no light to remember what kind of place it was. Hurrying down a short flight of stairs, Kara approached the transparent tank, now covered in a thick layer of dust. The computers on the desks were powered off, and for a moment, the girl wondered why they’d been left here instead of being evacuated like the other equipment. “Probably this is what stopped them,” James knew what lay behind one of the doors and headed straight for it. Distracted from examining the surroundings, Kara hurried after him. She ran down the steps into the darkness, sliding her hand along the railing, gathering dust and cobwebs. The man’s flashlight gleamed below, and Kara froze on the last step, hesitating to descend. In a small room with low ceilings, filled with a strange, musty-sweet smell, she saw several containers, completely filled with bodies. Many had already decomposed, their flesh dried at the bottom of the containers, cementing the skeletons together. Other bodies still retained remnants of muscle and skin on their gaunt frames, clinging to the bones with dried ligaments. Kara covered her mouth with her hand, unsure whether she felt nauseous from what she saw or from the realization that all of them had failed to survive what she had endured. “They weren’t prepared to waste so many people again after you escaped,” James raised the flashlight higher, playing with the shadows on the wall. “Too high a cost, they called it.” “I could have been another expendable resource,” Kara looked back up the stairs, where, hidden in the darkness, stood the tank that had been the last place for so many. “You have a power that has killed many,” Bucky approached the girl, seeing a flicker of fear in her eyes. “And you must wield it correctly.” “I’ll wield it as I see fit,” Kara took a step back, ascending higher, and looked down at the man. “It’s my choice: to hide it or to use it.”