Chapter 4

I opened my eyes after what felt like days of sleep. My body ached, and scars had formed where the needles had penetrated my fair skin. My hair was a rat's nest, and my morning breath smelled awful. I crawled out of bed and walked groggily over to the sink to brush my teeth. When I was finished, I grabbed my hairbrush and gently brushed my golden strands until they were smooth and knot-free. I needed to take a shower, but unfortunately, today wasn't the day to take one.

All test subjects have a schedule that typically looks like this: Monday - Lab for blood tests before injections, Tuesday - Lab for injections, Wednesday - Lab for genetic modification, Thursday through the next couple weeks - Lab for observation, Friday after those couple weeks - Lab for tests, Saturday - Rest until next scheduled lab date.

Thankfully, I already made my contribution this month. The facility has us do the injections once a month because our bodies wouldn't be able to handle it twice a month, and because they have so many test subjects. The facility didn't leave our rooms empty. They wanted to make sure we didn't lose our minds during our time here, so they gave us a small, metallic bookshelf and let us fill the shelves with books we wanted. I filled mine with a lot of fantasy and dystopian science fiction. I took out one of the fantasy books and sat on my bed and started to read.

After a while, I hear screaming and crying coming from outside my room. The door swung open, and two guards walked in with a girl.

"Uh, what is she doing here?" I ask, my voice laced with confusion.

"She's going to be your roommate," one of the guards stated as he and the other guard dragged the girl to the other side of the room. Two other guards entered the room with another bed and placed it opposite of mine with fresh sheets and a blanket and pillow.

Shortly after they left, she curled up on the bed and began to cry quietly. I put my book down and walked cautiously towards her. She looked a little younger than me. She had a doll-like face, her hair was sky blue, and she had fair skin. I reached out to move a couple of strands away from her face, and she flinched at my movement.

"It's okay," I reassure her, "I'm just trying to comfort you." Her crying slowly ceased, and she opened her eyes to look at me. Her eyes were the same sky blue color as her hair. I greet her with a warm smile and say, "Hi, what's your name?"

The young girl had a glazed look in her eyes and said, "Hecate."

I helped her sit up and wrap the blanket around her since it was a little chilly in the room. "Nice to meet you," I say brightly, "My name is Sophrona. I arrived here three years ago when I was thirteen. I have an older brother here too, who's two years older than me. How old are you?"

"Thirteen," she shyly replied as she wrapped the blanket tighter around herself. "Why am I here?"

I give her a sympathetic look and say, "Because the government thinks that we can help come up with genetic cures to fight against the diseases."

"I see," she says and rests her head on her knees.

"I'm not going to lie," I say flatly, "What they will begin doing to you tomorrow will be excruciatingly painful, but it gets easier as time goes on. But for now, you should rest. Lunch should be here in a few hours, why don't you lie down and take a nap." She nods and does as she's told, and I do the same.

When Hecate and I woke up from our nap, our food was on the table. The two of us crawled out of bed, walked over to the metal table, and began to eat. Our meal, however, was interrupted when the door burst open, and two guards walked in. I stood up and prepared to leave with them even though it was my day off, but in my experience, science doesn't care. As I approached them, the guard held her out to stop me in my tracks.

"Not you," she said, "Her." She was looking straight at my new roommate.

"No, no, she just got here a few hours ago and isn't supposed to start until tomorrow with the other young ones," I protested, giving the woman a serious look.

The woman glared at me and said, "Dabria wants her to begin the tests today." I balled my hands in fists and glared at her, "Well, you can tell that monster that she either takes me today or waits until the child is ready tomorrow."

The woman continued to glare at me. She picked up the radio and said, "Ma'am, the Blakely girl says that the new girl isn't ready and that it's either we take her today or wait until the new one is ready tomorrow." I could hear Dabria was unhappy with my terms by the long silence over the radio.

"Fine," she said in defeat.

The woman scowled at me and said, "We'll be back for the girl tomorrow." And with that, the two of them exited the room closing the door behind them. I looked over at Hecate and gave her a comforting smile and sat back down beside her.

She didn't deserve this, none of us did. Now, they have to have two people share a room that was meant for one person. That should tell them that they have too many kids or "test subjects." I decided that since we are in the predicament that we're in, I might as well get to know her.

"Where are you from?" I asked.

"New Concord," she answers, "But I can't remember where it is or anything else regarding that place." She looks at me and gives me a shy smile.

"I'm guessing it wasn't affected by the disasters fifty years ago," I say. This village I hadn't heard of even though I'd been to Ohio several times. But, I can't tell her that I know the details; otherwise, they'll just try to wipe my memory again.

She shakes her head and says, "I couldn't tell you. As I said, I can't remember any details aside from the name." I nodded and sat on my bed. "Where are you from?" She asked with curiosity present on her face.

"Chicago," I said sorrowfully. I remember it used to be a vast, thriving city fifty years ago before the human eating mutants invaded the streets, at least that's what people have told me. They came in packs and looked like overgrown wolves with horns. They flooded the streets, killing any human insight. But with all of the killing came disease, and because they were the carriers, the diseases were mutated as well and made the Black Plague and other viruses and illnesses look like child's play.

"Can you remember anything about it?" Hecate asked, drawing me out of my thoughts. I shook my head and got up to walk over to her.

"No," I lied and sat down next to her.

"I know that they're experimenting on us here," she said, looking down at the cement floor, "but I don't know why." She looked up at me with her big sky blue eyes filled with confusion. "Do you?"

My body tensed. We learned about it when we were in middle school, but it's evident that they wiped that from Hecate's memory too. I sighed, dreading the conversation that was sure to come.