Generation Infinosil

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty

2041

Now that they had made it across to the other roof, a weight was lifted off their shoulders. Paul and Jamie were ever so slightly safer now. Paul was just about to suggest that they stop for a second to conjure up a plan, when they heard booming shouts traveling through the night.

Without hesitation, Paul ducked behind a large chimney and pulled Jamie with him. It was just about large enough to hide them both. A group of men, that had made it onto the roof before their's, came into view. Panic shot through Jamie's veins as images of being experimented on flashed through his mind.

He felt sick. He pictured all the other children reappearing into the dormitory with cuts and bruises, beaten to the extent that they were no longer recognisable. He remembered that eventually, they stopped reappearing all together. Jamie was stuck in that room alone for days, weeks even, constantly wondering when it would be his turn to be carried out of the room and never return.

Jamie overheard a conversation once while he was in there, he heard a group of men and women whispering disapprovingly about each other's ideas. One woman stated that the infinosil had now been developed far enough to work on humans to the extent at which it would heal a small cut near the place of insertion of the drug, but that it would need to be stronger or consumed in a larger amount to work throughout the whole body and to work for more fatal injuries.

It was just after that conversation that the other children came in with more severe injuries, one girl even had a stab wound in her chest, the wound was poorly dressed and it wasn't long before she drifted to sleep and didn't wake up.

Jamie could only assume that the infinosil wasn't working as well as they hoped, he told himself that they would never harm any of them if they weren't certain that the drug would heal them, he tried so very hard to convince himself that the deaths were accidents, but as the number of children occupying the room decreased and the amount of empty beds increased, Jamie started to have doubts.

Jamie's life had been so far corrupted and so enveloped in the death of his fellow room mates that he, worryingly, was almost becoming accustomed to it. The children disappeared one by one on such a regular basis that it was almost deemed normal. Jamie was so traumatised by the happenings of the labs that he had almost forgotten the difference between what was really normal, and what was inhumane.

He was the last child to be experimented on, they told him that he appeared to be the healthiest child, so they were saving him until last, until they were sure that the infinosil was developed enough, that it would probably work better on him. Jamie wasn't relieved about this confirmation, because it meant that if it didn't work on him, the rejuvenation would be very disappointed and angry.

Sometimes children re-entered the dormitory being screamed at by the inpatient lab scientists who had conducted the experiments, they raised their voices, saying that the children were worthless, that the drug wasn't working on them. They didn't seem to understand why it worked on some and not others, and why for those it did work on, it didn't work all the time. But they had high hopes for Jamie, which frightened him.

Jamie was ripped from his zoned out mode by Paul whispering his name, telling him that the men had gone for now but would be back before long, that they had to run. As Jamie looked in the direction that the men were gathered, he realised that Paul was right. He looked at Paul with a questioning gaze, wondering why the men seemed to have given up so easily. Paul explained that they were assembled around a patch of blood on the ground, and that they seemed to not care as much anymore when they discovered it. Jamie knew the reason why, it was because bleeding was a sign that the infinosil hadn't worked on Jamie. He wasn't worth that much to them without owning the properties of healing that they were searching for. They'd try to find him still though, in case he spread the truth about what was really happening in the labs.

When Jamie looked back towards Paul, Paul noticed for the first time how lost Jamie's expression was. It was almost as if by looking into Jamie's eyes, Paul could see the suffering he had been through, experience the same disturbing images that had haunted the poor child since he was taken from his home.

Paul pulled Jamie close, feeling his small form pressed against his own larger body, and gave him what he hoped was a reassuring hug. He heard a quiet sob escaping Jamie's lips and sighed knowing that Jamie would never be comforted by his parents again.

It wouldn't be long before he would have to tell Jamie about the death of his parents.

The poor child had gone through so much pain already.