Born to Die

[2] Secrets and Spies

"Good morning!" Phil shouted, dragging me through the dining room "Hey Phil no rinning in here! Y/n could you calm him down?" Gilda asked and I turned to her as Phil ran over and grabbed some plates to help set the table with. "Let him have some fun, it's not like he's broken anything," "I-... I guess," Gilda said, turning back to her dishes. "Could you finish setting the table, Mark?" Mom asked and I saw Emma tense and I walked over to her "Good morning Emma," I said, smiling softly. I put a hand on her shoulder and stood next to her "Smile, it's a nice day," she let out some squeaking sounds before focusing a rather unconvincing smile. "Hey guys!" Norman said, smiling like normal "I wanna talk to you guys about something, mind coming with me for a bit?" "Y-y-ya of course!" Emma mustered out and we followed Norman to an empty testing room.

"Listen Emma, just because we went to the gate last night, doesn't mean we saw anything." Norman stated, "B-But we left Little Bunny there..." "You did," I stated blandly "and Mom found it. it was tucked under her skirt when she came back to the house. But that dosnt tell her who left it behind." "M-mom was laughing at breakfast... she dosnt shows it on her face at all..." "And we have to do the same, or she'll see something's wrong," Norman said, smiling warmly "So smile ok?". Emma stared at us for a moment before squeezing her eyes shut for a moment and plastering a slightly more convincing smile onto her features. "The good food, the white cloaths that show when we're dirty, our regulated lives... it's all just to keep up our quality as merchandise... all that's left to do is wait well we're shipped out randomly..." "But it's not random." I said and they turned to me "The demon said quote 'another 6-year-old, they've all been average lately.'". "What's that mean?" I had figured this out a long time ago "It means our ages determine our grades of meet. So if 6 years old is average then the highest quality is-" "12 years old!" Emma cut me off and I nodded "But what about our scores? Meet won't just start to taste better because of how it does on some test will it?" "That's true. But as far as I can tell when we turn 6 we're harvested from the lowest test scores up, and when we turn 12 we're shipped out no matter what, always before we turn 13.". "So we were exempt because we get perfect scores?" "Seems so," Norman said, "But I dont get it, why do our scores dictate the order?".

I pretended to think for a moment before fanning shock "Tests might not affect our flesh, but it does affect brain development. And the human brain stops developing by the age of 12..." "S-so that means..." "That the brain tastes the best. Which makes the 3 of us plus Ray premium merchandise...". "But that means there's a cycle. Just like any other food product." Norman stated, "Conny was shipped yesterday, before her was Hae and Seddy before him, so they harvest every 2 months or so. So the 3 of us need to find a way for all of us to escape before then.". I stared at them "All of us?" "Of course all of us, we're not just going to leave the other kids to die," "But thats suicide..." I said in disbelief "Between the 5 of us, you, me, Norman, Ray, and Phil could make it. But all of us, you're insane...". Emma looked at me in confusion "What do you mean?" "Emma... There are nearly 40 kids here, and there's definitely more secularity than just that fence. Even if we do make it out, the others will be killed or captured quickly. We need a small fast group of people, not a crowd-" "No!" Emma shouted caching me off guard "I won't leave anyone behind! We're all getting out of here all 39 of us!" "And what about the kids on other farms hu?!" I shouted back and she stared at me. I never lost my temper, not like this at least, "The fact that there is a farm and a shipping order should give you an idea of what we're dealing with here!" I took a breath to calm down, Emma and Norman stared at me in shock "We're not the only farm, we're just the high-grade stuff. Think about it, would a society of man-eating demons would really on one farm run by one human to supply all of its favorite food? No Emma, you can't save everyone, talk me out of it if you want but I'm a relist. If life gives you lemons, you just found lemons. This isn't the time for one of your 'I love my family shtiks' if we must we can come back for the others when the time is right, but we need to know what we're dealing with first, and the best way to do that is on the outside.".