Subject 116

3

The truck came to a halt suddenly, I didn't even notice that we might have been slowing down. Lydia was still staring at her beaten down rabbit toy, looking like the happiest little kid in the world. Her mood boosted even further when I said I would look out for her, which made me feel better too. She reminded me of when I was a kid. Mom wasn't sick, our town was still in one piece, and I didn't have this useless ability. The guy who brought us here already knew what I could do, why didn't he let me off the hook? Did he really think that turning on a light was going to hurt people? But, he did say that he might be able to get rid of my ability, which I did want. I just wanted to be labeled as normal again, then maybe society would be a little easier to get involved with. I would take care of Lydia too, while I was at it, whoever let her come here in this shape was not being a very good parent, if she had them at all. My best guess was that she had been orphaned or something due to the explosion, since she looked dirty, like she hadn't cleaned herself in weeks. I didn't mind, though, she was just a kid, and hopefully she would get fixed up once we were inside. She started looking around again once we weren't moving anymore, confused.

"Are we here?" she asked.

"I'm not sure yet, but I think so." Just as I thought, someone came around to the back of the truck and lifted the shaft open. I wasn't ready for the light to come through, neither was Lydia, so she held her rabbit over the front of her face. A different man in a lab coat was in view once my eyes adjusted, and he started to wave us out without saying anything. I had very little knowledge of what was going to happen in this place, but I knew one thing. I was going to protect this kid no matter what it took. I held my hand out for her as she looked down from the light, still blocking the view of it. She put her tiny hand in mine, and I gave her a strong grip telling her not to let go.

"You stick with me, okay? You're gonna be fine." I didn't want to seem controlling, but I didn't trust these doctors, at least not yet. Lydia had so much to live for once we got out of this place, so I had to make sure she was alright until then.

She nodded, and we both stepped up to follow the line of kids leaving the truck, still being waved at from what looked like one of the doctors. He had on the same white coat as everyone else, I wondered what our situation would be. We hadn't brought any belongings with us unless we could carry them, like with Lydia and her rabbit. But I didn't really mind, as long as we would be given basic necessities.

Once we exited the truck, I took in our surroundings. The facility was huge, not as big as the demolished lab, but it was pretty close. There were little to no windows, which unsettled me, but then again, the lab didn't have many either. The front entrance looked decent , though, it was a little less scary. It was just a simple glass door with a handle to pull it open. The doctor took the lead of the line, and held the door open for us. The first kid walked in followed by the rest of us. I kept Lydia close, someone as small as her could get stepped on without another thought. As we walked past the man holding the door opened, he looked down on both of us for not being in a completely straight line, since she was at my side instead of behind me, but he let it slide and we made it through the door. It was just white everywhere, they couldn't have picked a different color for anything. There was an elevator just up ahead, but another woman in a lab coat was leading us forward, and turned around to say something before letting us pass. She seemed okay, she had this huge smile, trying to tell us that in some form, we were going to be fine.

"Welcome, everyone. I'm sure that some of you don't want to be here, so we're going to do our best to make sure you all are comfortable, and can figure out just what has happened here. Hopefully that time will be soon. Doctor Chapman will take the second half of you to the second elevator, so the first half, come with me." the man from behind us came walking down to the front, and tapped one of the boys on the shoulder to follow him the other way down the hall. Lydia and I were a part of the second half, so we went along with the line until we reached another silver elevator, looking exactly the same as the last.