Virus | The Darkest Minds Ψ

The Virus Begins

Chapter II

Being operated on was one of the worst parts of my life, I concluded. I was normally stripped to nothing except a too short hospital gown.

I had been here for two weeks now. The doctors that day were testing me again. I don't know for what. Cables connected to my head and I was in restraints, as usual.

"Putting it at 40%," one of the three doctors said. They clicked on a machine and I started to shake as electricity buzzed in my brain.

As quick as it came, it left, and I felt a warm liquid spill down my legs. 

My face burned in humiliation as the doctors laughed at me. A male nurse came in to clean up the mess, making sure I knew it was an inconvenience.

This is what my life was like now. Being tortured and humiliated every day, being tested for something they would never figure out the answers to.

"Putting it to 45%."

I seized up. They would not put me through this again. Something trickled at the back of my mind, and I imagined hands reaching out to the doctor's head and making them turn off the machine.

As soon as I translated the thought, the doctor turned off the machine, a blank look on her face.

One of the male doctors looked at me in alarm and turned to the only other doctor not being controlled.

"I thought you said she was a yellow?! How is she Orange?"

***

The doctors were angry. I heard them murmuring to each other, tense looks on their faces.

"She's an anomaly," one muttered.

"She's a problem," the other countered. "A virus. And it needs to be dealt with."

I was tested on more frequently after that, and after about a week, I had a visitor. The doctors looked nervous as a woman in fancy clothing walked in. The click of her heels was the only noise in the room.

The lady had thin stature with blonde hair, pulled into a tight bun, and just enough makeup. I looked into her sharp grey eyes.

Those were Clancy's eyes.

So this was —

"My name is Lillian Gray," The First Lady said, not unkindly, to me. I didn't say anything in reply, and just stared at her. My dark green eyes cut into her own.

"What is so important to pull me from research to come inspect a seven year old girl?" Mrs. Gray turned to the doctors.

"Madame, I assure you, we would not have called unless it was urgent." One of the doctors started. "Erm, however, there was a... complication. The girl... she has three colours."

Mrs. Gray stared at them for a second before looking back at me.

"Three?" she asked quietly.

"Yes... She's Yellow, Blue, and Orange."

"It seems impossible," a female doctor added. "No knew else we've tested has had this."

"Not impossible," said Mrs. Gray, grabbing a doctor's coat off a hook and coming toward me. "Just highly improbable."

She gently touched my face, inspecting it. Her fingertips were cold, but it cooled down my burning face.

"I can work with her for today, but I'll have to get back to my research tomorrow," the First Lady said. "If I could have some privacy, please. I need to focus."

The doctors nodded, and left the room quickly.

"I'm sorry this is happening to you," Mrs Gray said quietly, when we were left alone. "You're so young..." she trailed off.

I rolled my eyes.

Mrs. Gray didn't seem to mind that a seven year old girl had just rolled her eyes at her, and instead looked at the fading scars on my body.

She got to work after that, letting the silence fill the room. She looked at my brainwaves instead of cutting me open.

An hour passed until I finally talked. My voice was rough from disuse.

"You look a lot like Clancy."

Maybe it wasn't the best thing to say. After all, how would this woman react to the mention of her son she hadn't seen in months?

Mrs. Gray snapped her head up to look at me, her eyes widening.

"Clancy is here?" she asked, her voice cracking at the end. My gaze was blank as I nodded.

Mrs. Gray stared at me. In that moment I didn't see the cold hearted wife of the president who was the reason I was in this hellhole. Instead... instead I saw a grieving mother.

It was a look so different to my own mother's face as I was dragged away, I almost didn't recognize it. Before my mother turned away from me, her gaze was cold and and unfeeling as she had watched her terrified daughter be taken away.

Lillian Gray's look was... heartbroken. Desperate.

"He's okay." I muttered, looking at the ceiling.

Mrs. Gray nodded.

"Thank you," she whispered.

***
Three months later
***

The room once always full of kids when not being tested, slowly started to get smaller as less of them came back.

There were now fifteen of us, I think. I didn't do much in the room, as if there was a lot to do anyways. Clancy fought a lot with the other kids, most to the defence of Nico or me. Mostly Nico. The kids didn't like to mess with me.

I had formed a schedule in my head over the past months. They tested me every other day. On the days I wasn't tested on, like today, I was allowed in this room to do... whatever we were allowed to do in here. Black cameras with blinking red lights alerted us that we were watched every second of every day.

I sat, staring dully at my bare feet, but jerked my head up when I heard a crash of a food tray. It was strange not to feel my soft brown hair against my neck anymore, but the doctors had shaved it off.

Clancy stood in front of Nico with a glare on his face, staring down at the Blue who had shoved Nico over. An alarm pierced through the air, and I turned away as Clancy was led from the room by the people in black clothing — PSF's.

As I helped Nico up, I wondered if we would ever get out of here.

***

As weeks passed, I despaired I would never get out. No matter how much Nico and Clancy hoped and planned, I just didn't believe it would happen. It was hard to hope when you were stuck in a room with white walls and the only colour being your clothes.

The doctors classified me as Yellow. They said if I told anyone I was more than that, I would be killed.

It wasn't like I planned on doing that, anyway.

Lillian Gray's visit to me kept me preoccupied most of the time. I debated telling Clancy about it, but in the end I decided to keep it to myself. Clancy was so... angry nowadays, and I didn't want to set him off.

I spent a lot of time with Nico and Clancy. We shared a room and hung out together in the Living Area. Since Nico was a Green he liked quizzing us on math and random facts to keep us ahead of school. It was a good system, and we managed to stay busy.

"Tell me we'll get out, Clancy," Nico said one night, the uncertainty leaking through his voice.

Clancy looked over at him, a strange light in his eyes.

"Of course we will, Nico. I promise you. The three of us, you, me, and Aspen. We'll get out."