A World of Black and White

Part 2

My eyes dragged themselves open.

Who am I?

You are project 13. You belong to them.

A man was standing before me. His icy eyes seemed familiar, but the memory was hidden behind a misty wall in my mind. It was right there, but I couldn't reach it. As I sit up and look around me I see cement walls that reach up for the low-hanging ceiling. There is a screen to my left, filled with images of me, seemingly asleep. There is also a heart monitor on the wall, connected to my arm.

This is familiar.

No, it is not.

My eyes clench slightly as the voice speaks. The man smiles, though his eyes never waver from mine.

"Project 13," his smile grows as he continues, "How are you feeling?"

"Well, I guess," my head tilts to the side as I continue, "and you?"

He responds with a laugh, his face finally tilting away from mine to look at a screen in his hand. He shakes his head, his smile leaving his face. As I continue to stare, I realize that he is wearing a badge over his heart. On it, the name Fillsworth reads in thick black letters. Under it reads "Head Scientist SH Department".

"Someone has good eyesight," the man, Dr. Fillsworth, adds.

"I guess," I say while pushing myself up, "Why am I here?"

The scientist looks up once again, his eyes catching mine, and sniffs.

"You do not need to know your purpose, only that you must follow orders."

"Know this child. Run and they will find you. Fight and they will hurt you. There is no escape. Disobey, and there will be consequences."

He sniffs again, then signals for me to follow him. As my bare feet touch the cold floor, I shiver, freezing for a moment. When Fillsworth opens the door, across the hall, I see a young man. A boy really, around as old as I think I am. His eyes widen when they meet mine, and as he opens his mouth, two hands from behind him grab his shoulders and pull. He lets out a grunt as he hits the ground, flipping back into a crouch. His head jerks back at me just as the hands slam the door. We both stand there as we listen to the yells and bangs from thin. One silence hits us, the doctor lets out a heavy sigh and continues down the corridor. I follow in his footsteps, and we turn through a few more white hallways, leading to a tall metal door. He tugs on his badge and scans it on a metal device next to the door. Once a blinking light turns green he continues in, seeming stiffer than before.

"Where are we going?"

He stops for a second, then turns to me. There is a long pause before either of us moves. As I open my mouth to speak, he narrows his eyes, and swipes his hand in front of his face, as if shushing me. My mouth flattens into a frown, and before I have the chance to speak again, he pulls out his screen and presses a button. The moment his finger touches it, a hot searing pain shoots up my back, dragging itself through my vanes. A pained gasp escapes my lips, and my eyes begin to burn with unshed tears.

"Stop asking questions, and follow orders given to you," he says with a snarl, "Just know girl that you are lesser. I am being kind, but the superiors will be far less forgiving than I."

He picks up his pace again, dragging me along with him until I stop gasping. My fingers grip my arms, trying to massage the memory of the pain away. He only slows a little when I run into a pillar. When we stop, My hair is dangling in front of my face, sticking to my sweat. We are welcomed into a dark room, filled to the brim with syringes and knives, along with medical tools. At the center, rests a metal chair equipt with cuffs meant to hold limbs down. Brown stains dot the cement floor, and speckles are on the walls. The only light source is a large movable lamp, shining white artificial light everywhere.

I know that I should feel fear. Or anxiety. Anything like that really. But all I feel is numb. There are no warning lights going off in my head, only silence, and the feeling that I would do anything they said. Even if it meant sitting in that.

Another person walks toward me from behind a tool shelf. A woman this time. She smiles, her expression slightly moving the tightly slicked-back bun at the top of her head. Following behind her, are two more. One woman wearing a medical mask, her braids tied back into a knot at the back of her head, and another, wearing a mask, goggles, and a medical shield. Both walk past her and stand on both sides of the chair. The first woman, who seems to be in charge, introduces herself as "Ms. Stacy", the 'keeper' that shall be watching me through this procedure. As I open my mouth to ask what procedure I feel the pain start to return again. My head shoots to Dr. Fillsworth, which in turn gets me a silent snarl. A threat to stay quiet. My mouth closes, and I turn back to Ms. Stacy, nodding along. 

"Please sit down," one of the nurses says.

When I don't, the other adds "Now."

I walk to the seat and lower myself into the chair. The cold metal isn't as much of a shock to my system as I previously would have thought. They move my arms and legs to the cuffs, and once in the correct spot, they snap closed, enclosing my joints in iron. A needle pricks my neck.

"When you wake up, dear 13, you will be sent to Lavidia, yes?"

I nod absently, my vision becoming blurry.

"You will go there, and burn everything to the ground."

My head drops, and all I see is darkness.

"Do not fail us."

Obey.