VAMPIRE SURVIVAL - ENHYPEN

The Truth About the Orphanage

Ni-ki and Jungwon stared at Felix and Karina as though they were some sort of aliens. I turned to look at the two sat on the floor in front of us. Both of them were almost inhumanly beautiful, but there was something about them that felt strange. Maybe it was the haunted look in their eyes, or perhaps the way there lips were pursed as though they hadn't smiled in a long time.

'You... know them?' I asked the two boys next to me.

'Know them? We were best friends,' Jungwon told me. He knelt town beside them, examining their faces anxiously. 'What happened to you? Didn't you get transferred to a different orphanage?'

Felix snorted, wiping his eyes roughly on his sleeve.

'If you can call this an orphanage. More like a prison, but I wouldn't even call it that.'

'What is this place? And how did you end up here if you were at the orphanage?' I asked.

'Felix and I had been at the orphanage for as long as we could remember, though the records only count for us being at the orphanage since we were two. Not that we would remember that. We've known the seven boys since they were babies,' she explained. Something strange occurred to me. Why was it that everyone in the orphanage recalled being in there for as long as they could remember'? 'But one day when we were ten they told us that we were being moved to a different orphanage. We never got to say goodbye to the boys, but they took us here.' She gestured at the building around us with her arms. When she lifted them and her sleeves fell back, I noticed what looked a key shaped tattoo and long cuts along her forearms. She caught my gaze.

'What is this place?' I asked.

'The truth is... we don't know. But you're probably wondering about what's on my arms,' she observed. She grabbed Felix's arm and drew his sleeve back too, revealing an identical tattoo and cuts. 'They did it to us.'

'Who?' Ni-ki asked, trembling slightly.

'Them. The people who are using us.'

'Using you for what?'

'The experiments.'

'The what?'

'Ni-ki... the truth is... you're not a vampire, not a proper one anyway,' Felix said lightly. 'Nor are you, Jungwon. Nor are any of us, though I don't know about you,' he said, inclining his head at me.

'W-what do you mean? If we're  not vampires, what are we?' Ni-ki stuttered.

'Experiments. We can't be classified into any other group. We are all results of genetic experiments, and we don't have parents. That's why we were at that orphanage. But something went wrong with the genetic information of Karina and I, which is why they brought us back here. They thought we were dangerous. But now that we know what we truly are, we're not allowed back into the real world. We're trapped in here forever since it's too dangerous for us to know about the truth in the real world.'

'But... why?' Jungwon asked, looking troubles. Even the seemingly unemotional Jungwon seemed shaken by this revelation.

'Have you ever wondered why you have such incredible abilities? Why you can do things that normal vampires can't? Because you're different, because you've been genetically engineered. And you may not feel like it, but you're dangerous. You're a threat to normal vampires, because you were created to be a servant to the powerful vampires. You were created to carry out their dirty work, and nothing more. They didn't account for the fact that genetically engineered 'vampires' would have thoughts and feelings of their own, which is why they kept us confined in that orphanage, where they monitor us. Once we get too powerful, they alter us, keep up locked up in here.'

'What do you mean, get too powerful?' I asked.

'Once genetically engineered 'vampires' reach the age of 13 they've developed enough for the orphanage to carry out further experiments on them to monitor their growth. It turned out that we had developed too much, and had become a threat. So they took us back here, started altering us. They've been doing so for the past few years.'

'But... why? Why bother to alter you when you can never be let out of here?' Jungwon asked.

'That's what I wondered for a long time, why bother? Why not just kill us? But I realised not long ago that they're using us as test trials, should everything go to plan on us, they'll be able to manipulate every experiment even more, and eventually gain full control over all of us,' Karina shrugged. 

'Why don't you just try to escape?' I asked.

'We have, but even if you make it out of the factory the security guards on the outside of the walls always find us. There's no way to get out other than through those walls, and the punishment for being caught should be enough to stop anyone from trying, but we were young and naïve then.' 

Suddenly, a loud banging sounded on the door that Jungwon was leaning on. Felix leapt to his feet and shoved Jungwon out the way. He clicked the lock shut, and then began stacking boxes in front of the doorway, Karina helping him.

'What are you doing?' I hissed.

'They're onto you,' he explained as the banging quickened.

'No. 103 and 104, I know you're in there,' I deep, menacing voice called.

'Hurry, there's a door at the far end of the room that leads to the bottom floor. Follow the corridor until you reach a small window that you can climb through that will take you to the walls. Since you don't have the tattoo on your arm they shouldn't recognize you. We'll buy you some time here.'

'I'm not leaving without you!' Ni-ki exclaimed.

'They'll find us anyway,' Felix sighed.

'That was when you were on your own, you've got us now,' Jungwon told him.

'No, we can't-' but before Karina could finish her sentence, Ni-ki had grabbed her wrist and Jungwon had grabbed Felix's, and they were heading towards the door.