The Scientist

Home?

Tango pov:

I was honestly terrified, and I could tell the others felt the same way. The subjects with us—Scar, Cub, and someone I didn’t recognize—were all on edge. None of us were eager to get into another car, not after the last time, when we ended up at that facility. Dr. Zedaph, Mr. Impulse, and Mr. Skizz seemed to realize how we felt and decided on a different plan. We ended up walking instead, but I had no idea how far we’d have to go.

Most of us stuck close together, too afraid to speak up. Mr. Skizz was so full of energy, talking endlessly about how I’d love the place we were heading to. I wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be comforting or ominous. My tail wrapped tightly around me, a poor attempt to soothe my nerves. I stayed close to Scar, Cub, and the other subject I didn’t know. I was worried—no, more than worried. I think they could tell because they slowed down, trying to reassure me by talking more about the place we were heading to. But it didn’t do much to ease my fears.

The sound of Dr. Zedaph's hooves on the ground was strangely soothing, even though it reminded me of the facility. It took us a while to actually reach a building—an apartment building, by the looks of it. I stayed really close to Dr. Zedaph, my nerves still on edge. That was, until they showed me into a room. It was lightly covered in dust, but it looked like it was made for me. It was hard to believe.

Mr. Impulse told me to change into something different so I wouldn’t be wearing what I’d been stuck in for so long. He even gave me privacy to change, which felt odd after everything we’d been through. When I checked the wardrobe, it was like a punk rock dream—cool, edgy clothes that looked like they belonged to someone with a lot more confidence than I had. But something about it didn’t feel like mine. I couldn’t shake the unease. The room, the clothes—it all seemed too perfect, too out of place in my reality.

I didn’t even change out of my clothes. Instead, I just sat down in the middle of the room, trying to take in everything around me. There were pictures on the walls—pictures of a younger me with Mr. Impulse and Dr. Zedaph. Everything felt so strange, like some distant memory that didn’t quite belong to me. I guess we were friends once, but I didn’t really remember. My hair flared up slightly with the intensity of my emotions, but I quickly dampened it down, not wanting to accidentally trigger the fire alarms.

I sat there, playing with my puffball tail, trying to soothe myself, when the other subjects started coming into the room too. It wasn’t that we had to share the space—it was just that none of us could calm down enough to be alone. Scar and Cub ended up sitting with me on the floor, just looking around the room. We all shared the same disbelief: we were free, but it felt like a delusional dream. The sun had touched our skin again, warm and real, not like the harsh, fluorescent lights of the facility.

As we sat there, the subject we didn’t really know finally spoke up. “First of all, my name is Xisuma, not my subject name, but my actual name.” His voice was calm but carried the weight of everything we’d been through. “My friend and I managed to swipe a few key cards. We got into the supply closet and set the whole place on fire. I hope that place burns to the ground, so they can’t hurt anybody else.”

The way he spoke, with so much anger and loss, made me think he’d lost someone important at that facility, long before the fire. I didn’t know how to ask, but Cub did. “Who did you lose that made you so upset?” he asked quietly.

Xisuma was silent for a few moments, his eyes distant, before he finally answered. “My brother,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “He didn’t make it through one of the experiments. He died.”

The room fell into a heavy silence after Xisuma's confession. None of us knew what to say; the weight of his words hung in the air, thick with shared grief and pain. We all had our own scars, our own losses, but hearing Xisuma’s story made it all the more real, more tangible.