Dark Secrets: Part 1

Chapter 6: The Outlaw Lab

I was in a field. It was sunny and the wind blew gently. I was in a white tank top, jeans, and brown boots. I turned and saw SkyBird smiling at me. She had a white sundress on and was barefoot. I felt happy and free.

“Hero!” I heard a voice scream as I felt someone hug me from behind. I turned and almost fainted. It was Ray. I also say Aisha, Sapphy, Sheila, Rin, Mimi, Celeste, Ayame, Mer, and Ace. They were all happy and smiling. The only thing that made it different then I pictured it was SkyBird and I were the only ones with wings.

“Wait! What happened with those men in our school?!” I remembered. I had been tranquilized and went out. I wanted to know what happened.

“That’s simple you...” Ray replied. I gave a look of confusion. I couldn’t make out the last few words.

“I what?” I asked.

“You...” Aisha explained. I still couldn’t make out the words. My head started throbbing and everything and everyone started mixing together.

I woke up and looked around wildly. I wasn’t in a meadow. I was in a cage in a damp, cold room. There were other cages with other children. I saw SkyBird was asleep in the cage right to my left. I noticed I was in a hospital gown. This was really starting to remind me of Maximum Ride. “Hey there,” I said out loud, wanting someone to reply.

“Hero?! What are you doing here?!” a boy’s voice asked anxiously.

“Connor?!” I questioned. Was Connor still alive?! If so then it was a miracle!

“Yeah it’s me, Connor. What are you doing here? Is SkyBird here too?” Connor asked with a nervous tone in his voice.

“These men came to our school and kidnapped us. Our principal let them too! Yeah SkyBird’s here too,” I said pointing to a cage that held a sleeping SkyBird.

“Listen we need to get out of here! Look around at everyone!” Connor said quickly. I looked around at the other cages. Some of the children had animal features. Some of them had gills and fins. Some of them had extra limbs. What scared me the most is that some of them had their eyes stitched shut, their mouths stitched shut, limbs cut off, or were seriously injured. Not to mention everyone was extremely malnourished and starving.

“Oh my god!” I managed to say. I felt bad for all these children, but I mostly felt angry. I wanted to punch whoever did this to these poor, innocent children.

“See. We need to escape NOW!” Connor replied, struggling to open his cage. I started trying to get my cage open but couldn’t. It was one of those cages that had a key to be unlocked. I searched the room to see where the key was but couldn’t find it. So someone must have the key on them, or the key must be in a different room. I tried to pry two of the bars apart but I couldn’t. Looks like these cages were enhanced to hold enhanced children.

“Huh? Where am I?” I heard SkyBird. Hearing her voice made me relieved and less afraid.

“SkyBird! We’re in an outlaw lab. Connor’s here!” I said to her. SkyBird looked around and smiled when she noticed Connor. He waved and smiled back at her. Connor is a good friend of ours. We met on an online website and became friends. Then one day we found out that he was kidnapped by a group called AWTOK. I don’t know what the letters stand for but I know that they’re an organization that hunts down children who are different. Once they capture them they keep them in cages, starve them, perform painful experiments on them, then kill them. Pretty sad if you ask me, and not to mention illegal. Sad thing is the CIA, police, and government know about them and allow them to do this. The door opened and a man in a white lab coat entered the room, “Ah I see you both have woken up from your nap.”

“You can’t hurt them I won’t let you!” Connor called out. He puffed out his chest to look tough and big. I thought it made him look cute and manly at the same time.

“Shut up!” the man yelled as he shook Connor’s cage violently. Connor fell backwards then forward.

“Stop that!” SkyBird screamed in horror. She was very protective of our friends. Especially Connor. After she found out that he had been kidnapped she vowed to take AWTOK down.

“My name is Dr. Eric. I am the head doctor and scientist of AWTOK. My boss is Dr. Xander. He is the boss of AWTOK. The creator. He is very interested in you both, and would like to meet you both,” Dr. Eric said coldly. I could tell he wasn’t a humorous kind of person.

“I don’t want to meet this Dr. Xander dude!” I said gritting my teeth. I had to keep my cool and stay calm. They could easily kill SkyBird and I.

“I wasn’t asking whether you wanted to or not!” Dr. Eric retorted. He looked angry all ready. Great I made a new enemy and it hasn’t even been ten minutes since I’ve woken up. Dr. Eric dragged SkyBird and I out of our cages and restrained us to wheelchairs. Guess they couldn’t even trust us to walk.

“You’ll both learn to respect Dr. Xander,” Dr. Eric said with crude humor in his tone. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up, and I had a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something told me I didn’t want to meet Dr. Xander, and for many reason at that.