Finding a New Earth

Chapter 7: 'EXPERIMENTS'

The dinning hall was buzzing with people at breakfast as they ate their porridge. An artificial white light, which I had gotten so used to, hung in long lines above our heads.
"Ahhh shit." Raven jumped having burnt her thumb on the tin she just tried opening.
"Are you okay?!" Twist gasped and I didn't miss the pure concern in his voice.
"Uh yeah." She blushed which made me raise my eyebrow. Raven blushing? Raven being effected by a boy- wow. She gave me a 'I will talk to you later' and I nodded making sure to remember. We were sitting with a few boys I didn't know the names of who hung around with Twist and a sweet girl called Summer. She was currently staring blank eyed at the table and I waved my hand in front of her face.
"Are you okay?" I smiled. Her lips raised weakly in return nodding her head, I knew there was something she wasn't telling me but I decided not to pry. Last night I did the same as usual and didn't take the sleeping gas but for some reason I didn't meet Alpha in my dreams. As my eyes naturally scanned for him in the busy room I noticed the amount of cameras there were around. In every corner every angle was covered by a rotating dot that gave us no privacy. Having finished breakfast I grabbed my lab coat from the racks heading to Chemistry. Lime, was my partner: Her braces and typical big rimmed glasses to add to the tight low pony tail, classed her as a 'nerd.' Her voice was slightly slurred by the braces she wore.
"Heyo Sie" She chirped and we began our task. Manny our teacher began to lecture us on a practical we had to complete- bored my hands delved in to my pockets my eyes wandering the ceilings canopy. A small bit of paper touched my hands and I drew out a note in confusion, reading it under the desk.
Break time outside the boys toilets by the Maths block -A.
I ran through the different reasons he would want to meet me as I placed the note above the Bunsen burner - destroying the evidence. I wiped my clammy hands on my trousers waiting for the lesson to end. When it did I rushed over to the maths block against the flow of people as they surged through to the social lounge. Standing by the door his eyes to the ground was Alpha. Wearing a white shirt and denim jeans he resembled a run away model and my tongue was instantly in knots.
He gestured for me to follow him and I blinked as he walked in to the boys toilets.
"Come!" He growled lowly. The boys toilets were very similar to the girls apart from the urinals and my mouth dropped open again when he pushed me in to one of the cubicles with him.
"Uh.. Sorry but I'm not really comfortable with this." I whispered my body was pressed flush against his in the small space. He rolled his eyes.
"Don't worry it's not what it looks like, we just need everyone else to think it is." He explained not making things much clearer. He closed the toilet lid and then took a screw driver out his pocket. Deciding not to say anything I watched him unscrew the bolts to the vents. The flap opened a minute later leaving a hole which you could probably crawl through.
"We don't have much time." He went in first and I followed thinking- what the hell have I got myself in to. The cold metal vent floor banged painfully against my hands and knees as I tried moving with stealth through the tunnel. Every now and then he would stop when he heard the faint patter of shoes walking beneath us in the corridors.
After what seemed ten minutes of crawling he stopped. Not looking where I was going I almost went straight in to him which considering our positions would have been awkward. He turned around and showed me the grate on the metal which allowed us to see through. The laboratory bellow contained around twenty people in white uniform, carrying out experiments and on computers. I recognised one of them to be the famous Sarah Kensly she is the Provost of the ship like our president. She is the only person allowed to keep her name from her past, the reason for which I don't know. I strained my ears to hear the conversation she was having with a tall guy wearing a moustache, but couldn't over the noise of machines. That's when I noticed it. The walls were covered in pictures of people. Some of them had a black cross over them, one of the unlucky crosses was Carrot. His original name was Archie Benson, my hand covered my mouth as I tried to contain a sob. The top of the wall read 'EXPERIMENTS' My eyes skimmed lower and I recognised all the people in my classes including me and Alpha.

In a silent agreement through eye contact we made the tedious journey back to the bathroom I was breathing hard in fear and exhaustion.
"Experiments." I repeated the word, flinching at how cruel it sounded on my tongue. Nothing but experiments. That's what our lives were. I waited for him to put the vent back while crouched in the corner hugging my knees to my chest. Alpha finished, slipping the screwdriver back in his pocket he closed his eyes and breathed out deeply.
"Sky." His normal deep voice was strained as he spoke my name and my head flashed up to meet his pained stare.
"What's your real name?"
I don't understand how this is relevant to what has just happened but I can tell from his body language that it is important.
"Casey Weathers." I say in a small voice. He folds over and sits on the toilet lid his head in his hands.
"What is it?"
"The people they experiment on. It's alphabetical." He tells me his jaw clenched, I quickly realise it means I don't have much time left; I could be dead by next week and no one would know. No one would remember! My body starts shaking and I feel a warm arm around my shoulders as Alpha actually attempts to comfort me.
"Why are you helping me?" I sniff.
"I'm not." He sighs. "We are helping each other."