Finding a New Earth

Chapter 9: The Lab

There's a faint ringing in my ears and my back feels bruised. What the hell. Where am I, what just happened? My hands run over a smooth surface I'm lying on and I push myself up scanning my surroundings. I'm in a corridor outside English but I can't remember how I got here, I press the heel of my hand to my throbbing head ache and hiss in pain. Bringing away my hand I see ink written on the skin of my wrist saying talk to Alpha. Alpha? The scary guy I can't remember why I needed to meet him but I recognised the hand writing as mine. Confusion spins me around like a ballon in the wind and I try to grasp on to the string trying to find what I'm missing. A few people pass giving me weird looks for sitting on the floor tapping at my chin.
"Are you okay?" I look up to see Alpha.
"Huh... How did you know where I was?" I rebuked standing up slowly.
"I knew you had English last period but didn't meet me by the toilets I was worried so came looking." My eyes were the size of saucepans as I tried making sense of what happened. He was worried about me??! I was meant to be meeting him in the typical getting off area.
"What."
"You can't remember." He said more of a statement then a question his eyes quickly scanning around. Without waiting for my response his arm was draped over my shoulder and he was forcing me to walk. I tried getting out of his grip but it was no use as he held firm. I was pushed in to a Boys cubicle and I had a feeling of déjà vu for some reason.
"What have they done to you..." He shook his head and began the long story of what had happened recently as I listened in disbelief. I was in complete shock and the flow of emotions hit me hard. I don't know why but I never questioned if he was telling the truth, I felt I could trust him.
"We need to be more careful." He whispered to me his hand supporting my weight rested on my back, I instinctively leaned in to his chest with my ear against him I heard the strange fast hum of his heart. For some reason I began to piece together the memories and knew:
"We need to go in there." I told him my eyes trained on the vent.
"Where?"
"The experiment room, it's the only way we are going to learn anything more, I can't just sit back letting my friends get hurt until we are on the death line." My voice was strong and brave as I felt a rush of confidence. I was born to do this.

That evening I plastered on a smile. The dinner table was eerily quiet, faint chewing and the noise of cutlery against metal tins filled the room. I cleared my throat and asked for the water- per usual it tasted metallic and processed.
My foot was subconsciously tapping against the floor as my nerves built up like snow on a roof getting heavier until it would break through eventually.
My parents hands were joined resting on the table and they often exchanged loving glances. 'Relationship goals' I thought to myself while shaking my head. I wished I had someone to love me to share this with. But they're people who knew the worse, they would be in the danger, there was just me and Alpha. Part of me wished it was someone else who found out and was helping me. But I noticed how our relationship had grown over the mystery of our current lives. I could be dead by tomorrow, from a experiment on my body or being caught tonight. Tonight will decide everything and I just hope things will be made more clear by the morning.
"I'm going to do my work in my room." I smiled to my parents trying disguise the raging fear in my voice as a happy one. They nodded their goodbyes and I shut the door in my cabin leaning back against the metal and taking deep breaths. I quickly composed myself and got changed in my gym kit which was all black. The small T-shirt and trousers hugged my figure which I felt no shame of. I pulled my hair in to a pony tail and stared at my reflexion- injustice. It was like love and anger in one, not as vain or sad as jealousy but brighter there was a thirst which I saw in my eyes. A thirst for justice.
I have seen more than my share of injustice in my life and like a soldier prepared for war I was ready to win no matter how great the sacrifice.

I ran quietly through the halls until I was at the usual meeting place. Alpha had no words for me as we both entered the vents my breathing was heavy but the harder I tried to make it quieter the louder it got. Palms pressed against thin metal and knees sliding along the smooth surface we traveled through the vents like rats in a tunnel. I dropped down to the floor in the empty lab, falling into the cloud of darkness, a light thud told me Alpha was also in. Taking out a torch from my bag I shined it around the room. The beam of light reflected off the glass tubes in odd angles and made the walls look luminous. We had to look for evidence that would show what they were doing here was wrong but what? I tried turning on a computer but the electricity had been switched off.
"Psss." Alpha hissed at me and I hurried to his side, with the torch in his mouth and hands holding a large book he began flipping through it. Inside were the experiments they had tried one by one. Their cause, effect and final result. Each result was linked with the word "unsuccessful" in red ink.

Test on William Jones
The bassa experiment
Aim: to be abel to change thermoregulation at free will. Effect- third degree burns.
Result- unsuccessful.

The list went on and I felt utterly hopeless. Honestly what could two teenagers do against thousands of adults, professors, ship sergeants. On the side table I recognised a bottle of pills and had a feeling inside of me that I had seen this before. My memories were so hazy like trying to see in the fog at night, I shook my head trying to analyse the medication. A door opening made me jump and dive to the floor behind a desk along with Alpha. My chest heaving in protest of trying not to breath I turned off the torch leaving us to the enemy. It reminded me of how fish are attracted to light. To save yourself you must first feed your senses to the shark and only when you are blind will they pass. Hands clenched in to fists and feet squished under me I used my ears to tell there were two men and one woman entering the room. Her high heels smacking against the floor at a fast pace. There was no flicker or hesitation of the lights as they turned on and burst over us in accusing rays.