I stood and stretched as the rest of my squad was lost in idle chatter, waiting around for Harmony to finish working and take us home.
"Home..." I sighed to myself. A word that sounded foreign in my mouth, in my brain. It had always been a thing we'd never had, something we never would have. I pinched my arm as I sank back down. And you never will, I reminded myself with a squeeze. You are here on a mission, not to become some teary-eyed beggar. I pushed the thought aside as I rejoined the conversation.
"I could too climb higher than you!" crowed Jamie, elbowing Asset 16, a boy named Oak, who smiled and laughed.
"You wanna prove it?" he said with a smirk. Oak was one of the only kids who had spunk to match Jamie's. The two had become very close friends over the years, I guess rough spunky boys tend to be drawn to each other. I had never talked to him much, but his actions spoke for themselves. He had always been gentle during the most grueling exercises, the fire in his eyes dying to a gentle warmth as he comforted struggling assets.
"Yeah!" shouted Jamie, rising to his feet with an impish smile on his face. "Let's take it outside."
"To the tallest tree we can find," Oak agreed, one cheek bearing a dimple from his crooked smile. As the two made their way towards the door, I noticed Jamie glance at Lily, who was staring into space obliviously as she rose with the rest of the group. He must have been wanting to impress her. I chuckled as I brought up the rear.
"Hey!" shouted a voice from the back. "Feather Freaks!" We all obediently turned, no one bothered by the new nickname. We'd been called worse things. Eve was waving at us, making her way forward with a glowing Harmony in tow. "Time to head out!" I broke forward to meet them, everyone else waiting behind. I noticed some disappointment coming from the other Assets about the postponed climbing competition, most of it from Oak and Jamie.
"We're ready when you are!" I responded, setting my hands on my hips.
"Alright, Harmony has been briefed on how the residence will work. You have no more questions, correct?" Eve turned to Harmony, who shook her head. "Good. The rest of you will be briefed by Agent Harmony once you arrive at her home. Remember, cut through the woods, don't be seen."
"Got it," said Harmony. "I look forward to working with you."
"And I, you," Eve responded with a slight smile as Harmony led me out the front, the other 24 kids following me in a clump. The walk through the woods was trudged in awkward silence, the only sound being leaves and twigs crunching beneath our feet. Well, mostly Harmony's, we avoided them out of instinct. The only ones we stepped on we did intentionally, it was too suspicious if we were completely silent. After we walked for what felt like days, we broke out of the trees.
Before us stood a decent-sized, two-story house surrounded on all sides by trees, a strip of road trailing from the house, through the trees, and to what sounded like a road.
"Well, here it is," said Harmony, propping one hand on her hip and gesturing with the other. "Home sweet home." We all stood there for a moment, no one knowing what we should be doing. Harmony finally started forward, the rest of us eagerly following. She threw open the front door and we all streamed in, eagerly taking in our new surroundings.
The first thing that hit me was the warmth. Not temperature, just the contrast of soft yellow light and gently muted colors of my surroundings against the past fifteen years of harsh light and white sterilized essentials. I felt everyone else having the same thoughts. The silence was interrupted by a loud growl followed by a girl named Magpie giggling.
"Sorry," she said, clutching her stomach. "We need lots of food. Comes with more limbs and quick healing."
"Oh, um, yeah," stammered Harmony. "One sec." She scurried over to the refrigerator and cracked it open. We instinctively fell into a line, arranging ourselves in numerical order. Harmony glanced up and started at the sudden scenery change, then shrugged and tossed me an apple. I caught it quickly and forcefully, wincing as I felt my grip bruise the fruit. I quickly stepped aside and bit into the apple as Daisy caught her own in the same manner I had.
Eventually we all gathered in a room filled with soft-looking chairs. No one sat, we all just stood around eating the juicy fruit. It wasn't much, but enough to sustain us for now. Harmony was the last one in, flopping down into a chair with her own snack. She glanced up at us, then motioned for us to sit down. She raised her eyebrows as we all flopped on the floor.
"The couches are all free," she said.
"Not enough room for all of us," I mumbled between bites. "Wouldn't be fair." Harmony made a hmph sound and slid off her chair onto the floor. We all sat in crunch-filled silence, strewing out cores across the room as we finished. As Harmony set her apple aside, she leaned forward and squinted at an Asset's neck.
"What's up with those tattoos?" she asked. I self-consciously rubbed my neck, as did a few others. A large triangle pointing upwards with our ID number printed inside and three smaller, downward-pointing triangles hanging off the corners was printed on each of us.
"Dunno," said Oak, shrugging and leaning back. "We've all had them as long as we can remember."
"Oh," said Harmony. We all sat in more silence for a bit, the last of us finishing off our fruit. Once we had all finished, Harmony stood.
"Follow me," she said, gesturing at the stairs nearby. "I'll show you where you all are sleeping." We all stepped into line behind her, again sorting ourselves into numerical order.
"So, we don't have to worry about all 25 of us being here?" I asked as we climbed the steep stairs, every wing combing the too-close walls. "I mean, what if someone comes in?"
"That won't happen," responded Harmony a little too quickly. She gained a sudden air of sadness and finality, so I regretfully pulled away. From the top of the steps we turned to our left.
"This is my room," said Harmony, cracking the door to a yellow-walled room off to the side. We kept walking to the end of the hallway where she opened another door. This room was a broad, empty space, a barren table pushed against the back wall and a couch to the right in front of some odd, black device.
"And this is yours," Harmony concluded, stepping forward to give us space to flood forward. A quick glance out the window told us that the sun had already fallen. A few assets started to yawn, Flora leaning against Daisy with bleary eyes.
"I think," started Daisy, interrupted by a giggle as the girl on her shoulder started to snore, "that it's time for us to rest." Any kids awake enough to make conversation agreed. After growing up in the Facility, we had trained our bodies to only be fatigued when sleep was possible. And now, here in a room to call our own, the exhaustion of our long day was hitting us hard.
"Alright," said Harmony, making her way back to the door. "I'll show you around more tomorrow. By the way, sorry you all have to sleep on the floo-" She paused as she turned around to see us already lying on the ground, limbs spread out and tangling with each other in a feathery mess. We did each have our own uncomfortable cot back in the Facility, but sometimes after especially hard trials we would just drop to the floor like this, burning limbs threading under and over each other into a mess of exhausted assets. In the mornings we would all be punished, but the bruises were a decent price to pay.
"G'night," yelled a few of us casually, barely shifting. If any of us moved then they would move others, who would then disturb others, creating an angry knot of mutants. Harmony chuckled from the doorway and turned out the lights.
"Goodnight," I heard her add under her breath as she walked away.
YOU ARE READING
The Indestructibles
Science Fiction*NOTE: This story contains a homosexual relationship* ~~~ "We were made to be untouchable. Now we're dying. And I'm going to find out why." Melody and 24 others were made in a lab to be supersoldiers. Fighting or fleeing, they were built to be perfe...
