PROLOGUE

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I was taken right in the middle of art class. One call into my classroom and my whole life changed. He impersonated my social worker, Mike, using some of his cryptic twisted technology. I knew no better then to blindly follow the imposter into the car. I wish everyday that I had noticed the fact that this was not the usual car that Mike drove. Warning sign number one, missed. He said nothing, which should have been my second warning sign. Mike was a nosey person who never stopped running his mouth. I buckled myself into the trap. I bent down to tie my shoelace when I noticed the barrel of a gun poking menacingly out from under the rubber car mat. Mike only carried a taser with him, and under no circumstance would a gun be under his mat, only old cheeseburger wrappers. With my heart pounding I raised my head to question the man whoever he was. When my head turned to the side it was greeted with a dripping rag. The man roughly grabbed my head and put it to the cloth securing it with his calloused hands to my face. I didn't even have the chance to put up a fight. I gagged and tried to use my hands to pull him off but fake Mike was too strong for me. I tried to fight the effects of what I presumed was chloroform, but the edge of my vision turned black and he roughly shoved me down in my seat. 

When I came to I saw nothing but empty fields. I shouldn't say empty, some had corn planted and cows grazing in them.  But the sun shone and the emptiness stretched on for miles. The man by now had disabled his technology and no longer looked like Mike. He looked to be around 30 years old and he wore a smug look on his face. 

" Welcome Back," he sneered. 

I responded by looking out the window. A million different ways to escape were buzzing in my head, but when I felt the cold metal holding me back my heart dropped. At this point I had now fully accepted my doomed fate. I tried to slow my heart rate and breathing down, I didn't want this jerk to know I was afraid. 

For what felt like hours the hot sun beat down on me through the untainted windows. Finally on my side of the vehicle a small country house came into view. Fake Mike slowed down and turned into the drive way. He may have been a psychopath but at least he was a safe driver. I thought we were going to the drive way of the house, but the car passed by. The barn was small and the probably once bright red paint was chipping. My kidnapper heaved me out of the car and walked me over to my prison. 

On the steel door was a handprint recognition lock, so much for me picking it. He shoved me inside. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I realized we weren't alone. There was 12 other girls. The room had maybe 15 steel hospital type beds. Everything was white and smelled sterile. I saw a small room with a toilet and other than that the walls were lined with medical equipment. Lying on each bed I saw a girl, who looked to be asleep. I swallowed hard. 

"Change and give me those clothes." fake Mike shoved a hospital gown into my hands and left the barn the way he came. 

" Do what he says." The voice was barley audible, but a girl began to slowly sit up in the bed labeled #9. " If you don't it will just make it worse." 

" Where are we? Are the others dead?" The voice that came out of me sounded foreign and I felt my body trembling. 

" No, but we may as well be. I'm Meghan." The girl gave me a small smile and made a motion for me to change. 

Meghan and I heard footsteps coming from outside. She went back to a lying position and I stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. Fake Mike took me over to the bed marked #13 and told me to sit. He brought over some supplies and told me to give him my right hand. He gently took my arm and turned it so my palm was facing the ceiling. He proceeded to clean the underside of my wrist and start up a tiny needle gun. He told me to stay completely still. He put the needle too my skin and I sucked in a breath. He had given me a tattoo. The unlucky #13 would now be my brand name. 

From that moment forward, my memories are choppy. I know I was unconscious or in this thick fog like daze. This was no place for a 12 year old girl, I can assure you of that. I got to know the girls when Doctor, also known formerly to me as fake Mike, wasn't testing on us. He like to call us his precious little guinea pigs. Sometimes girls would get invited to live in the farm house with Doctor, and they never came back.  I knew they were probably dead, but I had no way of being certain. I was envious either way. 

Today is the fourth anniversary of the day Doctor took me from my art class. This morning he said in honour of my anniversary we got to skip the days injections. I had become accustomed to analyzing every little detail about him. Today he seemed jittery and unfocused. Dare I say even a little afraid. He had let his brown goatee grow into a scruffy beard. If he was so shaken up did that mean something or somebody was coming? or should I be even more afraid? There were nine of us remaining compared to the 13 from when I arrived. 

" I have another surprise." All eyes focused on him as we sat up straighter in our beds. " I am going to be taking you all into the house today." 

The room all around me erupted with whispers and excitement filled the air. And with that one by one girls were taken in numerical order out the door we longed to kick down. I watched as #12 was taken out of of our prison and cursed the fact that I was the last person. I heard a rumble from outside. It sounded like a group of large car, or the transport truck that occasionally passed the barn on its way out of Metropolis. I stood and made my way to the bathroom, trying not to feel sick from yesterdays injection. When I shut the door to the bathroom I heard a huge BANG. The ground shook with such force that I had to hold onto the sink. I slowly opened up the door to the bathroom. The entire room was filled with a white billowing smoke. I held my nose and tried to reach the door of the barn. Each step I took closer to the door made my legs ache , as if my feet were suddenly made of cement. Closer and closer I got to the door. I felt my body swaying and my eyelids dropping. I gripped the metal of the door handle and shoved with all my might. 

To my dismay it would not open. 

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