the newest prisoners

6

...and well, you know the rest."
He finished. I knew that he was looking at me, gauging my reaction. But I couldn't look at him. I was numb. Ellie came back, and she didn't want to see me? She left on purpose, she left me, and Raymond, even though I needed her? She came back and didn't want to see me?

"This was her plan?" I choked out. Barely a whisper. But I knew he could hear.

"Yes. She wanted to see you again. I'm sure she'll be at dinner."

"Okay" I turned and blinked furiously. "Wake me when the guard comes. I need to lay down." I walked over to the bunk with my identification written on a sign next to it.

The room was long, there were 14 beds total. 7 on each side. There was a large clear space between the first bunks and the door. On the opposite side, near my bunk, there were two unmarked doors, I saw that through one was a row of stalls, and the other had larger stalls, with a sheet of fabric over the opening. Okay, so there is the bathroom and showers. Then there was an area nest to the bathroom/shower area where two tables were set up, each with a bunch of chairs around them. Everyone was sitting on their beds, exactly like how they were when I got there. The girls were all on one side of the room, while the boys were on the other, win the exception of 2-7beta, who was still whispering with 2-7gamma, and 2-5alpha and beta who were other floor, playing a card game. Raymond was sitting on his bunk, I knew he was looking at me, but I couldn't bring myself to make eye contact. I laid down, I don't know how long it took until I fell asleep, but eventually I drifted away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"ATTENTION!"

I woke up with a start. Jumping out of bed, I looked around the room, and seeing everyone else, standing up straight in front of their bunks, I followed suit.

A man walked in, he was tall, young and clean-shaven. Dressed in an military-like uniform. In his hand he held what looked to be a scanner. The man walked over to 2-4alpha. He turned his neck so that his identification was visible. The man raised the scanner, and scanned the tattoo.

"Clear. Line up on the south wall." Said the man, then he moved to 2-4beta. She moved her hair aside, he scanner her. "Clear." She followed 2-4alpha and lined up near the wall.

He went down, from one experiment to the next, each person getting the permission to line up with the rest. Until..

"Stand down. Your meal will be brought in. Go wait along the northern wall." The man's scanner had made a buzzer like noise.

I leaned forward, and saw 2-7gamma walk past me. He went and sat down at one of the tables.

The man kept going down the line, he stopped at 2-8beta. She pulled her hair aside, then once she was scanned, she walked past me towards the tables, before he could even tell her if she was approved or not. His scanner made the same noise that it had made earlier. He went to Raymond, and he was approved, then he came over to me.
"Move your hair aside and let me scan your identification." He whispered the instructions to me, I slid my hair to the other side of my neck, and he raised the scanner. I felt a strange tingle as he hit the button and it began the scan. I closed my eyes, the scanner made the same noise of denial. "sorry," he whispered so only I could hear, "go wait at on the north side. Your meal will be brought in soon." He waited as I walked towards the table. Once I sat down, the man walked over to the rest of the experiments. I saw Raymond give me a sad look, he mouthed "I'm sorry" and they left. I turned to the other two who were denied.

"Why can't we go to dinner?" I asked tentatively,I looked at 2-8beta, she was sitting across the table from me, looking resigned. 2-7gamma was sitting at the other table.

2-8beta looked at me, and gave me a smile. "Well, 2-7gamma managed to swipe a knife from the cafeteria last time he was allowed to go, so now he's under probationary watch every time he leaves the barracks. You, my guess is, well, you are, or at least were shadow dove, the most notorious and wanted criminal in the empire. They don't know if you'll try to attack a commanding officer, or if you'll find a way to escape. So, better safe than sorry. As for me, well. I'm different. I don't have permanently visible markings."

"Well, if that's such a problem, then why don't they just tattoo you too?" I asked,

2-7gamma snorted. "Because they didn't give them to us."

I gave 2-8beta a confused look. She sighed. "Thanks, gamma." She said, obviously using his identification rank against him. "Now, 2-9, they didn't give us the tattoos, they injected us with this serum that activated our enhancements then, our bodies burned these markings into our skin. Similar to a branding. The only tattoos they did was our identification on our necks. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, well at least, more that anything else that's happened today."

The door opened again. This time a man, wearing a white chefs outfit came in, pushing a cart with three trays of food on it. Wordlessly he placed each tray on the table, then left. All three trays were identical. A turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato and mayo, an apple, a small container of milk, and a little pudding cup for dessert. We each grabbed a tray and began to eat.