Kat Tails

The Facility

We spent Saturday and Sunday packing, and we had the moving trucks come by Monday. It's amazing how quickly we boxed up 5 years of life in this house. We filled up 2 moving trucks and our little pick-up truck, before hitting the road.

As my home slowly dissapeared in our rear-view window, I promised myself I wouldn't cry.

We drove for about five hours, from Indiana to Washington D.C. When I asked dad about the location, he said the government wanted to keep friends close, but enemies even closer, and they couldn't decide which one people like me were. We could either be valuble allies, or powerful enemies, he explained, so I have to make sure not to do anything to give them the wrong impression. That worries me. What if I accidentally step out of line, will they hurt me? The facility was in a supposed wildlife reserve, so I would be in complete isolation with these people in the middle of miles and miles of forest. I spent most of the trip dwelling on what would happen once I got there.

After awhile of driving on a dirt road winding through the forest reserve in Washington D.C, I saw it. My first impression of my new living quarters was white. White buildings with white walls, white roofs, and white doors. There were also a few people scurrying around in white lab coats on the white sidewalk. The only other color I noticed was the dark tinted windows and the metal glint of a barbed wire fence surrounding the compound.

"Dad, why is there barbed wire?" I ask, fear creeping into my voice.

"It's for you safety, hon, so no one can break in. Don't worry about it," he answers soothingly. it looks like it's more for keeping me in, but I don't say that aloud.

As we approach it, I notice a few more things. There's a great big square building in the middle with four medium buildings around it that share its same boring architecture. There's also what looks like a green house, and a bunch of small dome-shaped buildings scattered around. They're all eye-blindingly white. I think the whole set up is about half an acre. I can see dad tensing up as we get to the entrance and he shows his I.D. to the guard. We drive in, with the two moving trucks on our tail, and then park in front of one of the small white domes.

"So this is where we'll live?" I ask dad.

"Yep," he says, distracted looking. He's probably as worried about our future as I am.

We get out of our car, and walk inside. It's one story, and the walls were almost as white as the outside. It has three bedrooms, one bathroom, one small kitchen, and a living room with a small round dining table in the corner. Wanna guess what color it all was? It was even smaller than my old house, but seeing how there's just two of us, I could deal. It has an unfinished basement, that was cold with a grey,concrete floor and no furniture, just a washer and dryer.

"I need some paint. If we don't do something, I'm afraid I'll go colorblind," I joke, after inspecting the house and it's non-existant color scheme.

"I'll have to ask them if it's alright, since we didn't pay for this place," Dad says, looking around, "We kind of traded our house for this one, though, so maybe."

We walk outside and start bringing in boxes from our little truck, while the movers that the government hired start to do the same. I strike up conversation with Dad, trying to get more information out of him.

"So how exactly did you come across this government place before? I mean, it's awfully well hidden and all, it'd be hard to just stumble upon it," I ask, picking up a box of dishes and walking beside him to the door.

"Your mom's family was here to learn about humans, to study them. They got permission from our government so they could get housing and good opportunities for research. You would be surprised how many other worlders come to see our race that doesn't know anything about other populated universes," Dad answers, "So after your mother and I were attacked, our government offered to help."

We keep unloading for a few more minutes in silence as I ponder this new tidbit of information.

"If they offered back then, why did you wait until now to take them up on it?" I ask, confused, "We could have gone straight here and been totally safe."

"Can you imagine growing up in a place like this, Kat? You would be cut off from the entire world, super sheltered with zero people skills. What if your personality ended up as boring as your surroundings?" he answers, grinning a little at the end.

"That makes sense," I say, nodding as I hefted a large box from the bed of the pick-up. We stop talking and concentrate on the task at hand.

 By the time night falls, we have everything we own forming a great big pile in the living room. We thank the movers, who go off to whatever next job they have. Dad and I pull our matresses out of the mountain and choose our bedrooms. He gets the biggest room, and I choose the smallest because it has a window.

"Good night, Dad!" I call out after getting situated on my matress.

"Good night, Kat!" Dad answers from further down the hall.

I have trouble falling asleep in my unfamiliar surroundings, plus I'm kinda frightened. Something about knowing I was fenced in this place really bothered me, it put me on edge. No one had even stopped by to check on us, so I only had my imagination to think about what the other inhabitants of this place were like. Problem: waaaaay too active imagination. It took several hours for me to fall into a light troubled sleep, full of terrifying creatures breaking out of small white domes.