The Survivors

Chapter 5

Enjoy this long chapter after my previous short one! :I

We entered the Gov building to be met with many, many more men in black suits. Cole is immediately grabbed by a black man and I almost reached towards him. Alexander stopped me and shook his head.

"Let me explain," Alexander began. "Cole will be held. Don't worry, he won't get hurt if you do as we say."

"That's blackmail!" I said.

"No, that's the Government." Alexander reached into his suit pocket and pulled out his phone. "Ah. You're needed for testing in fifteen minutes. Braden will be with you, because we all decided that was what would make you comfortable. Follow me."

He lead us down several hallways with white walls and soundless carpeting. We reached a room, and Alexander unlocked the door.

The interior was divided by a metal curtain and on each side was a group of people, a vanity, and clothes. One side was pink-themed, which I assumed was mine, and the other was blue.

I walked to the pink side, and a girl no older than fourteen sat me down. She had dark skin and hair with white freckles on her cheeks. Her eyes were black, with no difference between the pupil and the iris.

"My name's Fawn." She turned away and examined the several makeup brushes on the vanity.

"I'm Maeve," I said, but Fawn didn't turn back. 

"I know," was all she said.

She picked up a barrette and clipped back my hair. She examined my face, tilting my face up by my chin and turning to the sides.

She powders my face with something from a tan bottle and applied green-gold eyeshadow.

She examined her work so far, and I asked, "Why are you here?" 

"I gotta make you look good for testing."

"People will be watching?!" I said, my eyes widening.

"You'll be fine!" she said with a sincere smile.

She lined my eyes with freezing cold black eyeliner. When she finished, I looked in the mirror and saw my eyes. They were certainly more bold.

She stroked on mascara and picked up a lipstick. "I hate putting lipstick on people, so here, don't ruin your privilege."

I screwed up the tube, and a hot pink color came up. My eyes widened. "Are you sure? This is a really bright color..."

She held a hand up. "I know what I'm doing."

I looked into the mirror and stroked it on. I thought I looked ridiculous, but Fawn's eyes were gleaming.

She led my to two racks of clothes. One was quite similar to mine at my house, with black jackets and plain jeans, but the other had dresses. I sighed of relief when she pushed that one away.

She pulled a white t-shirt and a charcoal jacket off the rack and a pair of black skinny jeans. She said, "I'll leave while you change."

She left the room and I switched clothes. I laced up some black combat boots and called back Fawn for my hair. She looked at it.

"It's your choice. You want it up or down?"

I pondered. "Up."

She nodded and pulled up all my hair and twisted it into a ballet bun. She knotted it off without a hair tie.

"It won't need a holder?" I asked, worried it'd fall out later.

"Sweetie, I've been doing this for seven years. I know how to tie up hair."

 She lead me down a corridor to a room marked "TESTING, KEEP OUT WHEN LIGHT IS ON." A small red light was above the sign. It was off.

She pushed open the door. I don't know what I expected, maybe some color? But no, it was pure white, like so white people didn't belong in it. Two dentist-like chairs lay in the center. Braden was in one of them, and Alexander was on a swirly chair in between the two.

"Please, sit down, Maeve," Alexander gestured to the chair.

I lied down on the chair and two women in lab coats appeared from nowhere and started attaching wires to Braden and me.

The red headed woman leaned over and said, "Would you like your meds to be taken by injection or pill?"

I realized if it were a pill, I wouldn't be able to swallow it. "Injection."

She whistled lowly. "You brave girl." She glanced over at Braden. "Your boyfriend's taking the pill."

She stuck the needle in my arm, a little too fast if you ask me because as soon as the needle pierced my arm I gasped at the pain. I felt all light and fluffy inside suddenly.

"Mmm, the world feels fuzzy," I heard myself say.

Braden laughed. "That was fast."

I gasped, remembering he was in the room. I tried to lean over and pet his face. "Hmm. I love you, Braden. You're my favorite color."

Everyone in the room laughed as I drifted off into a deep, deep slumber.

I woke up in a hallway corridor. I looked down and I was wearing the same clothes as earlier, but this was not the same building. Soon, Braden appeared next to me. There was only on door in front of us.

He pushed the door open and we stepped in. I turned around as the door slammed, but the door was gone.

The room was marble-floored, pure white, and plain just like the Gov building. It was about 15x15, and the only thing in it was a backpack.

It was large, used for rock climbing, and black. I walked to it and lifted it. "It's empty," I concluded.

Braden held up a hand, and set it on the ground. He unzipped it and revealed the bag's interior to be like a four year old's floor. It was filled with bouncy balls, those little army men, and Legos. So, so many Legos.

"The fuck? The bag was empty!" I said, dumbfounded.

"It's the test. It plays tricks on your senses."

We shifted stuff around and concluded there was no bottom. Braden stuck his hand into and and pushed it further and further down until his shoulder was covered by the Legos and other toys.

He pulled his hand out. "We're going in."

He rose and stuck his foot in. It sunk in, so he inserted another leg, with both hands on each side of the bag. He grinned. "Bend your knees when you land!" he said before he dropped in, seemingly swallowed by the toys.

I climbed in after him.

I dropped down into a new room, that was much larger. And in a museum. Legos and other junk rained onto me as I hit the cold marble floor. I looked for Braden, and found him eye level at a nude statue of some woman.

"Hey!" I looked down for something to throw at him but everything was gone.

I stood up and jerked him away. "Let's look around."

We walked around, enjoying the sculptures and paintings, until we reached a room with only one painting in it.

It had a woman with hair like mine spilling down her shoulders. She wore a pink dress that gathered at the waist with a bow and fell to her knees. A man with fair hair stood next to her. He was tall and wore a black jacket. His eyes were brown-green hazel, and hers were malachite green. Their arms interlocked.

I screamed. Braden jumped back. "You can't just kill my parents and then paste artwork of them in my head! It's not fair!" I ran to the painting and shredded it from its frame.

On the brown paper behind where the painting originally was had only three words:

GLORY AND GORE