INhuman

Part 2 ~Alex~

I saw Kat lying on the ground, and ran towards her, terrified about what I might find.
She was lying on her side, facing away from me, her long, black hair splayed gracefully around her.
I dropped to my knees next to her, my breaths coming in sharp and quick.
I tugged on her shoulder, and she turned onto her back, her face turning up towards the inky sky.
I screamed as I caught sight of the blood covering her face.

"AAAUGH!!!" I sit straight up in bed, sweat and tears covering my shaking body. I draw in a shaky breath, closing my eyes and hugging myself.
"It was just a dream Alex, it's okay, it's all going to be okay." I whisper to myself, rocking back and forth attempting to calm myself.
After a minute of sitting in bed, attempting to clear my mind, I slide out of bed and shakily make my way to the bathroom.
I turn on the shower and begin peeling my wet clothes off of my trembling body.
The second I step under the hot water, my nightmares wash away, down the drain. I let out a long breath, and let the hot water cascade down my chest and neck.
I have nightmare disorder. Just about every night I have nightmares that cause me to wake up screaming and crying. Most nightmares consist of either Kat or Toby getting themselves killed attempting to escape, or me getting them killed as we escape and me getting myself captured again. These nightmares create a lack of sleep on my part, so the humans allow me to take multiple small naps during the waking cycle, but I have to stay up later than the others to make up for lost time.
I dry myself off and pull on some clean clothes. I've always detested the clothing the humans give us. Our uniform consists of a white t-shirt with our number printed on the back, a pair of khaki pants, and white lace-up shoes. (I like to shift into a cat and play with the laces when I'm bored.) I'm pretty sure the two others wear the same outfit, but I haven't seen them in a while. The last time I saw another magi was four cycles ago when Toby bit one of the scientists. They had to drag him down the hall my cell is on, and the entire time he was going absolutely berserk, trying to bite the guy that was holding him, even though they had put a muzzle on him. As the group passed by, Toby sent me a mind-message, pretty much explaining the situation and how he had seen the humans doing mean things to Kat, so he attempted to rip the closest one's throat out. Apparently he missed and instead got the human's arm, then was promptly given a sedative and dragged back to his room in cuffs and a muzzle. From his tone he sounded quite amused by the situation.
By the time he had finished explaining, the humans had dragged him out of range for our telepathy to work and I couldn't ask any follow up questions.
I give a small laugh at the memory of my friend's shenanigans, and grabbed a book off of my bookshelf. I plop back down onto my bed crosslegged, and pretend to read, really just concentrating on reaching out telepathically to the others. I give a sigh as I feel that both Kat and Toby are out of range. I honestly don't know how our telepathy works, all I know is that the humans can't use it, and that both shifters and mæge can use it. I also know that Kat figured out how to use it when she accidentally called out to Toby when she saw him down the hallway. To use telepathy you just call out to someone with your mind, and when they're out of range, your message echoes in your head. But when someone is in range, they can send a response, and you can hear their voice in your head. That's really the only way to explain it. Other than that, I don't really know anything else about telepathy. I have a couple of theories, but I would need to be in range of Toby or Kat more for me to test them.
"Subject 01-13, please begin to make your way to your workout station." The robotic female orders over the intercom, scaring the daylights out of me.
I give a hiss of annoyance and put my book away, then get up and wait for my room door to open.
The door slides open with a swish, and I step out.
I start to make my way to the workout station, but then realize that there are no guards. Every day without fail there are always guards to escort us to and from each room and station. Out of the three of us I was the most well behaved to the humans. I've only tried to escape a couple of times, and have never assaulted a human. I use crying as an outlet, rather than attacking humans like the others. Also, I have nicer stuff than the other two because of my good behavior. I have a bigger bed, full bookcase, a writing desk, and bigger bathroom as a reward for my good behavior. I also get better food according to Kat, but I don't think that's true.
"Hello?" I call out, peering down each hallway, looking for guards.
I stood in place for a minute, then decided to make my own way to my workout station.
The entire way I keep a lookout for humans, but the hallways are eerily quiet.
I finally make it to my workout room, and step inside. The room is one giant obstacle course, one that I run every day. The cool part is that it changed every week to give me a challenge. The weird thing is, it's completely deserted. My trainer should be here. Something is definitely wrong.
I sit on the floor and wait. After two minutes of converting oxygen to carbon dioxide, I hear hurried footsteps. Finally! A human is here to fix everything!
I think excitedly, getting up quickly and rushing into the hallway.
My spirits drop immediately as Kat runs into view. She has blood spattered on her white shirt and a bruise on her cheek.
"What did you do?!" I ask immediately, my stomach churning. "What kind of trouble are you in?!" My voice heightens an octave with worry as Kat stops just in front of me.
"We're getting out, c'mon." Kat says to me, grabbing my hand. "We're gonna finally escape this hell hole!" She bounces excitedly, a gleam in her eye.
"Kat, no. You know exactly what happened last time you pulled something like this. I don't want to see you hurt again. Please, go back to your station." I choke out, trying to keep the fear from my voice.
"This time is different! We're going to get out! Jordan is getting Toby, and we're going to escape." Kat said matter-of-factly, pulling me along after her. I sigh, but follow her.
We're gonna go get ourselves killed. Well, fuck it.