A Crow In The Darkness

8 Second Grade

1030 hours, August 20th, 2015

Coordinations: (65.8101968, -146.0390178)
Underground Facility, Shooting Range

These boys were amazing, almost seemed alienated. They fitted perfectly into the mold that The Facility wanted and needed.

I showed them to the shooting range, I wanted to take their gun handling skills to the next level. To perfect them even more.

I gave them each a 9mm pistol and gave them the instructions of loading the clip and then placing them both separated, next to each other, and on the table in front of them. I needed to be strict and clear with them, even if it wasn't apart of my personality to do so. Later on I would notice that they've already did their studies on artillery, and I just sounded like a broken record to them.

I had a bag of peppermint candies resting in my hand and I popped one into my mouth.

Without saying anything I placed one peppermint next to their guns, the boys stood straight and didn't question anything I did which made me smile internally, knowing and seeing that they've come a long way from their past.

"When I give the mark, both of you will take the peppermint, throw it in front of you, and while it's in the air you will place the clip in your gun, cock it, and shoot the peppermint as fast as you can. Time starts at the mark, and ends when you place your guns back down on the table." I state. "Understand?"

The boys exchange looks then look at me, "Yes, sir!" They yell simultaneously.

"Ten seconds till mark." I inform.

The two of them looked at their items on the table, playing out in their heads how they will pick up the gun, throw the peppermint, and shoot it in the fastest time possible. They didn't want to accidentally knock the clip off the table or have trouble grabbing and throwing the peppermint when I gave the mark.

"And," I ready the two timers I had in my hands. "Mark!"

I push start on both timers, and before I could even think to push the button again, Kade and Ander have already thrown their peppermints up in the air.

The guns were in their hands, loaded, and I didn't have enough reaction time to let the button go and push it again once they shot the candy. They were superhuman fast, and I couldn't keep up. They placed their guns down at the same time gently and it took me about a half a second longer to push the stop button on the timer.

"1.8 seconds," I say loudly. I was caught off guard by their speed.

In my head I subtracted an estimated amount of difference in the time between them placing their guns down and me pushing the stop button. The sum was less than one second, amazing. But I was embarrassed due to my own reaction time

"Sir, with all due respect, I don't think that was the right time." Kade speaks up, fiddling with his thumbs shyly.

I sigh, "Yes, you're very right, Kade. Both of your reaction times were too fast compared to my own. I was around a half a second behind." Their shoulders relaxed visually, once being scared that they were too slow, but now realizing that they were in fact too fast seemed to make them calm and happy.

"You boys did well. If you'd like, you two can come with me to the cafeteria to get a popsicle. Or if you'd prefer, you have the option to stay and practice some more." I nod to them.

Ander turned towards the door but Kade grabbed his arm, stopping him from moving further. "Ander, no." Kade mumbles, shaking his head.

Ander cocks his head back, groaning and then stands straight once again beside Kade. He suppressed his frustration but me and Kade both knew that it would be releasing later this evening.

I nod my head to the boys and they salute, and with that, I leave them be.

I later found out from Eena that the boys in fact practiced until our storage was out of 9mm bullets all together. Peppermints were all over the floor, a fine powder that scented to whole Facility with its strong mint smell. Kade and Ander ended up using small fragments of already crushed peppermints to use once they used all of the ones in the large bag I provided.

"They are something else," Eena says, picking at her virtual fingernails.

Howard's head rotates completely, "Yes I agree, don't you?" The robot jitters out. I was so focused on the boys that I didn't hear him. "Dr. Greene?"

I nod, swallowing a build up of saliva I had in the back of my throat. "Yeah, I do."

There was a layer of quiet that overwhelmed Eena and I, but not so much for Howard, since he doesn't necessarily feel feelings that we do.

"It's a shame they were older than what we would've wanted when we found them. But I'm grateful that we found them regardless." I say, trying to break the ice.

They were still children when we took Ander and Kade. I remember that day almost perfectly. Their parents fought till their last breath, in hopes that we wouldn't reach their kids. The Facility's handlers went head-to-head harder than they expected they would against them. A bond between child and parent is, almost unbreakable. Twelve bullets landed in bodies that day. Five of which landed in their parents' bodies. Three in their mother, two in their father. I lost four handlers that day. Which wasn't a big enough sacrifice for what we gained that day.

Kade and Ander were hiding in the closet under their parents instructions. Ander was crying and Kade told him to close his eyes and cover his ears. But after tearing apart the whole house, the handlers had found them. Kade tried fighting, biting and scratching but the handlers were too tough for even the both of them to fight back.

As the handlers tried to get a grip on Kade, Ander sat in the closet, staring and not knowing what to do to help his older brother.

"Cover it with clothes! Protect him, Ander!!" Kade yelled, under the scrabble of scratches he tried landing on the handlers. His lisp was still distinguishable, despite all of the speech therapy his parents previously put him through.

Ander couldn't do anything, he was frozen from fear. Another handler grabbed Ander while Kade was dragged out of the house. Their screams dissipated from inside the house and had transferred outside before they were bound and blind by rope and tape.

The house was quiet, I had one last look around, just in case. I could see the layout of what had all happened. We broke in through the from door, killed Kade and Ander's parents, searched everything, found Kade and Ander, then dragged them out of here. I followed the destructive path my handlers had left, like breadcrumbs. and I somehow found myself outside the closet they were once hiding in.

Books were on the floor from the shelf above, clothes were in giant piles. I spotted a few drops of blood in the carpet, Kade had put up a good fight.

I could hear something muffled, something moving. I tried to make myself leave the room but curiosity killed the cat. I looked through everything in that room. Under the bed, in the dresser, but the closet was the only right place to look. I pushed through the piles of clothes in the closet. And then I heard it clearer. It was something crying. I lifted a shirt from the pile, and a baby stared back at me. My mind was overwhelmed, the baby I had my widened eyes on had looked to only be a month old.