Unconventional

6

The junk yard wasn't to much of a pleasant place. Scraps of metal and houses and junk were thrown onto the giant pile. Their lights flew across the junk pile more then once, creating shadows against all the scraps and left over pieces It was creepy in the dark, sending shivers down each of their backs as they continued climbing through the junk.

They stopped walking after what felt like an hour. Their lights shone around, each of them walking different ways to search for- for what they didn't even know. Valerie crouched down, picking up a sharp piece of bent metal and holding it up against the light. It looked like a piece from one of the children's bikes they each received on their fifth birthday. Valerie set the metal down, moving over to another small pile and ruffling through it.

Jenson called out, screaming about what he found. "Look! It's a girls toy, like a little plastic human. Creepy, its eyes move." He squeezed the doll, screeching and dropping it five feet away. "Holy-! I think I just almost died." He placed a hand on his chest, breathing slowly.

Amber was laughing, walking over and picking up the toy. "It's only a doll Jenson. Though why is it here?" Everyone continued looking around, finding plenty of old children's toys lying around broken and battered. Some of the toys they didn't even know the names to, though some of them were clear in their minds. The four of them moved on, staring at the ground while searching for something- anything that might help them remember anything that had happened to them.

The group continued to another junk pile, one bigger than the last and full of more scraps then before. Hudson was picking things up and throwing them over his shoulder, sometimes placing them in his bag.

Valerie sighed, neck hurting from looking down to much and decided to take a break, sitting down on a flat piece of cushion. The red haired girl started rubbing the back of her neck, placing down her light and staring up at the fake stars the dome had created.

She could faintly hear the others laughing about while they threw things at each other. Her mind was still racing, trying to figure out what they needed to find to sort things out, to finish the puzzle that was their lives.

"This is useless, we're not going to find anything!" She kicked the closest piece of metal, groaning from frustration. The metal clanked, rolling to a stop and hitting something else. A screen lit up, a few cracks in the edges, the blue light falling against her leg. She bent down, reaching to pick it up from her spot. It looked like a port-screen they used in their tech classes for those assigned their job as tech-bots, but a little older. 

Valerie stood, pulling her hair back and quickly walking back to the group. "Guys! Guys I found something!" The three others of the group ran over, Hudson tripping over a stack of boxes. Amber was giggling behind her hand as Hudson regained balance, glaring at her as though he could kill her with a look. "Stop it already, come see." Valerie held the port-screen in front of her as they gathered around her slim body. 

"A port-screen? What's it doing here? Aren't they only used for tech classes?" She nodded to Amber, answering her question with a look. 

"Yes, they are. I use one in class. Pass it over, I might be able to access the files on it. " She hands the port to Jenson, watching as his fingers expertly glide across the screen as he opens and closes different files.  "It seems to belong to a researcher- by the name of Dr. Vans-Middlesworth." 

The name struck Valerie. She knew that name from her file, from their files. "That's the guy who wrote our papers- the ones about the specials?" She looked at each of them for a moment to long, grabbing the port back and typing on it. "Hudson, why did you need us to skip our daily medications again?"

Hudson looked stunned, his own mind spinning from watching Valerie's fingers race across the screen expertly. "I wanted to see if it wore off, to see if any memories returned or things seemed familiar." 

Her hands stopped suddenly, turning the screen to the others. A mans face was frozen, a play button ready. "I think this could help."