Subject TX009

Chapter 2

Rain walked into the cafeteria late for lunch. Rain had entered the training room to shower to clear her head. The most powerful being in existence? It sounded almost as bizarre as being in this place. She was convinced it was a dream and she would wake up. Eventually.

With wet hair, Rain walked into the cafeteria. Everyone seemed to be separated into little groups. The guards sat around a table near the door to the left. A group of three girls sat near the middle of the room, and two other girls along with one boy in the far-right corner. Grayson, Ethan, and two other males sat in the left corner. They smiled at Rain when she entered the room and signaled for her to come over.

Rain smiled back at the boys and walked over. "Hey, guys."

"Go and get some food then come back, you can sit with us if you'd like," Ethan told her with a smile on his face. Rain nodded and went off to get food. There was a large buffet of food along the back wall. Fresh greens and hot hamburgers were strung out along the heated surface of the buffet table. Rain smiled to herself, her stomach growling. She grabbed a chicken wrap and some salad and set them on her plate. At the end of the buffet line was a soda machine. Rain wondered over to the machine and looked at the options. They all seemed like off-brand sodas. She settled with some Lemonade and found her way back to the twins' table.

Grayson and Ethan slid apart and made room for Rain to sit in-between them. "Sit here!" They said in unison.

Rain chuckled at them and sat down where they told her to. She looked up at them both with a small smile on her face. "Thank you, guys." She said, looking at the food on her plate.

Thoughts swirled in Rain's head. How the hell did she get here? Where was she? How did she have powers? Her parents were normal. Parents. She hated them. Rain never wanted to see them again.

"What's on your mind, sweetheart?" Grayson asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Um, everything?" Rain let out a dry laugh.

"Care to share?" Ethan asked. "Maybe Gray and I can answer some of your questions."

"Alright, well. Let's start with where the hell are we?"

"Well," Grayson started, "We don't know where we are location wise. But we do know that we are in an underground facility. Madame Grey's Experimental Facility for the Supernatural."

"Alright now let's go from there," Rain stopped Grayson mid-sentence. "Supernatural, is that what I am?"

"Yes, that's what all of us are. A supernatural is a being with abnormal abilities. Some people see them as descendants of heaven, but most people don't believe in them. Some, however, see them as a threat to society. Hence, the birth of this facility." Ethan explained.

Rain knitted her eyebrows together and nodded, "So what are you two? What're  your 'abnormal abilities'?"

Grayson and Ethan smiled. "We are fallen stars," Grayson announced. "Specifically, from the Castor star in the Gemini constellation."

Rain raised her eyebrows. "So, you're Fallen Gemini stars? As completely insane as that sounds it actually makes sense." Rain laughed lightly.

The twins chuckled along with her. "I guess it does sound like something from a story." Ethan agreed.

Suddenly, a tall, older man entered the cafeteria and got everyone's attention. He was bald and wore thick glasses on his eyes. He had on a simple sweater and khaki pants. His shoes were freshly polished and neatly tied. His voice was very coarse and rough when he spoke. "Would all the subjects please gather around, it is time for the bi-weekly group testing."

"Testing? What does he mean testing?" Rain asked frantically.

"Hey, relax sweetheart. You'll be okay. I'll stick with you the whole time." Grayson comforted her.

"Do you call everyone sweetheart?" Rain asked with a small smile.

"Everyone I like." He winked. "Oh, unless they are male, that'd be a little weird." He joked with a chuckle.

That made Rain smile. She slowly got up from her seat and followed Grayson and Ethan to the group of people slowly forming. Bald Man signaled with his hand for them to follow. The guards rose from their table and gathered around the group of subjects. Miles slid in next to Rain. He looked down at her and gave her a crooked smile. Rain returned the smile with a nod. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned to see Grayson maneuvering to stand between her and Miles. Rain looked up at the two boys with a head tilt. She could feel the tension between the two as they stared each other down. Rain looked forward and noticed that Bald Man was leading them out of the common room. Bald man navigated them down the blank maze of white walls. Left, Right, two lefts, another right, and we arrived. Bald Man opened the two sliding metal doors. Behind the doors was a large white room filled with rows of chairs. Half the chairs were on the right, half on the left. They were facing each other. The chairs were plain white reclining chairs, except then had arm and leg tie-downs. To the right of each chair was a small machine. The guards split and walked to the chairs. There was one guard for every two chairs. I tilted my head confused and looked at the bald man.

"Make your way to the chair with your name on it, and we will begin shortly." He announced to the room, leaving the room right after.

Rain turned her attention to the chairs. She started on the left side of the room, the order seemed to switch gender every chair. Andrea, Alex, Crystal, Ethan, Rain.

Rain took her seat slowly, relieved that she got a seat next to one of the twins. Rain looked at the guard who strapped her into the seat. He had on a pair of glasses. Extremely muscular well-built just like the other guards, except this one was strongly short for the average male. He had chestnut brown hair and deep blue eyes that popped against his tan skin. The guard had finished strapping my arms and legs down, he took some circular things off the machine and went to stick them on Rain's head.

"Whoa whoa whoa what are you doing?" Rain snapped, her head twisting to look at him.

"I'm putting sensor pads on your temples, so we can read what's going on inside your head." He replied, his voice was extremely deep. Rain nodded and turned her head forward. He placed the cold sensor pads on the sides of her head and rubbed them gently to get them to stick. The guard went around to the machine and pulled out a needle attached to the matching. Rain looked up at him.

"What are you doing now?"

"This will get the serum to your bloodstream." He explained.

"What the hell? No! you're not doing that." Rain demanded.

Ethan got Rain's attention by calling her name. "Just let him do it. It doesn't hurt much."

Rain nodded. She didn't take her eyes off Ethan's deep brown ones. A perfect smile formed on his perfect face and it made Rain smile a bit. She was so content on Ethan she didn't even notice the needle going into her arm. Rain looked down at it and sighed, looking up at the ceiling.

A voice came over an intercom type thing in the room. "The experiment will begin shortly. Once we give the clear, the serum will enter your bloodstream and you will go into a manipulated dream state. You will encounter many challenges along the way that test your mental capabilities. All powers will be in full working order in the dream state. Good luck, and see you on the other side." With that announcement, the voice clicked off.

Rain looked around the room at all the other subjects. Some of them were still fighting the guards. She looked around for Grayson. She found him on the very far end of the row opposite to her. He was staring up at the ceiling, waiting in suspense for everything to begin.

Once everyone was in the chairs and connected to their machines, the experiment began. The chairs slowly leaned back and the guards too the positions beside the machines. Rain watched the short tan boy press a button on the machine and stand back. Rain watched as the glowing, blue liquid slowly flowed through the tube and to her arm. The Serum left a stinging sensation on her arm where it entered and everywhere else it flowed. Her head started to hurt, she closed her eyes tightly and winced at the pain. She opened her eyes, suddenly feeling drowsy. Slowly, her eyelids became heavy and she slowly entered a painful sleep.