Storm-Boi

Chapter 5 - Truck

Chapter 5

Truck

“Right you, in!”

I am shoved into a cage sitting on the conveyor belt. It’s a travel cage, about a metre cubed and basic with thick alloy bars with gaps of about ten centimetres between them. They are made to be like crates for ease of stacking. Well, at least that’s what I overheard one of the lab techs telling another a couple of minutes ago.

Out of the corner of my eye I can see Crow and Doc going through a similar experience. Behind them are Finn and Mondi, both of whom are chattering loudly while the techies handling them look on in distaste. I try to lock eyes with them telling them to be quiet because I can see a guard behind them walking up with a shock stick. Finn catches my eye and nudges Mondi before allowing himself to be placed in his crate.

I breathe a sigh of relief, I couldn’t bare it if those two were in pain, or any of the gang. At least Finn is smart enough to be able to read my facial expressions.

We have literally just walked out from breakfast (potato peelings.Again!), and were instantly met with a line of guards who frog-marched us to the conveyor belt and forced us into the tiny cages. I feel sorry for the rest of my family, who are currently in varying stages of being shoved in cages.

Yes, it’s the day of the special “showcasing”, and we are being taken downstairs where a truck presumably waits for us. I sit, hunched in the corner of my tiny cage, my nerves building. This is all I’ve been able to think about for the last couple of days and I am seriously starting to freak out. I start biting my nails furiously, a disgusting habit, I know, but  to most people I’m already a mistake. 

I seriously stopped caring about what other people thought about me ages ago. Actually, I don’t think I ever cared.

This will most likely be our only chance of escape until we leave the labs. I can’t afford to stuff up. Most of the others still have no idea what I’ve been planning. The only people I’ve mentioned it to are X, Crow and Holly. The only reason I told Holly was because I wanted to give her some warning incase I needed her to rip apart some stuff for us.

I still don’t know when I’m going to try. Probably the first chance I get. I don’t know if I’ll have a chance.

“Ow! That thing bit me!” The techie near Finn yells and all the other, silent workers turn to stare at him. There is an unspoken rule here that you do not speak unless spoken to if you aren’t one of the big important people. Of course, I absolutely refuse to abide by this rule, and most people have gotten used to it by now.

Finn is grinning, he is sitting in his cage and must have just bitten the techie’s hand because he could. Finn tends to do things like that. He is only nine. And forget what I said about him being smart before, he should know that you can’t provoke the guards under any circumstancesI couldn’t have him doing things like that.

The guard who was unlucky enough to be bitten by Finn retaliates with a sharp kick to the ribs just before he closes the crate door. When Finn groans in pain his crate is almost thrown onto the conveyor belt, a lot more roughly than necessary. My heart aches with pain for him, why did they have to abuse the younger ones, why couldn’t they go for the ones who were over ten. Or even better, just me, seeing as I’m the one who causes the most fuss around here.

Once all the fuss goes down, every mutant in the room is in a cage. Meaning, every one of the gang. We are all sitting on the motionless conveyor, waiting for it to move. The techies are all attaching clipboards and notes to the sides and tops of our cages, probably so whoever’s downstairs knows where we’re supposed to be going. They double and triple check the various locks and security measures that have been put in place to keep us ‘safe.' We all know it’s to keep us from escaping, though.