Insight

Chapter Twenty-Six: Mods

After we found out that we were part of a test run and had been lied to all our lives, we buried the newspaper behind the QSA cabin and placed a stone over where we had dug up so we knew where it was and would know if it had been tampered with. The uneasiness I felt after learning what we had slowly diminished until I was numb. Sam and Lilith and the other kid who I had not known had died in this sick experiment the government was conducting and we were consistently being lied to. The day after, while we were all locked in the Dining Hall so that cabin checks could be conducted, there was another protest outside of the Camp. I felt like getting up to join the protest but knew that would end up with me being dragged away to consequences unknown. I thought maybe the consequence was just that they killed you as it didn't seem that they cared that some kids died due to the serums or the sickness that the serums caused.

I tried my best to act as if everything was normal, as if everything was alright, but I constantly found myself flinching away from the Nurses and dreading my next check-up because now I knew that I was part of an experiment. As a whole, the group spoke less often than usual and I was sure that the others were also preoccupied trying to decipher their own emotions in response to the newspaper.

"Maybe it was some kind of sick joke." Raven said suddenly a couple mornings after. We all knew what xe was talking about. Nobody responded. We all knew it was wishful thinking.

"We should escape." I said to no one in particular.

"But how? This place is surrounded by woods and you saw first-hand the ivy wall. I'm sure that continues around the perimeter; you can even see it around behind the trailers where the classes are held. The only way we could get out is over that gate which is impossible."

"It's not impossible." I muttered.

"What?"

"Never mind. I guess you're right. Maybe we stick it out until Camp is over and escape then." I said.

"Oh gods, I didn't even think of that. We're kept in the experiment our whole life." Aiden seemed spooked.

"What do you mean?" Izzy asked.

"After this they place us somewhere else and we're given the jobs we want to keep us complacent and I'm sure they'll continue to monitor us throughout our life. Some of the Nurses here were part of earlier trials, like Io. And obviously he's still under surveillance." Aiden explained.

"Oh gods." Lucy said softly. We were all quiet for awhile.

"Might as well make the best of what we have here. We have to go about like normal. We have to seem like we're compliant. So I say we all go get tattoos. That seems to be what everyone else is doing. And it must look weird that I haven't gotten any more body mods since the piercer and tattoo artist have arrived." Moxy said. "And I don't see how my putting more holes in my face is going to help them in their experiment."

I perked up a little. I had been wanting an eyebrow piercing more and more. "Okay. And after that, Moxy, you should shave my head." We had picked up an electric razor from the Camp Store a couple days after I had passed out, but hadn't gotten around to actually using it.

"I don't see how you guys can still be excited about these types of things." Raven said.

"There's nothing we can do about it right now, Raven."

"Well, I'm not getting a tattoo." Raven stated.

"Oh. Okay. Is anybody gonna get a tattoo?" Moxy asked the group. Iggy, Brandon, Roxanne, and Izzy said they would. "Syany, what about you?"

"I will eventually but I really want to have time to decide what I want to put on my body. Also, aren't we only allowed wrist tattoos right now?"

"Oh, are we?" Izzy asked.