Human Untouched: Requiem of the State (Sequel to Human Untouched)

8.

Well, it was certainly brighter up here than I'd thought.

I tried not to grimace at the bright light drilling into my eyes. I could feel the presence of my teammates by my side. I could smell them. They'd both been drinking and eating something spicy.

My right upper wing rose, making the audience gasp audibly as I ducked behind it for a few moments to let my eyes adjust the brightness. I blinked furiously behind the weak shade a couple of times, only lowering my wing once I felt I wouldn't start tearing up.

"You okay?" Rush was on my right.

I gave a small nod as I met his eyes before facing the audience again. I couldn't see them. All I saw were black blobs and three replacement suns at the top of my vision. Faces started to come into focus as the host started speaking again after a long silence filled with awe.

"Unfortunately, Dr. Blue couldn't be here tonight due to prior commitments, but he has agreed to honour us with his presence and knowledge via a video conference."

The cold dread that had started crawling up my spine upon hearing his name halted itself. I sighed in relief, my body visibly sagging as Dr. Blue's voice filled the room.

"Good evening, everyone!" Even his voice gave me chills. I could smell his stench, stale milk. "My heartiest apologies for not joining you for Gratitude Night but unfortunately, I had some other tasks to see to. I'm pretty sure my grand creation has been revealed by now. Terra Carai, 19, a lifelong resident of Section D with a clear record. She came to me as an underweight, skinny little kid, angry about the loss of her brother. That was the moment I saw fire in her. The drive to live, to be better than anyone."

I frowned in confusion. What kind of lies was he spouting? I didn't care about anyone else. All he'd seen in me was another test subject.

"Things went wrong in the beginning, Terra fell into a coma for two months."

Yeah, right. You'd kept in a coma for two months and continued testing on me.

"But she came out of it as if nothing had ever happened. She went on with the remainder of her tests without a complaint."

Excuse me? I had some goddamn complaints. You injected me with triple the amount of whatever, had me stunned, didn't listen to me when I said something was wrong... not necessarily in that order.

"... to turn into what she is today. A valuable asset for the State, now and for years to come. She has amassed an impressive amount of kills for the short amount of time she's spent working. And all this was possible, only through the generosity of you, all of you beautiful people standing here. Your donations today, go towards helping our future, to maintaining today's status quo..."

The blood rushing in my ears drowned out the rest of what he was saying. My hands clenched into fists by my side as my wings rose up in anger. 'Maintaining today's status quo'? This fucked up society we were living in where people were divided on who could afford what? This can't happen. This shouldn't happen. It isn't normal. Everyone should be on equal footin-

"THANK YOU, DOCTOR BLUE! A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR HIM!" My train of thought was cut off as the host resumed his duties. I quickly fixed my face as I realised I'd started scowling. "The show-and-tell part of the evening has ended. The new recruits will soon be joining you on the floor so all the curiosity I'm sure is bubbling inside all of you can be sated. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your evening!"