Shdh

hsue

It's 6 am, the morning's sunlight radiates the old corridors scratched by sharpened objects out of desperation given the marks.

The hallway is crowded, the sound of footsteps merging with one another, trailing away and resonating across the main room of gathering.

Another miserable day in the life of kids, brought at an early age, enslaved and kept for a use.

"0081"
Here

"Number 0054"
Am here

"0076"
Here

"0128"
Here

"Where's she?" Asks astro in frustration.

"I don't know she was supposes to be here"..- answers back adeno.

"What do we do n-"

"0001"

"YES!!- euh yes"

"Calm down" whispers Adeno in silence.

"I was frightened" he reassures in a sigh.

"0005"

"Oh no"

"0005?"
"Is number 0005 here?"..-

The whispering stopped, the kids hold their breath and gulp in fear, the same look on their face, every time a kid is announced dead in the morning, day after day, seeing him alive a day before and working to his death, but beeing powerless and watching him end up in the same tragic end was the worse feeling they have ever felt.

"Number 0005 is a-"
"Am here!! Am sorry am late"
A voice breaks off the tension building up in the dead silent room.

"That stupid girl" enlightens up astro after her entrance.

A black haired girl heads towards the rest of the kids holding a child on her back.
She struggles to walk in a stright line trying to face the guard.

"0034 is here too " she continues.

She stops and short after collapses on the floor catching her breath.

"CORONAA!!" screams the kids heading towards her

"Are you okay??" Asks astro in a worry.
Adeno takes the child from her back while the late one tries to help her up.

"Are you out of your mind??!"..- screams adeno desperately at her, if she was a second more late she wouldn't have gotten to eat for two stright days, not that the food is nearly enough in the first place.

"Nob.." she lets out between heavy breaths "is nob okay?"

"Corona..."responds the child with tears.

"Am fine guys don't worry"..-

"How can you be so reckless?! Do you even-"..-
As he stops short in mid words, everyone knew and felt what he was feeling, they shared the exact same feeling.
They were cowards who could do nothing but save themselves, so saving one another should be something more common to see.

"Enough of your touching reunion, is number 0045 there"..-

Here.

"0072"
Here

And as it resumed, both astro and adeno were speechless, staring coldly at the girl's eyes as she returned a smile back.

...