Experiment: Failed

October 15, 2045

I woke on a gurney. I scrunched my face, trying to wake up. I hated sedatives. By the time we reached the door marked "Sleep Room," I'd come around. I guessed they wanted me awake, but too sleepy to resist. They'd done the same to the Gs.

Peters waved her ID in front of the sensor and the light over the handle flashed green. She opened the door and shoved the gurney into the room, hands protected by long rubber gloves. Peters knew better than to touch me. Many times, I'd jerked away from her screaming in terror, convinced the flames that lived in her nightmares were burning me to death. Others, I'd asked her who the people burning in the house were, always pretending I didn't understand what it meant. The first time I manipulated fear, Peters had a panic attack. I'd accidentally forced memories of her childhood home burning to the ground to fill her mind. She'd forced me to the ground for no reason and wanted to shoot me; the fear manipulation happened by mistake. I've always been glad she never connected the incident to me.

I shuddered at the sight of the table in the center of the room. Bumblebee had died on it. The other Experiment children were already there. Dr. Field stood beside the table. Peters shoved me off the stretcher with the dangerous end of her stun gun. I stumbled, almost falling to the ground before climbing onto the table. I clenched my fists and grit my teeth, trying to hide my shaking. It didn't work, but it gave me something else to think about.

The fear in the room flooded my senses, so thick and heavy I wondered if the others felt it. Most of the tension came from the same corner of the room. I glanced to the back, where 9Fd4 and Five stood together. Five had one hand on 9Fd4's shoulder. 9Fd4 had tear tracks down his face, and he shifted from foot to foot. Five offered an attempt at a smile, but his body shook. My blood ran cold with the vivid images in his mind. Images of my dead body.

"Does anyone wish to say anything to 8Dd2?" Doctor Field asked, filling a syringe with liquid.

Silence.

"Then in that case-"

"Wait," Five said, stepping forward, "I-- I want to say something."

I frowned. Five? Maybe his declaration shouldn't have surprised me after yesterday, but still.

"Well, say it then!" Field rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry, D." Five took another step forward. "I shouldn't have treated you the way I did. Thank you for coming back for us. I should've known you would. Bumblebee loved you. I do, too."

Peters strode to Five, rage etched on her face. The Experiments parted before her, all but 9Fd4 "Mention of Experiment 10Bd5 is forbidden, Experiment." She slapped Five across the face. He didn't move, though he surely saw it coming.

Tears filled my eyes. "I love you too, Five. And you, 9Fd4." My closest friends. My brothers. At least I got to show them I loved them before I died. Or rather, by dying.

"Enough." Doctor Field used a stick to force me to lie on my back.

Around me, the fears of my fellow Experiments grew. I could do something about that, though my mind almost refused to cooperate, too hazy with terror and drugs. I didn't want to die. The Experiments didn't want me to die, either. They were afraid it would hurt. That they would see my face in their nightmares. That they would be next. So I forced my breaths to slow. I reached out to each mind and crushed their fear, until I knew each child stood tall, defiance gleaming in their eyes. I forced out the torrent of terrified thoughts into Peters and Field. I opened my eyes. Field stood over the table with the syringe, eyes wide, sweating way too much for the cold room. Peters paced near the door, fidgeting with her stun gun with one hand and spinning her knife with the other.