The Clean Ones

CHAPTER 2

Chapter 2

Four minutes passed and Liam had yet to emerge from the chamber. Six minutes and still, nothing. I had begun to pace anxiously. I couldn't recall ever having a Cleanse that took this long, especially on a day where the guards worked as fast as they were now.
By now, almost everyone had left the plaza and was, presumably, continuing their day as expected. The markets had begun to open up, with the conflicting smells of warm apple pie and crisp garlic bread wafting through the air of the plaza.
I looked around for sight of anyone else that had yet to be Cleansed. The only ones left were the primary school children, hesitantly lined up in front of the two smaller chambers. Every child- there must have been about twenty two- had a lab worker flanked at their sides.
The children ranged in age from about a year old to twelve years old. Even with their young age, each and every one remained ridiculously poised. That was one of the benefits to being created into a society like ours. With the children created and born in the labs, the opportunity for the lab workers to alter any specific details in us that they wanted to was endless. For the most part, our genetic makeup was completely randomized- except for our mental capacity. From the day we were "born", our minds functioned as well as that of the average thirty year old. We were far intellectually beyond anyone our age that resided outside our community. Even so, we were Cleansed from as early as a month old. Why they didn't just genetically engineer our thoughts in utero- I'm not sure. I guess they haven't come that far in technological advancements yet.
Bounding through the lines of children came a mess of fiery, red curls running right towards me. I had to suppress a groan that fought its way into my throat. The young girl's curls were so thick and tight that, if I had not know any better, I would've thought it was an odd, redheaded poodle leaping towards me.

"Hello! What are you doing here still?" The girl asked.

"What do you want, Lilliana?" This time I couldn't suppress the groan. Just the mere sight of this girl made me want to throw her into one of the chambers and lock her in there for a month.

Her face fell into a small frown. "No need to be such a downer, Perri."

"Listen, Lilliana. I'm really not in the mood right now, so if you'll just-"

"Where's Liam?" She chirped. Her disgustingly love-sick eyes scanned the area, but he was absolutely no where to be found.

"Still in there, it seems." I mused. I tried to peer around the side of the chamber, but the metal walls obstructed all view from the outside.

"It's been quite a while. Are you sure he's still in there?"

"Unless he somehow disappeared without me noticing then yeah, I'm sure he's in there."

Whatever she was about to say was cut off. She let out a gasp and, clamping her hand down over her mouth as she stared blankly in the direction of the chamber. Whatever she was looking at, I got the feeling that I did not want to see. Still, my eyes forced themselves to stare at the sight in front of me.

Liam's body lay slumped at the base of the chair. His black hair was completely matted with blood, so much that it was no longer as tousled as it one had been, but rather it was slick and grimy and clung to his face. His arms were polka-dotted with little, bursting patches of red, where the flesh had been torn from his body and was currently laying scattered amongst the floor. One of his legs was straight up in the air and bent awkwardly in several places, creating a zig zag pattern within itself.

"Lilliana," I started. My voice had rose to an unprecedentedly high octave.

"Perri, please, calm down, you wouldn't want to causes a scene." She squeaked, keeping her gaze straight ahead. I knew she was feeling the same rush of anxiety I was- somewhere deep down.