The Disguised

Matched

Dr. Erwin stared at the numbers and the letter on my forearm. "Must be a mistake. Nothing to worry about."

"It's not that I'm worried," I told him. "It's just why did you put this thing on me?"

We were back in his office after the Numbering, as they called it.

"Because," he shrugged. "You're one of us now. Also it's called your rank."

"Us?" I inquired.

He nodded, impatiently. "Yes, you're are one of the Black Rose Project's subjects now. And if you're gonna ask, 'Subjects? What do you mean?', you'll find out sooner or later.

"That's not very reassuring." I said, with my arms crossed.

He chuckled like it was a joke. "Anyways, someone's going to be escorting you to the cafeteria."

"Who?" I asked.

"A girl. Subject H—012. She's in your section." He said.

"Does anyone have any names around here?" I looked at his name tag. Well, except for you.

He got up from his chair. "Yes, they do. I just call them by their Rank."

Names are easier to remember than a rank, I thought.

There was a knock at the office door. "Right on time." Dr. Erwin said, as he walked towards the door and opened it.

I stood also and looked at the girl standing in the door way. Subject H—012 was the short, brown haired girl from the Numbering.

"Subject H—012, this is Subject H—001." Dr. Erwin said, gesturing at her and then me. "You two should get going or you'll starve 'till tomorrow morning."

The girl's face turned to awe as she heard Dr. Erwin say, 'Subject H—001.' But she quickly smiled instead. We headed off towards the cafeteria, the first few moments silent.

Then she broke the silence. "I don't know why Dr. Erwin calls us Subjects. So, because I don't like being called subject and I think you don't either, my name's Lauren. What about you?"

We entered the elevator and Lauren pushed the 1st floor button. The doors closed and I said, "My name is Noah."

"Noah," she said it with her forefinger on her chin. "I like that name. Where did you come from?"

"Cafirn. It's below Naidre." I said, looking at the numbers on the elevator's screen. The number 1 shining brightly.

"Wow, that's a bit far." She said.

The elevator's doors opened and we stepped out, turning right towards the cafeteria. You could hear people talking and laughing from all the way over here.

"Would you like to sit with us? It's a small table but we have room for one more. Plus, you could get to know the others. The people who sit with me. I'm pretty sure they would like to see you, especially one. Since your Rank and all."

"What do you mean?" I looked down at my arm, where my Rank was very clearly visible.

"Your Rank," she pointed at my arm. "You made a Match. It's quite odd, to be honest. No one has gotten 1 since Dace. Dace is the guy who has got the number 1 first."

"Oh, umm sure. I'll sit with y'all." I said.

Lauren led me to her table and I saw the guy who I had seen earlier. He smiled to me, recognition on his face. My heart fluttered.

When we sat down, Lauren gestured and introduced me to everyone. By everyone, I mean only 3 other people.

"That's Jay," she said pointing to a guy with ruffled blonde hair. "He's a flirt."