Everyone stood in terror as the old man lowered the gun, slipped it into the back of his pants, and finally looked up from his clipboard just the look back down at each of the children's clipboards. Each one was grabbed from off the wall and handed to the man by the assistance.standing in front. Morgan's assistant had even started to let tears of sorrow roll down her check. They assumed that her and the recently dead young lady were probably close acquaintances. Fear and sorrow filled ever single person in the room (besides the old man) as the old scientist kicked aside the dead woman on the floor and grabbed the clipboard for number eight right out of her cold dead fingers. He began examining it. Wet with bold and a bullet hole going right through it. The young woman must have tried to use it as a shield. How miserable it was it have no protection and nobody to save you.
The man put the board under his arm and called in his scratchy voice, "Alex! Go print a new copy of~," he paused to glance back at the clipboard, "number eight! And bring me a new board while your at it," and he threw the old one back on the dead body, making the puddle of blood splash. The young teenagers had just noticed the young boy, no older then any of them, walk as stiff as a soldier out the door to return only moments later with a new clipboard and papers in his arms. "Good, you've been so obedient," the old man said with a sinker and a quick glance at number twelve. Echo, sitting strait across from the mysterious boy placed as twelve, was the only one to see the anger and hatred towards his man.
"Him and that guy must have a grudge or something, but this is crazy. It must be pretty bad for twelve to be this angry," echo wondered as she tried to peer deeper into the boy's soulful eyes.
The old man had Alex fetch a cart full plates and fine silverware. He had finished checking everyone's clipboard. Then walked to the head of the table with the cart and Alex by his side. He began, "We wouldnt want our guests to go hungry, now would we. Please serve them Alex." The boy obeyed and began placing plates of eggs and sausages, along with a fine silver fork and knife. Alice, Sara, Terrence, and Noah began chomping down on their food. All of it was gone in a few short seconds.
The old scientist began speaking again, saying, "well, I see some of us are enjoying ourselve," he gave a small chuckle, "and now that I know all of you, you might as well let you get to know me. My name is Doctor Shats but you might as well call me just plain old Shats.' There was a very wicked grin that made every one very uncomfortable. "Now why don't you all eat up your breakfast and maybe even chat a bit with each other, maybe even get to know each other's stories. Your assistants will be here to watch over you. Just don't go thinking your time spent here will be a walk in the park you filthy animals." He then silently exited the room with Alex pushing the empty cart behind him.
A minute or so later two men came rushing in. They dragged away the young girl's body and another came with a mop for the blood. After all the necessary clean up was finished, a new young girl came stiffly walking in and took the stop were a now dead woman once stood.
all the children sat in fear and dred. Each knew a rough estimate of the torture that they would most likely be put through. After an excruciating long time of silence, fade was the first to speak up. "Why don't we tell each other our stories. If we are all going to be put through shady midst of doom, we might as well know the people who are being dragged down right along side of us."
"he's got a point you know," Susan added in," Why don't we start with one and go up to twelve."
"okay then. I guess that means I'm starting, " Echo began, "Well then, I'll start off by introducing myself. I'm Echo Winters. I'm seventeen and been labeled one and the raven. I had been living on my own since age nine with my brother, Fade." She gestured the boy to her right. "Our parents died and we lived in the slums in order to stay alive. We were drugged, kidnapped, and taken here by force." She stopped talking and looked to her brother to begin his story.
"well as she said, I'm her brother, Fade Winters. We are twins which makes me seventeen as well. I'm number two, the dove. And I'm in the same sinking ship as this one." He pointed to echo while wearing a soft smile over a terrified soul. "That's about it for my story. Your turn." He looked at Sara.
"well i am Sara roberts, I'm sixteen and apparently the horse. I might as well speak for all three of us, " she looked down the table at Morgan and Alice. " we all have the same story. We had all been orphans and we met at our quaint little orphanage. But one day, while talking in our room, we had been sent down to the main office were a man came to adopts all three of us. After signing some paperwork, he put us in the car just to gas us asleep a few blocks over. Now we're here and as miserable as ever. They can introduce the rest for themselves."
Then Morgan spoke up," I'm Morgan Warrick, 13, and the boar."
Alice followed, "The name is Alice Reed, I'm 12, and the ram apparently."
Rin went next, her simple and smooth voice began to speak, "So, I'm Rin Williams, I'm currently 18, and I'm the fox. Along with being number six. But my story stars with my parent. They both split up. My mom was a addict and my dad was a somewhat wealthy man. He work as a firefighter and he really worked himself At that." Rin was becoming choked up by the words she spoke. "One day, my dad had an overnight shift so I went to spend the night with my mom. When I got there I had gone up to my room while my mother was high down stairs. I became curious of my mom downstairs because the television was on. I could hear it from upstairs and began to wonder because my mom hates the sound of the television. I was surprised that she hadn't thrown it away yet.
as I came down the the living room avoiding to hit my head on the fallen rafters. I entered the room to find my mom unconscious on the couch and the news station on full volume. I went to check to see if my mom was okay but~" she paused for a slight moment as a tear rolled down her check. "But her pulse was gone. Drug poison.~ my dad, he was on the news. The house belonging to the Judson family had started to burn down." Danny flinched slightly at the mention of the Judsons, but no one bothered to knotice, "My father died trying to save the family but died trying." Rin was now full on crying but through her slurred words she said, "then some one from behind hit me over the head with one of my moms bottles and I woke up here." She was finished and just started to sniff away the tears and waited for the next person to go. Her assistant in the meantime walked up to her and handed her some tissues.
The next to speak was Terrence, who sat on the other side of the table, strait across from Rin. "Well, I'm Terrence, Terrence Leary. I'm fifteen and the snake. I had been left on the streets by my mother, so I from there on was raised in a cult. Yep, what a shocker." His statement was extremely sarcastic. "I was usually just the errand boy though. They had me go get some supplies from the near by convenient store. On my way in I caught a glimpse from the employee working the register. He did not looked pleased with me and I knew he was troubled. I had grabbed what I needed and as I stood at the counter the man asked me if I could help him with something in the back."
Terrence began to stiffen up and his fists were tightly clenched. "I was so stupid. I was so freaking stupid!" He started mumbling to himself as he became more enraged. The next moment, he turned to see Allen's hand resting on his shoulder. Terrence's body became calmed all the sudden and he just sat relaxed, looking into Allen's soft green eyes. Allen had a charming, yet cute little smile on his face. He gave a simple nod to Terrence and the boy began again. "I made the mistake I following him into the back and right as we were out of sight, he drugged me and now I'm here." After he had finished, he turned to Allen were he already had his comforting smile waiting for him.
Allen knew he was playing himself. His face held a smile while his heart was aching. He knew he wouldn't be able to tell his story. He was too terrified and he was next. His fear got the best of him and as if with no control, his voice took over and out came his sweet silky voice beginning a nightmare, "I'm Allen. You can call me Al. I'm 14 and the mutt. And I guess I start my story. My father died a few months ago but my mom was still going strong. We had left the house to go on our afternoon walk. We found ourselves walking through a small area of tall grass stalks. Up ahead, a saw a stray down hiding in between the stalks. I asked my mother if I could go help him and, she said yes." He had already started crying but continued strong. "I went ahead and held the shaking dog. It was a cute and tiny pug, but my admiration for the dog was cut short by a scream. I turned to see a man in a white hazmat suit standing over my unconscious mother." The stream of tear flowed faster but he still didn't want to give in. "My mother layer on the ground, pools of blood seeping from under her skin. The man above her then pointed towards me. I not sure he intentionally missed me or not, but the next thing I heard was the whimper of a dog. The pug had been shot in my hands and feel lifelessly from my hands blood stained my shirt as I started crying." His legs were now up on the chair as if he were becoming a ball and his lipped started to curl slightly into a puppy dog lip. " the man then pulled out a different gun a shot me with it after I had to the ground crying. I assume it was a tranquilizer dart since I woke up here. Unless this is the afterlife. But then mom would be here." He finally gave out. In the little ball he had created with his legs, he began to sob. Terrence didn't know what to do so he just put his hand on Allen's shoulder. Al grabbed Terrence's hand and held it in place were it was on his shoulder. He didn't want to let go of his comfort.
Allen looked up at Susan to his right and spoke, "Go ahead." He gave a quick look and he sat in silence.
Susan nodded and began, "I'm Susan Smith. I'm nineteen years old and the cat." She then turned to face the boy to her right and said, "This is my cousin, Noah Smith. He is 21 and the lion. He us also mute." She then turned forward again as Noah gave a brief smile. "Are parents both died on cruse they were invited to when we were really young. So, we had been living with our grandmother since. It was just us three in one house. But, one day, Noah and I had been hanging out in my room while my grandmother was making dinner. We heard a loud crash from downstairs and we came rushing out. As we came down the stairs, we found our grandmother lifeless on the floor. We then were drugged from behind and found our way here. And that's about it for me. Go ahead."
Danny took the que. "I'm Danny Judson." Rin flinched. "I'm 20, and the wolf. I had lived with just mom, da, and me. My sisters, the two of them, both had died at a very young age in a car crash. We lived a pretty stereotypical life. But, one day had been on my way home when I walked up to find it on fire. I was then tranquilized from behind and was slowly dragged away as the fire department came driving in. That's were the story takes me." He then looked to the next boy to start.
he scoffed and then spoke up. "The name is Shean Cordaroy. 22. And I don't have to tell you anything. My story is mine for a reason." Everyone gave a bit of a glare towards him and left him be, even if they all wanted to know why he was dying inside. Because he clearly was.