*Celosia "Robin" Douglas's POV:*

Seeing Beval flirt with the female guard shocked me to the core. Anger was about to arise in me until he mouthed us to trust him.

It was a plan. A pretty smart one if that, because he was the only one out of our friends that could use his looks to get him anything he wanted or even anyone. It could turn in our favor; get that female officer on our side.

If that was the case, he had to be quick. We didn't know how much time we had left. They could send us to execution any day, any time.

"You fucking idiot", I thought to myself as I pounded on the cell wall.

Had we not kill those officers, we probably just would've been jailed for life instead of sentenced to death. We didn't know they didn't have guns. We just assumed they did...and we assumed wrong. We couldn't even claim self defense. There was no excuse.

It was getting close to 4 in the morning. We have been here for a few hours.

I walked in circles around our cell, bored and anxiously ruminating on what the fuck just happened to us today.

I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Mrs. King burst into tears, not knowing what the future had in store for us.

"Why is this happening? We didn't do anything wrong!", she cried in between gasps for air. "For weeks, we were patiently waiting for you guys to come back home and they came out of nowhere and barged in."

"They were planning this all along, someone Shimizu trusted got information out of us and betrayed us", I said in a monotone voice, moving her beautiful, coarse hair from her face, behind her ear.

I was numb after that. Couldn't feel a thing. Not anxiety, not regret or anger. Part of me had no more fight.

Since we were young, that's what we had to do: fight to be treated equally in and out of school. We had to fight through the fact that we were seen as "the other", "the experimented", "those freaks".

We fought through the extermination that wiped out many of us. We fought to survive in Vulcan island, losing our dear friend Mohammed in the process. Even Kamryn during the revolt. Katie, to this day still refuses to even talk about her.

We fought to survive in the shelter during the pandemic that wiped so many people out, including many experi-babies who survived the mass extermination. We fought for resources in the shelter, and now we have to fight the urge to not breakdown from facing our own mortality soon ending.

I was internally conflicted. It's true that part of me had no more fight. Part of me was looking forward to being executed because that meant no longer feeling and being a second class citizen. No more hiding and surviving, It meant all of this finally coming to an end. It meant no more stress or tears. And yet, part of me wanted to keep fighting and living, for my parents, my friends, for Shimizu, the love of my life. We were so busy planning how to get rid of the world leader that we couldn't build back a proper friendship, but also a relationship because of Ashley. So...we admired each other from a distance.

If I could go back, I would change so much. But I wouldn't change kissing him. If I don't get out of this, I hope he and Ashley have a great life together.

"Who is this they that you are talking about?", Mrs. King asked, wiping her tears.

"This boy named Alex. He had us fooled, well, he had Beval fooled. He convinced Beval, whom convinced Gaia and then convinced us. I know it's not Beval's fault, but I know him. He blames himself."

I looked over towards his cell. He was fast asleep on the lower bunker, with Thomas on the top.

"He shouldn't. And looking at what he was doing with that lady, it seems like he has something under his sleeve. I wonder what. I knew you all since you were small children. I knew he wouldn't cheat on my daughter."

"Who knows what he has under his sleeve. It better be quick though", I shrugged, getting up from Mrs. King's bed to climb up mine.

"You headed to sleep?", she asked, looking at me as she stood. "I don't want to be alone with my own thoughts. I'm worried. I'm worried for my husband and our children, Gaia and Thomas. Will they really execute her? And you, Kimberly and Val? Oh god please no!"

She began wailing again, clasping her face into her hands as shoulders went up and down.

I jumped off the latter to the top bunker and hugged her tightly, rocking side to side.

I tried my best to put on my best "Robin face" and look strong. But on the inside I was ready to combust.

"It's going to be okay. We will be alright, just...just believe. Shimizu may come and save us."

"How do you know if he even knows what's going on?", she asked.

I sat in silence. I didn't know. I honestly doubted he did. Then again, we have been gone for awhile. He and Danny would've known something was wrong when they realize we aren't anywhere to be found. Danny probably would've had some sort of vision....right?

At least Hikari and Tyler were safe with them.

I opened my mouth to find the words. But couldn't. I hugged her tighter. The uncertainty of it all caused my eyes to water. I felt defeated in ways I never felt before. I felt the want to die consume me, and like I said before...I also wanted to keep going until the officers told us our time was up and take us to where-ever they take death-row criminals. I wanted to hang on to the little bit of hope I had left. The hope of getting out of this place and running into the arms of Shimizu.

Only one could fantasize, which is actually what I did that night.

I fantasized of a different reality, where me, Gaia, Kimberly, Beval and Shimizu could enjoy our early twenties with no weird looks, oppression, or ridicule:

Going to bars and having one of us (probably Kimberly) get so blackout drunk that we would have to carry them out. Getting so high to the point of having pink eyes and laughing at absolutely nothing. Having karaoke nights and Gaia blowing us away with her amazing voice.

The voice I haven't heard in so long.

She didn't sing like she used to. Back when we were at our home shelter, I would catch her quietly singing songs by the singer Erkyah Badu as she carried things to the Pharmacy room. Her voice was graceful, soft and perfect for Neo-Soul. When she caught me looking, she would stop and stare back. This was before we made up, so I continued on with whatever I was doing, trying not to look her way again.

I fantasized about having game nights over Beval's house and his parents bringing their amazing food to the room for us to share. We would watch comedy movies after, snuggling with his two cats and blankets.

I fantasized about having College study sessions over at Shimizu's house where he tutors us on depending on the subject. Science wasn't a strong subject for him but it was definitely Gaia's and yet she excelled more in the arts. I excelled more in athletics, but I was poor in the academics department. Beval was bad at athletics, great at mathematics but had a thrill towards poetry and cooking. His plan was to take over his parent's restaurant.

Our dreams and desires were crushed by greed, hatred and control from both politicians and even everyday people who believed what the media said within a drop of a hat.

I fantasized about Kimberly and Danny arguing over a game of Spades, with Isabella laughing in the distance as she fed her and Danny's child sweet potatoes.

I lastly fantasized about Katie being a yoga instructor at a local gym after she turns eighteen. I chuckled as I imagined her stretching her body in inhuman ways and us struggling to follow suit. Boy, I could go on.

These were just fantasies of a life that will never happen. A life I could only dream of. We had game nights, but we were bombarded with the news media in the background pushing an agenda of experi-babies being nothing but criminals and violent thugs. We had movie theatre nights, but because of our crazy eye colors and our powers, we were either sent out of the theater, or gave dirty looks through the whole movie. Our lives were semi-normal, but not quite normal.

I wanted normal. I yearned for normal. I didn't want perfect as perfect didn't exist. Yet, a normal life felt like a luxury for me that I could never obtain no matter how hard I worked. Maybe when I was a toddler I had it, but I don't remember what that was like.

My eyes slowly began to shut as I snuggled into my bed, or should I say...cot. That's exactly what it felt like.

Slowly, but surely I drifted to sleep, comforted by the sounds of Mrs. King's soft snoring from down below.

Clang! Crash!

"Huh?!", I shouted, awoken by the loud sound, looking towards whatever made that noise.

"You! Come with me!", an officer announced, opening the cell doors and wiggling his finger. The female guard (the one from last night) was with him, assisting him.

Me and Mrs. King carefully made our way out of the cell, holding each other's hand in comfort.

"Not you!", a female guard said to Mrs. King in a dismissive tone. "Only the redhead."

I looked at Mrs. King, giving her a reassuring look to ease her pain, but it could only do so much. She struggled to let go of my hand as I walked out of the cell, I saw Beval, Gaia and Kimberly standing near, all had fear and uncertainty in their eyes.

Both officers, were looking at me sternly. The male one had on a brown uniform instead of a black one. By his badge, I could tell he was the head officer. The World Leader must've made him charge of that place. The female officer held an Ak47 in her hand.

"Come with me", the head officer continued. I couldn't read his aura, energy or tone. It was mysterious. I didn't know what would happen after this. I had a feeling this was probably it: our last moments alive before they take us away. My knees grew weak as we began walking. I felt like I was going to piss myself and my skin grew paler by each step.

"No! No!", I heard Mrs. King cry before trying to run to Gaia, but was stopped by the female officer. "Gaia!"

"Get back in!", she demanded, pointing the gun at her. Mrs. King held her hands up, moving backwards into the cell. The female officer slammed the cell bars shut.

Thomas banged and yanked on the cell doors, screaming and begging for them to let us go and to give us another chance. Commotion arose by all of the prisoners who could physically see us from their cells, no matter what floor. Some cried, some begged to leave us alone. Some wondered where they were taking us.

I wondered if Mom and Dad were among the ones yelling for our lives.

"Can we at least say goodbye to our family?", I spoke up, trying to put on a stern voice. No response, not even acknowledgement. I couldn't even get a look from the head officer. The female officer behind us, pointing the gun, didn't bother to respond either. The only ones who looked at me were my friends who would suffer the same fate.

I held onto Kimberly and Gaia's hands even tighter. We walked down a hall, getting closer and closer towards a door. I tried to swallow my anxiety, but the knot in my throat caused me to almost choke on my own saliva. I could feel Kimberly's body trembling. Beval stood strong, but his chest rose and fell rapidly, he didn't even bother to control his breathing. Gaia was whimpering, but tried to hold her cries in.

All four of us stood close to each other as the head officer opened the door.

Our fear was replaced by confusion as they brought us into an office.