"It's a code green."

The alarms rang for a short spanse of time after the voice came off before leaving the room ringing with silence. Fourteen days. That's how long I've been cooped up in here alone with five double bunker beds and constant messages over the comms. It might sound nice but I assure you, it's not.

Rusted bed frames spotted with dark grey paint that once covered every inch, lumpy mattresses with rips along the sides on worn out springs, light grey painted walls flaking onto the pillows and sheets, shiny-sticky-black floors. It's all perfect for a prison or horror movie. Complete with a dark bathroom in the corner that hasn't had a bulb or deep clean in two years. Completely out of a horror. It definitely feels more so when I'm woken up from a deep sleep by the comms blaring, to look directly at the doorway. After so long, you don't really forget where you are.

"I repeat. Code. Green."

I shift uncomfortably. I knew by now what that code meant. I hated it as much as I hated code gold. Green meant I'd be getting bunk mates. Gold, that I'd be losing them again. They'd get to leave the room, dead or alive, and I'd still be stuck in here. I lifted my hands to eye level. Clean. Enough. I dropped my left hand and studied my right for a short bit. My middle finger missing half a nail, an almost healed scar across the back of my hand and bruises almost gone. Bruises everywhere.

"You know, you guys could just tell me to prepare! Instead of yelling it for everyone else!" I shouted uselessly. They'd never acknowledge me. It was a habit by now. This was what happened after my mum tried to keep me safe. Now, if every any...thing invades this place, I'm pretty much an easy target.

"Missiles ejected in three, two...–" Before he could finish, I was already in a defense stance behind the middle bunker's feet. At "one", they poured in. Four girls and five guys. "The sprouts are in the room." The guy over the intercom was barely done talking when the usual happened. The newbies started fighting in a frenzy. Like always, some pumped up idiot from outside gave each of them a weapon. Also like always, I've only got my hands up. A bed barely blocking me off from the blood bath.

Three minutes in. That's all I knew I had to wait for. Three minutes. Then it'd all be safe again. That's when I get struck down with the rest of them. That's when we would all wake up on bunks, weapons gone, everyone chained until they'd calmed down. I just had to wait it out. Three minutes. I breathed panicked as I took notice of one girl and two of the guys already out cold on the floor. Their blood almost reaching my spot. Too busy trying to survive to turn my way, the remainders continued. I looked at the three dots on the wall under the intercom. Two minutes down. Two dots green. Just one more dot to go.

Finally, it came. The burning sensation that started from my feet and spread up my body like a wild fire. I was still shaking when the others started dropping. As my head rocked and eyes started rolling back, I regretted having not move within the last few seconds before. Hitting the ground resulted in a small splatter before I felt the adhesive cling to my skin just as the room started to convulse, turning itself inside out.

Electrocution. That's what the guys in charge thought was acceptable to make everyone cooperate. If I had been born with or had developed any sort of illness over the years, I would probably be dead by now. Add to that the knowledge that you're knocking out with other people's blood painted onto your skin and soaking into your clothes and you know exactly the form of torture that I'm in.

Waking up, now that's more terrifying than the "sprouts" coming in. Somehow, we always have one twist. This time, we're not actually chained to beds like I would have liked. We're instead, all hanging upside down, chained by our ankles to the ceiling, all connected to another person. How much more creative could this get? Yet, I knew this method.

"Why does my head hurt?" One of the girls was awake and to judge by her complaining, not happy. As the others started to move one by one, they were drawn further upward while lowering the ones that were unconscious. I waited. Silent and still. As they all started squirming and rocking back and forth. If I could just figure out who was pulling my strings, I'd know who would help me get down. The chains, with movements, tug upward. The best part, if one person frees themselves, the entire clan is freed.

Barely able to move because of my spinning head and sleeping body parts, I praise my companion. A poofy haired boy who's trying his best to reach his ankles, ignoring physics in every way possible. They like him for sure. As he goes halfway up the room, I am on my back, waiting for motion to return to my hands. Just one twist at the ankle and ′pop′ all the chains drop.

As much as I'd like to say, I sat there and watched them all praise me, we didn't last that long. I've had years of training and yet, I still knocked right back out once my mind registered that I was okay, before finally waking up chained to my bunker. "Is anyone else awake?" One of the guys was calling. I stayed silent and he repeated this same statement again after counting to thirty seconds. I remained still and silent some more, waiting for the next wave.

Soon enough, they'd all awake, and the very room we were in would be infested in some way. Better to use the time to think it up a strategy. Plan ahead. As the bathroom door squeaked open, I realized that nothing could prepare me for what they had chosen this time. I began doing the thing I tried to do least. I was panicking and there was no way to escape the chains until they wanted to free us. We were all chained and it was coming towards us, out of the dark room, into the light.