Chapter 3 - Gotcha!

Open – my purple, blue eyes with silver rims adjusted quickly to the dim lighting as I blinked up, slowly. The still air hit me like a sledgehammer – I gingerly rubbed away the goose bumps from my bare arms. Rising from the tough mattress, I ran my fingers through my raven hair, freeing it from the numerous tangles caused by the perils of nightfall. I sighed, licking my chapped lips as I tied my long hair up into a ponytail with some red thread I found a while ago. It had always been long but over the summer it had gotten unbearable; I hated my hair on my face.

Walking over to the grey wall opposite my bed, I drew another line with one of my many broken fingernails. Picking the dirt from underneath them, I huffed out a groan. 𝒰𝑔𝒽 𝑔𝓇𝑜𝓈𝓈. 𝒪𝒽 𝓌𝑒𝓁𝓁, 𝐼'𝓁𝓁 𝓈𝑜𝓇𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓎.

The barren walls that surrounded me seemed to inch a little closer every tally. No windows. No vents. I could escape from one of those. Or so they think. To be honest, I don't think I would even if I could. Where would I go? Who would I call? Would you let me in if I came knocking on your door in the middle of the night? Or would you turn off the light and pretend no one's home? Would you help me? Didn't think so. You're human. That's why I stay. Contained. Controlled. Detained. Musky, dark and hard; home sweet home.

A buzzer.

I turned to my metal barred door as the hatch opened.

"Subject Xero. Rise and shine! Get your ass up and out to the cafeteria." An officer bellowed through it. The bars seemed to bend out of the way of the cold, callous voice but I smirked at it defiantly. I could recognise it anywhere. It brought a bout of warmth onto my cool skin as I reveled in the sound.

Sauntering up to the hatch, bare foot, I peeked through it, catching a glimpse of curly Afro hair and dark chocolate skin. My smirk widened. 𝒜𝓃𝒹𝓎 Standing rigid on the other side, he discreetly slipped me something. 𝒫𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓂𝑜𝒾? Catching it in mid-air, I frowned at the unfamiliar wrapper. It was crunchy and cold – slippery almost – and stuck to itself in weird angles. It almost looked like a bow. My frown deepened the longer I stared. 𝐼 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝒾𝓉'𝓈 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓀𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝓈𝓉𝒾𝒸. I stared harder.

𝐻𝓊𝓂𝒶𝓃𝓈 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓈𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝒶 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒 𝒾𝓂𝒶𝑔𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃...

Not having the patience to open it nicely, I tore the odd plastic wrapper clean off with a single slice. My eyes widened. It was glorious. It was beautiful. Pure magic. A chocolate chip cookie. My face lit up like New York after dark as I shifted my gaze between him and my newfound precious. These are the closest thing I could use to describe heaven in a place like this. Especially when they're warm. I hummed in approval. I would never get something this divine in here if it weren't for Andreas. They must be a delicacy on the outside. Excitement bubbled up inside me. I almost squealed. Stifling a smile, he resumed his bellowing.

"You know the drill, Xero." He continued, staring straight ahead instead of looking at me. We both knew why.

"Indeed I do." I replied, quickly rushing over to hide the cookie inside the slit I had cut in my mattress. It was filled to the brim with all sorts of treats he had gotten me – something new every day for years. My sweetheart. I had tasted all candy known to man apart from anything that had marshmallows in it. That one was a hit and miss. The sickly sweet, pillow-like feel of the thing just got on my nerves and stuck between my teeth but hey, it's the thought that counts right? 𝐼𝓈𝓃'𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝓈𝒶𝓎 𝓃𝑜𝓌𝒶𝒹𝒶𝓎𝓈? Can't be sure, I've never been there. The present. I've never seen the modern world. I don't think you could even say I live in it. This doesn't count.

Returning just in time for the second buzzer, I stood in the wake of my opening door. Smirking cheekily at Andreas, I flicked my long ponytail over my right shoulder as I inspected the state he was in. His hair was sticking up in all sorts of directions, just the way I left it – tousled and tugged into tufts and bunches on his head. It looked like he had tried to tame the unruly curls but fortunately his efforts had been in vain. 𝐼 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝒹 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝒹. His lips, slightly swollen and raw, were red from the bruising, but his crystal blue eyes darkened with hunger for more. His crumpled uniform strained against his clearly athletic physique, one that could keep up with mine, as his sinewy muscles flexed in response to my stare. 𝒲𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒶 𝓈𝓃𝒶𝒸𝓀.

Brushing his hand gently across my neck, he smirked, caressing my hair. I let my head fall back as my eyes slipped shut, basking in the feel of his soft fingers clipping on my metal collar. The thick, heavy band helped slow my abilities enough for containment, something I'd hate if it wasn't for Andy. He made it kinky.

A new scent wrapped in guard uniform hit my nose. Slowly, I let my eyes wander to the source as a low hum escaped my lips. Stiff, fearful and wary. A standard guard. 𝐻𝑒 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹 𝓂𝓎 𝒻𝒾𝓁𝑒. A successful genetically modified baby enhanced beyond natural laws. A freak of science. A real life Frankenstein. His blond hair and hazel eyes told me all I needed to know. He was new. Fresh. 𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓈 𝑔𝑜𝓃𝓃𝒶 𝒷𝑒 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔.

Inhaling deeply, I sifted through his biological make up, finding nothing out of the ordinary. He was your typical teenage boy, aside from a side of ADHD. I rolled my eyes. They liked to tease me with what was considered normal here. Show me what I want but can't have. It was like dangling a carrot in front of a rabbit on a treadmill. 𝐼 𝒶𝒾𝓃'𝓉 𝓃𝑜 𝒻𝓊𝒸𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓇𝒶𝒷𝒷𝒾𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽.

"Welcome to the mad house, fresh meat. Now that you're here, you're gonna meet a lot of crazies so let me give you a piece of advice." I smirked, licking my fangs that started to push against my slightly parted lips. He gulped, slowly backing himself into the door. Fear permeated the air like Sauvage cologne as I grabbed a hold of his cheeks and squeezed. He was much taller than me, towering over my 5'1 frame at a whopping 6'5, so I strained to reach his face, but it didn't matter. He tensed instantly, freezing like a deer in headlights as he felt the immediate threat before him.

"Stay away from the Detained. We bite." Feeling my teeth fully elongate into filed down fangs, I smiled at the beads of sweat threatening to drip down the newbie's neck. With limbs like gelatine, he gulped with a soft, inscrutable nod.

"Easy, Xero. Remember what happened last time?" Andreas grumbled as he slowly wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me away from the new boy. I pouted playfully. 𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒽𝒶𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 13𝓉𝒽 𝓅𝒾𝑒𝒸𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝓈𝒽 𝓂𝑒𝒶𝓉 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓉𝒽. 𝐼 𝓌𝑜𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒽𝓎. My fangs sashayed back into hiding. 𝒯𝑒𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝑒.

"Fine." I agreed, the taste of mischief still lingering on my lips. Turning back to the boy, I winked with a genuine smile. 𝒢𝑜𝓉𝒸𝒽𝒶. My playful nature seemed to both excite and terrify him in equal parts, as he continued to stare at me as if I'd grown three heads.

"Oh my, I was just joking. Come on, newbie! Relax man. You're way too skinny to be worth my time." I chuckled, ruffling his hair until he loosened up.

He almost laughed as he shoved me off and punched my shoulder, finally resigning to a shy smile as his cheeks tinged a cute rosy pink.

I'm not all that bad, you know. I have a human sense of humour as well as genuine empathy. I'm not dysfunctional or socially impaired. Andy made sure of that. So sorry to disappoint you but this isn't another American horror story. Not yet.

"Shall we start heading then?" I asked, flashing my perfect white teeth at the pair of them. Perfect. Such a wicked word. The hunt for perfection breeds chaos. I mean, look at me. A genetically modified thing, built to this coveted perfection. Mention my name and it creates havoc. Have you seen the discussions about it on the news? Unethical. Moral disputes. Blah blah blah.

𝐼𝒻 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝓀𝓃𝑒𝓌.

Andy smirked at me, looking me up and down before passing his gaze over to the newbie. Nameless boy nodded with a relaxed shrug as he looked into my eyes. I smiled.

My influence was working. Being genetically modified has its perks, but the imitation of humanity I had made me a cunning wolf in sheep's clothing. A predator that would invoke the darkest of fear. The one that makes you humans do things I could never imagine, things like wars, things like torture, things born of depravity and cruelty. You do these things to each other, can you imagine what you'd do to me? No. My survival was dependent on my ability to remain undetected. Nothing more than a shadow.

"Lead the way, X." Andreas gestured and I raised an eyebrow at him in response. He stared back at me with a provocation only he was capable of, daring me to say otherwise. He knew better than anyone that I absolutely hated being told what to do, even though that pretty much summed up my entire life so far. But I made an exception for him. One he took for granted time and time again. Not taking the bait, I gritted my teeth. 𝐹𝒾𝓃𝑒. Rolling my eyes, I sauntered in front of the boys guarding my flanks, down the many halls of the empty place I called home.

The Institute.

This place was crawling with nosy scientists, snobby test subjects and curious cats waiting to be killed. I had memorised every hallway and laboratory number: rows of hundreds of containers of glass, halls of mirrors, laughing reflections. Scientists, taunting and teasing with flutes of champagne like they were Kings and Queens, boasting about their discoveries. Flashes of light, sparks of fury, shrieks of joy. Together, they echoed through the halls like it was a festival. A carnival displaying the best tricks in town with a line-up that promised the greatest of shows.

Reaching my destination, I sighed in distaste, the realisation of the events about to unfold finally catching up with me. Fingers found mine with a reassuring squeeze as I looked at Andy with a sad smile. Quickly burying what little raw emotion had slipped to the surface, I gently brushed his messy hair out of his eyes. Nameless boy glanced curiously at our exchange. I could see the wheels turning in his mind but he didn't utter a word. 𝒯𝓎𝓅𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓁.

"Come get me in twenty." I declared with a sultry smile. "Don't be late."

"I never am." He winked. 𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈𝓃'𝓉.

I smiled, disappearing into the cafeteria.