The next morning, the knock at the door wakes me with a start. I had been dreaming of the time in my cage, the tests and monitors they forced on us. I shake my dream away and get up. I find my mission uniform, a baseball hat, a pair of working boots, sunglasses, a huge hoodie that practically swallows me and some joggers.
I run out to the cafeteria, already 2 minutes late. I see Josephine's disapproving look as she continues going over the basics.
There's five of us today, we like to keep it small to minimize potential casualties. One driver, two people to meet the kids at the door, one nurse and the inside person, who isn't with us, but I still count them - after all without them we couldn't rescue anyone. We go through the most hidden tunnel we have and arrive at an alleyway; we quickly get out and speed walk to the van. I keep my head down as I've been taught and jump in the back of the van. I go over my team and the plan, twiddling my thumbs nervously. The driver is a kid called Alec who's eighteen, the two collectors, a girl called Molly who's nineteen and a guy, Mike who's twenty, and me the nurse. We don't know who's the inside person until we see them. I realise I'm the youngest again, I normally am. Most people don't get to go this young but apparently, I'm actually decent at it. Not too toot my own horn or anything…
I stare out the tinted window, the buildings look sleek and modern, everyone drives expensive cars and wears designer clothes. I close my eyes and pretend I'm one of them.
We arrive about an hour later at the back of an alley way, we're mostly covered by trees, but we'll have to be quick.
Suddenly, I hear the familiar sounds of gunshots, we all duck as they fire holes in the windows. Unfortunately, Molly didn't duck quick enough. She yelps as blood starts to spread on her belly. I don't panic, I can't panic. I will not panic. Without speaking I grab a bandage from the first aid kit and make a tourniquet. I make her lie down and I strap her onto a stretcher. I slide her ungracefully under the bench.
"Oh Shit!" yells Mike,
"Shut up!" I yell, no time for niceties.
I grab his arm and pull him out the van. The shots keep coming but I see no gunners, so I run to the wall.
"What the hell!" Mike yells clearly not used to my abrasiveness.
"Look, we don't have time to sit and worry. We have to get the kids out, understand?!" I yell over the noise; he goes pale but nods. The doors to the massive hospital fly open, about thirty kids fly out, Mike guides them into the van while I wait for any sick or injured. The last two limp out, barely able to walk. I scoop the girl over my left shoulder and the boy on my right, I turn quickly to thank the woman who helped us, but the doors had already shut. I race to the van and Mike slams them when I leap in.
The van pulls away as the shots continue to fire.
"It's ok! Just keep down and don't move!" I yell, covering their too skinny bodies with mine to protect them as much as possible. An hour or so later the shots are long gone, and I sit up.
"Ok, it's ok. Everyone who's not injured or sick, head over to that man there, his name's Mike. He'll help you settle in." I say and point to Mike, the kids uncertainly follow my gaze and sit next to him, looking petrified. I look at the girl's leg first, I can tell it's dislocated.
"Hey, it's ok. My name's Mercury." I say and gently place a small knee brace over it and give her pain medication. She'll have to have it operated on later.
She sniffles,
"I like your hair." I say smiling, trying to make her less scared. She smiles back. I take off my hat and shake my long hair out.
"Your hair is pink!" she says, eyes wide. I smirk and nod.
"You can have pink hair too, when we get back." I say, she seems much happier and I lift her onto the seat. Next, the boy. He only has a cut, so I put a bandage over it and he's fine, but he'll need as much nutrition as he can get when we arrive. I sit with Molly; we have to drive around for hours since we were spotted.
"How are you doing? I can stitch it up, the bullet just skimmed it, we have morphine so it won't hurt, or we can wait, but it'll be much harder to sew if we wait." I explain to a very pale Molly. She nods and sniffles. I clean her arm and put in a cannula; she winces.
"Sorry." I say and connect it to the morphine. I quickly sew her up and she falls asleep instantly.
I sit on the ground, there's no more seats.
"Ok, everyone. I know your all scared but it's going to be fine, I promise. I was in the exact same boat when I was your age too. Now, we're going to our new home, underground!" I say chirpily. The other kids seem to relax and get excited at the prospect of being underground. I find if they hear I'm happy and not scared, they'll be less frightened. It also doesn't hurt my nerves at times like this.
"Now, for those of you who don't know, I'm Mercury, this is Mike, that's Alec and this is Molly, don't worry she's ok. Just tired." I say as bubbly as I can. The kids stare, wide eyed. They're all dressed in horrible hospital scrubs. No hospital gown should ever be that small.
"And guess what? You get to choose a new name!" I say, trying to distract them. I know they'll have nightmares and constant panic, but if I can make the journey a little easier, I will. The kids perk up and talk excitedly to each other.
I grab a pen and paper from my rucksack, the kids hush down and sit fidgeting as they wait.
"What's your name?" I ask the first kid. They all choose different names, some keep the same ones like "Charlie," others choose really random ones like, "Rocky." The little girl with the dislocated knee goes last;
"Venus!" she squeaks. My heart melts, Venus is the closet planet to Mercury.
An hour later, everyone but Alec and I, are fast asleep. I climb over to the front seat. I sigh, exhausted.
"You did good." Says Alec plainly,
"Thanks. I feel bad for them." I say, weirdly emotional.
"Yeah, me too. Were you in the cages?" he asks. Most people weren't, but everyone my age and younger most likely were. They didn't do the cages the year before me. It was the first year they had done it, so everyone above four was tested in their homes, most killed then and there, some escaped or the testers faked results, or the testers were allies.
"Yeah." I say, thinking back to the tests. The scientists seemed to have a special interest in me. Maybe it was because I was so mouthy. I always answered back and shouted at them if they went near any of the cages. I especially remember making the head scientist so mad he went purple.
Once we arrive back, I open the back of the van.
"Ok, can everyone get into pairs?" I say to the sleepy children. They do as I pull Mike forwards;
"Can you get some medics? But wait until most of the kids are gone." I mutter and he disappears looking dazed.
I get down the ladder first, only to the first floor, then I get each child to leap from the ground and I catch them. Alec goes to the very bottom floor to receive them. Once twenty nine of the kids are gone, and waiting at the bottom, I go back up for Venus.
"I'm gonna have to carry you." I say, she sighs sleepily, and I carry her down the ladders. Once I reach the bottom, I tell the medics to get Molly.
I guide them to the hospital ward; any newbie stays there for the first night.
I reluctantly go back to my own room and wait until morning. Josephine stops me in the hallway as I'm racing to the hospital ward.
"Hey, I know your eager to go, but you did really well yesterday. Molly's stiches were perfect, she's going to be fine, thanks to you. Venus was asking for you, she had her operation last night." She says. I run over to the ward without another ward. I see thirty pairs of eyes dart to me. Suddenly, I have an idea.
"Hey! How's everyone today? I got a really fun game!" I say, they all perk up.
I push the hospital beds back and we all sit on the floor in a circle, Venus in a wheelchair.
"You guys get to have rooms, but you get to share with someone." I say, as excitedly as I can. The four year olds always share until they turn 8, when most get their own rooms.
The kids giggle eagerly. I take out my paper and pen again, it's always been my job to decide where they stay. Another responsibility Josephine let me have.
"Ok, so because your all big kids now, you can help decide on how to do this." I say, the kids smile proudly.
"We can either pull names out of a hat, or you can get into pairs." I say. Silence echoes through the room, the kids look around to each other.
"Ok, hands up if you want to pull names out of a hat." I say, everyone's hands shoot up. I raise my hand too and pretend to fall over. The kids laugh. I write everyone's names down and put them in my baseball hat, I shake it and they each pick a name. I remember someone else doing this for us, I got put with a boy, his name was Dezzie. We used to be best friends, until we grew apart as we got older. I hadn't spoken to him in ages, maybe it was the little voice in my head saying, "It's all your fault."
I lead the kids to their new rooms, each looking delighted. I set down new clothes for them and leave.
The next morning, I wake up groggily. I run my hand over my bed side table and sit up. I stretch in the middle of the rooms gloomy walls and brush my pink hair down as flat as I can.
Then I remember what day it is. Once we turn 16, we're allowed to get tattoos! I jump to my feet, suddenly awake and change into an open flannel shirt, with a white, slightly ripped t-shirt, and loose patched up jeans. I couldn't get mine on my birthday because of school, then I had the newbies so today was the first available day I could book.
I run down the halls where I bump straight into Noah.
"Hey!" we both shout, rubbing our heads. We laugh and carry on running. We get to the tattoo parlour, a small janitor type cupboard with a slightly broken bed and a bored looking tattoo artist.
"Hey," she says, her purple hair gleaming, despite the grime.
"Hey, can we get tattoos please?" I say, slightly nervous. She nods shortly and tells Noah to sit.
"What do you want?" she huffs, getting a pen and paper ready.
"Can I get, the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars on my wrist please." He says giddily, he's having half the planets, I'm having the other four. She doesn't speak and starts tattooing the wrist the flag isn't on. Noah winces.
"Big baby." I joke and he sticks his tongue out.
"So, are you guys like a couple?" she says sourly, I laugh.
"No way," Noah and I say at the same time. Once his was finished, four planets neatly in a row, I plonk myself on the bed.
"Which planets?" she asks,
"Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune please." She finishes the tattoo and I sit up.
"Hey, I've got to go, school. I'll meet you at lunch?" he says, realising the time. I nod.
"Hey, you seem kinda chill, wanna get another one?" she says unexpectedly. I nod, not even sure on what to get.
"Want a surprise?" she says as if reading my mind. I nod, probably a stupid mistake but oh well. An hour or so later, she stops.