Kellen woke up and raised his resting head from his arms.
'The cafeteria?'
He was sitting at the end of a large table by himself with a full food tray in front of him. The other experimental subjects, or "Romans" as they began calling themselves, were at the far end of the table opposite to him.
They were chatting and laughing as if not a care in the world for the situation they all found themselves in. Kellen just stared off blankly in their direction as he snorted to himself.
'They act like they're gonna be leaving this place by tomorrow... Why are all the Romans always so stupid?'
The other kids gave themselves that nickname since they all had a specific experiment number. Just like the roman numerals marked on their cells each kid had a corresponding number identifying them. The kids from his orphanage once shared the same stupid numbers at one point.
'I really miss them...' thought Kellen as he was reminded of his deceased friends from the orphanage.
It had already been four years since they were brought to the secret laboratory, but only Kellen had managed to survive the testing up to this point. Some would say that it was miraculous or lucky but Kellen thought otherwise.
'Why couldn't I have just died with them...' brooded Kellen as he stared at the tray full of food in front of him without any appetite.
Deciding it was useless to just linger around the cafeteria any longer and have to listen to the stupid Romans more, Kellen took his tray and got up from his side of the table.
He slowly walked over to place his tray back on the counter where they got their daily ration, but as he was turning around he felt something cold running down the back of his neck.
Suddenly laughter enveloped the cafeteria as Kellen turned around to see Seven acting like he had tripped with a milk carton in his hand.
Kellen of course knew that the kid had dumped the milk on him on purpose but just ignored him and the other kids like they were a bunch of pests.
'They just act this way because they're afraid.' thought Kellen as he gazed at the other children laughing at the table.
'We used to do stupid shit like this to each other back when they were all still here too.'
Kellen reminisced the time when him and the kids from the orphanage would play stupid pranks on each other to lighten everyone's mood. Sadly, they had all left him alone in this place while they were eventually replaced by more children.
He had overheard some of the researchers talking together in the hallways that he was an anomaly and possibly the success of their research they were searching so long for. They said that most children couldn't survive the testing and genetic drug for more than two to four years because their bodies would reject the mutation.
However, Kellen was an exception for some reason and the researchers treated him like their most prized possession since he was the only successful looking result they had found.
After discovering these things Kellen couldn't escape the guilt of living when all his friends had lost their lives, especially Thomas. This had placed a heavy burden on him that he continued to shoulder everyday but he refused to take his life since he knew that wasn't what his friends or Thomas would have wanted.
He knew that they would've wished for him to make it out of this hell alive just like how they had all dreamed about this together and even made plans for escape. But they couldn't figure out where this secret laboratory even was located or the way out through all the tightly secured and scan locked doors.
Even through all the Romans' laughter, Kellen could see the similarities between them and his old friends since they all still held a look of hope for escape.
'They should just except the reality and give up now before they get caught.' thought Kellen as he remembered the punishments some of his friends received for trying to escape.
Repeated escapees would not be punished, which made the kids believe that the researchers were just tired of having to deal with them, but after a few of them began disappearing from the laboratory they knew otherwise.
Kellen shook his head thinking about the punishments for trying to escape as he looked at the laughing Romans before walking off towards his cell. However, as he tried to walk past Seven, a foot was slyly placed in front of him which cause Kellen to trip and fall.
This resulted in more laughter from the Romans as they bent over in tears from laughing so hard.
"You should watch where you're going freak!" shouted the somewhat fat kid with a malicious grin plastered on his face.
Kellen just accepted the bullying without resistance thinking it was his penance for losing his friends and for not stopping Thomas before he got shot. He lied on the floor for a few seconds before using his hands and knees to slowly stand back up and readjust his jacket.
The white zero, boldly etched on the back of his black jacket, also made him stand out from the other children, since the first group of children had received black jackets with white numbers while the second generation of test subjects received white ones with black numbers.
Kellen was unsure why the researchers did this but had a hypothesis that it was to distinguish test generations or the gap in age.
Seeing the white zero on the freak's back was like a target for the other children. Most of them thought he knew something but wouldn't tell them because he received privileges from the researches, since he acted strange and never talked to them or answered any of their questions.
This line of thought was the beginning of many rumors that the children began to spread which created the situations Kellen now found himself in.
As he stood back up his face remained unchanged like nothing had even happened which only fueled Seven's desire for further instigation.
"Hey Zero! Where are you going? Wouldn't rather hang out with us? Oh that's right, your research buddies are probably waiting for you!" said Seven as he sneered at the departing figure of Zero.
"Oh come one! What's so special about you? Lemme guess, the researchers probably gave you access to their magazine stash right? Ha, you sly dog! Here why don't you share some of them with your best buddy?" instigated Seven as he walked over to the departing kid and put his arm around him.
"Huh? Still no answer? What? Are we not good enough for you?"
Seven smacked the back of Zero's head with the palm of his hand as he whispered in his ear.
"Is that how the previous Romans died? Huh! Selling them out to get more benefits?" said Seven as he paused.
Seven was one of the few kids that had arrived before the last of Kellen's friends disappeared and before he had decided to go mute.
"What a bunch of losers! They couldn't even escape after three years and even got caught twice!"
Kellen stopped in his tracks as his blood began to boil. He didn't care what happened to himself through all the experiments and bullying, but what he couldn't let go was the reputation of his friends being tarnished in front of him.
"I heard from the last one before he vanished that there was one stupid kid in the group that got gunned down before he even made it to the facility! What a dumbass!" whispered Seven, allowing only Zero to hear his words.
A fuse finally sparked inside of Kellen as he heard Thomas being humiliated by this fat worthless piece of shit. All the bullying and torture from the experiments he had previously bottled down erupted with his anger for his friends.
His eyes began turning sparkling in a reddish light as he bowed his head and began to laugh.
"Ha! You guys know nothing! You're just a bunch of stupid scared kids that can't do anything besides wet themselves in their beds after testing! The walls to the cells aren't sound proof dumbass! All your stupid crying and carrying on keeps me awake at night without being able to fall asleep. At least the last Romans didn't complain and cry about their situation but fought to escape from this hell!" yelled Kellen as he raised his head with his dark red eyes glowing hungrily while he stared at Seven an the other Romans in contempt.
"Look he finally spoke!"
"What a freak... Look at his eyes!"
"Crybaby? Who are you calling a crybaby!"
Different voices began shouting in the cafeteria as Seven only smirked back at Kellen finally biting his bait.
"What gives you the right to speak to us like that?" shouted Seven as he continued to fan the flames.
Other voices began to join his as the Romans all got up from their seats, pushing away their trays of food in anger, and walked over to Kellen. The horde of around fifteen of the Romans encircled Kellen, not allowing him to escape back to his cell.
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This is the second of the few chapters that I will mass release today. This section of the story has been difficult to write but I hope you can all enjoy it! The machinery that was unable to start working on my house because of all the ice finally was able to make it up here today. But sadly, that means I have a lot of loud background noise here at the moment. It's been making it difficult to write, but I will try to finish this memory arc within the mass release today. If there are any mistakes in the writing please leave a comment where they are and I'll go back and fix them then. The noise is really making it difficult to focus :( Anyways, much love guys and enjoy the reading!