Two weeks. 

That's how long he'd been there, wondering how all the tests they were running on him and the others changed anything. 

It was only after ten days of observing the red-headed girl whom Thraider had first seen on the newsreel that announced the government's need for "special" people that he actually mustered the courage to go up and talk to her. 

Something about her was...different than the rest of them. As if she emanated an air of assuredness. 

Thraider found himself at her table, waiting for her to notice him. 

Her friends all looked in his direction, causing her eyes to travel that way as well. A spark of recognition seemed to light up in her expression, as though she remembered him from the other week he saw her in person at the vaccination clinic. "Hi!" she said. "What's up?" 

Thraider hesitated. "I saw you on T.V.," he said, hating how creepy the words sounded. "What's your name again?" 

"Laina," she answered with a smile. "Laina Cozbi." She held out her hand for him to shake. "And you are…?" 

"Thraider Verita." 

A faint look of confusion passed across Laina's face. "That's quite an interesting name you've got there." 

Thraider shifted uncomfortably, rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. Well…" 

"You can sit if you want," Laina said, seeing as he wasn't about to finish his sentence. 

Thraider swallowed. "No, I just…" he stumbled over his words. It wasn't that he was attracted to Laina or anything, just that he was confused about her seeming different from the rest of the people in the room. A light of confidence in the midst of inevitable confusion. 

Impossibly, Laina looked at him with an even stranger expression. "Are you alright?" 

"I think so," Thraider replied. Then, finding his voice again, he asked: "What do you think about all of this?" 

Laina's eyebrows traveled a little way up her forehead. "I trust that we're all doing the right thing, allowing these people to run tests on us," she answered. "That we can hold back a war. Save countless lives." 

So that was why she seemed so sure of herself. She had it all figured out. 

But then she added, perhaps a bit uncomfortably, "Why do you ask?" 

Thraider shrugged, and suddenly, he wanted to be as far from her as humanly possible. What on earth was he doing? "Sorry, I just...you seem different. I wanted to know why." 

Then Thraider noticed all the others at Laina's table staring at him, and a wave of discomfort washed over him. He then turned and darted away, heading back toward his old schoolmate Alvin Anwar. 

"What was that about?" the boy asked him. "Do you know her from somewhere?" 

"Not...exactly," Thraider answered quietly, willing himself not to look back toward the girl's table. He just knew everyone over there was staring at him. But suddenly, he realized he'd begun to forget the girl's name; it was already fading from his memory. It had started with an l, but… 

"Thraider?" 

He snapped out of his thoughts, focused on his friend. "Sorry, what?" 

"Dude, are you alright?" Alvin asked, a look of concern etched in his features. "You're brain's like all over the place or something." 

"Sorry," Thraider repeated, hoping he didn't sound foolish. "I saw her at the vaccination facility the other day. That's all." 

Alvin looked at him strangely. "That's all?" he asked. "Then why'd you go over there?" 

"I don't...really know." 

"Just thought she was cute and decided to strike up a friendly conversation?"  

Thraider shook his head. "No, it's just--" 

"Hey," someone called from behind them. "You gonna stand there all day?" 

Only now did Thraider realize it was their turn to order food from the machine in the wall. "Oh, sorry," he said, quickly turning to tap a few buttons on the screen. 

A moment later, a tray emerged from a slot on the wall, the contents of his meal lying atop it. Thraider picked it up and waited for Alvin to do the same, then the two boys walked over to an empty table. 

"So, why did you go over there?" Alvin repeated as they sat down. 

Thraider was hesitant to answer. "Well...she seemed confident somehow," he said. "I found it strange since none of the rest of us know what's going on." 

Alvin lowered his eyebrows. "Confident?" 

Thraider nodded, hoping the kid didn't think he was dumb or anything. 

"Huh, well, okay." 

The boys ate in silence for a while, then came a voice over an invisible speaker system announcing: "Five minutes until lights out." 

This brought Thraider back to the matter at hand; the tests. An uncomfortable feeling crept up on him, boxing him in. "What do you suppose they'll be doing with us tomorrow?" he asked his schoolmate. 

Alvin only shrugged. "Guess we'll find out." 

They'd been through DNA tests, brain wave tests, saliva tests, seemingly a universe of tests. Yet they had been promised more were coming. 

"I guess." But Thraider hated having no clue what to expect. 

And, when the kids were filed into cubical bedstalls by employees that seemingly appeared from nowhere, it took him a long time to fall asleep. 

What was going on? What was his family doing at home? Were they missing him? Were they wondering the same things he was? 

The following morning, earlier than Thraider would have preferred, an alarm buzzed, startling him awake. 

He sat up quickly, nearly whacking his head on the short ceiling above him. 

Sounds of the others shifting in the beds made him remember where he was, and suddenly a slight twinge of dread pierced him. 

Thraider slipped out from his bed, and a moment later, an employee came to usher the kids out of the barracks and into the laboratory itself. 

As always, there were different groups of young adults chosen to attend different stations of scary-looking equipment, and, unfortunately, Alvin was placed in a separate group from Thraider. 

This only made him all the more uneasy. 

The employee leading Thraider's group stopped at a machine that made Thraider feel a bit queasy. It was a chair of sorts, with a head shackle attached. 

Immediately, Thraider wanted to run, but he was one of the first kids in line, and when he tried to move back, another kid pushed him to stay in front. After that, Thraider didn't try to move. 

What was all this for? He wondered. What sort of tests were these people running with this machine? 

The first girl stepped up and sat in the chair, where the employee strapped the head shackle onto her head. When the employee then went over to a computer, the girl's eyes shut as if she were dreaming. 

A flicker of worry flashed through Thraider. He didn't want that thing on his head. 

A moment later, the employee seemed satisfied with something on the computer, presumably results of some kind, and he released the girl from the restraints. 

Next was a boy with dark hair--the same thing went on with him. 

Soon, it was Thraider's turn. Hesitantly, he stepped up on the small platform and sat, allowing the man to adjust the head shackle to fit his head. 

He watched the man walk over to the computer, and a second later, without Thraider's consent, his eyes shut, and the lids felt oddly heavy. He tried to open them, but they wouldn't budge. 

A spike of panic surged through Thraider, but then it was over. He felt the man taking off the head shackle, and his eyes snapped open, the weight lifted. Quickly, he stepped away from the strange machine, hoping he wouldn't have to wear anything else on his head like that ever again. 

And so, the day passed quite slowly as the kids were moved from one machine to the next, being monitored on different levels again and again. 

Finally, lunchtime came around like a glorious rest from the trials Thraider had gone through all morning, and he found himself longing for school. For his family. 

Something about all this didn't seem right. Who needed the kids to take this many tests? And it was all to stop a potential war? 

He wanted to ask about this, though he remembered Seth Dericka, the corporation's president, advising him not to. 

Why couldn't he? And...where was the man? He was supposed to be here five days ago. 

Thraider had been ruminating on these concepts for a while already, and he figured others must be thinking the same, or at least something similar. 

"How do you feel about all this?" he asked Alvin quietly, near the end of their lunch break, leaning forward in his seat. 

The boy shrugged. "It's all a little weird," he said. "Honestly, I don't know." 

Thraider frowned. "It seems useless, almost," he muttered. "Why would these people waste this much time with so many tests? Wouldn't only a few suffice?" 

Alvin stopped chewing. "I don't know, but I've been wondering that, too." 

Thraider was relieved. So he wasn't the only one with questions dancing around in his head. 

Throughout the next few days, the questions continued coming to Thraider, and still, there was no sign on Seth Dericka. 

Every now and then, he caught glimpses of the red-headed girl, whose name had now slipped his mind entirely, willingly participating in experiments, and wondered why she seemed so sure about all of this. Perhaps she'd done research previous to coming here and trusted these people because of that. 

But Thraider was beginning to have doubts. 

It seemed like an abuse of some kind, lining young adults up to be test subjects for days on end, and presumably longer, and he was quickly growing tired of it all. 

He wanted to go home. 

"Keep going," encouraged the employees. "You're doing the world a good deed." 

But were they really? What was going on behind this? 

Finally, one morning, Thraider decided to test the authorities by staying in his bed. Alvin urged him not to do it, but he didn't listen. 

They found him later, dragged him off to the tests again, but it had taken them a while to realize he was missing. Which made him wonder…

He observed certain things that made him question the truth of the authorities' words. Things like the employees talking in a corner, one saying something like: "What if they find out?" 

And the other waving their hand through the air, brushing them off. "They won't. Trust me. None of them are paying that close attention." 

Another time, Thraider left lunch early, just to look around, and found a door propped open. He crept sneakily up to it and peered through. Inside was an employee in a lab coat, standing at a table on which a rabbit sat. He held a syringe filled with a clear liquid that resembled what Thraider had been injected with a few weeks earlier. 

Once the man in the coat plunged the serum into the rabbit, the little animal curled up and trembled for a few moments before going still. 

The uncomfortable thought that it had died crossed Thraider's mind, but he quickly pushed the idea away, and when he stepped back from the door, something soft brushed against his arm. 

Startled, he whipped around to find the girl standing behind him, trying to look through as well. "What are you doing?" she whispered sharply, grabbing him and pulling him away from the door. "You shouldn't be sneaking around!" 

Agitated, Thraider wrenched from her grasp. "Oh, yeah? Then how about you go ahead and tell me why you seem to believe so strongly that all of this is good? That man might've just killed that rabbit in there." 

A flash of confusion showed on the girl's face. But then it was gone, replaced with that familiar look of confidence. "No, I bet he didn't. They assured us that no harm would come--" 

Thraider suddenly took her arm and led her over into an empty hallway, afraid the people in the room would overhear them. 

"I've watched these people for weeks now," he interrupted sharply. "They're doing suspicious things. I even overheard a conversation the other day." He briefly relayed what he'd heard, but the girl didn't seem at all concerned. In fact, she brushed it off. "They must have been talking about the Russians," she said. "Not us." 

"Well, what makes you so sure of that?" asked Thraider. 

"From what I've read," the girl answered evenly, "there's tons of evidence of this being all for the good of society. And, frankly, I trust that." 

Thraider stared at the red-headed girl a moment, wondering about her words and how much research she'd actually done. But also, he was trying to recall her name. All he could remember was that it started with an l. 

"What's your name again?" he finally asked. 

"You forgot already?" the girl countered, not sounding as frustrated as she did bewildered. "It's Laina." 

Laina, Thraider said in his mind. 

It was a pretty name, he thought. Why did he have a hard time keeping it in his mind? "Sorry," he said. "I'm kind of bad with names." Though that wasn't necessarily true. It was just hers in particular that seemed to slip easily from his mind. 

"It's fine," Laina said. "But...why do you think these people are bad? All they're doing is trying to help us." 

"And you're sure of that because of some books you've read?" Thraider asked skeptically. 

"And you're sure their intentions are evil because of a snippet of conversation you overheard?" Laina retorted condescendingly. "Sorry, but that seems a bit silly to me." 

Thraider pursed his lips, trying to come up with an acceptable response. She did have a point, he supposed. 

Finally, Laina said, "Just because you heard that and saw something happen to a rabbit doesn't mean these people are doing bad things behind the scenes. It could have just been an anesthetic." 

After a long moment, Thraider sighed. "Maybe you're right." 

"You shouldn't jump to conclusions," Laina said, voice calming. 

"And neither should you," Thraider returned, but he was calm now, too. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude or anything; I'm just confused, is all." 

"It's okay," Laina said, not sounding offended in the slightest. "I'm just curious as to why you thought something weird was going on." 

Thraider wasn't sure he had dropped the theory yet, though after hearing Laina's opinion, he'd taken a step down from the level of intensity at which he had been viewing the angle. "Because these people require me to get some mysterious vaccine, then come to my door a few days later and take me from my family, essentially without warning, and bring me to this testing facility, all while explaining none of it." 

Laina shook her head gently. "You have to pay attention," she said. "If you had, then maybe you'd see things from my point of view. They explained everything on the news over the last week." 

"Well, what about the people that don't view the news every day?" Thraider asked. "Those people are just left in the dark?" 

Laina shrugged. "Most people watch the news consistently, nowadays. It's considered odd if you don't." 

"Sure," Thraider agreed. "But some people don't, still, and I find it strange that the authorities wouldn't consider that." 

"They probably did," Laina said. "But just figured this way was easiest. Even if someone missed a day of news, there are always the recordings to look back on. They even informed us to catch up on those if we missed them." 

Thraider considered this, remembered what had happened. "Okay, but when I went back to watch a recording the other day, it wouldn't play." 

"Did you check any other recordings?" asked Laina. 

"Well, no. I had homework to attend to." 

"Then there you go, Mr. Conclusion Jumper," Laina said, half-joking. "It was probably just a small glitch." 

Thraider thought for a moment. "Maybe." 

"Hey," someone said from nearby, startling Thraider yet again. To his relief, it was only Alvin. "What are you two doing out here? Lunch isn't over yet." 

Thraider was about to answer, but Laina beat him to it. "I found Thraider sneaking around," she said. "I saw him leave the cafeteria early and wondered what he was up to, so I followed him. He seemed to think the authorities were against us, plotting evil things." 

Alvin looked at Thraider. "This is true?" 

Thraider shrugged. "Partially. I mean...I overheard something they said that sounded a little sketchy, but they were probably just talking about something else." 

  "Oh," Alvin said. 

Laina touched Thraider's shoulder as if signaling to him to stop the conversation now. "Well, we best be getting back to the cafeteria," she said, beginning to walk away. "I'll see you two later." 

And, with that, she left the boys alone, her red ponytail the last thing to disappear around the turn at the end of the hallway. 

Thraider still wondered about the girl. It was like she knew something he didn't. But was that just because of the way she acted? 

"Come on, Thraider," Alvin said. 

Thraider went with the other boy without saying a word. Really, he didn't feel like talking any longer. 

He took Laina's words into account, though he still wasn't sure he trusted these people. Something fishy seemed to be going on, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it. 

~~~~~~~

He sat in a private office, getting blood samples tested for whatever reason. His concerns were slowly being settled a bit since the employees weren't exactly making the kids move from test to test throughout the day any longer and instead allowed them a bit of free time. 

A doctor came in, took a pinch of Thraider's blood, and tested it in some kind of fancy machine. 

"All good," he said once he was finished. "You're free to go." 

Thraider hopped up from the table on which he was sitting. "Thank you," he said, even though he wasn't sure what he thought of these people yet. 

After the blood test was a brief break, in which Thraider sought out Laina. He found her in a relatively-vacant sitting room, reading a book. 

He walked up to her. "They're handing out books, now?" 

Laina peered up at Thraider, locking her ice blue eyes on his. "If you consider this hunk of information a book." 

"Let me see that," Thraider said. The two of them had gotten to know each other a little better over the last week, talking about their differing opinions, each trying to convince the other that they were right. 

 They weren't exactly friends, per se, but they were something close to it, now. 

Laina handed Thraider the book, and he skimmed the back cover. It was a book on the preparations the doctors and scientists invented to prevent the war. 

"Oh!" he exclaimed excitedly. Then he flipped open to a page that held a picture of some kind of serum. There was an explanation of its substance at the top left corner of the page. He looked up at Laina. "How'd you get this?" 

She quickly took the book back from him as if she expected him to run off with it. "I had a chat with one of the employees," she said as if this should obviously open up the possibility of getting information from them. 

Thraider raised his eyebrows. "You must be pretty convincing." 

Laina shook her head. "They're handing them out to people." 

Thraider blinked. "Why now? After being here so long already?" 

"Isn't it obvious?" Laina asked. "Everyone's getting restless." Then she closed the book and cast it aside as though it were nothing more than a piece of garbage. "Honestly, it's useless to me." 

"How do you know that? Have you read through the entire thing?" 

Laina nodded, then shrugged. "It's only a hundred pages." 

Thraider stared at her a moment. "You read a lot?" 

"You could say that." 

Laina looked at the book for a minute, then at Thraider. "Well, I guess you can borrow it. Since it's of little importance to me." 

Thraider furrowed his brow. "It thought you said the employees were handing them out freely." 

"Not freely," Laina explained. "They're letting us have a few to look at, but they want our main focus to be on the tests, without worrying too much about all this." She nodded to the book. 

"Oh." 

Laina swallowed. "So, have you decided what you think of them yet?" 

Thraider shrugged. "Not exactly." 

There was a short silence in which Laina just looked at him, presumably weighing how much it would take to sway him. "You'll see it's all for good soon enough." 

"Maybe." 

Throughout the next few days, Thraider read through the book Laina lent him. As he anticipated, its main focus was on the good behind the doctors' and scientists' actions and how their vaccines and other inventions would help build up society and prevent war with the Russians. But, in the end, Thraider still wasn't sure he was entirely on board with this. 

He kept thinking he saw odd things, like when he walked past a door with a small window, a man inside quickly shut the blinds, or a kid he didn't know being taken alone down a hallway. 

But, as Laina insisted, perhaps it all really was for a good purpose? 

Thraider kept thinking and thinking, often missing out on sleep because his mind wouldn't stop going. 

The next few days consisted of Thraider talking to Alvin and getting him on board with his viewpoint. It was becoming excruciating having no one on the same page as he was. 

After a while, Alvin agreed, and he and Thraider talked whenever they noticed something out of place. 

Once Thraider told him of the blond boy he'd seen the employees take down the hall, Alvin seemed to really understand Thraider's point of view. Thraider tried talking to Laina about this, but she only brushed it off, saying it was probably another blood test for the kid because maybe he wasn't as healthy as the rest of them for whatever reason. 

Then that same kid came back a few days later, and Thraider found Laina talking to him. 

"So, where'd they take you?" she was asking him. 

"To get my blood re-tested," he answered. "The doctors seemed to think there was something odd in it. A...parasite." 

Laina caught Thraider's eye as he walked into the room, and she inclined her head and raised her eyebrows in a way that seemed to say: "I told you so." 

Thraider only rolled his eyes at her, though he walked over and moved to stand beside her. "Hey," he said to the blond kid. 

"Hey," he responded. "I'm Lucian Malory. You're Thraider, right?" 

Thraider nodded, then reached out and shook the boy's hand. "So, your blood has a parasite in it? That doesn't sound so good." 

"Yeah...they told me it wasn't anything to worry about, but I can't get it off my mind despite that." 

"What are they doing about it?" Thraider asked. 

"Nothing as of right now," Lucian answered. "They said it would work its way out of my system on its own." 

A flicker of doubt that that was true flashed across Thraider's mind. It seemed an odd thing to do in their position. "Um, okay." 

"Yeah, I know, it...it seems weird." 

Laina shifted beside Thraider. "Well, if that's what they say, then you'll most definitely be fine." This was, perhaps, the exact inverse of what had just been going through Thraider's mind. How could Laina not question this whatsoever? 

"Yeah, I guess so," Lucian said. 

The next time Thraider talked with Laina was three days later after he'd explored a bit and overheard another potentially troubling snippet of conversation. "I know what you think, Laina," he said, "but this time, I heard them mention Lucian. They said: 'He can't know,' and something else I didn't quite catch, but you have to admit it's a bit sketchy." 

Laina seemed to consider this. "I suppose it does..." 

Thraider bit his lip; however, she wasn't finished. 

"But it seems improbable. They must be talking about something we don't fully understand." 

"I don't know." 

And for the first time, a flicker of doubt seemed to shadow Laina's face for a moment, but then it passed. "I'm sure you're just misunderstanding." 

But the thing was...Thraider didn't believe he was. 

From there, things started getting weird. First, it was a guy named Arrhabonem. He disappeared with no warning, just like Lucian had, though, after five days, he still hadn't returned. 

An uncanny sense about the whole thing clung to Thraider. Stuck to him like honey. He couldn't help wondering if the authorities had done something to the boy. 

And then the next person vanished. A girl named Ludivine. 

She didn't come back, either. 

Finally, some of the other people started to agree with Thraider. But, unfortunately, Laina was not one of them. 

Thraider liked her; he did. But she agitated him. How could she not question what seemed so...questionable? 

At the end of that day, Thraider had a small following: Alvin and a few others. Three other boys and three girls. 

They, like Thraider, explored every so often, searching for evidence of anything else odd. Of course, Laina disapproved of this, but it wasn't as though it cost Thraider the friendship they'd now established. 

Though they went their own ways, Laina following the doctors and scientists' orders, Thraider going behind their backs and exploring, searching for information he was certain was being hidden from him. 

The fact that the two kids Arrhabonem and Ludivine, hadn't reappeared only helped solidify the idea inside Thraider's brain. There was something off about this entire organization. 

Then, one evening, Thraider had an idea. He called Alvin and his other followers together to discuss. Soon, they conjured a plan, and the following day, alongside a few of his followers, Thraider ventured through the air vents, thinking that they could see more this way. 

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" a boy named Alek asked. "What if--" 

"Shh!" Thraider suddenly interrupted, stopping in the vent. "Quiet." 

He'd heard something. A voice. 

"What was that?" said a man faintly, his voice coming from far off. 

"What?" asked another. 

There was a brief silence. "Ah, well, never mind. Let's get back to the diagram." 

Thraider wondered what that meant, so he decided to follow the voices, using only gestures to communicate with the others to not give away their position to the men. 

Diagram. 

What did that mean? 

Soon, Thraider and the others came upon a room. But not just any room. A room filled with weapons. All ranging from grenades to machine guns. 

"Woah, dude--" Alvin began to say. 

Thraider slapped a hand over the boy's mouth. This was risky. Really risky. They had to be quiet. 

The others stayed quiet behind Thraider, though he could feel them bubbling with excitement nonetheless. 

Honestly, he felt as if they'd just stumbled across pure gold. 

Another idea immediately came to mind, as it must have for his friends as well, but he swept it quickly aside for the present, being careful to memorize the path to the weapons room. 

"Come on," he whispered, so quietly he could hardly hear himself. 

The others reluctantly followed, and after a few minutes, they came upon another room, this one containing two men in lab coats; presumably the men they'd heard speaking earlier. 

Thraider gestured for his friends to stay behind him as he watched them. 

The room was like a personal laboratory, built for various inventions or discussion meetings, and the two men were drawing something on a clear standing whiteboard. 

From Thraider's position, he couldn't see what they were drawing, only that it seemed important from the way the men were treating it. 

"We've already lost two," the handsome brown-haired man murmured absently as if his head were in an entirely different world. "Maybe if we simply adjust the effect time…" 

"That could work," the other mused. He had black hair and a slight accent. Possibly Asian. "But, if the serum proves to be too potent for the amount of wait time, we'd need to water it down with another ingredient." 

Yep. Definitely, Asian, though Thraider couldn't see his face from where he was perched. 

The brunet guy stepped back from the whiteboard a moment, observing his work. "Yeah, well, that's why we brought these kids in, huh?" His voice was slightly raspy.  

"I guess so. It's good Dericka thought of that, eh?" 

"Assuredly." 

Then the black-haired guy stepped back as well. He was Asian, alright. "Well, we're getting close, now." 

"Indeed." 

Then the two of them looked at each other, gave a subtle nod. "Guess our work here is finished for the day," the brunet said. 

"Let's get some food. I'm starving." 

And with that, the men turned and strode from the room, muttering something about shrimp. 

Thraider thought for a moment, then turned to his friends. "We need to go back." 

Ten minutes later, the group reached the room in which they'd first entered the vents. Quickly and deliberately, they helped each other down and resumed their position in the barracks, where they were supposed to be. 

No one else knew about their ventures, especially not Laina. Thraider had worked to keep it that way. He was concerned -- rightfully, he thought -- that the others would tell on them, alert the authorities. 
Then the exploration would cease. 
That couldn't happen. 
Thraider lay awake in bed a long while, drawing up a plan in his head. Once he was satisfied, his thoughts eventually transitioned to his family at home. Were they getting any rest? Or were they too worried about Thraider to sleep? 
This line of thinking didn't last long; however, he drifted off to sleep a moment later. 

The following morning Thraider called together his friends to explain his grand idea. 
"Tomorrow night, we're getting some of those weapons," he stated plainly. "We aren't participating in useless tests any longer. We're exploring, staying hidden as best we can." 
The others stared, expressions ranging from absolute horror to absolute ambition. 
"Who's in?" he added. 
There was a long pause until Alvin said: "I'll do it." 
Thraider reached out and patted his friend on the shoulder. "That's right, you will." 
The others looked between them, thinking. "What about security cameras?" one boy asked. 
Thraider smiled. "That's where the fun part comes in." 
He explained it to them, and eventually, they all agreed to go along with the plan. 

After everyone was asleep, Thraider and his friends sneaked out and back into the air vents that night. 
Alvin had already stolen a keycard from one of the employees, so they were set. The mission was to find Arrhabonem and Ludivine and any other important clues about what was going on behind the scenes. 
"Alright," whispered Thraider when they came upon the weapons room. "Alex, Kody, you two go first. Select a gun with decent rounds that's easy to carry. The rest of you go single file after them and do the same." 
Thraider kept watch as his friends selected their weapons and loaded them, and finally, Alvin brought a gun up for him. 
"Thanks, man." 
"Sure thing. So...what now?" 
Thraider took in a breath. "Now we explore." 

He had the group stick together for now since they carried only a single keycard, and then they were off. 
In the first hallway they peeked into, they found at least four security cameras. Alex took out a bottle of black spray glue they'd found in the weapons room and cleared the path. 
Half the group entered the nearest door, and the other half remained outside, keeping watch. 
Thraider was a part of the group on the inside, and to his amazement, he found shelf after shelf of liquids in tubular containers. The colors held the entire rainbow. 
He wondered what all of it was for. 
"Should we take any of these?" a girl named Sandra asked. 
Thraider shook his head. "There's no need." 
Then the group moved on to the other rooms. They seemed to all be private laboratories. "Man, they have a lot of space here," Alvin muttered to Thraider. 
"There sure do." But what Thraider really wanted to find was the room in which those men were drawing the diagram. He remembered the approximate location of the place, but not its exact spot. 
Soon, however: they found it. 
Thraider rushed inside, hoping to find the diagram, but the whiteboard wasn't there. He scanned the room for any sign of where it might have gone. There was a closet, but Alvin's keycard didn't work for the lock. 
Thraider kicked the door lightly. "Dang it," he muttered. 
"Hey," Kody said. "It's alright, dude. We'll find something." 
Thraider hoped so. 

After finding nothing else interesting an hour later, Thraider decided the group should split in three. He gave maps he'd stolen out to them so they wouldn't get lost, and then he took his group to the east side of the building. 
As they strode through the halls, an uncanny sense made the hairs on his arms stand on end. 
They were close to something. He could feel it. 
"Alvin," he whispered. "Take the others down the hallways outside this one." 
"You sure?" 
Thraider nodded, and the others left. He approached the first door on the left, peered through the window into the pitch-dark room. 
He moved on. He looked through another window, where a few small colored lights glistened inside, then moved on again. 
When he came to the hall's last door, he found to his surprise that it was ajar. 
A small spark of fear shot through him, and he raised his gun. The smell of antiseptic spilled from the room, and Thraider pressed his back against the wall beside the door. 
What was in there? 
What would he find on the other side? 
He took a deep breath, then, telling himself he had to investigate, he kicked open the door and pounced inside, swinging his gun around from side to side, analyzing his surroundings. 
The room was oddly narrow, reminding Thraider of the bus that brought him to this strange place. The lights were on, and machinery lined the closed-in walls. A dark tinted window lay above the machinery on the right wall. Outside was a large plain of desert and, far beyond, mountains. Small lights shone through the glass. 
The whole ambiance of the room was off. Almost...sick. 
But no one was there. 
Wait. 
There was a person in the corner. A kid. 
He had blond hair, and at first, Thraider didn't recognize him, but he'd seen him before somewhere. 
Slowly, Thraider walked over to the boy, but he didn't lower his gun. There were strange things afoot here. The closer to the kid Thraider got, the more of him he could see.
He was sitting on some pod-like thing. And only now did Thraider realize that the machinery lining the walls consisted of more pods.  
A shiver crawled up his spine. They were empty now, but what had been in them before? 
"Thraider?" asked the blond boy, fear underlying his tone. 
It was then that Thraider remembered the boy's name. 
"Lucian." He lowered his gun. "Where are the others? Arrhabonem and Ludivine?" 
Lucian's lower lip trembled and only then did Thraider notice how unwell the boy looked. A sheen of sweat coated his forehead, his skin tinged a sickly green. 
But most unsettling of all was the look in his eyes. Almost...crazed. 
"They-they took them," he stammered. 
Thraider furrowed his brow. "Where?" 
"I don't know." 
Thraider stared at the boy a moment, unsure of what to ask exactly. "Why didn't they take you with them?" 
Tears streamed down Lucian's pale cheeks. "They said I was...they said I wasn't strong enough. That...I was going to die." 
Thraider moved closer to Lucian, an unnerving sense washing over Thraider. Something freaky was going on here. He wanted to ask about ten questions at once, but the only one that came out of his mouth was: "Where'd they take them?"
"I heard them say something about block H," Lucian whimpered. "That's all I know." 
Thraider stared at the boy for another long moment. 
"I can feel it," Lucian suddenly cried, the words sending icy tingles up Thraider's spine. "Something inside me... it's wrong. Ever since I got the vaccine...I really am going to die." 
A spike of panic surged through Thraider. "What-what do you mean?" 
"I mean, the vaccine messed me up, Thraider," Lucian said a bit too loudly. Something that, again, chilled Thraider. "I'm not sure how or why, but these people knew it along. They knew it would kill us. That's why they brought us here. To die." 
Goosebumps crawled along Thraider's skin, and he could almost feel the place on his arm he'd been injected three weeks previously. 
"You don't mean…" 
"Yes, that's exactly what I mean," Lucian said. "Maybe I'm just weaker than the rest of you, so the effects are working quicker on me, but-but the vaccines are going to kill us. They're going to kill us!" 
All of this was so horrible; it made Thraider want to puke. His head spun a little before he got out his next words. "We're all going to die?" 
Lucian nodded. 
"But--" 
Just then, footsteps shuffled into the room. "Thraider?" a girl's voice. Followed by a gasp as she noticed the other boy. "Lucian? What's going on?" 
She walked over to them, stared at Lucian. "What happened to you?" 
"I'm going to die," he said quietly. "And so are all the rest of you. You need to stop them! Get out evidence of what's happening before it takes hold of you, too!" 
Sandra looked between Lucian and Thraider, horrified. "Is this true?" she asked the latter. 
Thraider struggled to find an answer. Finally, he shrugged. "It's what he said." 
They looked at Lucian once more. He was in rough shape. 
No one talked for a long moment. 
Then, finally, Thraider said: "How can you know that we're all going to die?" 
"Because I overheard them saying it themselves," Lucian answered. He was shivering now, as though cold, but the room was oddly warm. 
"You need to get the information out," he said, curling himself into a ball and rocking back and forth, a thing that managed to horrify Thraider possibly more than anything else the boy had done so far. "Please." His voice held an edge of pleading now. 
"How?" Thraider asked. "How can we?" 
"You have to find a way," Lucian panted. His skin was shining with sweat. "You have to do something, or-or we'll all die without anyone knowing what's really happening." 
Doing his best to collect himself, Thraider swallowed. He opened his mouth to speak when someone else skidded into the room. 
Alvin. 
His eyes were wide with terror. "Thraider, they're coming." His voice quivered eerily. 
"What? Who?" 
"We need to leave," Alvin said. "Now." 
Thraider looked back at Lucian, unsure of what to do here. 
"Go," the boy said. "You heard him." 
"But--" 
"Go!" Lucian screamed it so loudly it made Thraider jump. 
Only now did he hear the faint sound of running footsteps echoing down the hall outside. 
Adrenaline trickled into his veins. 
"I'm sorry," he whispered to the blond boy. 
Then he grabbed Sandra's arm and ran to Alvin and the others, who were beginning to run left down the hall. 
Once out the door, Thraider shot a glance behind him and found the security guards sprinting for them. He picked up his pace and pushed Sandra forward, bringing up the rear. 
"Stop!" yelled a security guard frantically. "Stop, right now!" 
Thraider's group just kept sprinting. Soon, they reached a turn in the hall and positioned themselves with guns raised. They were going to take on the guards. 
A moment later, the guards reached them, and immediately the kids aimed at their appendages, tearing holes in their clothes, leaving red stains on their bodies as they fell limply to the ground. 
Then all the men were on the ground, just like that. 
Thraider stared down at the mess, contemplating what he'd just done. Then someone was dragging him away, pushing him toward the air vents. 
He hopped up and pulled himself into the shaft, crawling along the slippery silver floor. The kids were heading to the place Thraider had told them about when they passed a white room with smeared blood stains on the walls and floor. 
How had they not noticed anything like this before? 
Not only were these people up to something, they were downright evil. Letting something like that happen to Lucian…
The company continued on, getting closer to their hiding place. Soon, they reached it and slipped inside. 
It was a little storage space that connected to the vents that Thraider had found days earlier. 
The group sat panting, huddled there for what seemed all of eternity. 
None of them were in stable emotional states. Not after what they'd just witnessed. 
"Is it true, Thraider?" Kody asked. "Are we all going to die?" 
Panting, Thraider looked at him. "I don't know." 
"Well, what now?" Alex asked after a long pause. 
"I guess we try to capture evidence like Lucian said," Alvin answered. "Try to get it out somehow." 
Thraider leaned back against the wall, sucking in air lined with stale dust. They had to tell this to Laina. She had to be on board. She was his friend now; she needed to know. 
"None of the others will believe us, will they?" another boy named Zubin breathed, as if a step ahead of Thraider's line of thought. "We can't help them." 
"I don't know about that," Alex answered. "If we collect proof, they probably will."  
Not Laina, Thraider thought. She'd just think they made it up somehow. 
Thraider thought for a while about what to do next, but he was at a loss about acquiring evidence. And, furthermore, get it out to someone who could help. 
But there had to be a way. 
The group was silent for a long time, listening to the faint sound of running footsteps in the distance. They were safe for now, though. No one would think to look here. 

~~~~~~~

He only realized he'd fallen asleep when he woke up. There was a girl's voice. A familiar voice. 
"It's fine," she said. "I'll do it." 
Then a man responded: "None of the others are quite like you, you know. None of them believe in us nearly as much." 
The voices were faint, but Thraider could make out the implication that something odd was taking place. 
He scrambled up from his sleeping place, and as he did, the others woke as well. Thraider slipped out of the storage room and into the vents, searching for the source of the voices. 
"Thraider," someone whispered, stopping him in his tracks. He looked back to find Alvin getting up as well. "Where are you going?" 
"To find out where that's coming from." Then Thraider turned and entered the vents, following the voices. They were quiet for a moment, then struck up again. 
"So I imagine you've read a lot about us," the man said. 
"Yes," answered the girl. "I found the study quite intriguing, as well." 
"How interesting. This kind of thing bores most people out of their minds." 
While they talked, Thraider came upon the room in which they stood. 
The man had brown hair. The handsome brunet from yesterday. And the girl had red…
Laina. 
Thraider crouched down and listened in on their conversation. The man was taking Laina's blood. The two were probably about the same age, which seemed kind of odd considering the doctor was working with the authorities. 
The guy was leaning on the counter, looking at Laina as the machine tested her blood. "You're not like the others, you know," he said. "You believe in this much more than any of the rest of them. I appreciate that." 
Laina smiled at the guy. "Thanks. I mean...they just don't seem to understand. This is all for the good of society." 
"I know," the brunet said. "It's frustrating, isn't it?" 
Laina nodded. 
More than the irritation Thraider would expect from her saying such a thing, fear filled him. What if she never understood… 
Once Laina's blood withdrawal was complete, the brunet guy walked her to the door.  
"Thanks, Jerry," she said with another small smile. 
"Sure thing." 
Did Laina make friends with everyone in this place? 
Then she walked out, leaving Jerry alone. He went over to the counter and examined Laina's blood, put it under a microscope. After observing it for a moment, he cursed. 
This made Thraider wonder if something was wrong with Laina's blood. Or maybe nothing was wrong at all, and that was the problem. 
Maybe they hoped to see signs of destruction within her already, just like Thraider had seen in Lucian. 
 
The following day, Thraider decided to talk to her. It was risky, sure, and some of his friends tried to dissuade him from doing so, but he had to at least try to get her on the same page. 
He approached her when she was walking toward the girl's barracks and grabbed her arm, pulling her into the hall. 
She gasped, eyes widening. "Let me go!" she cried, wrenching away from his grasp. 
Knowing restraining her would only help confirm whatever the authorities evidently said to her about him, Thraider did so. "Laina, I need you to listen to me," he pleaded. 
She took a few steps back, but stopped, stared at him, unreadable. "Why are you here?" she finally asked. "To convince me to join your company of murderous young adults?" 
Thraider frowned. "Believe whatever they tell you, how about that?" 
Laina's expression hardened. "I saw what you did. There was footage." 
Thraider stepped forward, holding his hands out to her. "What else were we supposed to do?" he asked. "We didn't actually kill them, anyway. We only prevented them from following us." 
Laina didn't move further from him, a small improvement, but she looked upset nonetheless. "Thraider, I can't believe this. What about this is making you think these people are evil?" 
Thraider almost screamed though he contained himself--barely. "Look around you. Sketchy stuff is happening. We found Lucian. Sick and trembling. He was dying, Laina. He said it himself." 
Laina blinked, but a flash of concern passed across her face. "What are you talking about? Lucian was taken into another block of the complex for another blood test." 
"Yeah, that's what they told you," Thraider retorted. "But did you ever stop and wonder what happened to Arrhabonem and Ludivine? They still haven't turned up, and it's been almost two weeks." 
Folding her arms, Laina pursed her lips. "And what is that supposed to imply?" 
Thraider inhaled a breath. "You know perfectly well what it implies." 
Laina pondered his words a moment, then she asked: "You saw Lucian?" 
Thraider nodded. "Yesterday. The authorities have him locked up, waiting until he dies of the vaccine. He said he felt terrible. He said he overheard them talking about the vaccine and it killing us." 
 Laina stared blankly at Thraider for a moment. Then she scoffed. "You can't be serious." 
Thraider shook his head. "Why would I lie about this? Lucian is dying. I saw him myself. He looked terrible. He said himself he overheard the doctors talking about the vaccines killing us." 
Laina's expression was unreadable as she processed this. 
"There was a room…" Thraider continued, moving on. "There were blood smears everywhere. They're doing things to us. Arrhabonem and Ludivine are most likely dead."
Laina finally stepped back and knitted her brows. "What are you talking about?" she repeated.  
"Do you really not believe me?" Thraider cried. 
"They showed us the video of you shooting at the security guards," Laina said. "Do you expect me to know what to make of that?"
Thraider grit his teeth. "And you believe what the authorities are doing? Making us out to be criminals to display how amazing they are and that any doubt on our part means we're insane? Laina, I'm not lying. You have to believe me." 
She considered this a moment. Then she finally responded: "Look, I know we're friends, but we still haven't had that much time to get to know each other. I'm not sure what to think of this. Who to trust." 
"What?" Thraider quipped angrily. "Do you need me to write ten biographies on myself for you to study over the course of three years? Would you believe me then, Laina?" 
Hurt flashed across her face. Then she put her hands on Thraider's chest and pushed him back, brushed past him, and started walking away. 
"Wait," Thraider said, hurrying to catch up to her. "Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that to come out that way, but please just listen to me for a second." 
Laina kept walking, pace quickening. Finally, Thraider grabbed her arm and pulled her around. Rather than squirming away, however, Laina only looked at him in irritation. "What is it, Thraider? What can you tell me that will convince me these people are evil?" 
At that moment, Thraider knew exactly what he needed to do. He needed to get proof. Just as Lucian had said. 
Thraider felt his expression grow more intense, then he let her go. "I'll get evidence," he said, mostly to himself. "If you don't believe me then, it's hopeless." 
The two of them stood staring at each other for a moment. "Fine," Laina said. "Do that, then. In the meantime, I'll just keep my logical opinion on the situation." 
Thraider wanted to punch something, but he kept his cool. "I'll find some way. Don't you worry." 
Then he turned and disappeared down the hallway. 

Their conversation played in his mind as he sat, trying to focus on recording the things he was seeing. Why didn't Laina believe him? Why had she been so stubborn? 
It was eating him up inside. She had to understand. So did all of them. 
Alvin found him at one point in which he was peering into the room with the diagram, trying to make it out. "Hey, I think I know how we can convince the others," he whispered. 
Thraider looked at him. "How?" 
"Come on, I'll show you." 
Thraider knitted his brows but followed his friend. He hadn't found a way to view the diagram yet, anyway. 
 A few minutes later, Thraider and Alvin entered the small storage room, where most everyone was. Alex made her way over to them when they got there, holding up a camera. 
Thraider felt his eyes widen in awe. "Where'd you get that?" he exclaimed, pushing his way over to look at it. 
"While you were walking with Laina, we found a room with a bunch of stuff. This camera was in there, and we also grabbed a few others." 
A small spark of hope lit inside Thraider. Maybe this meant they could convince the others after all. 

So they spent the day recording bits and pieces of things, like the room with blood smeared on the walls and floor and the diagram room. 
None of it was as good as what happened with Lucian, but they were making good progress despite the fact they couldn't find him again. Now the only question was how to get this out to the world, outside this prison. 
That question tugged at Thraider throughout the rest of the day and the following, and soon he had an idea. 
Since it seemed there was no room for broadcasting anything, they needed to escape. And perhaps that could be done with the help of distractions. 

The next day came, and they hadn't collected much more footage, but Thraider had decided to show what they had to Laina regardless. 
Laina tried to take the camera from Thraider, but he flinched and didn't let her. "Oh, so now you don't trust me, huh?" she asked. She didn't sound hurt as much as she did frustrated. 
"Well, since you seem to be in love with this organization, I figure it best not to let you take the evidence of your supposed enemy." 
Laina raised her brows but shrugged. "Fine then." 
Thraider showed her the bloody room, the diagram room, and another instance which they'd captured yesterday. Another girl getting a blood test, and the doctors seeming worried about it in some way. 
When the clips were over, Laina's eyes flitted up to Thraider's. "And you expect that this will make me believe you?" 
Thraider stared blankly at her. "Okay, so you thought nothing of the room with blood everywhere?" 
"Well, I admit that's a bit strange, but it could have just been an animal." 
Thraider lowered his brows. "An animal? I thought you said they wouldn't even hurt little rabbits." He threw a jab of sarcasm into the words. 
Laina exhaled loudly. "Thraider, I don't know, okay?" 
"I saw you the other day, getting your blood tested," Thraider said. "After you left, the doctor cursed, upset about the blood for some reason. Does that not seem suspicious to you at all?" 
"You're making that up," Laina snapped. 
Thraider bit his lip. "Fine. I'll find something else, and then you'll believe me." 
"We'll see." 
And with that, Thraider left once more. 

The day passed, Thraider's company having found nothing else interesting. He wondered if that meant the authorities had purposefully stopped doing things to avoid the probability of being recorded. 
But then he heard Laina's voice form nearby and crawled into the vent above the room she was in. 
Thraider watched the man inside lead her into the room. He put his hand on her elbow and led her gently toward the chair in the center of the room. "You've been perhaps the best-tempered of the subjects here, my dear. We appreciate your willingness to cooperate more than you know." 
Laina smiled at him as she sat in the chair. "It's been my pleasure. I want to do everything I can to ensure the war never takes place." 
"You are truly lovely," the man said, stepping back. "I'm sorry I have to do this." 
Suddenly, metal cuffs slipped around Laina's wrists, ensnaring her. She looked up at the man, a spark of worry igniting behind her ice-blue eyes. "Sir?" her voice quivered as her world crashed down around her.  
The man walked over to the wall on which several levers and knobs lay. 
"Sir...?!" 
He pressed a knob and turned it slightly to the right. 
Sparks of electricity began to fly from the chair, striking the once authority-confident girl. 
"Laina!" Thraider screamed before he could stop himself. He didn't care if the authorities knew he was up in the air vents now. He didn't care if they came and killed him, too. Laina was letting out yelps of pain as the electric sparks fell onto her, but before the man upped the voltage, recognition lit on her face, mingled with the pinched expression of pain. She stared off at the far wall, tears brimming her eyes, her face seeming to say, You were right. 
Then the electricity consumed her, and she struggled no more. 
Thraider lay staring at the dead girl that was his friend. 
He didn't feel anything, at least not right away. The shock of what had just occurred consumed him, made him numb to all feelings, as if a blanket of a thousand pounds were closing in on all sides, suffocating him. 
He couldn't wriggle free, couldn't think his way out of it. No. His mind had gone numb with an uncanny hollowness that he couldn't escape. 
They'd taken him from his family, his life, and now they'd taken his friend. 
No. It was too much. It was too much to bear. 
Unsure of what to do now, Thraider crept out of the air vents, sneaked into the storage room, and fell atop a pile of blankets. 
He lay there for what must've been hours, replaying in his mind her death. He wanted to cry, but no tears came. Perhaps they would later, after he penetrated the aura of numbness about him. But for now, it was too strong to fight. 
And, despite all things, he slept.  
 
His mind had gone numb with senseless desperation, but now a small yet lethal spark of enmity toward the authorities trickled into his system. 
They had to get out of there. Or, more importantly, they had to get the evidence out of there. 
They were making progress every day, and now with the footage of what they'd done to Laina, there was solid proof things were bad. 
But Thraider couldn't stop thinking about her. The image of her dying in that chair. 
Even though they hadn't known each other long, it hurt deeply. 
Then, one day, the alarm sounded. 
The cue. 
Thraider and his friends, and the others that they'd convinced to join their side, ran for the west door, opened the series of them with keycards and stolen fingerprints. 
It almost seemed too easy, as they ran for the bus outside and no one chased them, though the guards would surely come momentarily. 
Alvin hurried to the front of the bus, started the engine with the keys he'd stolen as a kid after kid hopped inside. 
And that's when the gunfire sounded. 
Bullets pinged off the walls of the bus, and a few caught multiple kids in the back. 
Most fell limply to the ground outside, only one hitting his head on the step of the bus, specks of blood flying from it. 
Thraider watched in horror as these things occurred, but, fortunately, most made it safely onto the vehicle, and once everyone except the dead was on, Alvin hit the gas, and they were off. 
"Do you know where we're going?" Kody shouted at him. 
"Yeah, I got a map!" Alvin replied. 
A few more bullets pelted the back of the bus as they sped away, but Thraider looked back and saw the men with guns sprint back inside the building. 
Then they were free. 
But some of the others had stayed behind. They'd lost Laina and Lucian and Arrhabonem and Ludivine. 
It didn't quite seem worth it. 
Though Thraider held the evidence that it had been worth it in his lap. The camera. 
They'd show it to someone, word would get out. 
And somehow, the organization that had killed innocent children would be destroyed. 
Even as they drove, however, the first sign of something showed within Thraider. It was small, nothing more than a gentle ache in his abdomen, but it made him remember what Lucian had said. 
That they were all going to die. 
Maybe that was true, but oddly it didn't scare Thraider. He realized now what was most important was getting the evidence out. 
And that was exactly what they were going to do. 

The End