Chapter 8: New Blood

I wanted to be a doctor. Wanted, as in past tense.

"Again!" Barked a tall man with a freckled, balding head. He had a fairly large beak for a nose which eclipsed a tiny pair of lips, wrapped around a cigarette. Smoke filled the small chamber which he remained safely locked within. Locked away from me.

Two nurses sat beside him, in their grey smocks, behind a mechanical switchboard that controlled every stimulus that entered the room. They both shared a rather mutinous look before complying with the doctor's orders. With the simple push of a button, two holes- roughly the size of tennis balls- appeared in the far wall. This was some sick kind of reflex test.

A metal ball, exploded from the wall and collided with my side.

"Ugh!" I crouched to the floor, clutching my stomach as a new welt formed on my abdomen.

For the past hour, the Mad Scientist and his sidekicks launched weighted metal balls at my body. My flesh slowly turning into a new, less attractive version of Starry Night with each blow. I tried to reason with them. I even yelled and pleaded at some point but it was clear from the start that this little experiment had nothing to do with what I wanted. I was just a lab rat, my every move and motive being judged.

"Again!" The doctor repeated. His brows furrowed as he stared at me. He looked at me almost as if I was the problem.

Gritting my teeth, I snarled at the chamber where he sat safely tucked away from me. Another ball flew into my shoulder. The pain was beginning to fade as I found myself numbed by anger. The process continued again and again until my eyes were bleary with tears and my body body began to tremble, like a coiled snake simply waiting for the right moment to strike. Eventually, I stopped praying for the session to end and began to imagine a twisted fantasy that involved the Doctor, an isolated room and an endless supply of weighted metal balls. With my chest heaving and fists reverberating by my sides, I stared at my captors through the thin veil of a glass window.

The doctor's eyes widened upon seeing my disgruntled state and the cigarette hanging from his lips fell, singing his white lab coat. He hesitated for one breathless second and my heart fluttered with hopes of freedom but at the last second he raised two crooked fingers and motioned for the nurses to continue. They shared a wearied glance, before abiding by his orders. But I refused to continue with his little test. Spinning around on my heel, I scanned the four walls, gauging where the balls might appear next. I threw one arm over my face and held the other hand out, waiting for the impact.

I could hear it. The sound of the ball whizzing through the air. It was like nails on a chalkboard. Every nerve within my body curled and the hair on the back of my neck stood at full attention. The skin on my hand tingled as if anticipating what would happen next. I expected it to collide with my leg or maybe my back or chest again, but no, the ball found itself perfectly situated in the palm of my waiting hand. My fingers clenched, squeezing the spherical object as if to make sure that it was in fact real. A puff of air expelled from my lips as I lowered my arm from my eyes. I didn't even realize that I was holding my breath until I saw the small, metal ball resting in my hand.

"Suck that!" I let out a short, hysterical chuckle and threw the ball to the floor.

A second later, only after the adrenaline began to fade did I remember my little audience. Three narrowed eyes scrutinized my every move with a look of disgust. The two nurses removed their hands from the dashboard, their arms now tucked below their chest. The one nurse, the one with the rectangular, silver frames balancing on the bridge of upturned nose, kept glancing at the doctor, waiting for the next order. But the doctor was frozen in his seat, like a wax sculpture. I couldn't exactly figure out why the man was so terribly shocked by my sudden ability to catch a ball but I didn't dare dwell on it for a second longer. I caught the ball. It was a proud first for me, as my lack of athleticism was apparent in my noodle-like arms.

"This will commence our session." The door slid open and two G.S soldiers appeared in their gray suits. I wasn't able to catch another glimpse of the doctor or the nurses, as the guards slapped the cuffs onto my wrists and pulled me into the busy corridor.

"What's that?" I asked.

One of the guards fished out a seperate white bracelet and secured it around my wrist, like a hospital tag. But unlike a hospital tag it began to vibrate and then slowly, it turned to a soft pink color. I found myself only more confused than before but like always, my question remained unanswered. One

G.S soldier nudged me forward with the butt of his rifle as the other led me down a series of twisting paths. I think, when creating this insane complex, the architects intended to make it confusing, so we, the freaks, wouldn't be able to escape. As we turned down a new hall, I found the monochromatic color scheme shift to more subtle hues of gray as we reached a set of steel doors with two, small portholes. The guard in front of me, unclasped his ID badge from his belt and held it in front of a scanner. The scanner beeped once and the doors swung open, revealing the crowded canteen.

Several rows of metal tables and benches were bolted to the concrete floor and sitting at these tables were hundreds of bald-shaven girls in white jumpsuits, just like me. Grabbing a styrofoam cup and tray, I filed into the line waiting to be served by the one, greying nurse who bravely manned the kitchen. She reminded me of one of the lunch ladies at school, not Geraldine, the kind, grandmotherly woman who always let me take two cookies rather than one but Carol, the one with a wart on the left side of her nose and had a hunched back. When I reached the end of the line, she curled her thin lips, revealing a row of gnarled teeth.

Geez, what a gal. I noticed there was a gold band on her left finger and I couldn't help but feel bad for the poor sucker who wanted to put a ring on that. She plopped a delicious pile of brown mush and I quickly made my retreat.

It was then, standing in the middle of the open court, I suddenly felt like I was in high school again, not really knowing where to sit. Or to put it more appropriately, where I was allowed to sit. Almost every table was filled. Without the intense supervision of the the G.S. soldiers, the girls remained free to talk intimately with their friends. A few even managed to crack a smile.

"Keep moving," someone grabbed my arm, pulling me towards a nearly vacant table in the very back.

Yanking my arm free, I turned and to my utter dismay I saw my cell neighbor standing behind me. Even though we all wore the same white jumpsuit and buzzcut, she had a collection of unique features that stood out in a crowd. It was one of the first things I had noticed upon my arrival at the barracks. Whereas I looked like a twelve year old boy just going through puberty, she managed to look like a warrior princess. Her cheeks were sunken and her skin was ragged and dark and stretched across her face so tightly it looked as if it would rip on her sharp cheekbones. She had unusual eyes, slender and long, like a feline's and the iris were a spectacular shade of jade with golden flecks floating near the pupils.

Her lips, pouty and curved, were twisted into a frown as she spoke, "Sit down. They're watching."

"Who's watching?" I asked but obliged nonetheless, her statement unnerving me a little.

Even after a week of captivity, I was still not used to the complete and utter lack of privacy. There were security cameras posted at the end of every hall, several in my cell and even one in the communal bathroom. Then, to make matters worse there is was always two guards standing at post by each doorway, armed with enough artillery to kill fifty of us without a sweat. It seemed a little over the top to me. Regardless of what they thought, we were still kids and certainly not able to take on a full grown man skilled with a gun.

Not yet at least.

"Everyone," She threw her tray onto the table, startling two girls who looked to be locked in a heated debate.

"You're new blood," She continued, shovelling a spoonful of mush into her mouth. "They can tell. Fresh bruises, clipped walk- there's this spark of anger in your eye. I'm sure if I sniffed you, you'd still smell like soap."

The girl who sat across from me on the right leaned forward and inhaled deeply, "Yep, lavender and honeysuckle."

She was a wild character. Her face long and thin, with a wide nose and eyes brazen. Her skin was several shades darker than my neighbor, like smooth mahogany. A sapphire band hung from her hand as she spooned more mush into her mouth. She could not have been more opposite to the girl who she sat beside. Pale skin and child-like features- her eyes were nearly colorless like a clear quartz crystal. The band on her wrist was a startling shade of red, reminiscent of fresh blood. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what those bracelets meant. Or maybe, they had no meaning at all. Maybe it was just a funky piece of jewelry used to spice up our otherwise tragic uniforms.

"Down girl," my neighbor ordered.

The she wolf- as I decided to call her- flipped her off and the two shared a cheeky grin.

"What's your name?" The pale one asked in a small voice.

Carefully, as if not to disturb the cuffs on my wrists, I pulled at my ear, revealing the five digit code on the white tag. She glanced at my ear for brief second before returning her cold stare to my face.

"You're not a number, not with us at least," my neighbor interjected, flicking my hand away from my head.

I wanted to cry. For the past week I toyed with the tag, trailing the pads of my fingers against the raised lines and loops, trying to memorize the numbers. I thought if I looked at it enough, I would get used to it. But after seven days, it still looked out of place, like a poorly photoshopped picture.

"They tell you a lot of things here," my neighbor took a swig of water from the styrofoam cup, "How to dress, what to eat, when to pee but no matter how hard they try with their little tests, they can't tell you who to be. My number reads, 65394 but my name is Ana."

She didn't look like an Ana, I thought to myself but I guess the number didn't really suit her either. She was the kind of girl who didn't really fit into any one group, a social enigma of sorts. I thought if she were to have hair it would have been long and dark, unable to be tamed by any elastic or spray. She would have worn combat boots and listened to the sort of music that would make my mother's heart stop.

"That's Esther and Joan," She motioned to the girl in front of me first, the pale one, and then the she-wolf. "We went to school together, the three of us."

"You were friends," I nodded.

"No," She was quick to correct me and Joan's grin only grew. "In fact those two had a pretty intense rivalry."

"That's all in the past, right princess?" Esther didn't look too pleased by the nickname but heaved her shoulders in response, nonetheless.

"I don't get it," my brows furrowed.

There were plenty of girls from my school who I hated and if they were to walk through Garrenbuck's doors tomorrow, I couldn't say I'd be pleased to see them. But Joan and Esther didn't seem to share my sentiment. They sat close together, their arms nearly touching and their movements were practically in sync.

"You will after a while. Right now you're new and this doesn't feel completely real yet but after a month or so, when things settle into a routine, you'll miss the girl you used to be." There was an edge in her voice.

Glancing back at the two girls in front of me, I nodded, finally understanding the bond between them. They weren't friends, not even now but they served as an important reminder to one another of the world they once belonged to. And for that, I realized they were lucky. In two months, we would be shipped to the desolate land of monsters, completely stranded from the world we once knew but Esther and Joan would still have each other to hold onto.

"Ophelia," I said as a silence settled over the table, "My name is Ophelia."

"That's a bit of a mouthful," Joan scraped the last of the tray contents onto her tongue. In between bites she managed to say, "We'll. Call. You. Phe."

I smiled. Unlike Joan and Esther, I didn't have a person to remind me of my life back home, and I didn't have Ana's ability to disconnect herself from the world but at least even in Garrenbuck I still had my name. Well, sort of.

"Light pink, huh?" Esther said, her eyes trailing on my new accessory.

"Yeah, uh, I don't even know what this means. They kinda just slapped this on my wrist before bringing me here," My fingers toyed with the plastic band.

"It's your classification band," Esther explained, sounding as if she was reciting from a textbook. "There's a small chip embedded in the back. After each test, a doctor will input your results into the system and the color will darken. It's a fairly simple process. Blue for werewolves, red for vampires, purple for witches and green for fae."

"You're a vampire and you're a werewolf," My eyes widened as I looked at the two girls in front of me.

My tongue swelled in my mouth as I lost all ability to speak. No freaking way! I suppose it made no sense for me to be afraid of them. It's not like they were the ones here who I had to worry about killing me but still, I had grown up only ever associating those words with violence.

Everything I knew about vampires and werewolves came straight from my history textbook. All the fictional books depicting supernatural creatures had been banned. The government claimed it would corrupt the youth and lead us towards a life of heathenism. So, we were forced to accept the small edited bits of information our teachers fed us. All I knew was that they were both ridiculously strong and fast.

Oh, and they both killed humans.

"Ooh! Look Esther, she's shaking," Joan looked as if she would have clapped her hands together if they weren't cuffed together.

"No, we're not. Well, not yet," Esther shot her counterpart a withered glare.

That was right. We learned about it in genealogy class, because while the gene is only noticeable at the age of sixteen, it would take two more years upon recognition for the gene to be activated. There was a lot of confusing science that explained why but it really could just be summed up in one word: magic. Magic being a strange phenomenon that could not be explained by science. So, really, everyone was just left to speculate.

"And the pink color... does that mean I'm going to be a vampire?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. It's hard to tell after the first test. There's always a chance it could darken to another color, like purple or blue. I've seen that happen before." My frown deepened as I continued to stare at the band.

"And then sometimes it never darkens at all," Ana held out her wrist, revealing a pure white band. "I've been here since January 29th, just missed the deadline for last year, and it hasn't changed since I first got it."

The four of us stared at the bracelet, wondering what it could possibly mean. Did that mean she was human? Probably not. The procedure was practically flawless, every scientist in the country could attest to that. But it wasn't exactly possible for her to be nothing at all.

Ana cleared her throat and tucked her hands onto her lap, "You should eat. Trust me when I say, you'll need the energy for the second half of testing."

**So now we have officially met three of the four big names from our character list who we have yet to meet. Ana Cortez, Joan Calloway and Esther Chao are three seasoned Garrenbuck prisoners who have seemingly taken little Phe under their wing by the good graces of their fearsome leader- Ana. I'm curious to hear what your first impressions of this girl group and what do you think of Phe's first day of testing at Garrenbuck? Do you think you previous answers about her supernatural race will change? The next chapter will consist of Phe's second half of her first day of training and our first glimpse at the last main character for us to meet.

Hope you guys are enjoying the book so far, thank you for all of the support and lovely comments!

XOXO,

Ro.**