Judaean | The Darkest Minds Fanfic

Chapter 4

"How are the tribes?" Clancy asked as he sat down on his cot with the plate of pasta, "I assumed some of them are here?"

　　"They are okay." I answered, and upon thinking of Gav, added, "Some of them."

　　"I can't really imagine how you can keep them in their place without influencing them like I did." He remarked, "That's a lot of people."

　　"Maybe that isn't the goal." I said.

　　He raised an eyebrow at me, but didn't elaborate. "Has Olivia gotten here?"

　　"No." I don't recall a girl name Olivia here, but I do remember that name written on the white board. She's part of the group that Liam is in charge of tracking down. "She's one of the last kids in East River, correct?"

　　He nodded. "One of the first, too." He said, "It was just the two of us and another kid in the beginning. She's useful in physical work, and she's pretty insecure about herself, which worked out in my favor."

　　"Is that how you see everyone?" I couldn't help but wanted to ask, "What they are useful for, and how you can use them?"

　　He gave a half-hearted shrug. "Some get a few additional notes."

　　I shook my head a little. "What about Thurmond?" I asked.

　　"What about Thurmond?" Clancy returned, the "I need you to be clearer with your question" hung unsaid between his brows.

　　"It is one of the firsts, right?" I expanded, "There must be something that got carried into the rest of the camps. Not just the cabins, or the mess halls...the hardware."

　　He paused for a second, the fork dangling on his fingers as he contemplated, "obviously the labs had been moved out. Whatever was left in the camps had nothing to do with the cure anymore, but more to do with suppression and obedience—like White Noise, tranquilizers, etc. I got a feeling that my mother made that decision." He put the pasta in his mouth, and made it a point to swallow it down before opening his mouth again. I got a feeling that it had more to do with giving him time to think than table manners. "That after everything, she still couldn't bear to do her research in my personal hell. Maybe just so she could pretend that I hadn't been one of those kids under the scalpels."

　　"I imagine the way they segregate children by color also started from Thurmond?" I asked, didn't want to feed into his hatred for his mother by talking about her.

　　"You will be correct." He said, "we weren't separated by color in that first year of so. In the beginning, there weren't all that many of us, and they either didn't think of it, or simply want to see how well we could coexist. But of course, they soon figured out that it was a recipe for disaster."

　　"Oh? How so?" I raised an eyebrow.

　　"Because they couldn't stop us from using our abilities on each other, or just, hurting each other in general." He stated plainly, "the Greens always got pushed around, and the Reds were, more often than not, bullies." He spared a look at me, and winced, "No offense."

　　"None taken." I gave him a shrug. "Did the Red kids know how to control themselves? So much so they can use their ability to hurt others?"

　　"Well, not as much as you imagine," Clancy shook, "and the scientists got that out of the way, like, before I was even there." Seeing that I wasn't catching up, he added, "they just beat you if you use your ability, so the kids were more scared to accidentally trigger themselves, let along use it in any meaningful way. The White Noise wasn't a thing yet at that point. But there weren't much they can't do to us—the oldest of us was, what, nine?"