Ends of the Earth [DNF]

Chapter 2: A new beginning

Behind the door was one of the many science labs that the facility contained. The labs were mostly closed off from any others than the scientists. Sapnap's mom worked in one of them. Which one and with what, remained a mystery. The things that took place behind these closed doors were highly secretive. Dream had tried to force himself to believe that it was all for the greater good, but it had always felt a bit off. His dad had always said to trust the Council and that their intentions were good.

An ominous feeling settled in his stomach as they went inside the lab. Neither of them had much experience with these places. But it looked fairly similar to the other ones Dream had been in. 

Dream glanced around and counted eight unfamiliar faces. The confusion remained prominent. That was until Sapnap shouted beside him. "Holy fuck!". Dream tried to see what'd caused the reaction and he quickly found it.

Dream noticed a cell the back of the room and  froze when he saw what was inside: A young girl with her hands and feet chained to the wall behind her. Her forward-tilted head made it so that her dark hair covered her face, but noticeable bruised trailed over all the exposed skin.

"What the hell are you doing to her?!" Dream yelled, feeling the panic starting to rise in his body. The General gave him a disappointed look. However, the shouting most've caught her attention, because she slowly raised her head. 

A pair of different colored eyes suddenly met Dream's. One was orange and the other grey. Her eyes seemed to glow faintly. The pieces connected and Dream realized that this was most likely the captured "other" that Dahlia had described earlier. 

He didn't agree with her girlfriend's description. This girl could've easily been just other facility member if the eyes didn't give her away.

One of the scientists cleared his throat. "This is one of the so-called "the others"" confirming Dream's suspicion. He turned towards Sapnap to see how he felt about the situation. Although his expression remained neutral, the tense his jaw muscles indicated about his friend's true feelings. Dream took it as a sign that he found the situation just as repulsive as he did. She was seemed terrified and what made the situation even worse was the fact that she didn't look older than twelve. 

One scientist hinted towards the cell and three other scientists started making their way over to the girl. The boys only stared in disgust as two of them restrained her arms as the third one pulled out a needle filled with some sort of sedative. She tried to fight the people holding her but to no use. But even though she clearly fought back physically she never once made a sound. The General seemed to have caught on to the fact that they'd noticed her lack of verbal expression. "She hasn't made a sound since she got here, their love language doesn't seem to be words." Dream couldn't help but flinch at the poorly timed attempt at a joke. 

After what felt like forever, the lifeless body of the girl was pulled out of the cell and placed on a surgery table. Dream couldn't bring himself to do anything other than stare. The scientist that spoke earlier was the one to break the silence again.

"So, boys this is meant as an opportunity to study the enemy." He looked them both in the eyes before continuing. ""It" might appear very similar to us at first glance, besides from the eyes as you saw. But don't be fooled. This is NOT a human." The man walked around the table and carefully lifted her lip to reveal that her teeth had a prominent tip. "Their teeth are made up of mostly canines, rather subtle canines, but canines, nonetheless. This would indicate that their diet mostly consists of meat, the possibility that they've evolved some type of defense against the bacteria's that raw meat can contain isn't unlikely, but not yet proven." He let her lips fall back down and pulled away her hair to show her ear, which also happened to be a bit arched. "Pointed ears, could be a sign that their hearing is better than ours." Finally, he went to pick up here hand. "Nails have a more claw-like appearance and are sturdier."

"The discoveries that have been made due to this capture have been extremely fascinating. That's why the president has ordered that Watchers main goal from now on is to capture more of them." The general interjected.

So, that was their first mission then, capturing these "people" to then hand them in for research. It felt like it went against every moral code that Dream's body possessed. The sedated girl looked so young; he could only imagine how afraid she must be. It was questionable that they had ruled them as enemies already. 

Sapnap must have read his mind in that moment. "How do we know that they want us any harm? She hasn't even made a noise yet, if I remember correctly." The scientists went silent by the question and showed obvious signs of discomfort. 

The General was the one to answer the question or rather dodge it. "Don't believe that they'll show you mercy just because you pity them. We have the upper hand in this world, these creatures are descendants from the humans that were left on the surface when Saturn crashed. It would be naïve to assume that they feel anything other than hatred for us, if they even can feel anything other than their primary needs". Sapnap was speechless. Sure, the mindset that "what you won't kill, will kill you" was more or less a mantra in the bunker, but this felt so cold-hearted. Suddenly, Dream remembered a question that he'd been meaning to ask.

"Do we know how they communicate?" Although, their expressions already revealed the answer, one of the scientists uttered a quiet "no". 

Interesting to say the least.