Dominance

Chapter 4: Codename Thunder-00382

From the inside, Sara realised it looked even more like a prison cell. There was just a grimy-looking toilet and what Sara assumed to be a bare steel frame for a bed that was thoroughly bolted to the floor. There was a harsh smell of recently applied chemicals in the air that caused her sinuses to itch when she breathed.

Someone else occupied the adjoining cage to her left. He paced back and forward along the bars hypnotically like a caged animal would. Unique blonde hair fell in long strands over his face and was rather unkempt looking. He wore blue generic-looking hospital pajama-looking attire. And, the most noticeable feature of all, was a long tail, just barely touching the floor as he walked.

It twitched irritably just like wild cats' did on those boring nature shows. Long and thick like a tiger, but the colour was a washed-out grey and it had the hint of a tuft as it fluffed at the tip.
Sara clenched her teeth shut, closing her mouth which had been hanging agape as she took in his features. Yeah, no. Like hell she was staying in here.

Sara motioned to pull on the bars. But the moment she gripped at them an intense pain tore through her. A force like lightning shot through her hands and struck throughout the rest of her body. She was involuntarily thrown back onto the cold concrete floor. Sara awkwardly lay there gasping in shock as her body pulsated in agony.

"You shouldn't touch the bars. They're electric." A voice echoed from the cage next to her.

Sara tried to get up, but her burnt hands were stinging and her arms throbbed relentlessly in protest.

"With what? A billion volts?!" She groaned, her sarcasm leaking out easily in the presence of pain.

There was no reply, and when she turned her head to look, a curious gaze mimicked hers. She had assumed the cage on the opposite side was empty, but apparently not. From this low angle, she could see a figure now crawling out from underneath a harsh-looking mattress and frame.
She could not help but assume that she was seeing double. He looked exactly like her restless neighbour. Surely, they were twins, or clones, or some other crazy scientific explanation that made identical beings. 

She whipped her head back towards the first boy, just to make sure of herself. He had stopped pacing and was watching her. He had strange but beautiful amber-rimmed, bright blue eyes. His lip was curled up into an unhappy expression which was accompanied by a narrowing glare. Sara's body automatically stiffened and her heart pulsated in hard exaggerated throbs.

"That's Twister-00248," the boy on the other side of her remarked, noticing the prolonged staring.

Frightened by her reaction to Twister-with-a-lot-of-numbers's presence, Sara turned away and released a big breath she didn't realise she'd been holding.

"I'm Lightning-00247. But most of the staff here call me Sparkie". He said as he edged to sit as close to the bars that divided his and Sara's cage as he could, without actually touching them.

"What kind of names are those?" Sara mumbled. Sparkie sounded like what you'd name a hyperactive Shih Tzu. And the numbers were just demeaning.

Twister snorted and answered in an irritated tone. "We don't actually have names. That's just an identification they have to give to their specimens. At least the ones that survive longer than a few days."

Sara gulped. Twister snorted again and went back to his pacing.

Sara turned back to her calmer cell neighbour, Sparkie. The way he was sitting had his tail so close to the bars she could potentially reach out and touch it. And she tried to do just that.
Very slowly and with her hand shaking, she leaned over and stretched out towards the metal divider. She held her breath as her index finger solitarily pushed along the ground and between the bars. She could feel the warm buzz of voltage and, although there was enough space to slip through more digits, she wasn't game enough to try.