Shifters

Chapter 4

The next morning, I woke up feeling more awake than I had in days. After a lonely breakfast (I guessed Luke and Will were still asleep) the next thing on my schedule was in Lab 7. When I arrived, there was no one there. I was sitting in one of the lab's white plastic chairs when I heard voices coming from a door across from me. I got up and moved across the room.

"We can't waste so much material if it turns out one of them is too weak," I heard a voice say. From the tone, I could tell the people on the other side of the door were arguing.

"But if we rush," another voice interrupted, "things could go wrong and they could be killed."

"There's always the risk of them dying. You can't get too attached to them. I thought you had learned your lesson last time."

"It was your fault she died!"

"She wasn't strong enough. We saved a huge amount of money by weeding her out early." I shivered. There had been people before me and they were dead. Furthermore, their killer felt no regret.

"We will save as much -or more- if we make sure these ones are strong enough."

"I'm surprised there isn't frost on your nose, you're so cold. But it seems I can't change your mind. Remember, if they die, you were the one who killed them."

I heard footsteps on the other side coming closer. I rushed back to my seat. A woman with red hair who I didn't recognize pushed through the door I had just been listening through. She stormed out of the lab without a backward glance. A minute later, Luke and Will arrived.

"Enjoy abandoning us?" Luke asked jokingly.

"It wasn't my fault you were sleeping in. Anyway, we've got bigger problems on our hands." They sat down next to me and I told them about what I had heard.

"There were people before us?" Luke asked. I shushed him.

"Yeah. But they're not alive any more," I whispered back.

"And we could end up that way," Will added darkly.

We sat in silence, thinking about the danger we had been dragged into. When the door I had been listening at opened and I saw the owner of the second voice, I froze. Our possible murderer was Dr. Edmont. He smiled, but it was obviously fake. A genuine smile wouldn't work with his "not getting too attached" plan.

"You're all here. Wonderful. Now, today is a very important day. This is the first time you will experience our new discoveries. These procedures are dangerous, so we need you to follow directions exactly. Lets get started." Dr. Edmont turned and we followed him through the door.

"Theodora, you go through there. Luke. Will. You follow me." I followed Dr. Edmont's directions and found myself in the first room I had seen in the facility that was almost cheery. Sunlight filtered through windows thirty feet up and fell upon spring green walls. I turned around when I heard the door open behind me.

"Miss Myers?" It was the lady who had been arguing with Dr. Edmont. I decided to trust her. Well, not that I really had any choice, but making my own choices was something I couldn't often do around here.

"That's me. My name's Theodora, but most people call me Thea," I told her. She smiled at me.

"Good to meet you Thea. I'm Marilyn Coral. You're welcome to call me Lynn. I'll be directing your transformations and trying to keep your cell structures from deteriorating." She said the last part grimly and I thought back to the conversation I had overheard. Lynn continued, "The clothes you're in won't shift with you. However, we've found a material that will shift and reconstruct when you change back." She held up what she was holding, which turned out to be a full-body suit that shimmered in the sunlight coming through the windows.

"Put it on," Lynn prompted. She handed me the suit and turned around as I took off my usual clothes and pulled it on. By the way it fit, I could tell it had been made especially for me.

"Perfect," Lynn said. "Do you have any scratches or other injuries?"

I had one scratch on my hand that I pointed out to Lynn. She pulled a small device out of her pocket and ran it over the cut. The skin instantly healed.

"Any injuries on you could result in gaps in your new forms. We have to eliminate that danger before we begin. Now, follow me," she said, walking over to the middle of the room. She reached into her pocket again and took out two small bottles. She opened one and poured out two tiny pills.

Dropping the pills and the other bottle into my hand, she instructed, "The water has necessary minerals, so try to drink it all. When you have it in your mouth, add the pills and then swallow quickly. After you shift, wait for my directions."

I nodded, uncapped the bottle, and dumped the contents into my mouth. Adding the pills, I swallowed as soon as I could. Nothing happened for a couple of seconds, but then the sunlight started growing brighter and my vision began to blur. Colors swirled together in weird patterns. A burning filled my body. Then everything stilled.