The Compound (Ongoing)

Chapter Five

Trying to ignore the springs that stab into my butt, I focus on the movie. It's a documentary about this place. Like they want to further brainwash the 'patients'.

Apparently right now the world is falling apart. I guess for most people this is basic knowledge, but it's all new to me.

And it's terrifying.

The deep male voice drones on for more than two hours. If it were any other subject I probably would've fallen asleep by now.

It started about twenty years ago. A sickness spread through every nation. At first it seemed mild, but the more people that got sick, the more the virus mutated.

Now it kills you within hours of infection. This led to wars breaking out not just between countries, but individual families. If you so much as coughed, you'd be lucky if your own parents didn't blow out your brains and burn your body.

I'm not exaggerating. People actually did that. It's one of the things that led to the falling of governments worldwide. It's hard to follow someone's rules or any moral codes amidst chaos. And if you can't trust your own family with your life than you can't trust anyone.

This brought out a lot about humanity. Starting with the fact that people would rather throw their grandparents into a bonfire than risk getting sick.

Any one with a weak immune system was the first to go.

Elderly, children. The sick, the poor. Cancer patients. Everyone. Those that survived only did so if they were raised in a secure environment, like me. To get into the Compound you had to be tested. If you were safe, you were welcomed with open arms and grand buffets to keep your healthy belly full.

If you weren't, you were given a bullet in the brain. On the spot.

No mercy.

As soon as the movie was over I'd searched frantically for Sheila. By the time I'd found her in the hallway on her way to get me, I was out of breath and gasping for air.

I needed to know how it was that I'd lived. I might not have known my age, but I knew I wasn't old enough to have been born before the plague.

Turns out my mom had been a patient in the Compound, back when it first began. She came into the program already pregnant with me. Apparently my father had died of the plague not long after she got pregnant.

As soon as he died she'd came to the Compound, and after they made sure she wasn't sick, she'd signed up for genetic manipulation. With me still inside her.

I'm one of few to be born with the changes in my DNA. Not many people wanted to have children to be brought up in a world of death. Well, more death than ever before on a global scale at least.

Sheila said I'm seventeen. She told me that since I'm an anomaly, they're not really sure what to do with me. They've been testing different medications on me for years, and then taking my healthy cells and implanting them with the virus.

In a petri dish, thank God. I'd almost puked when Sheila first said that, but she was quick to explain that it wasn't actually in my body.

I'm too rare for them to risk that.

After all this I'd been confused. If people weren't having kids, then why were there so many running around the Compound?

Turns out they're all doctors kids. Since the doctors know more about protecting them, they aren't so worried about them falling ill.

I still think it's cruel to put you're children through this, especially at such a young age, but who am I to judge? It's not like my opinion matters much here.

When Sheilas done talking, I just stare at her. Our conversation had happened while walking down hallways. When we got to the metal door with the key card scanner, she'd stopped beside it and quit talking.

I watch now as the door slides open with a quiet shushing sound. I see Dr. Thomas smile as he walks through the door and into the hallway. He nods at Sheila then turns to me.

"Are you ready for our session, Ashley?"

Sheila starts to turn and walk away, dismissed by the doctor now that she's done her job and brought me here. But I'm not done with her, so before she can walk away I grab onto her arm.

"Wait! What happened to my mom? Where is she?"

Sheila looks surprised, but then sadness and pity take over her face, pulling her mouth into a sad smile and making her grey eyes look huge and watery.

"Oh." She brings a hand to her mouth, covering it as she turns to look at Dr Thomas.

I turn too, wanting to know, but feeling like I already do. There's no way this is good news, and in this time of death, his next words don't surprise me much.

But damn do they hurt.

"Your mother?" He looks out of the side of his eyes at Sheila, as if scolding her. As if she's to blame for my questions. Technically she's not. The movie's what made me think of everything.

"Ashley, she died last night. You don't remember that either?" Now he looks curious, but not in the way of a man perplexed or confused. He looks curious the way a lion does when watching prey.

As if just watching my movements and timing the perfect kill.

I shake my head no and I watch as this lion licks his lips, eyes hungry and cold. My heart races, telling me that something's wrong.

My mind may have forgotten whatever happened, but my heart hasn't.

He smiles a cruel smile that I know he wants me to think is kind.

"Ashley, do you really want to know? Because I can tell you the truth. You just have to be honest with me from now on, okay?" The lion lays his trap, coiling his legs, ready to attack.

"Do you want to know?"

Despite my better judgement and the pounding in my chest, I slowly shake my head yes.

"You had an argument with her last night."

He steps closer, testing to see how far he can get before I try to run. When he sees that I stand my ground, wanting desperately to know everything, he forges on, trying to hide the smile that plays on his thin lips.

His teeth glint at me in warning as he opens his mouth, telling me that this man is dangerous. That he's the predator and I'm the prey.

"You killed her Ashley. You killed your mother."

And the lion pounces.