Human Untouched

6.

Three days passed and nothing happened. Nothing changed, the weird kind of hyper-sensitivity my body was going through didn't die down. This had reached a point where it was more annoying than fascinating. Everything smelled weird, everything tasted weird, I woke up at the slightest of sounds.

I seemed to be the only one in weirdly high spirits. Some kids had actually worsened, Boney almost seemed like the walking dead at times. I felt bad for the poor guy.

"Still messed up?" I nodded irritatedly, plucking at the oh-so-real grass, sitting beside Marcus. He was lying on his back, legs towards me and watching me sideways. "You know there are people out there who'd pay a lot to be like you are right now."

"I don't mind being high, Marcus, but it's just annoying after a while." I turned to look at him. "It's more like hypersensitivity than being high. Everything's brighter, louder, more annoying."

Marcus rolled his eyes. "Yea. Some drugs do that."

"Someone could make a lot of money if they sell this stuff." I mused, turning my head up to the ceiling. "Did this happen to you too?"

"No. My fever worsened. I'm a bit envious actually." I heard him scratch his dry skin. The sound making me grit my teeth in disgust. "One more treatment and I'm guessing you'll start to show change."

"Huh. Will it be different for me?"

"Probably. There are some common changes, like the rashes, fever but no changes that are super extreme right now. We had five treatments and it's been about a month since then. I think they're just waiting and watching."

"I wonder what will happen to us if we make it through this alive." I said softly. "I have seen the ones who've survived come to take their family away to Section C and they... they just look so different..."

"I know." Marcus continued as I trailed off. "It's not only their looks, it's... I don't know what it is but it's haunting, looking at their faces. You never hear about what they're doing anymore, or what happened to them."

My lips twisted bitterly. "They're property of the State after they get out the other end alive. Anything they say could get them killed."

He sighed wearily, a sort of tiredness in that much beyond his age. "I don't know what's better at this point. Barely surviving in Section D, suffering in here, or being crushed under the State's thumb out there."

"When you take the fact that we're nothing to them into account, it makes dealing with it a lot easier. Because no matter what you do, your actions are so miniscule, so futile, that fighting will get you and your family killed." I went quiet for a few moments after that, letting it sink in. "I have to survive for my family." I finally said out loud.

"No." Marcus immediately refuted me. I twisted to look at him in confusion but his brown eyes were grim as he sat up. "In here, you have to survive for yourself, and nobody else. Thinking about the outside world will kill you faster than these people."

I frowned at him, at the similarity in our thoughts. "Listen, we both just want to get out of here in the end. How about we both figure out our own ways to deal with this, and meet each other on the other side?"

Marcus went silent, searching me with his dark eyes for a long silence. He slowly cracked a small smile, making his face light up, the blackening skin by his neck seemed inconsequential for a moment. "Sounds good to me." He held out his hand.

I gave him a small smile of my own back, not evenly remotely resembling his glow. "It's a deal." I agreed as we clasped hands.

His hand was warm and dry, grip strong as I expected. I had to resist the urge to wipe it as I saw his hand rise to rub his flaking neck.