Billy Hargrove: Lost Souls.

Chapter Two: Green Liquid.

Dry, stale wholemeal bread packed with pink meat I was unsure was even meat. Us subjects were not allowed to be big eaters, it was part of the strict diet and health routine we were kept on by the lab. Most subjects were tube fed or given daily vitamins to substitute their hunger and need for food.

I was one of the lucky ones who were able to eat without being spoon fed, but I wasn't sure the phrase "lucky ones" was the correct term to use.

I scanned the room for the new arrival. Although I couldn't see him, I could smell his humanity. He was no where to be seen in the very few faces that wondered Hawkins. I sat my tray down next to two familiar faces, one being Mika. She had been here for around 18 months, when I first saw her fiery red hair I thought she was my way out of this place. Not long after I realised she was scared and weak, Mika had turned clinically insane, often sitting in her box room even when we were allowed to roam free. She only ate liquidised food and baby carrots, all day every day.

Next was Tarni, he had been in the facility for around 4 years and was the only man of colour amongst us. He still kept his sense of humour and when nobody was around to listen to our conversations he would tell me about his life in the real world, his life before he was captured. Tarni had children, somewhere in Jamaica; a boy and a girl but he could not remember their names. It was sad because when he first arrived, Tarni told me many tales but soon they became just stories and even he could not remember the life he had lived before.

I emptied my leftover crusts into the dustbin and slowly walked the long way around to my room. I glanced in every cell, trying to find the new face. Then I saw him, I remembered his curly permed hair. He lay, almost lifeless on his bed with the cell door wide open. I could hear his light sobs in between his soft snores, he made my heart thump through my chest. A feeling I would only feel every Wednesday during movie time.

I continued to walk through the doorway, closer to his body.
He was dressed the same as everyone else in the facility, white pants and a white coat with a white vest underneath. I couldn't help but stare, he was the most beautiful human I had ever seen despite his smell.
I reached my arm out slowly and placed it onto his shoulder, shaking him softly. He awoke and two big, blue eyes were revealed; I could see so much emotion in them eyes. Pain, confusion, love, hate.

"Hi" I whispered over the sounds of his heavy breathing.

Before he could give me a reply we were both startled by the blue sirens that screamed through the speakers.

"Code blue, code blue" was being shouted from every direction.

I felt something tight grip the nape of my neck and begin to drag me backwards. The guard continued to drag me through the cafeteria and into my cell, on the way I saw four or five guards tackling a subject to the floor. They began to inject him with green liquid to sedate him for a few hours.

Code Blue: a subject has used its powers outside of the Z- Ward. It was against the rules to use our powers unless we were told to, but that didn't stop many. It was only bad if we were caught doing so.

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Dinner was served in our cell rooms; cold tomato soup with a tuft of bread. I watched through the key hole at people walking past my room. We were all being punished for something that a subject had done, I hoped movie time was still on.
I continued to wander around my room, I had finished the book that was gifted to me by Dr Calgon and wasn't due another until the following Monday. That was another rule, no exchanging notes, letters or gifts but somehow Dr Calgon would get away with it every other week.
This week he hid George Orwell's 1984 in my pillow case, it took me 2 hours to read all 328 pages. So I continued to read it another three times.

I would often sit against the door, book in hand, peaking through the key hole watching the lab go by.

The door twitched open to unlock and a loud alarm went off, signifying we were allowed the leave our cells.

I wandered from the room into the hallway, pushing past others to get to the movie time room. It was a spare lab by day and a home made cinema by Wednesday evenings. This time I didn't race for the best seats, I raced to see Billy. I saw his face on the fourth row of chairs and placed myself next to him without saying a word.  His face was pale, almost ghost like.

Soon the film began, it was The Wizard of Oz. One of my favourites, I had first watched this film when I was 7 and had been in the lab for a few years, I finally settled in knowing that this would be my life. After I first watched it I ran back into my cell, closed my eyes tight and tapped my heels together, whispering "there's no place like home". Over and over again, I hoped so bad that I would open up my eyes and be back at my real home. With my real family. Happy.

Of course, It didn't work. But a girl can dream.

Once the film began, I scanned Billy once again with the corner of my eyes. His hands were tied up and his his eyes were wet. I turned to face him and whispered hello again.

Billy stared at me blankly, his eyes screamed pain.

"Don't talk, just listen to me" I continued.

"I'm going to help you, but you have to do what I say. Meet me tomorrow at lunch time, in your cell".

Billy didn't move, he didn't reply to me but I hoped he understood. I couldn't give him anything else because there were eyes and ears everywhere in this place.

I just had to wait and see.