Loosing Her Number »ᴄɵᴍᴘᴌᴇтᴇ«

ONE

ONE

Voices woke me from the nightmare. The nightmare that I'd dreamt about very night since it had happened. And just as I had every other time, I woke to feeling grief and despair. Grief for their deaths. Despair for my living through the event.

"How is Number 12 today?" asked a man's voice. I'd taken to calling him MIC in my head, an abbreviation of who he was around the place I'd woken up in after the event, the Man In Charge.

Ever since that night, Number 12 was my name. Not that I minded... much, because I couldn't remember my actual name. I couldn't remember my past, or the names of my family, all I remembered was that bloody event, that those people had been my family to now.

"Number 12 is doing very well. Better than most, actually," replied another, he was one of the scientists that looked after me, I'd nicknamed him Sone – "S" because he was a scientist, and "one" because he was the first one I'd met.

"Good," came the short reply from MIC. "How long until she can enter the ring?"

The ring? I'd heard other's talking about the ring. It was where people like me fought against one another. Not stopping until one was deeply injured. Or dead. It didn't sound like much fun, having to harm another just to please someone who kept you in a kennel like a dog.

And we were dogs, pets. We ate what they gave us, slept where they wanted us to sleep, lived where they wanted us to live and fought when and where they wanted us to fight. And just like a dog, if we weren't wanted, instead of giving us to another, we were put down. Just like a dog.

"A couple more days," Sone answered. "I'd like to do some more tests. She's different from the other's we've had here."

"Different in a good or bad way?"

"I'm not sure, Sir. That is why I would like to do some more tests on her. But, if you wanted, you could put her in the ring today. However, I wouldn't recommend you doing that."

"Because you aren't sure why she's different?"

"Exactly, Sir."

The silence lasted a couple of seconds while MIC thought. "All right, you have three days. Then I want her either put down or in the ring. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Don't waste time." I heard MIC's sharp click's of his shoes as he walked away from my kennel.

As my kennel door opened, I opened my eyes and blinked at Sone who wore his usual white coat, when I did, Sone's eyes widened. "Your eyes?" he whispered. Turning his head he whistled down the hall then turned back to me.

Stwo and Shree appeared next to Sone, then they too, looked at me.

"Never seen that happen before," Shree said with a slight eye raise in surprise.

"Do we put her down?" Stwo asked the others as though he was talking about the weather. I withheld the urge to snarl at him like a giant cat.

"No," Sone told him, a frown making itself known, making a 'v' form on his forehead. "We'll do some more tests. For all we know, her eyes changing colour may be a good thing."

"True," Stwo replied. "Are you getting her out?"

"Yes, the raven said not to waste time, and I want to see why her eyes have changed."

As the three of them moved about and injected me so that I was limp, I wondered what they meant. My eyes were brown, just as my hair was. Did they mean that they changed colour? Shape? Have they bled out so that no white could be seen? How had they changed? Because unlike the others like me in other kennels around the room, I had no idea what type of shifter I was.