The Changed (Completed)

Chapter Five: Confusion

I sat up quickly, "No, no, I do want to play!"

I wish I didn't know it was a memory.

"You good?" A girl asked.

My head throbbed as I blinked sleep from my eyes. The ceiling was made of wood. I rubbed my face. Blood coated my fingers. Touching my forehead, I found the source. What must have been a gash stung as my fingertips brushed against the broken skin.

The ceiling was not wood. It was a bed above me. A hard and scratchy mattress rubbed the back of my arms. I blinked and the top of a bunk bed became clearer in my vision.

"Hello?" The girl repeated. I turned to find an upside-down face with puffy cheeks watching me. I gasped, scrambling away, only to be stopped by my head pulsing.

"Oh my gosh, don't freak, I'm like you," the girl scrambled down from the bunk. She was wearing a black shirt and black pants. The shirt had a number printed in white. Looking at my own body, I was wearing the same. My number was 077. Her's was 024.

"What?" I mumbled, touching the number in confusion.

The girl now sat across from me. She had pale skin and long strawberry-blonde hair that was matted and tangled, "What's your name?"

In the small room, there was another bunk bed. A broad-shouldered boy faced the wall asleep. I couldn't see if someone was on the top bunk, but I could only hear the three of us. There was a door in the room, but no windows. Next to the door was a rectangular box with a red light. The box was buzzing electronically. I rubbed my ear. Maybe, it was only my hearing that was buzzing.

"Hey, what's your name?" The girl waved her hand in front of my face, bringing herself into focus.

"Margo," I murmured, my vision still dancing.

"I'm Taylor," she offered a hand, her arm covered in freckles.

I avoided the handshake. My gaze was still darting around the room in an attempt to make sense of my surroundings.

"God, you're not going to be like him are you?" Taylor gestured to the boy sleeping on the bunk with a sour expression, "064, he's been here a week and I still can't get a name out of him. Please tell me you're actually friendly."

"What do you mean he's been here a week?" I asked in horror.

She frowned, "A week is nothing, I've been here for almost a month."

My breathing became rapid as I clutched my chest, "Where are we?" I gasped, "What's going on?" I clung to the shirt, twisting the fabric into a fist. It was as if the foreign uniform was strangling me. Heat blossomed beneath my skin as I broke out in a sweat, the room swaying.

"Woah! Breathe!" Taylor rubbed my arm, "Hey, you're okay, it's okay."

I slowed my breaths, but another wave of panic followed as the events that brought me here reopened in my mind like the ripped stitches of a wound, "Oh my God," I whispered between uneven and choked gasps, "Oh my God, my mom is dead. They shot her!" I wailed, collapsing against the stranger.

Taylor rubbed circles on my back whilst I sobbed, tears and snot dripping into my mouth and soaking Taylor's shirt, "This can't be real, please tell me this isn't real," I cried hoarsely.

"Oh, SHUT IT!"

Both Taylor and I froze in shock.

The boy sleeping on the bunk had put a pillow over his head.

"Hey, don't be rude! Her mom was murdered!" Taylor retorted, chunking my pillow at the boy.

"Fuck off, don't care," he groaned, his large tanned hand gripping the pillow against his ears.

I swallowed, unsure of what to say. I'd never heard anyone have less empathy.

"Ignore him, Margo, it's shit what's happening to us," Taylor said, offering a hug. At least one of these strangers was capable of compassion.

She smelled like body odor, but I doubted I was much better, "Uh, what is happening to us?" I asked after the hug ended.

"I don't want to be the one to tell you, they'll collect you soon and take you to the lady in the lab coat. She'll explain everything better than I can," Taylor said.

I didn't like the sound of that. "Who's the lady in the lab coat?"

"It's all really secretive. This is a government base," said Taylor, she'd begun to gnaw on her fingernail, ripping it off and spitting it onto the floor.

"Are we in some sort of danger?" I shook my throbbing head. Nothing was making sense.

"I'm not sure, I mean, they said no, but I don't know," Taylor spit another nail on the floor.

"Why are we here?" I asked, "Why 'we' specifically? Is this about the virus?"

Taylor held a finger to her mouth and nodded toward the corner of the wall, she looked up and I followed her line of sight. There was a white camera with a blinking red light.

"Listen, I'm not going to say anymore, the last girl talked a lot about theories and what's going on and they came to take her," Taylor's chin trembled, "She didn't come back."

"I want to go home," I felt like a child as I began to cry again, "I don't want to be here for a month."

"I didn't either, but it's not so bad," Taylor reassured, "We're fed three times a day, it's boring but better than the alternative."

I was becoming more unsettled. The room was shrinking in my mind, becoming more like a cage. I brought my knees to my chest, "What's the alternative?"

"Like I said, they'll explain everything later."

Anger flushed across my cheeks, "Why would I give a FUCK what 'they' say! Who even is 'they'!" I shouted, "Whoever they are, they murdered my mother so I don't really care to hear them out."

"You're loud, but at least you're not as stupid as sunshine over there," the boy on the opposite bunk chimed in lowly, "They're not the good guys they make themselves out to be."

Taylor shushed him, her eyes wide with fear as she looked toward the camera again, "Maybe I just don't want to say anything that will get me in trouble, okay? I didn't say I thought they were good and I'm not stupid."

There were distant footsteps and I stopped listening to the others to follow the boots down the path. But the others became quiet too.

"Wait, can you hear them too?" I asked.

Taylor shook her head, her finger to her mouth, "They're coming."

This is the first long chapter with many more like it to come. I hope you're enjoying the story. I'd love it if you could leave a vote, comment, and add this story to your library. Also, give me a follow to receive updates on chapters. Thank you, thank you, and happy reading! -N.K Ansley

Question for the comments: For those of you reading a second time, what do you think of Taylor? For first-time readers, what questions do you have about the events that are going to follow? Are you spooked?