Children of Darkness

Chapter 3

Lucian looked at his feet then turned to Willow.

"Do my eyes look red?" he asked.

Willow gulped and nodded. "Yeah, they look pretty bad to me," he told the youngster as kindly as he could.

"Don't tell him that," Duske mumbled.

Willow glanced at Duske. "He asked me. Did you want me to lie to him saying 'oh, hey, your eyes look great!'?"

Heath sighed. "You could've just said 'yes' instead of saying 'pretty bad'."

Lucian smiled. "It's okay. He was honest, and that was all I asked for."

Bud then gave a yawn. "Well, it's time to spill the beans now."

"Bud, just leave him alone," Duske snarled.

Bud looked at Lucian "Hey, orphan, you gonna speak?"

Lucian glared at Bud. "Maybe you should lose weight. And I'm not an orphan, right Heath?"

Heath looked at Lucian and gave a slight nod. "'Course not."

"'Least I'm not a freak."

"'Least I'm not fat and ugly."

"Lucian, Bud, stop this," Reid spoke up.

Piers nodded. "It's not helping with you two fighting."

Oleander came in the room with Raden. "Here're your rolls, team. And sorry, Lucian - you get nothing until tomorrow."

Lucian looked down. "But sir, I'm hungry. Can't I just have one... or half?" he begged.

Raden smiled as he passed the rolls around. "You were warned, and you agreed, don't you remember?"

Lucian sighed. "Sorry, sir, I'm hungry, that's all. I won't doubt you again."

Raden smiled and pulled a needle out. "That reminds me, I forgot to take some blood from you."

Lucian started to panic. "No, no, keep it away from me!" he cried with tears running down his face.

Willow put his hand on Lucian's head. "It's okay: keep your eyes shut, take deep breaths."

Lucian closed his eyes and and gave the man his arm for his blood to be taken.

"Why you such a chicken?" Raden smirked as he removed the needle and left.

Willow patted Lucian's back. "You can have my roll. I'm not a big fan of bread."

Lucian took the roll and smiled. "Thank you, Willow. I'll try my best next time to get us something better."

Willow turned to Oleander. "Thanks for the food, Oli."

Oleander nodded. "It's okay, Will. I must say, Duske, I heard those men want you tomorrow."

Duske's eyes widened. "Me?"

"I heard they are getting the walk-in fridge tomorrow," Oleander mentioned.

"Thanks, that's put me off my food," Duske complained, dropping his bread.

That night, Duske tossed and turned in his cage thinking about his testing. "Why the fridge, though...?"