Lucky 13

The Beginning

Out of all the things I'd done in that hellish place, raising subject thirteen wasn't among the things I'd regretted. I wasn't prepared to be selected as the handler for one of the numbered subjects, I'd only been hired to make sure the lights stayed on and the machines kept working. I was fresh out of Harvard with an engineering degree and was midway through my sandwich when I got the offer. Marcos always was a bastard, and he knew that my inherent nature would pair well with Thirteen's obviously fragile psyche, I suspect they'd had our psyche profiles matched. But I accepted because the pay was good.

It was just a job. Three years watching her through that machine. And maybe a little part of me fell in love with her, because I wished she knew who I was. Until she did.

I watched them all grow, all fifteen of them, though 'Lucky' had earned a special place in my heart. She was always so sensitive, more content to play with the rabbit I'd given her than the studies and angst her peers had taken to. They'd all interacted of course, but her abilities being what they were, they naturally found her a bit odd. That didn't stop me from sneaking treats in with her meals. I tried to get something different for each meal, god knows I could afford it.

I knew that for what we'd done here we would be ostracized or worse, killed or tortured, but the thought of some other sleazeball looking after my children made me sick. I couldn't be sure they'd be treated fairly, couldn't ensure their safety or sanity, and that was a risk I could not take. Lucky would always be my favorite, but after just a year I was promoted to Handler Supervisor. Not a very good thing to admit to as a parent, but I'd hardly call myself a saint or an expert on the matter.

They kept me here, watching these children slowly fall apart, but I was grateful at least for not being a handler for one of the lettered subjects. Marcos may call the children monsters, but we regularly replaced the lettered subjects handlers on almost a monthly basis.

I watched her for what seemed like forever. Sneaking snacks in when she heard the voices too loudly, medicine when they'd broken her till she couldn't move, and I'd ordered her rest and time off when it had all just been too much for her. For all of them. Day by day I broke protocol and risked my life for them. I never really thought about the future, theirs or mine, maybe some part of me was content to do this till the day I would be put in the ground, loathe as I am to admit it.

Then it all went to hell.

I wasn't ready when the sirens started. Klaxons blaring, and I was racing to their cells before I even processed what was happening, sandwich wedged into my mouth. Colleagues raced by, guards setting up checkpoints as I went, from what everyone had told me and my clearance level, I'd learned what happened. One of the guards handling her combat training hadn't read the briefing. He'd brought a cattle prod, and the children had jumped on the opportunity. I'd run past dozens of otherworldly scenes as I went, whole hallways engulfed in flames, guards pulling back en masse.

By the time I'd neared their cell block, the lettered subjects had escaped and the screaming started.

I was both proud and horrified. She crouched over the guard she'd taken down, the other children moving further away judging by the echoes, and she glared at me. The raw hatred in her eyes was only eclipsed by the berserker fury in the air. Her telekinetic and telepathic power manifested from her petite form so strongly that bolts of raw electricity danced across her skin.

Her head hadn't been shaved again, straw colored locks falling over gaunt shoulders. Her sweet ivory skin a sickly color now, likely from the exertion and power she'd brought forth. A rabbit clutched against her side.

I was a few heads taller than this small girl standing before me, but the look in her eyes had me sweating profusely.

"Lucky..." the name slipped from my lips without a second thought, her eyes widening in recognition. I'd written her name on her treats, I'd given them all names but she knew she'd been the first. My name was on the tag around the stuffed rabbit she clutched closely, and just under it, 'Lucky'.

She growled, retreating a bit, and as I followed her through the airlock, I witnessed the carnage she'd wrought. She'd broken straight through the sanitary white of the training room walls, tore apart every piece of machinery she could see, the room more scrap metal than observation deck. She glared, tears in her eyes as she contemplated my death, hands clenched at her side.

"Lucky, I'm Doctor Lee. I've been your handler for the last three years." I bargained with her, "I gave you Gizmo and the treats."

Her eyes widened further, the rabbit being spun in her grasp as she read its name tag, tears flowing from her eyes.

"Let me take you away from here Lucky." My hand was held out before me before I'd even thought to move it.

A pale sickly hand took it.