TW: Cursing, Violence, Violent Treatment, Crying, Blood, Bleeding out, Minor Character Death
Virgil's POV:
"Okay, 35, 36, 37.." I count out loud. We've got all the kids in one of the larger rooms, and I'm trying to make sure nobody gets left behind, and the others are looking after the five youngest, maybe talking to them or telling them a story while I count.
37, I counted. But there's 38 kids not including us.
So who are we missing?
I scan the room, trying to figure it out, still holding Quinne and making sure she stays happy, because she gets either stroppy or upset when I put her down.
"Ezran."
Ezran is an eleven-year-old kid, I used to speak to them sometimes, but it was all small talk. I mean, I'm on a first name basis with most of the people here, as would Mel be if she were here.
I clap my hands to get all of their attention.
None of them seem to pay any attention, and Remus, who is leaning against the wall next to me, seems to take notice.
"HEY FUCKERS!"
All the kids in the room look at him.
"You're welcome." He says cockily, looking over to Janus, who just seems unimpressed that he just swore at kids, some of which who are five-year-olds.
"Guys, where's Ezran?" I say, primarily looking at the older ones.
"Uh, I think they got taken for a test this morning." One of them says.
I groan, looking to my left to where Ro, Patton and Logan are stood.
"Do you know where? And who with?"
The same girl answers as before. "I'm pretty sure it was room 21. And they went with a few doctors."
I rake my hand through my hair.
"Okay, I'll go get them. Nobody do anything stupid, I won't be long."
I'm about to leave when I realise I'm still holding Quinne.
Everyone else is preoccupied with some kind of small kid, so I look for the next best thing.
The six of us are the oldest, but not by all that much. The next oldest is a fifteen year old boy, his name is Rocco.
"Rocks, hey, can you look after Quinne while I go get Ezran?"
"Yeah, ok, whatever."
His eyes dart from me to the small pink-haireed child I'm holding, until said child speaks.
"Where are you going Virgie?"
"To get someone, Quinnie, be good for Rocco, okay?"
She giggles and nods, letting me hand her to him.
I wave her goodbye and head out the door down the corridors, towards rooms 15-30.
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My body is starting to hurt from being held so violently. One man has his left arm around my waist and the other is holding onto his gun incase I "try anything". I'm literally a malnourished twelve year old boy wearing a blindfold with my hands tied. I don't know what he expects me to try.
The second guard is leading the way to one of the testing rooms. I used to be all curious about where I was being taken, and what we were gonna be doing, but now adays I just let them rope me up and take me somewhere and give me whatever pills they want, or cut some of my hair off, or give me whatever food or drink they want.
I just stopped caring, I think. As sad as that is.
I hear a keycard on a door and then the noise of it opening, and then not even five seconds later, I gasp in surprise as I'm thrown down onto the floor roughly.
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In my head, I count the numbers on the doors. 16, 17, 18, 19.
When I catch sigh of room 21, it just so happens to be the exact moment that seven different doctors leave the room. Seven. And they look to be in a hurry too.
One of them seems to notice me first and stops. She yelps in surprise then slightly wacks her friend beind her.
They look at me for a moment before somebody speaks up.
"Leave him, he's weak. We need to get to the room the rest of them are in."
I think I should be offended by him calling me weak, but it's overwhelmed by concern for the fact that they're gonna go to the main room.
I stand in shock as they run past, not even bothering to knock me out or sedate me. I know they have the tools for it.
I'm sure the others can handle this. Five seventeen year olds and 37 other kids of various ages against seven.
As soon as I see they're gone, I kick open the door to room 21.
Inside I see Ezran, with their hands tied infront of them and ankles tied under the chair. They look scared.
"Ez, hey, hey, it's okay. We're getting out of here."
They look up with hopeful eyes.
"V-Virgil? I thought you weren't here anymore."
I start undoing the ropes as they talk. "Did they give you anything?"
"N-No. They were just about to grab something when they took a look at the cameras and left."
"Okay, good. C'mon, we gotta be quick, Ez."
They stand up and wobble a little on their feet, which is understandable. Ezran has a particularly cool power, so they get tested on quite frequently. They can shoot fire out of their hands on command, and sometimes on accident too when they get too stressed or upset.
I take their hand and push the door open, then start leading them down the very bright corridors.
They have to stop to catch their breath or for me to reassure them that we're gonna get out of here and it's gonna be okay, but soon enough we get back to the main room.
And even from outside, I can hear complete and utter chaos.
I push the door open as fast as I can and Ezrah immediately runs to one of their friends for comfort, the kid they share a room with.
Some of the kids are fighting, the younger ones are hiding in the corners, seemingly very scared as the six of us and the kids on the older side are fighting tirelessly.
I let my eyes scan the room. Patton is very clearly winning a fight against one of the doctors, who looks to be about sixty. Remus is having a pretty balanced fight with one of the younger, more athletic doctors, and he also has a thin stream of blood trickling down his face from where he was clearly punched in the nose or something. Just as I look over to Janus, I see him kick one of the older women in the stomach, and she falls backwards, hitting her head on the hard floor.
He smirks slightly and runs a hand through his fluffy hair. He steps closer to her head, and she looks up to him, still very disorientated before he roughly kicks her in the side of her head with his boots on, knocking her out cold. If I didn't know him I would definately assume he was the bad guy, just from his nature.
Then I see Logan, holding a young kid as he simultaneaously uses his free hand to launch a bar of metal that I can assume he pulled down from the ceiling towards a woman. When it hits her, he pulls it back and throws it at her again. Roman is in a similar position to Remus, having a fair fight with one of the younger doctors.
"Virgil!" I hear my name called and glance over in the direction of it. The shout came from one of the thirteen year olds, who has a few other kids in a circle around something.
I snake past the fighters and scared kids towards them, crouching down to them. "You guys okay?"
"You have to promise not to get mad." One of them says, looking me directly in the eyes.
"You have to tell me what it is first." I reply, starting to get a little nervous.
He looks to everyone else and nods. "Uh, you know the little girl with the pink hair?"
I only now realise that I haven't seen Quinne yet.
"She uh, she got hurt."
My eyes widen and I raise an eyebrow at him.
"Where is she?"
The boy points to the other corner of the room, and I look in that direction.
I don't give myself time to process what she's doing or how she is, but as soon as I see the bright pink glow of her hair, I run over.
"Hey, hey, Quinne, I'm here."
I whisper, quietly as not to alarm her. She's slumped against the wall in the corner, gripping onto her teddy bear with a massive gash on her upper chest and shouder.
That has a lot of blood pooling out.
Like a lot.
I put my hands over the wound to try and stop it, but it doesn't do anything, just getting her blood on my hands. "..Fuck." I whisper under my breath.
"You never tol' me what that word means." She says, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she is literally bleeding out infront of me.
I'm starting to think that this kid is gonna die.
Genuinely.
I don't know what I can do.
"Quinnie, who hurt you?"
She points over to the doctor who's fighting Remus. "I- I was lookin' for you and he tol' me to go away and he had a sharp thingy."
I notice my hands start to shake, and I pick her up and hold her in my lap.
"Are we still goin' home Virgie?" She lets her eyes close and relaxes in my arms.
I feel her body heat fading away.
I don't think she's gonna get home.
"Mhm, Quinnie. We're gonna go home. Can you count to ten for me? And when you get all the- the way to ten, you- you'll be at home, with your m-mom and and y-your sister."
She looks at me with tired and hopeful eyes. "And see Lilia?"
Don't cry, Virgil. Don't cry. For her, don't cry.
"Yeah, Quinnie. A-And see Lilia."
She smiles contently and lies into my arms. Starting to count.
"One,"
"Two,"
"Thwee,"
She pauses for a few seconds.
"Four.."
"Five,
"Six,"
"Sev.."
And then she stops counting.
And then she's cold.
And then she's still.
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Ah, hello. I'm sorry for that whole, yknow, killing the small child thing. (Am I, though?)
I hope it wasn't too angsty.
Stay safe!