Katrina groggily shook herself out of her stupor. Opening her eyes, she was met with blank white walls and blinding white lights on the ceiling. Some teenagers her age were milling about, whispering quietly.
Katrina was in a small room with army cots lining one side of the room and a bathroom on the other. There was another locked door nearby, and she assumed that that was where whoever put them there got into the room.
Katrina stretched in the small army cot where she was laying. She cautiously stood up. Katrina grabbed a short freckled-face girl and yanked her towards her.
"Where are we?" she asked
"The waiting room for the Experiment," she whispered back.
"What? So, we're all Deviants? I didn't know there was a waiting room. What are we waiting for? When will we get out of here?"
The girl held up her hands to stop her. "Whoa, stop bombarding me with questions. All I know is that we're waiting until they get a 'suitable amount of people' for the Experiment. Some of us have been here for weeks. That's all they told us. But all of us are definitely Deviants."
"What's your power?" Katrina asked.
"Yeah. Healing. You?"
"She's an illusionist," someone behind her said.
Katrina whirled around to find Dean watching them.
"You know him?" the girl asked.
"I thought you escaped! How did they track you down?" Katrina wondered, ignoring the girl.
"They probably managed to follow us or something," Dean shrugged.
"I'm Dean Stanford," he said, talking to the girl Katrina was talking to before. "My power's telepathy."
"Blythe Forrest. Pleased to meet you." Blythe looked at Katrina expectantly.
"Katrina York," she introduced, clasping Blythe's outstretched hand.
Katrina ended the handshake as a loud hissing noise emerged from the walls. Within moments, half of the crowd had fallen unconscious.
Katrina dropped down to the floor and covered her nose and mouth, assuming that sleeping gas was being released. She took one last lungful of air and held her breath as long as she could.
Her lungs burned, but Katrina refused to be shot down so quickly and easily. However, soon, her survival instincts kicked in, forcing her to breathe in. Before she knew it, she was, once again, subdued.
...
The next thing Katrina knew, she was lying in a field. Her nose filled with the smell of rich soil and soft green grass tickled her face. Sitting up, she found everyone who were in the waiting room before lying around her. She took in her surroundings.
There were pastures filled with cows, chickens, pigs and other farm animals. A small shed's door was ajar, revealing plenty of farm tools. A city loomed to the south about seven miles away and sat between an ocean to the west and a forest to the east. A mountain range surrounded everything except the ocean, preventing anyone from getting in or out, acting as an effective barrier.
Katrina guessed that the ocean was like a barrier itself. She assumed that there was either an invisible wall in the ocean or the ocean was endless, so that if they ever tried to escape using the ocean, they would never reach anywhere.
Katrina spotted Blythe and Dean a few feet away from her. She walked towards them, grateful for familiar faces.
"Where are we?" Dean groaned.
"The Experiment," Katrina replied calmly. "Where else? I'm willing to bet that there are invisible cameras everywhere, reporting every one of our moves to scientists."
"You know, I thought the Experiment was going to be scientists sticking needles in our arms and stuff, not like this," Blythe commented, rebraiding her auburn hair.
"So, what do we do now?" Dean asked.
"I dunno. I guess we figure out how to survive. I mean, what else are we supposed to do?" Katrina replied.
Dean stood up, rubbing his back. He walked towards a rotting tree stump and climbed on top of it, waving his arms to get everyone's attention.
"My name is Dean Stanford and I'm fifteen. I'm a Deviant and my ability is telepathy. Now, I'm pretty sure that we're all Deviants, but I need to confirm it. Raise your hand if you're not a Deviant."
He paused. There was silence and nobody moved.
"Okay, then. That confirms it. Well, as many of you may have figured out, we're in the Experiment. And if the rumors are even somewhat true, then none of us will survive to see the outside world again."
Everyone murmured to themselves, unsettled. Dean raised one of his hands for silence.
"I don't know what the scientists want us to do and how they are experimenting on us, but I don't think that the Experiment is a normal experiment that takes a few hours or weeks. We need to think ahead. We could be here for months, years, even decades. Personally, I think that our first course of action should be identifying everyone and their ability. Then, we should split up into two groups: one will go over to that farm over there and see if they can produce any food, and the others will go explore. Does anyone disagree?"
Everyone nodded in consent.
"Great. Now, line up in front of me, please."
Katrina was shocked at Dean's natural leadership. Everyone was forming a line without argument. Katrina followed their example, lining up in front of Blythe.
One by one, each person told Dean their name, ability, and age. Some also performed a mini demonstration of their ability. Soon, it was Katrina turn.
"You already know my name and power," Katrina said. "And I'm fourteen years old.
"Any limitations to your ability?"
"I can't hold my illusions forever, especially if I'm creating the illusion of touch or sound," she offered.
"Anything else?" he asked.
"No, not really."
"Okay. Next," Dean ordered.
Katrina watched as he interrogated Blythe. As it turns out, Blythe could heal anything that doctors from the early 21st century could heal. All she had to do was place her hands on the person in question. Blythe was thirteen, the youngest person in the Experiment.
After getting all his information, Dean waved her past.
A few minutes later, Dean was done with everyone. Katrina walked up to him.
"You already know all of our abilities and limitations. Give us some information about yours," Katrina demanded.
"I agree," Blythe said, walking up to them.
Dean shrugged before complying. "I can send messages and read people's mind, but only what they are thinking at the moment. The sad thing is, they can tell when someone is in their head. I can also detect the activity of people's minds. Oh, and if someone thinks about silence and darkness when I'm in their head, then I can't read their mind. That's about it," he finished.
Dean walked away and climbed back onto the stump. He raised his hand for silence.
"There are currently sixty-four of us, including me. I'm going to try my best to keep that number the same and I hope that by the end of this Experiment, all of us will be alive and unharmed. Now, we need to split up into two groups. Go to the left, my left, if you would like to explore this place, and go to the right if you would like to stay here and find a stable food and water source."
Katrina immediately went to the left, along with Blythe, Dean, and a couple of other kids. Most people went to the right, probably scared of the unknown. She didn't blame them.
She studied the newcomers. One of them looked familiar, with his buzzcut, dirty tank top, baggy black pants, and tattoos running up and down his arm. It hit her the same moment it hit him.
"You!" they snarled in unison.
Both of them eyed each other uneasily. Katrina moved her hand to her belt and scowled as she realized that the police had taken away her knife.
Katrina and Derrick Lopez had been enemies for years, ever since Derrick had developed his ability to cause pain. They had been classmates and Derrick used his newfound abilities to release his wrath whenever anyone displeased him. Even now, years later, Katrina could feel his hand on her face, the pain going through her body.
She could remember the helpless way she twisted as the older boy tortured her. That was when she first discovered her ability. She had imagined a knife twisting in his arm and remembered how Derrick had stopped using his ability in surprise and shock. His screams had echoed throughout the school hallways as an imaginary knife sliced through his arm.
"Woah, what's going on here?" Dean said, alarmed, stepping between them.
"None of your business!" they both snapped.
"Actually, it is my business. Derrick, Katrina, one of you tell me what's going on."
Both of them ignored him as they started studying each other, looking for weaknesses. Katrina drew out her power so that her fingertips were tingling with energy, ready to release the illusion of pain at any second.
The problem was, she wasn't sure whether the illusion would work on him. The trick to the illusion of pain was to create something so realistic that the victim believes it. As Katrina had used this trick against Derrick so many times, Derrick had a better understanding of her ability than anyone else, so it was easier for him to resist her illusion. All he had to do is remind himself that it was an illusion, and that it can't hurt him.
"Blythe, do me a favor and make sure the two don't get into a fight while I go brief the other group on what they should do. Thanks," he said, without waiting for a reply.
Katrina and Derrick glared at each other as Dean walked away. Blythe stood awkwardly next to them, trying to make small talk.
"So, Derrick, what's your ability?"
"Pain inducement," he replied, wriggling his fingers in front of Blythe's face. "I can give you a free trial."
Blythe turned ashen gray. "Uh, thanks, but no thanks."
"It's funny how you can produce pain, but can't handle pain yourself," Katrina said casually, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. "Kind of ironic, right?"
Derrick snarled, turning a shade of deep red. He lunged for her and Katrina easily sidestepped him. She rendered herself invisible and created a clone, making the clone punch him in the face.
Blood flowed out of Derrick's nose and he wiped it away angrily as he watched the clone disappear. Katrina appeared behind him and kicked him in the shin. Derrick's legs buckled, causing him to sink to the ground. He lifted up his arms and concentrated. Katrina cursed. Whenever Derrick did that, he released his pain so that everyone within a couple of feet of him felt the pain, despite the fact that they were not in physical contact with him.
Katrina ran over to Blythe and knocked her out of his range, leaving only her to suffer from the pain.
A flame of agony erupted in her body. It felt like a thousand red hot daggers were being plunged into her skin, like someone was ripping her hand off. Katrina winced and forced herself to keep her invisibility illusion alive.
Unlike Katrina's ability, Derrick's allows him to cause real pain, so there is no trick to making the pain stop short of killing Derrick.
Katrina released her full abilities, creating fake people to attack him. Derrick tried to fight back but was soon overwhelmed. He started screaming as her clones delivered blow after blow, covering his body with bruises. At that moment, Dean chose to come back, carrying burlap bags full of food and other supplies for their journey.
"Both of you, stop!" he yelled. "STOP!"
When Katrina felt the pain leaving her body, she caused her illusions to disappear. Derrick stood up, glaring at her with his black, bruised eye. As the last of her illusions dissipated, so did Derrick's injuries--leaving his healthy body in the place of a bruised, battered mess.
Blythe walked over to him, placing her small, delicate hands over his where his wounds used to be, before realizing that his injuries were nothing more than an illusion. She checked Katrina but decided that Derrick's pain didn't cause any physical harm to her.
Dean crossed his arms and looked at the two of them, waiting for an explanation. Neither gave one. He sighed and gestured for their little group of ten to start moving towards the city.
Derrick and Katrina immediately walked far away from each other, Derrick alone in front of the group and Katrina at the back, with Dean and Blythe.
"So?" Dean asked. "Why did you two start fighting?"
Katrina sighed. "It's a long story," she said. "Let's just say this: Derrick and I, well, we've been enemies for a very long time."
Dean opted not to interrogate Katrina further. They walked in silence after that.
Suddenly, a strange sensation overtook Katrina. It was like someone had reached straight inside her and grabbed her brain, shifting through her memories. Katrina pushed all her memories down and thought about silence and darkness, glaring at Dean.
"You just tried to read my thoughts, didn't you?" she accused.
"Well, you refused to tell me anything," he countered, with the invitation to tell him about her and Derrick lingering in the air.
Katrina remained silent and created an illusion of a note in front of Derrick, warning him of what Dean was probably going to attempt to do next. As much as she hated Derrick, neither of them had a desire to let anyone else know of their long feud.
Sure enough, in a couple of moments, Derrick yelped, grabbing his head. He turned to Dean angrily and let out a string of curses. Dean ignored him.
"You warned him somehow, didn't you?" he asked. "I couldn't see anything in his mind."
"Two can play the game," Katrina replied vaguely. "If you use foul play and try to get inside our minds, well, I say it's perfectly fair to warn him of what you're going to do next."
Dean sighed, prodding her thoughts once more. Katrina continued to think about silence and darkness, and soon, Dean gave up, leaving her mind.
The sun was setting quickly. When they had arrived, it was about three or four in the afternoon, with plenty of sunlight left. Now, it was closer to eight in the evening. Their group started talking about setting up a shelter for the night.
Dean led them to a small patch of trees, tossing blankets from the bag he had brought to everyone. He set up a watch schedule, with him taking the first watch and Katrina taking the last. Everyone else's watch was somewhere in between.
Katrina clambered up a small, skinny tree, fitting herself comfortably between the branches. She didn't like the idea of sleeping on the ground, where Derrick could get her at any time. The tree she had chosen had thin branches, branches far too thin to support Derrick's weight.
She drew the blanket around her shoulders and closed her eyes, quickly falling asleep to the soft noises of the chirping crickets.
...
Here's another question: Are hot dogs sandwiches or hamburgers?