Shade's Orphan
Chapter One: The First Escapee
At the time of the Change, every one was afraid. Most of the old people had vanished without a trace. So when the mysterious men arrived with the strange segmented carriages, the children would be obliged to get in. The strangers were safe looking, and to gain the children's trust, they took care of every child. That is, until their fourteenth 'Sad Birthday'. Soon after the strangers arrived, the Meat Factory was constructed.
The Meat Factory was a terrifying image in people's minds. Their imaginations could conjure up gruesome images of brain-removals and muscle de-stringing. But the creatures that came out of the Meat Factory were even more terrifying. Every child in the Dorms was afraid of growing up to die. Any child who learned the truth would whisper the rumours to their friends, until it spread through the entire Dorms. The older children would do anything to escape, but they were either never presented with that chance, or they were swiftly caught.
However, there was hope for some children. Certain children had developed Change Talents; special abilities that would help them with their struggle for survival. Be it prophecy, telekinesis (to a certain extent) or levitation, each and every Change Talent had a purpose and a usefulness. The certain children with these Change Talents had a better chance of escape, but very little knew about the Tracer implanted in the children while they were sleeping, and none knew about the Tracer Key which could de-activate the Tracer. For the first child ever to successfully escape the Dorms, though, the Tracer was not a problem.
Jack didn't expect to be able to escape. It was a month after the Change and he was twelve years old before he realised he had a Change Talent. It happened by accident, but Jack will never forget that day...
It was a sunny, September morning, and all of the boys in Dorm Res-Ang1 were on their way to an English lesson. As he walked, Jack felt an electric shock surge through his body. Unusually, it didn't hurt. It just left a tingling feeling all over his body. The Myrmidon Master leading the group glanced back, and noticed that Jack had disappeared. Puzzled, the Myrmidon Master summoned some Trackers to search for him. Every boy was confused as to what the Trackers were meant to be used for, as they could still see Jack.
The confusion and puzzlement increased when the Trackers could not smell his scent. As this was a once-in-a-lifetime event, the Myrmidon Master stayed put, unsure of what to do. The Trackers fanned out, desperately trying to sniff out Jack. The Overlord of Black Banner soon noticed the commotion, and strode over to the Myrmidon Master. The creature quickly explained:
" Ocre-Noki-Enga Mira-Igan-Sep-Sep-Igan-Noki-Gan,"
The Overlord nodded his head in comprehension, and watched the Trackers trying in vain to catch a scent.
Unexpectedly, the tingling feeling over Jack stopped. The next few moments travelled past in a flurry; the Trackers peeped their found prey whistle, and the Overlord and Myrmidon Master jumped back in surprise at the sudden appearance of the boy. The Overlord shook and scratched his head in puzzlement. He could not believe the fact that a harmless human boy had vanished without a trace, then mysteriously reappeared out of thin air. He told the group to carry on to their English lesson.
" What do you think happened?"
It was night, and the boys of Res-Ang were discussing their English lesson.
" Personally, I reckon that the creatures and the Overlord couldn't see something," whispered a boy.
" But what couldn't they see?" answered another.
" Me," said Jack.
The boys gasped and then muttered among themselves about this startling statement.
" What makes you think they couldn't see you?"
" Didn't you see them? They jumped back in surprise, and stared at me. I'm telling you, I turned invisible," said Jack confidently.
" Then how come we could all see you? You didn't turn invisible for us!" piped up a smaller boy.
" I don't know. I honestly don't know…" wondered Jack.
A year later, filled with rumours and mutterings, told him everything. He needed to escape within a year, or he'd be sent off to the Meat Factory. And he wasn't going to die under a surgical knife. Jack knew of a few children who had refused to get on the segmented buses, who themselves knew of secret hiding places. Jack planned to escape the Dorms, to join the outside children in their safe havens. What he didn't know, was how he was going to be able to do it.
" Something's wrong with us," said Jack, " and it's not letting us escape,"
" I've given up, Jack," replied his best friend, Rick, " I'm tired of this life. The only way to escape the Dorms is to not go there in the first place. Look where we are, Jack,"
Jack stared at Rick. It was not like him to give up. For all of his life, Rick had never willingly passed over anything. Now it seemed like he was at breaking point.
" This isn't you, Rick. It's this place. We're going to escape this god-forsaken place, I swear, and meet the people on the outside. Think about it. The end of creatures patrolling us. The start of a better life. Think, Rick, think,"
Three weeks later, they were ready to go. Jack, Rick and three other friends were prepared to act out their radical plan. Hannah, George and Sarah knew the risks and the consequences, but they could not be persuaded to stay at the Dorms. Their chance came at night, as the afternoon provided a startling breakthrough.
" We can leave tonight, Rick," Jack quickly muttered over lunch.
" Really? What's happened?" asked Rick curiously.
" I've found out something important. Remember what I told you, three weeks ago?"
" You said something's not letting us get outta here, right?"
" They've got Tracers in us, Rick,"
" Tracers? What are they doing in us? Where are they? I'll rip them out of my own butt if I have to!"
" I don't know where they are and I don't know what they're doing in us, but I do know this…They don't matter. I-" Jack stopped and leaned in closer to Rick, " I can make myself and anything I touch invisible,"
Rick leaned out, squinted at Jack, and said:
" I swear you're winding me up."
" No, it's true! I could sneak everyone out of here tonight, it would be easy!"
" If that is true, and that's a big if, then well done mate. I'll tell the rest,"
Jack woke the others soon after midnight. Each of them creeped through the Dormitory until they were at the door. They each laid a hand on Jack's shoulders as he could feel the harmless shock run through him again.
" Ready?" asked Jack.
" Ready," they mouthed back.
They all tiptoed down the corridor, past the snoring Myrmidon Master, under the Dormitory arch until they were in the Dormitory grounds. The fences rose up, seeming to want to keep the captives captive. The fences had very small chinks, and so would be difficult to scale. But it was the fences, or risk running into Ferrets.
" This'll be damn hard to climb," stated Hannah bluntly.
" 'Specially as we have to keep touching Jack," added George.
" Nothing else is going to work," said Sarah, " Might as well get on with it,"
" Yep. Nothing for it," said Rick.
And so they started to climb.
1 Myrmidon Battlespeech. A lost document of translation has been provided