Karkat paced around in his small cage, trying to calm himself down. It wasn't working. He was panicking. He really wished Kankri was here with him. He would always hold and reassure him when he got scared. But Kankri was dead. All because of those monsters ... Terezi and Kanaya's siblings were dead, too. They had practically died while trying to protect Karkat and his friends. It was amazing how Damara had managed to hold on. Even though she could barely walk, she used the last bits of her strength to snarl and claw at the people as much as she could. Karkat turned to the left to look at her through the cage bars. Her head was bowed down. He could tell she was crying. She was mad at herself for not having the strength to stop the scientists from taking Aradia. What was taking so long, anyway? Usually, they just took their blood. It didn't take long, but they would do it too many times in a single day. It left the trolls weak and dizzy. Then, occasionally, other experiments were performed on them. It seemed that was the case with Aradia today. He hoped she was alright.
He glanced up and squinted at Terezi in the neighbouring cage. The room was dark, but he could just make out her sleeping form. She was in the testing room yesterday. It didn't go too well, as always. She had put up a fight, as he could tell from the many teal scratches on her body.
"Terezi?" he whispered.
Her ear flinched. She turned her head slightly, but didn't face him. "Yes?"
Oh, so she wasn't asleep. "Are you okay? You haven't spoken a word since yesterday. What did they do?"
She hesitated for a moment. "They ... Well, they injected something ..."
Injected? That couldn't be good. "But are you okay?"
She shrugged. "I'm dizzy ... I think I just need to rest ..."
That wasn't everything. He could tell. "Terezi," called again. "Terezi, what else? I know you're not telling me everything."
He heard her stifle a sob. "I ... It's just that ..."
Suddenly the door opened. Damara sprang up and growled. She looked quite threatening with her spiked fur and baring teeth and that wild look in her eyes.
The people murmured something. One of them brought up a long cane and pinned Damara to the floor by her throat with it. She was snarling at them, trying to get free. One of the humans opened the cage door and dropped a limp Aradia inside with a thud. Karkat put his front paws on the bars and watched. He let out a breath he was holding when he saw she was breathing. Not dead, just unconscious. The people quickly locked the door and released Damara, who immediately wrapped herself around Aradia and let out some more growls. The door was closed and the trolls were left alone once again. Damara looked over her sister, licked her wounds and cursed herself for not protecting her.
What exactly had they done to deserve this? How long was it before more of them got killed? Why were the people doing this?
He turned back to Terezi. She was still curled up on the floor. He could hear her sobbing. He wanted to go over to her, to hold her, but he was trapped. He looked at Kanaya a few feet away from Terezi. She gave him a reassuring nod, but it didn't help much. He shut his eyes and let the tears flow.
He heard yelling. What now? He stopped crying and listened. He could barely make out some words from the obviously panicked people.
" ... can't find all this ... police ... destroy everything ..."
He knew what those last two words meant. He turned to Kanaya with a panicked face. Her eyes were wide open, ears drawn back. She turned to face Karkat and opened her mouth to speak, but didn't get a chance.
There was an explosion. Then another. The door was thrown off its hinges. There were too many sounds - shouting, sirens, more explosions. There was a fire. Smoke quickly filled the room. Karkat couldn't see. Or breathe. He started to cough. This is it, he thought. This is how it ends. He hit the floor and everything went black.