Tainted
Being Tainted means you've been spoiled.
Corrupted.
Damaged.
Tainted.
It didn't matter what grades you got.
It didn't matter how many good deeds you've done.
Did you go to church each Sunday? Way to go. You've poisoned them all. Your God doesn't recognize you.
You were the mistake He made. You meant nothing.
You were nothing.
No one wants you to exist.
They would all rather murder a Tainted child in cold blood shed, break the hearts of expectant mothers and fathers and tell them they were Tainted. The child they waited nine months for was the spawn of the Devil.
Cruel.
Evil.
Numb.
Numb ends up being what any remaining Tainted becomes. Any Tainted who slipped under the radar by a gracious hospital that couldn't bear the idea of killing an innocent and merciful little baby that's only problem was they were Tainted. They were different.
They were corrupt. Corrupt and pure.
Calm in the chaos.
Warmth in the bitter cold of the world.
No one knows the life of a Tainted kid better than a Tainted child and their family. It was the struggle of identity. It was the struggle of life.
Good.
Bad.
Neutral?
Moral.
Immoral.
Where does your ?
It sounds like the same kind of life that any child lives.
Right.
Wrong.
Black.
White.
Where di g r e y g o ?
Growing up, you're suppose to learn these kind of things. But why does the world make it so much harder on a Tainted kid to learn these things? Your parents are constantly in fear of the family getting found out. That they'll find the hospital you came from and kill every doctor, nurse, janitor, everyone there because they let Tainted children have a chance of life.
A chance of redemption.
A chance to prove themselves.
A chance to be a person.
What does it take to be a person? What does it take to be treated as a human being with emotions?
Feelings?
Dreams?
.
Everything is f
a
l
l
i
n
g
a p r
a
t.
This world gets to the point that you start wondering why the doctor didn't just go ahead and grant you death as a baby. They knew you would be in pain.
Shadowed.
Tainted.
Nothing.
And the thought of that tends to make most lucky Tainted survivors angry to know the doctors knew you ha e.
But then you remember.
What if what they really wanted to give you was… hope? Hope that this world can change, and that one of these babies they protect and save from the world to give them life may truly bring change.
One of the children they save will bring new life to this world. A world they want to accept Tainted. A world that finally opens its eyes and sees these people, the Tainted Humans, as people.
But….
Why is it….
taking so…..
long . . . . . . . . . . . ?
"Because everyone fears change. Everyone fears differences. We'd rather be ignorant about change, about "Tainted" and fail to understand it's more common than they make it out to be," the blond teen states, flipping his hair back a moment before opting to just go ahead and put it in a ponytail. It was easier to deal with that way anyway. He was labeled as Subject W-17, but his friends called him Tyler Breeze. You know, the name his parents had given him. Shocker, right? He was one of the leaders and ring leaders of the Tainted's Uprising. He shared in the sector of keeping the teenagers from ages 13-18 in line with two other people, as well as being the main leader for the children ages 5-12.
"We never posed as a threat in the beginning, if you look back to when the first Tainted was born. The "murders" they're talking about that started this big war and mass genocide of Tainted for years now were all from people, about our age, who were inadequately trained, had limited control, and usually trying to defend themselves and went too far," another older teen agrees, taking his usual spot beside Tyler. F-09, or his birth name of Johnny Curtis, others may go by his nickname of Fandango, given as a jab at his love for dance and passion for it. From the stories told, it was clear that was where he wanted his life to lead before getting captured. He was typically in the same age groups as Tyler when it came to the leaders, his right-hand man in the younger group.
"No questions asked, they just either killed us when we were born or hunted us down to experiment on us. It was one or the other," came a third voice, gruffer than the other two, as the teen rolled his eyes. He had two other friends with him in their little group. He was the more outspoken of the three, one playing typically silent as part of a quiet strength he held, the other quiet from deciding against possibly interrupting his friend. D-12 Dean Ambrose, S-13 Roman Reigns, E-08 Seth Rollins. Dean crossed his arms and shook his head.
"It's disgusting. They don't care," he continued to say, squeezing his arms a bit.
"That much we know for sure, D. No one's denying that," a female voice then pipes up, brushing her red hair back. F-15, Becky Lynch. "We each came from the same place. The only thing we can hope is that we can actually… well, end it."
"But that's the problem, Becky! What the hell is a bunch of teenagers and kids going to do?! We have, what, four fully legal adults here?! Yeah, that's gonna go well for us against the entire fucking world!" Dean points out, throwing his hands up.
"But it isn't just us, Dean," Tyler interjects. "There are more than just us who are Tainted. There are more who are adults still living in the shadows. There's people out there that are on our side from the Human side."
"Human side… God, they treat us like we're not human beings too," Becky goes on with a sigh.
"As far as they're concerned, we lost our Human cards when we were born Tainted," Seth suddenly points out bluntly. "We didn't stand a chance."
"Yeah, you gain powers no human previously had before and suddenly you were never human to begin with. Doesn't matter that your parents are human, and science dictates we're just as much human. But hey, what do we know?" Fandango adds in.
"Well, fuck us for being able to shoot fire from our hands, or control water, have psychic abilities, whatever the hell we all can do," Dean huffs out.
"They forget when the same thing that scares them is something that can help greatly," Tyler goes on before shrugging. "But… give it time. We'll… figure something out. We were all made leaders for a reason. Together, we can figure something out."
"Has anyone been able to get into contact with other groups? I still haven't heard from Beta, and they were supposed to get in contact with either Tyler or myself last night," the blond's right-hand partner asked, looking around the small group of leaders. All of them gave a small shake of their head. He sighed.
"Everyone try to see if you can get in contact with one of the members. The last thing any one of us want to find out is any of them didn't make it to their destination."
"There's at least three different government caps holding Tainted just in the area they're staying at. We don't want any more of our members possibly getting re-locked up in those camps. They've already proven to be extremely difficult to break into…" Tyler continues. "We want as little conflict with the camps as possible, until we have enough people and a concrete plan in dealing with these camps."
"And if any of the other groups get captured…?" the female asks slowly.
"What do you think? We do what we can to bust them out. We don't leave anyone behind… And if they figure out that they're part of this group, they're going to be at least ten times worst to those they capture."
"Figured."
"Until then… Everyone go ahead and spread out to your selected areas and duties. Not all of the leaders could be present here, as some are leading for scavenging and such. Try to inform everyone and stay close. Remember… No one goes outside alone."
With that, most of the small group scattered, leaving Tyler and Johnny alone. The blond sighs as he looks over to his companion.
"Dango… Do you think this I the best course of action here? Just… waiting?" Tyler asks him quietly. The other male wrapped his arm around the fretting teen, hugging him close.
"You're doing the best you can. We all are," he points out to him softly, gently turning the younger towards him. Tyler blinks a bit and looks up to him.
"Do you really think I'm the best person to be leading all of this?" he asks Johnny next. The older teen chuckles a bit and smiles at him.
"Think I'd be behind you if I didn't think so? You were the one in our camp that was adamant as you were about getting out and solving this. Freeing the Tainted. Bringing unity. As long as we all stick together, we have a chance."
"I mean, that's the idea…"
"Tyler… No one said it was going to be easy. You especially know that. It took multiple tries to even get all of us to revolt in our camp, let alone come together as a team. This is just the beginning."