Don't worry if you're still confused, I clear most things up at the end of this chapter! Please stick around until at least then.
The dates at the beginning of POVs are just to keep days straight and help me keep track of how much time is passing. If there is no date above a POV, it takes place directly following or at the same time as the last one.
"So where are we going?"
Gilbert glanced over in surprise at the sound of his younger companion's quiet voice before returning his eyes to the road. Matthew hadn't said much since they'd hopped into Gilbert's car in the school parking lot and made their escape that morning. At first, Gilbert had been more than willing to fill the silence himself- explaining everything alone had taken up at least half an hour with the younger boy asking questions here and there, but after that he'd soon run out of things to say, and the quiet had stretched between them for quite awhile until Gilbert switched on the radio a few miles back.
"I was thinking I'd sneak by my house to grab some things and then we'd take off."
"Take off for where?" Matthew's voice was grim- Gilbert had already told him that going home and staying home would put their families in danger. "What exactly is the plan?"
"There is no plan." Gilbert shrugged as if wholly unconcerned by this fact. "Plans make things less fun, anyway." He could tell from the way Matthew's shoulders tensed that he didn't agree with that at all, but the freshman just leaned back and didn't say anything. Gilbert tapped his hands on the steering wheel, suddenly feeling a bit awkward. "Listen," he said, struggling to find words, "I'm sorry if I scared you back there. I know it was an un-awesome thing to do. But we had to get out of there and you weren't listening-," he broke off, fingers tightening against the steering wheel. A heavy silence hung between them for a few moments until Gilbert blew out a tired sigh. "I'm sorry. We're friends now," he promised, leaning over to push Matthew's shoulder lightly, "I'm not going to force you to do anything."
Glancing over, Gilbert could see Matthew's face was slightly flushed, but it was probably just indignation from having been pushed. "It's okay," he said quietly, but genuinely, "I get it."
The tension seeped out of Gilbert's shoulders and he offered the freshman in the passenger seat a relieved smile. "We still have another ten minutes till we get to my place. Why don't you choose the station? I don't care what we listen to as long as it's loud."
"If I hadn't left my phone in my locker I'd have a ton of playlists," Matthew said mournfully as he leaned forward to fiddle with the radio dial.
"My phone's in my sweater in the back if you want it later. But we should probably be careful about the GPS..."
Out of the corner of his eye, Gilbert saw Matthew try and hide a tentative smile in the sleeve of his red hoodie. "Because the FBI are watching us," he said in a mocking solemn tone.
"They might be!" Gilbert's defensive attitude was less believable when his statement was punctuated by a laugh.
"Oh, hey!" Matthew's face brightened considerably and he quickly made to turn the radio up. Gilbert's ears were instantly assaulted by 80s synthetic pop. "Safety Dance," Matthew said with a hesitant but excited grin.
"This is the stuff you listen to?" Gilbert asked with a disbelieving snort. "Never would've guessed."
"It's a classic," Matthew protested. "It'd be a crime to skip over this song."
"You got me there," Gilbert admitted. Truthfully, if he was by himself he probably would've skipped past it, but he couldn't bring himself to do that when Matthew finally seemed more or less relaxed. Besides, it really wasn't a bad song to lift the mood. "You better be willing to sing it with me though," Gilbert warned, turning it up a tad higher than what Matthew had left it at. "Don't give me that look, you brought this on yourself."
Matthew shook his head with a nervous laugh but when the chorus came they were both singing, "We can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind, cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance well they're, no friends of mine." (Gilbert's shrieking voice drowned out Matthew's quieter one by quite a lot but it didn't matter, they were both more at peace than they'd been all day).
November 17th, Afternoon
Yao's day kept getting worse and worse.
It was his third day at this camp and he'd been too busy with his job examining the wave of new kids to search the computers for any data on his own specific teens he was looking for. And he hated his job, he hated it so much- every kid who stepped into the room was either scared senseless or ready to fight him, and he really wished that he wasn't the one responsible for prolonging their fear and anger. If he had it his way, he'd smuggle each and every kid out of here himself, regardless of their color or "danger level".
But he had to do this. It was the only way he'd have safe access to the Psi database- the only way he'd be able to find where they'd brought the kids who may as well have been Yao's younger siblings with how close their families had been. The last two camps he'd worked at hadn't had any information on them, so either they were somewhere else, or they'd somehow managed to evade the situation altogether. And while it would make all of Yao's work unnecessary, he desperately hoped they'd gotten away safely.
He'd just calmed a terrified young girl enough for her to just go near the CT scan, trying to show that it wasn't dangerous. Unfortunately, when her hands came into contact with the machine, it sparked angrily and made a high pitched whirring noise. He'd pulled her away quickly and it all abruptly stopped.
"What did I do, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
"No, no, it's okay," Yao said soothingly, feeling his heart constrict in his chest. It wasn't okay. "That just means you're a Yellow. There are a lot of girls like you here." He went over to the cabinet and numbly reached for a yellow jumpsuit that appeared to be the closest to her size. Kneeling down, he gently offered her the clothing. "Why don't you go change behind that curtain? I'll be right back."
Minutes later, he'd watched the PSF march her out of the room in chains.
He sighed and checked his watch. His shift was supposed to have ended awhile ago, but this camp was already pretty understaffed, and with the arrival of all the new kids they'd bussed in the night before, there was hardly a chance to even take a break. He'd worked through the night and had missed breakfast and lunch.
His door opened again and Yao straightened from where he'd been slouched against the sink, sharing a grim look with the PSF as she dragged a struggling boy inside. Once they'd crossed the threshold, the boy shrugged her off and glared.
"Careful with this one," she warned, wiping her hands as if somehow IAAN could be transferred through both clothing and gloved hands, even though she was fully aware that adults couldn't even contract the disease. Yao nodded distastefully and waited for the door to click behind her before he turned to the child.
He was older than the last girl had been, but couldn't have been much older than thirteen or fourteen; he didn't have the bleak understanding and desperate anger of the older kids nor the paralyzing fear and obedience of the younger ones. His blue eyes blinked anxiously at Yao before he spun around to take in his surroundings.
"You're safe in here," Yao promised, making his way to the computer. "Could you tell me your name?"
"What the Hell is happening?" the boy's voice shook and he stopped to clear his throat. The next time he spoke, his tone was even. "Please, can you tell me?"
Yao looked at him for a second, taking in his staticky blond hair and the dark purple circles beneath his eyes. He mustn't have been able to catch much sleep on the ride here, not with his hands zip tied behind his back and no proper explanation for where the bus was going or why he and the other kids were being taken there. How long had he waited outside for his turn to be tested?
"It's complicated," Yao said carefully, not wanting to overwhelm this kid on so little sleep. Upon seeing his expression, however, Yao decided to just cut to the chase. With a sigh, he said, "The majority of the children left alive in the country seem to have developed supernatural and dangerous abilities."
"Wait, left alive?"
"Yes; the others all fell to Everhart's Disease. You've heard of it, I'm sure?" Yao waited for the boy to nod grimly before continuing. "These places, these camps, were designed as rehabilitation centers, so that kids like you would have a-," Yao had a hard time saying the next words, "-safe place."
The boy squinted at Yao in disbelief. "So you're trying to tell me that we mutated or something? And now we're too dangerous to live outside a fence?"
"Ah, well, yes, actually. The soldiers here have been trained to deal with all sorts of extraordinary children, but I would highly recommend staying out of their path as much as possible. They don't seem to like to play by the rules…"
"But I don't have any special powers, so how come I'm here? I think there was a mistake."
"You probably just haven't developed them quite yet," Yao said, a slight apologetic undertone to his voice. "And, unfortunately, the government doesn't like to take risks. Now, can you please tell me your name?"
"Alfred William-Jones," the boy said distractedly. "So, wait, am I gonna have to stay here then? What about my family? What about my brother?"
Yao couldn't bring himself to answer, so he turned back to his computer. There was no current data listed for Alfred William-Jones, meaning they hadn't done the initial screening for this one. With another weary sigh, Yao gestured Alfred to follow as he made his way over to the CT scan. "So you haven't been experiencing any symptoms lately? No pain? Nothing's felt off?"
Alfred shook his head warily. "I already told you, I don't have any special abilities."
"Well then, I'm just going to have you lie here, okay? This scanner's just going to take a picture of your brain so we can see which color you're most likely going to be."
Alfred frowned even as he hesitantly made to lay down. "Color?"
"Which of the special abilities are the most likely to apply to you," Yao rephrased.
Neither of them said anything for a bit after that, Yao focusing on what he was doing and Alfred digesting everything he'd been told thus far.
Five minutes later, the results of the scanner were up on Yao's computer screen, and he tsked in annoyance when he found that they'd come back inconclusive. There really was no way to say what color the boy might be at this point; the likelihood technically pointed towards one of the higher levels of Yellow, Red, or Orange, but that was just speculation, and Yao didn't want to risk sending the kid off to the wrong section of the camp. And while notably rare, there was still the possibility that he might end up as blank.
But, Yao had to assign him somewhere. There was no cabin for kids whose abilities had yet to make an appearance, so the very least he could do for the kid's safety was place him in the least dangerous sector.
"Looks like you're Green," he said, forcing himself to sound positive as he helped Alfred sit back up. Picking his words carefully, he added, "that means you'll have enhanced mental capabilities."
Alfred actually snorted. "What's so dangerous about that?"
Yao didn't answer, instead retrieving the proper forest green jumpsuit and holding it out to Alfred. "Here, put this on." Alfred stared at him for a moment before he mutely took the clothes and went to change behind the curtain. Yao absently tucked a stray strand of hair behind his ear and opened his door to alert the PSF outside that this kid was Green. Well. At least he wouldn't have to watch another kid be dragged away in literal shackles.
It was the small mercies.
Arthur had been here for almost a week, now. Or had it been a full week already? It was hard to tell when all the days melded together. He doubted it mattered anyway; why bother counting the days when there wasn't even a chance of leaving anytime soon? It's certainly not like he'd gone in there without a fight, but that had ended relatively quickly, what with their "Calm Control" that was like acid pouring through his ears and the few PSF who weren't afraid to actually hit the Green kids.
Green. That's what they said he was. He supposed he should be grateful for that- Greens were considered the least dangerous color, so they didn't have to deal with half the restrictions and surveillance as the others. Around the camp he'd also seen kids in blue walking about almost as freely as the Greens, but it was the Yellows and the occasional Reds and Oranges that had it the hardest. Arthur hadn't seen much of them asides from passing glimpses, but yesterday he'd seen a screaming PSF rolling to get flames out of their skin while three others had gone to restrain the single Red responsible, and the day he'd arrived he and his entire bus witnessed a small Orange girl force the bus driver to shoot two PSFs dead. Really it had been the perfect welcome to a hellhole like this.
Rolling his eyes at his own dramatics, Arthur pulled his gaze away from the window and glanced around his cabin. Right now there were 18 other boys he shared this space with, but he was sure they would keep sending more kids in until it was filled to the max. Their ages were all over the place, too- Arthur hadn't spoken to any of them but he'd heard them all shout in disbelief when they learned that the youngest among them was merely seven and the oldest seventeen.
"What happens when you turn eighteen?" a ten year old had asked the oldest a few nights ago.
"I hope they kill me," he replied, which Arthur liked to think was a tad more dramatic than even his inner monologue.
"I spy something green," said one of the younger ones who's name Arthur thought might've started with an R (he hadn't bothered remembering any of their names). He was somehow still cheerful and excitable, perched on the edge of his top bunk and swinging his legs.
The boy in the bunk below caught his legs with a scowl. "We're all wearing green."
Another boy, leaning against the same window Arthur had been looking out of, snorted. "We're all Green."
The younger one stuck his lip out and pouted. "No, that would be too easy."
Voices outside alerted the boys to the arrival of the PSF soldier moments before the door swung open, giving them a few extra moments to collect themselves and scramble into their alphabetical lines.
It was just one PSF this time, shoving forward two new kids, and Arthur saw the tension drain from most of his cabin-mates shoulders. Unexpected visits could mean a lot of things, and thankfully this time it was harmless. With a few alterations of the lines and changes to the sleeping arrangements that were customary upon new arrivals, the soldier left, and everyone fell back into their tentative peacefulness.
Arthur sat back down on his bottom bunk. He hadn't been moved but the boy above him had, and now the top one belonged to one of the new kids. He wondered how many more they'd toss in here before deciding it was full; it was already cramped enough.
"Welcome to our lovely abode, also known as cabin 18," one of the older teens said with a sarcastic twitch of his lips. The bruise on his cheek from lashing out at a PSF a few days ago was finally starting to turn a deep purple. "It's no five star hotel, but at least it's still a few steps up from Hell itself."
"Quit sugarcoating it." Arthur's previous bunkmate said with a groan. "This place sucks."
"So does your mom," countered two twelve year olds at the same time, quickly followed by "oohs" and quiet laughter from the rest of the younger ones.
The teen who'd been speaking rolled his eyes affectionately. "They may be Greens but they're all stupid." At a few cries of outrage, he continued, "We all may as well be family, though, you two newbies included. Life here can be a little more tolerable when we have each other."
Arthur couldn't help rolling his eyes at that, and a few others made noises of dissent.
"Okay, Mother Teresa, we get it," someone groused.
The teen held his hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright. Just saying. Now what were we doing? Oh yeah, is it the trash can?"
"Nope!" the kid who'd spied something green chirped. "It's bigger than that!"
Arthur brought his legs up so someone could walk through the aisle and zoned back out of their time-killing chatter.
He didn't know how much time had passed before he felt his bed dip as someone sat beside him, but the boys were now onto telling stories, so it must've been awhile. He blinked and glanced up to see that it was one of the new boys, smiling carefully at him.
"You seemed kinda bluesy; thought I'd say hi."
Arthur's expression turned incredulous. Was this kid joking? Judging by his face he was being serious- it was bright and questioning, as if he wasn't concerned about their circumstances at all.
Apparently he'd waited too long to say anything, because the boy nudged Arthur's shoulder teasingly and spoke again. "Well you're just a ray of sunshine, aren't you? My name's Alfred."
He was clearly waiting for an introduction in return. Arthur glared at him and leaned away. "Kindly leave me alone."
"Whoa, you're British?" Alfred asked in surprise. "That's cool! But how'd you end up here? Didn't they like, close all the borders or something?"
Arthur grit his teeth. "What, I couldn't have moved when I was little? And anyway, that's none of your business! Go away."
"Hmm, no can do," he grinned and Arthur could already add "annoying" to the list of adjectives used to describe his entire life here if this kid kept it up. "Come on, what's your name?"
"Why does it matter? Go bug somebody else."
Alfred pretended to think about it for a second before shaking his head. "Nah. I'm already here, and face it, we both need a friend." He poked Arthur again and Arthur swatted his hand away. "Come onnn, what's your name? Can you at least tell me that?"
Arthur groaned and lowered his face into his hands. "You are. Insufferable."
Risking a glance through his fingers, Arthur couldn't help but notice that Alfred's smile had turned a little sad. "Yep, my brother always says so too." When neither of them said anything for a few moments, Alfred sighed, suddenly serious. "Look, I get that this all really sucks, believe me, but the least we can do is be optimistic, right? It doesn't help to hide inside your shell, dude. I bet you'd feel better with a friend."
Arthur let his hands fall into his lap so he could scowl at the other boy. "Excuse me, but what made you an expert on this? You just bloody got here."
Alfred didn't take the bait, just tipped his head in a challenging manner.
Finally, Arthur let out an exasperated sigh and glanced away. "Fine, it's Arthur. Happy now?"
Alfred beamed and punched Arthur's shoulder lightly. He was very warm, now that Arthur thought about it; in fact, he was practically radiating heat. Maybe it was a good thing that he'd for some reason taken a liking to Arthur- it did get rather cold around here and Arthur wouldn't complain to having his own personal heater (although he'd have preferred a less talkative alternative, but alas, beggars couldn't be choosers). "Hey, look at that, I knew you'd come through." Alfred sat back casually and stretched his legs out. "Since we're friends now and everything, d'you think you could tell me what all this color nonsense means? I still kind of have no idea what's going on."
Arthur frowned and was about to correct Alfred that they were not friends when he faltered and re-observed the seemingly relaxed demeanor of his new companion. His knee was bouncing and his fingers were drumming on his leg, and if Arthur looked closely he could almost see Alfred's smile waver at his own words. Suddenly feeling a stab of sympathy for this kid who was so obviously trying to keep it together, Arthur decided to forego the insults for the moment and just explain. "Well, there's five colors. Greens like us either developed a perfectly photographic memory or gained extensive knowledge on a specific field or subject."
"Well, I don't think I got either of those," Alfred said with a furrow of his brows.
"Maybe you're just not aware of them yet?"
"Maybe." Alfred didn't seem convinced, but he dropped it anyway. "So what kind are you? Good memory or smartypants?"
Despite himself, Arthur felt a smug smile pulling at his lips. "Well, I wouldn't say smartypants..."
"So you're like actually really smart then?" Alfred asked with a raised brow. He laughed quietly. "Not what I would've guessed, but cool."
Arthur's smile slipped into another scowl and he swatted irritably at him. And to think, he'd actually thought about being nice to him! "Hey! What's that supposed to mean, ya git?!"
Alfred laughed again, this time a tad brighter, and held his hands up in mock surrender. "So what're the other colors?" he asked, changing the topic.
"There's Blue," Arthur said with a pointed glare, but now at least Alfred was distracted and not as noticeably high-strung as before. Crossing his arms melodramatically, Arthur continued, "they can move things with their mind. Kinda like Matilda- oh wait, excuse me, you don't seem the type to know what good books are, so you probably haven't read it."
Alfred grinned cheekily. "But I did watch the movie in school."
"That's not the same, you know!"
"It's what I did with Harry Potter, too. Matthew- my brother- he read all the books, but have you ever seen how big they are? Who has the time to read all that?"
Arthur's eye twitched and he rubbed his forehead wearily. "I can't believe you would even say something like that to me," his voice sounded genuinely scandalized, "but something tells me that arguing with you over it will make no difference." Alfred nodded sagely here. Arthur let out a deliberate sigh. "After Blue things get a little bit crazier. Yellows can create and control electricity, so make sure you get used to the idea of random power outages; it's already happened a few times since I've got here. Reds are kind of similar, except instead of electricity they have fire. They can be pretty scary, so you should probably stay well away from them." Arthur hesitated before finishing. "Lastly there's Orange, and those're kids with real messed up mind control powers. Don't let one of them touch you or you'll be gone."
Alfred's eyes widened in surprise. "Seriously? Man, that's all crazy."
Arthur's lips twitched into a sardonic grin. "Yeah, it's probably a good thing that we're just safe and boring Greens."
Why were Gilbert and Matthew listening to Safety Dance of all songs? Well it's been following me around and when I finally caved and looked it up I realized it was Canadian and that's really the only reason I had to put it in there.
What color do you guys think Alfred is? Feel free to take a guess in the comments! Also, please let me know what you thought! I live for feedback, be it positive or negative. Hit me!
