A foot came through the bars of Indi's pen and kicked her sharply in the side. Indi flinched and curled herself into a ball.

"Get up," snapped a female voice.

Startled, Indi opened her eyes to see a woman standing outside her pen. The woman's steely eyes told Indi how much she detested mutants, so Indi scrambled as far away as her pen would allow.

"No, you little freak, you're coming with me." The woman took out a key and opened the pen. "We've decided to try something new." She grabbed Indi's arm and jerked her upright. Indi tried to resist but it was no good. She let herself be led out of the room and down the hallway by the woman.

They entered another room, where Indi's owner was waiting. The two adults roughly took Indi's old clothes off and replaced them with brand-new ones. Now, instead of a torn, dirty, and too-small dress, Indi wore a pale pink shirt and a denim jumper. She stared at her new clothes in shock, unable to understand what was going on.

Next, she was given shoes and once the many tangles in her brown hair were yanked out, they pulled her hair into two pigtails.

Indi looked at the adults with wide blue eyes. "Why?" she asked.

Her owner smiled. She didn't like his smile. "You're going out for a little while, Indicator."

Out? Indi thought. Outside? She had faint memories of playing outside. Before she could think more about it, her owner picked her up and carried her to yet another room, this one filled with cars. Indi was even more confused when she was put into the back seat of a minivan and buckled in.

While the steely-eyed woman got into the driver's seat, Indi's owner said, "Miss O'Hara is going to be in charge of you, Indicator, so don't even think about running off. Besides, where would you run to? No human would want you because of what you are, and the mutants won't take you, since it's because of you that we've been able to exterminate so many of them. So be a good girl and stay close to Miss O'Hara." With that, he slammed the van door. One of the walls of the room slid up, and Miss O'Hara drove outside.

Indi hadn't seen the outdoors since her capture. Whenever she was transported, there was usually a blanket covering her cage. She stared out the window, drinking in every sight, and trying to ignore Miss O'Hara's glares.

Much too soon, they arrived at a busy park at the edge of the woods. When Miss O'Hara opened the door to let Indi out, she hissed at her, "Remember, don't try to escape. I've got a gun that I've been itching to use on a mutant, and you'd be perfect for target practice."

Indi tried to edge away from her, but Miss O'Hara grabbed her, pulled her out of the van and started walking. When they came to a playground, Miss O'Hara let go of Indi's arm. "Go play with the other children, Indicator. It's better if you get them while they're young."

Indi ran towards the playground and made it about five steps before she froze, finally realizing what was happening. They wanted her to detect other mutant children! Horrified, she glanced over her shoulder at Miss O'Hara, who just smiled and waved sweetly at her.

Indi looked around, seeking a place where she could stay away from the other children. She decided on the jungle gym and climbed through it. Once in the center, she felt safe. It was like being in her pen, only better, because anyone who tried to get at her would have to climb over and under all the bars to get to the center. She sat on the pea-stones, watching the other children play, and keeping one eye on her hands. Her hands were always the first thing to turn blue, and then she had about five seconds before the change was complete. She hoped it would be enough time to get away from any mutant child she detected.

Suddenly, a ball fell through the bars, landing right in front of her. Indi stared at it, startled, until a boy came up to the jungle gym and peered in at her.

"What're you doing?" he asked.

"I'm hiding," said Indi.

"Well, it's not a good hiding spot. Can I have that ball?"

Indi glanced at her hands. If the boy was a mutant, she would have changed by now. She got up and handed him the ball.

The boy started to walk away, then paused and looked back at her. "Wanna play catch with us?"

"Um…" Indi thought for a second. She wondered if she could run away fast enough if she started to change colors. On the other hand, she might never get another chance to play with other kids. Finally she nodded and followed the boy across the playground.

He led her to where four other children were waiting. As they got closer, Indi looked at her hands. No color. These kids were all human. Lucky them, she thought.

"Hey, you gonna play or what?" asked one of them. He threw the ball and the game started.

For Indi, the simple game of catch was harder than it should have been. After all, she had spent half her life in a cage, so of course she wasn't used to playing. On top of that, she kept worrying that she would turn blue at any moment. But as she played, she got better at throwing and catching, and all but forgot about Miss O'Hara.

After a few minutes of playing, as Indi reached out to catch the ball, she saw her fingers, then her hand turn blue. Without stopping to think, Indi dove into the nearby bushes. Luckily, none of the other kids had seen the coloring. They were too busy complaining about a sudden horrible scent. Indi wrinkled her nose as well; the smell was very strong, but she couldn't identify it.

She looked down at her hands and was surprised to see the blue color fading. Whatever mutant had been nearby must have left in a hurry.

Suddenly, an arm reached into the bushes and yanked Indi out. Indi gulped as she looked up into the angry face of Miss O'Hara.

"Did you think you could get away that easily?" Miss O'Hara sneered. Indi opened her mouth to say she wasn't trying to escape, but realized it was no use. If she told Miss O'Hara that she had turned blue, she'd only be in bigger trouble. And she was sure she was in trouble now.

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"So, my little Indicator thought she could run away, did she?" Indi backed as close to the bars of her pen as she could, trying to stay away from her owner. Miss O'Hara had told him her version of what happened. Both adults were mystified about the scent that lingered on Indi's clothes, the scent they called sulfur. Not that the name of the smell mattered to Indi right now.

With one punch, Indi was knocked down. She yelped as she received a kick in the stomach. Her owner kept talking as he administered these blows, ignoring her tears and cries of pain.

"Where would you go, Indicator? Your place is right here, finding mutants for us, exterminating them for the good of mankind."

Indi reached out towards the guards standing just outside her pen, wordlessly begging them to help her, but they merely glanced at her, indifferent.

Her owner's foot came down hard on Indi's outstretched arm, and Indi screamed in pain. Pulling her broken limb to her chest, she curled into a tight ball. She whimpered as her owner continued his relentless beating. She didn't have the strength to cry anymore.

As blackness began closing in on her sight, Indi couldn't help but notice that her knees, showing beneath her jumper, had turned blue. The last thing she saw before blacking out completely was the wall outside her pen come crashing down.