A/N: *Nervous laugh* Hey, guys. Remember back in, like, September, when I last updated this story and said I'd probably update in less than a lot of time? Well, I lied! Yay! But, don't worry, I could never discontinue this story- I just had a lot of trouble writing in Nudge's point of view for reasons I'm too lazy to explain. Thank you guys so much for (theoretically) not giving up on me, and here's the next (long-awaited) chapter. Enjoy and please review!

Chapter Four

Subject Nine

My mind threatened to burst as I watched everything that was happening. Subject Eight had been taken! Seven was still unconscious. Six looked distraught.

I curled up in my cage and gripped my head. Too many thoughts ran through my brain and I just wanted to let them out but I couldn't. I mouthed the words I was thinking, "What's going to happen to us? What did they do to Eight? OMG, what did they do to Eight?" I mouthed the words, but I couldn't make that sounds that would let the words come out.

"Nine?" a voice whispered.

I looked over at the cage next to me, my hands still holding my head. Six was watching me. When she seemed to be sure I was listening to her, she continued. "What do you think they did to Eight?"

I clamped my hands over my ears and shook my head. I didn't want to think about it. Six reached her hand through the bars of her cage, into mine, and touched my arm. For a moment I just stared. Her fingers looked so light against my skin. Like ice on a chocolate popsicle. (A/N: I had so much trouble writing that sentence without sounding mean. I hope I succeeded) I took my hands away from my ears and held Six's hand. She smiled at me. I hoped Eight would be okay. I could tell Six hoped so too.

Six and I looked up when the door opened. I saw two whitecoasts dragging in Eight. Six gasped. He was unconscious. The whitecoats tossed him into his cage, diagonal to Ten and Eleven's. Six gripped the bars of her cage and called out to him. "Eight! Eight, are you okay?" He didn't even stir.

Seven was waking up now, his sedative starting to wear off. "What happened?" he asked. "What's wrong with Eight?"

"We don't know," Six replied.

I heard Eleven sending us all a message telepaletically. (A/N: Note the spelling- Nudge doesn't know the word telepathically) Dark. Eight feels dark.

"What do you mean; dark?" Six asked the baby.

Eleven just yawned and curled into her brother's side.

That's when Eight decided to wake up.

First, he sat up, his eyes remaining closed. Then he opened his eyes and quickly shut them again. Millions of thoughts ran through my head and I covered my ears again, trying to block them out. What had they done to him that made him not want to see us?

"Eight?" Six asked. "What happened?"

Eight shook his head, still refusing to open his eyes. "It's dark. So dark. I opened my eyes, but I couldn't see anything."

I gripped my head tighter, not wanting to hear what had happened. But as Eight told the story, I realized what was happening now.

We were all changing—every one of us. The only question was- who would be next?

Later on, Eight told us the full story again. From what he'd overheard from the whitecoats, it sounded like they'd been trying to give him night vision. Eight doubted that we were supposed to know that, though.

After a while, Eight fell into silence. He hugged his knees close to him, looked depressed. I was slightly unnerved by this. Eight had always been so happy. That was the best thing about him. I remembered times when he'd tried to teach me to talk. It hadn't worked, but he'd made me want to talk, like no one else could. Just like Six made Seven smile, Eight made me want to laugh. Now he didn't want to laugh. (A/N: Niggyness! Sorry, they're so cute)

No one talked after that. When Eight was unhappy, we were all unhappy.

But eventually, we had to talk about it. The whitecoats had taken away Eight's sight. They'd taken away his happiness. We had to get revenge.

"What are we gonna do?" Six asked. We all knew what she meant.

Seven was the first one to reply. "Give them a taste of their own medicine,' he suggested darkly.

"What does that mean?" Six questioned.

"I heard a whitecoat say it," Seven explained. "It means we do to them what they did to us. They took away Eight's most valuable asset- his sight. So we take away theirs- their knowledge."

Seven continued to explain his plan. We would create our own secret language- a mixture of words and gestures. We would use it only when we didn't want the whitecoats overhearing us. That way, we'd be able to communicate with each other without the whitecoats knowing what we were saying. The hand gestures would allow us to get a message across when we were hiding, or not supposed to talk. But the spoken language- that was for Eight. He wouldn't need to see- just to hear- to know.

We spent the next two and a half hours creating and practicing our secret language. When we were done, I noticed Eight smiling, but just a little.

I hoped that smile would stay. Eight was more wonderful when he was happy.

A/N: And we end with some more Niggy. How great, right? Anyway, I really hope you guys liked this chapter. The next chapter will be in Gazzy's POV, but please don't expect me to update too quickly, since he's like three and will be hard to write as. Anyway, please review and I'll try to work out the next chapter as soon as I can.