Morty woke up starving. The cold basement made it impossible for him to sleep well, but being unclothed wasn't a big help either. He had slept in the nude a select few times, but it was on hot summer nights and he still always had a sheet to wrap around himself. Being completely open made it really hard to sleep in the bitter basement.

He looked around the poorly lit room. Most were still sleeping. There were two that were talking in a different language back and forth. Rick always took him to places where everyone spoke English. It never occurred to him that there would be other languages. It made sense, Earth itself had a lot of languages on one planet. Several galaxies were bound to have more languages.

"They are nocturnal."

Morty turned to his neighbor who was sitting up.

"Those two that are talking. They talk all night. It drives me crazy."

"Why are we here?" Morty asked.

"Experiments."

"What kind?"

"I don't know. No one really knows."

The door opened revealing a cart rolling into the room with a figure following behind. The dim light turned to a bright light revealing the full room. To Morty's shock, everyone stood up and walked to the front of the cage sitting down. He stayed put in the back of his cage. Now he could get a good look at his neighbor, his neighbor's face was that of a lizard.

To Morty's surprise, he recognized the alien species. He first saw one when Rick had to stop at an alien bar when his flask ran out. Rick's words still rung in his ears, "That's an inguan Morty. D-don't ever -urp believe anything they say. All inguans are the same. They lie and steal when it's convenient for them. If they ne-need you, they will be your best friend Morty. However, as soon, as soon they don't need you anymore, they will throw you aside. Don't ever trust an inguan Morty. They will throw you away as soon as you're useless to them."

Morty had spent days after that speech wondering if Rick was telling the truth. He knew Rick was like that too, but that didn't mean all humans did that. Could a whole species really act a certain way?

Morty turned his head to look at the aisle. The figure with the cart was getting closer to him; it was hard to tell much from the figure due to the large cart covering its hunched form.

The cart had two levels with buckets on each level. The figure appeared to read off a clipboard, then give the alien in front of it a shot, then open a small door to give a bowl as if it was a reward. It would then walk to the next one, reading down the list, grabbing a needle, giving the shot, then rewarding with the bowl. The figure made its way down the narrow aisle until it reached Morty. The figure stopped at the cage pointing to the front. He stared at the figure, but didn't move. The figure pointed again. It seemed to be able to hide in the shadow of the cart.

Was he brave enough to find out what was going on? He looked to his neighbor next to him who was leaning against the front of the cage like the others, then looked back at the figure who pointed for a third time. Morty walked over to the front of the cage. The figure looked up to his tagged ear then grabbed the clipboard, it read down the chart.

Morty had a hard time trying to figure out if the figure was a male or female. It seemed to have a more feminine appearance, but appeared to have gone through some sort of ordeal in the past; its mouth appeared sewn shut, a large hole where its right eye would be. Only the left eye seemed to move. On top of that, it appeared to have burn marks of some type. They didn't seem to be a burn from a fire. Rick had told him of acid burns, warned him of the issues with playing with things he didn't understand. Was this is an acid burn? The scars seemed to have healed a long time ago. There was almost no hair on the person's head. The hair was thin and seemed as though it had fallen out in most of its head.

By this time Morty was brought out of his trance with the small door closing behind the food. He picked it up staring at the contents. It was a gooey mess. It reminded Morty of oatmeal that didn't have enough water. He picked some up in his hands, eating a bite. It was worse than oatmeal. He had never tasted something so vile. He still ate it. If the others here were eating this food, this probably meant they didn't get fed often. The figure walked down the aisle to the next cage.

Morty realized he didn't get a shot like the others; maybe it was because he was new.

Throughout the day, the boar guards that he saw from before walked in and out grabbing different creatures and dragging them out. Then they would bring the creatures back later in the day. Some of the creatures would be drugged while others were walking in as if nothing happened.

A boar guard walked into the room and walked in front of Morty's cage. The guard opened the cage reaching his hand in, grabbing Morty's chain harness. He dragged the kid out and pushed him through the aisle. Once out of the basement, he was forced up the stairs. They stopped in a room where the scientist was bent over writing something in a notebook.

"Professor, I brought subject 82."

"Good." The man turned around with a smile on his face. "Subject 82! Congratulations! You're the first human subject I've had! I don't need a human subject for another month, but we all need to do our part around here. It just so happens that I killed the last one who was cleaning my lab. So I'm going to need you to clean." The man smiled as if he was friends with Morty. Then he stood up, "So you can clean the tools in this sink." He stood near a large metal sink. "When they are dry you grab one clean rag and put one of each tool in the rag. There should be five tools when you are done." He set the tools down on the rag as he talked through the instructions. "Then fold the rag. And tape it with this special tape." He wrapped the items as needed. "Then this machine is called the autoclave. It can hold one on each shelf so it can hold up to five rags at a time. When you close it, push the green button. When it rings the tape should then have stripes." He pulled a package off a shelf showing black strips over the tape. "This means the autoclave worked correctly. Then you just put the items up here. If the strips don't show, you will have to restart the process. Over here." He walked over to a door and opened it, "You'll see the cleaning supplies. You have brooms, mops, cleaners, rags. Whatever is needed to clean. You get that?"

"Uhm, yeah." Morty said.

"Good. Now I also need you to sweep and mop the floors regularly. Clean the tables in the four exam rooms between uses. You will need to watch for when I have subjects taken out of rooms and you will walk right in to clean the counters, tables, and floors. And clean pretty much everything and anything you see. Now I'm picky so you gotta do a good job. You good?"

"I-I guess." Morty said scratching the back of his head. He wasn't much of a cleaner, his mom and dad always cleaned everything. He was just in charge of his room.

"Any questions?" The man picked up an item glaring at it.

"So, uh can I have, you know, a pair, a pair of boxers or anything at all?" Morty asked awkwardly.

"No." The man set the item back down on the table, "Anything else?"

"I guess not." He had a million questions, but with the quick answer he received he assumed now would be a good time to stay quiet.

The man smiled, "Good. Being my janitor does come with a few perks. First off, I don't want to have to smell you every day." The professor turned to the boar guard, bring subject 82 to get a shower. I could smell the subject down the hall. Once out, the subject can get started."

The assistant grabbed Morty's harness and pulled him along. To Morty's surprise, he was brought to a large locker room. His eyes brightened when he saw the large floor with ten shower heads sticking out of the walls.

"Fifteen minutes." The assistant said.

Morty nodded and walked over to the closest shower head, he turned the knob as water flew out of the top. He waited a few seconds until it warmed up. He stepped in to the line of the water, feeling the warm water hit him. It stung and yet, he couldn't get enough. He was rubbing his skin trying to clean the dirt off himself. Then he noticed the soap sitting on the side. He picked it up rubbing the suds on his body. The feeling of the dirt falling off him was a welcome feeling. From when he was young, he always detested showers. Until he was around twelve he would fight his mom before he would take a shower. This time around Morty never thought a shower could ever feel this good.

"Get out." The man said harshly.

Was it fifteen minutes already? Morty stepped out. He was hand a small rag. "Dry off."

"Okay." Morty used the small rag to dry himself. Once done, he was brought back to the main room.

The professor was gone. The man brought Morty over to the sink. Morty took it upon himself to start cleaning the items in the sink. He turned on the water then looked around for the soap. The only item around was a powder sitting next to the sink. He looked up at the guard, "Uhm, i-is that the soap?" he asked.

"Yeah." The guard said.

Morty started to wash the utensils. There was blood all over the items in the sink. Morty didn't want to know what they were used for. Once he was done washing the utensils, he grabbed the rag like the scientist said and set it down. He set the five utensils down and folded them in. Then taped them together like he was told to.

Morty looked up to see the guard standing at the door, looking bored. The guard held a cigarette in his mouth as he was attempting to light it. Morty went back to his chore. Once five were done, Morty set the items in the machine that he couldn't remember the name too.

"Lunch time!" Someone yelled down the hall.

"Finally." the guard said. "Eighty two follow me."

Morty had to admit he was hungry too. Lunch sound good.

The man opened a door and ushered Morty into the room. The room looked like a large kitchen. A thick cloud of cigarette smoke loomed over the ceiling.

"Why are you bringing a subject in here?" One of the men sitting at the table said.

"I'm starving and I don't want to go back down stairs." The guard said.

"You know Professor will scream his head off if he finds out."

"Good thing he's out right now." The man said dropping his used cigarette in the sink.

The woman that Morty met yesterday yelled at the man, "Get the butt out of the sink. Where were you raised?"

"Maybe you forgot about the part where I was born in a barn."

Everyone laughed.

The guard looked over at Morty, "Go sit in the corner and be quiet."

Morty nodded and walked to the corner of the room. He sat down, leaning against the wall. Morty took in his surroundings. The table was large enough to seat everyone plus some. A large casserole was sitting on a stove. The woman from before was scooping a large cheesy mess onto plates and passing them out. Morty licked his lips, wishing he could have one bite. After everyone had a plate, the woman brought a glass of water over to Morty.

"Why are you giving the subject anything?"

"Eighty two is missing out on the water run." The woman said.

Morty took the glass of water, at least it was something.

"Cindy, let the subject lick the dish. One less dish to scrub later."

Everyone laughed, but no one gave him any of the food. Everyone else was at the table eating off their plates, ignoring him. They were talking among themselves, complaining about their jobs.

He was finishing up his glass of water when the others brought their dishes to the sink.

Morty took it upon himself to bring his glass to the sink like the others did.

"Look at this!" One of them said. "The subject thinks it's one of us."

"I—I'm just try-trying to help." Morty said.

Everyone laughed as one of the boars pushed him out of the way snatching the glass from him. "Go back over there until your needed."

Morty was about to do as the guy said when the guard that was following him spoke up, "Eighty two lets go back to work."

Morty followed the guard back out the room.

"Where have you been?" The professor was sitting at a computer.

"Eating lunch. You didn't want the subject to be alone yet. So I had to force the subject to come."

The scientist turned from his computer, "I want all this done by the end of the day or the subject won't be going back to its cage and you won't be getting any sleep."

"Lay off my dick, it will get done." The guard said. The guard pushed Morty toward the sink which held even more utensils. "Go ahead."

Morty started up his washing again.

He was unaware of how long he had been cleaning. His stomach was aching as he was his hands and knees mopping the floor. The professor already left for the day and they were done with all the subjects. Morty figured he had been cleaning for at least four or five hours after the lunch break.

"I can finish the shift tonight." The woman from before said to the guard.

"Thanks." The man said walking off. "Make sure you bring the subject back down when you're done."

"No problem. I'll see you later."

"See you."

Once the man was gone the woman pulled out a camera taking a picture of Morty. Morty tried not to look, he was getting tired of that dumb camera. Then she walked over to him placing a hand on his shoulder to make him look up. She hand him a granola bar. He stopped mopping to stand up.

"You have to eat it now." The woman whispered.

Morty nodded opening the wrapper; he ate the bar in four bites. "Thank you...uhm...Cindy."

The woman smiled, "Don't call anyone by their name here."

"How do you know…"

"Sssh." The woman said cupping her hand to Morty's mouth. "Don't ask anything about that. Don't mention him to anyone." She was whispering.

"Where are we?" Morty asked.

"I don't know. Only the professor knows where we are. Everyone here was drugged and then brought over while they were passed out"

"Oh. What's with the camera?" Morty asked.

"Don't worry about it. Just lay low, do as they say and everything will be okay." The woman smiled sweetly.

Morty didn't know whether or not he could trust the woman. He just had to hope that she was really here to help him. He had to hope that Rick would come any time. In the mean time, he would have to hope he could get by.

"Now finish mopping so we can finish this day."

Once Morty was done with his chores, he followed the woman back to the cage. He walked in and sat in the back. He noticed the two that were nocturnal were asleep. Morty yawned, after sitting around for over a week, he was exhausted from today. He closed his eyes and fell asleep in seconds.

Once again, thanks for the positive feedback! It's always appreciated!