Chapter Nineteen

I slept as peacefully as I could considering the circumstances, at least TNT didn’t disturb me in the middle of the night. No, that was someone else’s job. I could feel a prickling up my back; someone had just appeared in the room. I was awake now. I didn’t dare move and I had to force myself to breath. One eye cracked open. A dark figure was hunched over TNT. I just stared, unsure what to do. He was mental but he could be the only one who can survive the blast I know. I made up my mind. Lunging forward I gripped onto the attacker, yanking them backwards and wrapping my hand over their mouth. I coughed as an elbow found my gut, driving me backwards onto my bed again.
“It’s me dumbass” Mist hissed, rubbing her chin and glaring at me “I was checking to see if TNT was asleep.”
“How did you know where to find me?” I coughed, a wheeze in my voice as I fought down the urge to vomit. She had hit me right in the stomach hard and guts were fighting brain for the right to spill my stomach’s content over the floor.
“I followed you when the guards took you; the idiot over there caused enough of a distraction for me to follow you. I’ve found Buzz, Bud, I’m bunking with Stitch and Trapper’s still must be in the hospital.” Mist’s eyes rolled over me “How are you holding up? Is he giving you any trouble?” She nodded towards the dozing TNT.
“No, he’s pretty quiet at night. Spends most of his time staring at a wall and muttering about a brick being loose” I sighed and stretched out “Is everyone else ok? No one’s giving Bud any trouble are they?”
I’d never really seen Mist giggle but she was dangerously close to it as she said “From what the squirrel girl in the same cell told me, the other roommate tried to prune Bud the first night. She’s still in traction.”
“Is Buzz alright? I mean with those scars on his arm and with him being the one that got away from that mob he’s going to be pretty well known” I asked. I tried to hide the fact that I was amazed that Bud had snapped someone’s bones.
“He says he’s alright. No one gave him any attention really after they saw his scars; it shows he’s been through a lot already. He’s got a roommate that looks like monkey, that guy’s hands are bound because the first day he was here he bent the bars. The other one’s acting secretive; Buzz doesn’t know what he does.” Mist looked over at TNT as he stirred in his sleep “Stay strong kid; don’t let the mad man bite.” Mist disappeared, the collar unfortunately going with her.
TNT was still for a moment, absolute silence settling like a blanket in the cold room “Mist’s hot” he finally mumbled.

I woke up before the bang this time, rolling out of bed as the black guards snorted at us.
“Your pal is lucky, he’s missing out on the first day of designation. You two aren’t as fortunate though, you’re going to get fired, blasted and battered to the point where we have to scrape you of the floor.” I could tell it was the guard I’d worried yesterday, no one else could be so annoying.
“Keep your pants on” I groaned, getting up and helping TNT up who for once wasn’t being carried out. We were marched out across the compound, Jessica wasn’t there today... I hoped she hadn’t been hurt when TNT set the explosion off. We were walking through a new maze of corridors now; I gasped and looked sideways as the smell of strong but fading aftershave filled my nose. Bud waved at me slightly from her cell, a worried smile on her face. The squirrel girl I saw in the crowd earlier was sitting on the top bunk staring at nothing and twitching her tail from side to side.
“Pray you don’t get survival” the guard holding me said, pushing me forward to a door much like the others around here. I sighed as I walked through it, knowing that it would be stupid to fight. There were white masked nurses there again, clipboards and special equipment everywhere.

One frowned at me, rifling through her papers muttering something like “They should catalogue these people better.” Any possible gentle feelings induced by the nurse’s uniform flew out the window and hate returned to bubble in my chest. “White skin, no nose and spikes” she muttered and then I could almost feel the sadistic grin underneath that mask “You’re in for surviving harsh environments; lucky you.”
A shiver went down my spine “W-what?” I stuttered “I thought there was going to be tests and-“
“Oh no, it says here that the stunner didn’t even faze you and the tranquilisers couldn’t so much as make a dent. You’re not the strongest but you caused havoc with your testers.” Her happiness was annoying to no end; she knew that the death rate for that training was high. She wanted me to die.
“Why are we training?” TNT’s chirpy voice spoke up from beside me, sounding as if he was truly interested.
“None of your business” the nurse growled, flicking through the papers “Red and yellow eyes, dirty... insane. You’re unknown in your actual mutation but apparently you have to go through some training first.” TNT jumped up and down, clapping his hands in joy. Oh good, he was going to live and I was going to turn into stain on the floor. TNT was shown to a door that he willingly stepped through; my feet tried to grip onto the floor as I was dragged towards a second door.

I could keep my balance if someone tossed me by now, I only stumbled slightly when I was pushed in now.
“I hope you freak gorilla accident!” I yelled back at them as they slammed the door. Strange sentences always worried people more than sensible threats. I looked around, the room was white and bare; this worried me a lot. I walked forward a few steps and then flailed backwards as the room opposite flipped over and blazing light filled the room. I closed my eyes, holding my hands over my eyes. Heat washed over me, blazing heat that would cause a normal man’s flesh to bubble and blister. How long I stayed hunched over I didn’t know, the heat was almost unbearable but somehow my head stayed clear. I uncurled slowly, wincing as the bits I had been sheltering were exposed to the heat of a thousand heat lamps. I stood there, eyes shielded by hands and white skin reflecting half the heat right back at the walls. I just stood there, facing the heat head on and hoping I was winning. It wasn’t so bad now, it still would have given you sunburn in seconds but I couldn’t feel it. The air was almost too hot to breath; it burnt my lungs from within.

The lamps shut off, my skin still felt red hot and I didn’t want to move. It would hurt to so much as blink I knew it. I was tiring though, my arms still ached and every inch of skin was a flame. I dropped my arms. I groaned and rubbed my arms, I was happy to find it made me feel better. I began to rub myself all over; the heat seemed to be pushed out of me as I pressed my hands against my body. I was very happy I didn’t wear a shirt.
A loud crackle of static filled the air, making me flinch in surprise “Heat level one completed, level two shall be initiated in thirty seconds.”
“You’ve got to be messing with me” I whispered, staring up at the ceiling in disbelief. I couldn’t take more than THAT! I was completely still when I heard it, a large crunch of a gear slamming into place and a hum of something large and complicated starting up.

Disclaimer: HEAT LAMPS FOR ALL THOSE WHO APPOSE THE MIGHT LAVALAMP STUDIO AND MEEEE!
Ebony and Ivory collection
Ebony and Ivory chapter twenty