Pic above is Professor Jack Silver



The first aid section was nearly overrun after the ceremony. Some of the graduates had cried and screamed in pain, but I kept myself under control. I refused to show weakness.

The next day came fast and my flesh still burned, but Fred and I still packed up our few things and made our way over to the graduates section. The graduates section was closed off to the students, but there wasn't much closed off to the graduates.

I press in a code that appeared on my cuff when I reached the door and know that I will have to remember that code. I, however, doubt that any of the codes here are the same. I take the lead and notice that there are a few other graduates filtering in after me and Fred.

I blink for several moments after entering. The light is blinding. I take a deep breath and I take in everything around me. Everything from the walls to the ceiling, even the floor is white. I step up to the white desk upfront and say, "My name is Kaiden Pechman."

The young man sitting there looks up at me briefly then hands me a room key. "Here." He said before moving onto the next inline.

I see that I'm in room 139 and head in that direction. There are different levels with stairs in the graduates section. Everything is so much nicer here. It also looks very technologically advanced compared to the simple technology used with the students. I find my room is on the first floor, but three other boys are already there. The room was very nice and much bigger than the old one I shared with Fred. This one held four people, but the size made up for the amount of people. I take the bottom bunk (the only bunk left) in the far corner.

Nobody is talking to each other, but I spot my name labeled on my bed with my rank next to it. So that's how they determined who got what bed. I thought to myself.

I take a quick look at everyone else's name tags and find that Calvin is in the bunk above me while Jeffery and Ralf are on the other set of bunk beds. I leave them to their unpacking as I do the same. We are required to keep our room clean and organized, so I quickly dust and sweep my area.

After we are all done our cuff's start to beep and we all leave the room and head for the main gathering area. Instructions are provided on the small screen of the cuff as we go.

At last we are all in a large white room full of chairs. I take a seat at random and everyone else takes their seat as well. We wait only a short amount of time before Hector and Athena appear on the platform in front of us.

"Welcome to your new home," Hector says with his silky voice. "I'm sure you're all wondering what you will be doing here. Where everything is and other such things. Everything will be explained."

"This side of our organization is obviously more advanced," Athena starts, "so you will have to learn it's ways. I'm sure you noticed your cuffs are very helpful as a newcomer. They can be used to show you codes, direct you to where we need you, but they also can unlock doors. Each is especially programmed for you. They also help us to track where you are when down here."

"There will be a ture lead by last year's graduates for you." Hector now is the one talking. "Your jobs here will be posted outside and if you are drafted to go elsewhere you will leave tomorrow. In that case your room is only temporary and you will be expected to be packed. Dismissed." He finishes.

Hector leaves the stage, but I see Athena walk down and into the crowd of graduates heading for the door. She makes eye contact and nods for me to come to her. I obey and walk over to her with long smooth strides.

"You'll come with me Pechman." She says, "We have a special tour for you. You are special after all." She flashes me a devilish smile. "You need to see exclusive areas only some graduates and professors are allowed in."

I nod stiffly and follow as Athena walks out a side door. Red flags shoot up everywhere, but I'm blind to them. I don't even notice how wrong everything is down here. It's basically all I ever knew. I thought it was better than home. At home I was abused by my father openly, here I was abused in ways I didn't understand.

Athena calls for me to follow her through another door at the end of the hall we were briefly in. The security sensors beep once in acceptance of me as I walk in. Immediately I see lab equipment beyond what I thought was possible. The technology outside of this room was breathtaking, but this put that to shame.

"This is the main area in the lab," Athena said, "but you will most just be inside Professor Silver's private lab. His assistant Falda is the only other person other than you he allows in. Hector and I of course aren't put on such scales. We're allowed anywhere." Athena led me to the far end of the lab and pointed out what each section of the lab is for. When we reached the end there was a single door. Athena presses in a code for me to see and I memorize it knowing I'll need it. We step inside and I can hardly see because it's so dark compared to everywhere else. It's probably about as bright as the students end of the organization.

"High Female Official Athena, what a pleasure it is to see you again. Do you have what is requested?" Professor stepped forward and I saw a girl behind him holding a clipboard that must have been Falda.

I'd hardly ever heard Athena's full title which reminded me how excruciatingly long it is. And for what? Why is it so long? I didn't stop the questions this time knowing that as a graduate I had more freedom, but I tamed my thoughts to be more respectful.

"Of course, old friend." Athena said, "He's right here." She gestured to me.

I look straight at the professor into his deep grey eyes. He looked to be about forty or fifty with his grey hair. White specks poked out in his grey scruffy beard.

"Ah!" eyeing me as well. "I think we will get on quite well, Pechman."

I nod to him. "As do I, Professor Silver."

A sleek smile appears on his face and he calls Flada forward. "I assume the high official has told you of my assistant Falda?"

"Yes, sir." I said in response.

Falda won't look up to meet my eyes, but I believe I heard her mumble something like. "It's nice to meet you, Pechman." She looked very shy, but also kind of shaky and unwell. Overworked possibly? When she did look up while Athena and Jack the professor were talking I saw pain.

What? I thought to myself. Why pain? Was she okay?

I see her brown eyes crying out to me as the eerie lighting in the lab caught on her pin straight brown hair. She quickly looked back at the ground when Athena and Jack finished talking

"Well then, I believe this arrangement is perfect. Pechman you will be required to stay on the graduates side for the next week. Under normal circumstances we would have you eat and help out with the students, but Jack will need you extra accessible this week. It may last longer depending on how things go, but you will be working in the surveillance room when Professor Silver doesn't need you. After a while we will have you venture over to the students side more often to help with their classes."

I nodded quickly.

Athena makes her way to the door, but stops with her hand above the handle. "Oh, and the professor will show you around to all you need to see before dinner."

I nodded again and then she left.

I looked back and saw that Falda had gone over to some lab equipment noiselessly and Jack studied me once more.

"What do you think of my lab?" Jack said at last.

"It's nice." I said shortly. I didn't really know much about the lab. I'd hardly been there five minutes. I liked that it wasn't so bright, but the lighting still had an eerie look to it.

Jack threw his head back in a laugh. "Yes, yes, it's quite nice. I don't like how bright it is everywhere else. I have to wear sunglasses outside of my lab."

I nodded again still unsure of this man, but I would obey his every command. It was my job to comply. That side of my training had never been dismissed.

"Alrighty then, come, come." Said Jack, "We're going to start off easy and only get a few blood samples."

Falda came over as Jack had me sit in a chair. She handed him a needle connected to a test tube.

"Alright, this will only take a moment, but we're going to need five." Jack said. "Oh and in here we don't use titles. When Athena isn't here anyway."

I said nothing as I removed my coat and rolled my sleeve just above my elbow. My shoulder still hurt, but I could tell it was healing. Jack obviously knew about my burn mark when he "accidently" bumped me. I winced, but held in anything else as he smirked.

What a brute this professor is. I couldn't help but think.

Jack ranted about how he'd been asking for a larger work space and then about how he couldn't seem to figure out this random substance. He was a very intelligent man I could tell, but he didn't seem quite right in the head. He had no watch or anyway to tell what the time was in here. I had a built in clock in my mind, this would explain the bags under Falda's eyes and her uneasiness. She could never quite know what she would be released or called back. I didn't understand much of what Jack said, but I still nodded along.

"Okay, that was the last one." Jack said, handing off the test tube to Falda.

I nodded stiffly and headed to the door. Jack grabbed his sunglasses, but I noticed Falda taking care of the blood samples making no move to leave.

"Isn't Falda coming to dinner too?" I asked after remembering I could ask questions. Well, I couldn't ask any question and I was honestly to the point where the answer to most questions didn't matter.

"Nah," Jack said casually, "she enjoys her work and meal times aren't strict over here."

I reluctantly followed Jack out and Falda didn't even seem to hear our conversation. She never responded to it at all. I wondered what it was like in her head, but quickly stopped myself. How quickly was my training slipping? I was told I could think for myself and then there I was going off like crazy. This wasn't right. I needed to assume my rules never changed. I needed to go back to my normal. All this freedom wasn't good for me. I remembered my lessons well.

"If you are given too much freedom you will take advantage of it and want more. You will abuse that freedom and cause chaos." My professor has said. He also taught me. "If you put a dog on a leash and take away one chain from that leash everyday the dog won't know it's losing freedom until it's gone." It was referring to the people outside as dogs, but what did it matter? They were good as dogs to me. They were the problem. We needed to thin them out because they were already realizing that their numbers were an advantage.

There was talk going around about how there was going to be a big mission. Lots of graduates would be required but it would be worth it. We had to thin out the population before it was out of control. Of course, down here we knew that excuses such as there will be global warming or the population is too big for the earth to hold everyone. Yes, we knew some of what went on in the world but not much. I did know that all those ideas that were being thrown around were hogwash. It was something for the people to grasp to and worry about while we worked. I mean I never really did anything but learn to grow up and help, but now I was old enough to start the real work.

The main idea at this point was by Professor Diana Hansen. She was a Russian woman who had created Poenamiser, but also something called PT-27. All I knew about it at the time was that it could be our savior. It could potentially whip out half the world's population. It would definitely make the people easier to manage.

Prof Diana Hansen was the face of her whole operation. I'm not even going to lie, she did put on a good show for the people. They loved how she promoted woman power. She stated that her organization was made to be viewed by the outside world as hope. She was always there to produce vaccines, medicine, and discover new surgeries to correct different conditions. She was a hero to them and people dumbly poured out there money in domination to her.

Women in power were viewed very fondly. It was something to get them all excited and not look deeper into her true purpose for her organization. What she actually did was work with the WPC. The abbreviation for the World Population Control. She found new ways to make medicines and vaccines seem like a good idea when they were actually harmful. Some could be deadly and others would weaken the population. A weak population was easy to controle. They would be weakened by Diana's solutions then come back for more. They thought she was there to help.

This takes me back to where I don't even question calling the people of the outside world dogs. They were just about as dumb as an animal anyway. They fell for everything we threw at them. Hardly a question was asked and those who dared ask where silenced.

This ingenious plan also sent patients flowing in Diana's direction. She had many test subjects to test her PT-27 on in its early development days. We all knew that many patients had died in the process, but the vision for the world was bright. Their deaths were so small. They didn't matter. That's what I was taught and I didn't question it. I always obeyed. I always complied.

I continued down the white halls squinting my eyes at the brightness. I still had to get used to that light. Jack was just fine with his head held high and sunglasses in place.

We reached the dining room that mainly contained professors and highly ranked graduates. The rest returned to the student section. They had no doubt gone there immediately following their tour. No time was wasted here. We all were perfectly capable of going all day and night with no rest so the compact day of activities was no struggle.

The thought of Bridget crossed my mind once again, however, it was only for a mere second. I kept control of my thoughts day and night except for when it came to Bridget. I hated how she poisoned my mind without even trying. Something had been wrong when I last saw her, but I could never think of it again. I most likely wouldn't even see her for months if not longer.

"The food was always better over here." Jack said as he ate his seasoned fried green beans.

"You mean you lived in the students section?" That could have meant anything, but was Jack a student at one point?

"Yes, yes, years ago I was just like you." Jack said smiling, "I was a student then I graduated only because of my brain though. I've alway been brilliant. Everyone has something special about them if they're here, don't they?"

I nodded, "Yes, mine are my quick reflexes and sharp senses."

"Ah," Jack said in interest, "two? Now that is something else. Most come in for one, or because there was nothing left for them outside these days."

I had the question in my mind to ask what he meant by these days, but still wouldn't ask. That question would be too far and I was trained better than that.

"I can see the question. Yes, in my days of training some thirty years ago we were a lot more picky." Jack said between bites, "We were also a lot smaller and this section here didn't even exist yet. Now they have more lives to spare and are a bit more careless. It's another form-though small-of population control."

I just nodded in response to this new information. It was just a bit of a history lesson. There couldn't be anything wrong with it.

After dinner Jack showed me around a bit before leaving me to my room. The day was old and all my roommates had already gone to sleep. I gathered my new graduate's clothing that was neatly placed in my drawer. After I was all ready I slid into the soft covers of my bottom bunk. The blankets were softer and the mattress was far more comfortable than my old bed.

I ignored the temptation to stay up and think and used the techniques I was taught to fall asleep in seconds. After that day I avoided the thought of Bridget, the outside world, and anything other than my mission here. Just because I was given this new freedom didn't mean I should use it. I was broken in so hard that I didn't even want to disobey. Complying as all I cared about.



A/N DUN DUN DUNNNNNN! So idk if we will see Bridget for a little while or not, but she will be back I promise! Comment your favorite part or questions and I will do my best to respond to you all! Please vote if you liked it and I know that this story is coming slower than my other ones. That is because this story means the most to me and I don't wanna mess it up so I'm writing it slower. No I'm not going to ditch you even if it seems to take me forever to post.

God bless you all!