*I know what I said about no trigger warnings, but the next two chapters might be a bit much for some readers. I will not be upset if you decide not to read them.*

Robbie sat in the too small cage. It was dark, and he was shivering, the normal heaters the Reptilians used to keep it warm were not used here. Instead, everything was cold. This would be the only place Robbie had seen the beings covered in layers of clothes. He never asked why it was so cold, other caged humans left too quickly to ask, and the ones around him now refused to talk. The boy knew why, the reptilians never understood them. Some coo'd when the humans tried to talk, others slapped them. They all learned to stay quiet quickly.

He also learned to stay still when he was brought out of his cage. One time he had fought, his teeth clamping down on a reptilian and drawing blood. Robbie thought he'd be put back into his cage, and left alone. That didn't happen.

He'd been beaten, covered in bruises and gashes made by their claws. Something painful pushed into the gashes, and then he was stuffed back into the cage.

The next day he was yanked out, and brought to the exam table. He'd shivered, peaking at the reptiles through his black eyes, hoping they weren't mad. They looked at his back, giving off displeased hisses when the skin was still bleeding. Robbie flinched when they picked him back up, but they only put him back in his cage. They had almost been gentle when they closed him in his waste lined cage, even given him a hard bowl of pellets, and left him to heal.

The pellets had long run out, even with rationing that his mommy had taught him, when he'd healed and been taken out again. He made sure not to bite, hoping it would mean he wasn't hurt again.

But he was held down on his stomach, a scalpel ran across his back, and a different something was pressed into his cuts.

He was put away again, without any pellets. His only comfort was that his whole body wasn't beaten this time.

The next day he'd been removed, and the same angry hisses followed.

He lost track of the number of months it happened, and the different type of things they pressed into his cuts. Finally, one day, his back was fully healed when they took him from the cage. There were happy shouts. Robbie thought he had finally done something right, but he was pushed back into the cage. He wasn't even fed that night as the reptilians celebrated the success.

Nothing happened for a while, after that. He hadn't been taken out, or tested on, or cut. He hadn't even seen a reptilian. The other humans around him with similar wounds said nothing, but their grim faces said everything.

The reptilians had found what they wanted, and abandoned them all. Robbie's only luck was that his had been the successful experiment and he wasn't bleeding like the rest.

He just sat in his messy cage, in the dark, and shivered, hoping someone would find him.

*Thanks for reading. Please vote and comment!*