A few weeks have passed, I was quietly sitting on an examination table as some Doctors took blood samples. There was always a heavily armed Guard in the room as well as Micah or Judy when it was testing day. They didnt want to risk me lashing out and killing anyone else simply because i cant handle my emotions. There were a few tests that caused a negative reaction from me, it was typically always tests that involved pititng me against another student with mutated abilities.. or students that completely changed and lost their sense of self due to the genetic changes caused by the radiation shedding.

That was a fun debriefing.

The radiation didnt really affect us, but the shedding of the raditaiton did. Apparently, we cant really get sick from radiation unless theres a large amount of it. Its why certain illnesses essentially became non existent and clean energy started becoming important. Our cells were already heavily influenced and changed from the small minimal doses we were experiencing in day to day life and so were our parents cells, and their parents cells. Essentially we are all ticking time bombs, and a large enough dose can turn us into monsters at a moments notice.

This entire time we have always been Monsters.

Regardless of this life changing information we were informed that the three of us had some of the more deadly mutations. They had us supervised nearly all the time, we managed to negotiate the removal of the camera in our room and bathroom, citing that regardless of the destruction of our great country it was still illegal as we were minors, we didnt know what the person observing us was doing as they watched us and it made us uncomfortable. They told us that the cameras would be removed but there will be Guards stationed outside our door every hour of the day and they would periodically check on us every few hours.

A sharp pinch startled me out of my thoughts and I quickly glanced over to find the source. At some point it seems the Doctor has had me strapped down, he was cutting into my arm to harvest tissue samples and to grab a few bone marrow samples. The Doctor froze at my reaction and Judy was at my side in an instant, gently humming as if to calm me down. I looked up at her and tried to smile reassuringly then looked back towards the Doctor.

"Sorry sir, I was just startled, I didnt mean to spook you like that. Please proceed" I leaned my head back and slowly drifted back into my own thoughts. I reflected on the events that occured in the last few weeks and the first one that came to mind was the results after the incident.

 It occured a few days after, we had gotten news of the surviving Doctor I attacked, he had passed aswell.  A woman came to visit us, followed by heavily armed Guards. She was familiar to me, and it only took me a few moments to realize that this woman was the same one who gave the speech when we first arrived. She had a serious expression on her face as she sat down on a chair that one of the Guards pulled out for her. Micah, Judy, and I were huddled together on our bed. Looking back, I wouldnt be surprised if we looked like a trio of disgruntled baby birds. We had been in bed for several days after the incident, we were always cuddled up together, reading the books that were in our room. We made fun of the alterations made to fairytales to match the Shelter propaganda and we would tease Judy about being a siren if she sang us to sleep. At that point we hadnt had the camera removed yet, so they were observing our interactions together before deciding it was safe enough to have the big conversation.

I dont remember it in detail, but the general idea was that all three of us were on thin ice. She started off by introducing herself, her name is Lucia. Lucia didnt want to kill us outright as our mutations were very unique and they wanted to run several different tests on us.  She told us that leaving the Shelter wasnt an option as the world above still wasnt recovered enough for our Shelter to open its doors. Lucia explained to us that we had to cooperate or they would take the neccessary steps to gather the information they wanted before executing us. She also explained that if we cooperated she would do her best to work with us so everyone could be satisfied and we wouldnt have to be executed. 

Lucia promised us comfort as long as she could afford to. 

We didnt want to die so we accepted, very early on it was clear that I needed either Micah or Judy in the room to help maintain the instincts that developed with my mutations. The feral instincts to protect myself that would randomly spring up if something rubbed me the wrong way was dangerous. It was easy to get her to agree to allow them in the same room during experiments involving collecting samples or dispatching of other students, staff, and even the Monsters. 

Judy tapped my shoulder, pulling me from my thoughts as the Doctor applied a Nano-Patch. I looked towards her and she smiled and we were sent off. Escorted back to our room by the typical Guards, Judy and I talked about plans for when we got back to our room as Micah should be back by now as well. We passed by an open door when suddenly someone shouted and the Guards were moving to block whoever was trying to reach us.

"Hey!" I stood infront of Judy, I knew it wasnt neccessary but it soothed the more primal part of my brain. 

"Hey! What the hell man?!" The voice was familiar and when I peaked around one of the Guards to see who it was I was shocked to see it was Andy that tried to come up to us. He looked normal, I assumed he didnt get a dosage of radiation while sleeping, until the grip he had on the doorframe caused it to creak as he restrained himself from lashing out at the Guard. I guess his muscles were strengthened, it wasnt too surprising considering how sporty he was and if the dosage was small enough it would have only enhanced a basic funtion.

"Please return to your room." One of the men escorting us ordered, he reached forward to push Andy back into his room but he refused to budge, stating that they told them they were free to go wherever they pleased and he wanted to speak to me and Judy since we were friends. Judy looked over curiously as well and visibly look repulsed by the sight. She was never overly fond of Andy and only interacted with him when she had to.

"Andrew." She called his name to get his attention and his head snapped in her direction as his expression smoothed out to look more relaxed and chill. 

I had almost forgotten that he had a crush on her.

"Hey Judes! Where have you been?" He gave one of his supposedly charming grins and tried to subtly flex his muscles. Somehow this was the guy who managed to have everyone still hooked on following him around like lost puppies regardless of his loss of Enforcer status. I would personally say that the only reason any really put up with him was because of his looks. However, once Andy got a good look at her face he recoiled in shock and gagged.

"What the fuck happened to you?" He choked out, looking sick at the sight of her scarred face. This was enough to set Judy off, her inability to tolerate his general attitude and personality already caused some anger to form but shes had enough of his degredation towards girls who were subpar struck a nerve.

"I almost died, and unless you want to die I would suggest backing off and letting us get back to our room." She hissed, the Guards tensing and gripping their rifles, knowing that her ability, while seemingly harmless can be incredibly dangerous. They know all she has to do is sing and she could potentially make them all stop breathing or go to sleep permanently. Andrew was frozen in shock at her audacity to speak to him in such a way that it allowed one of the Guards to quickly begin ushering us back in the direction of our room while they other staying behind for a few moments longer. 

When we reached the door I pressed the button and it once again wooshed open and closed softly behind us. Micah was sitting on our bed with a stack of books and greeted us with a wave. His face scrunched up in concern when he noticed Judy's angered look and glanced over at me when she stomped into the bathroom where the water for the shower began running.

"You remmeber that guy from before cryo? Andy?" I asked and that was all I needed to do, I assume he had some encounters with him during school but I dont want to pry. He nodded at my question and began neatly putting the new books away on our shelf, while I wandered over to Judys dresser and began collecting a change of clothes for her.

Once all the clothing was gathered I walked over to the bathroom and knocked on the door, calling out to her about the change of clothes I had. Once given the all clear I opened the door and gently placed them on the nearby shelf and closed it again.

I sighed and turned around, nearly jumping out of my own skin when I noticed Micah right behind me. His hand was reached out as if to tap me on the shoulder but didnt quite make it on time. We both looked at eachother sheepishly for a second and quickly retracted the claws once I noticed that they decided to make another unwanted appearance. 

"Well!" I began my hands on my hips, uncomfortably stretching the scarring on my back, "lets get the bed made and a movie set up shall we?" I gave him the biggest smile I could muster, pretending to be okay and that these features didnt actually bother me. Micah stared at me for a few more seconds before closing his eyes for a moment and sighing. He nodded and we both began to get to work, I fixed the sheets on one side of the bed and he did the other before we fixed the blankets and pillows.

"Keigo.. I want you to know that even if we havent known eachother for very long, that I am here to listen to you if you ever need someone to talk to." I paused what I was doing and stared at him for a few moments processing what he said. I'm not used to being cared about anymore, my father left when i was young and my brother soon after. They were the only people to really care about me before, and when they were gone my Mother would be distant and unbothered by my plights.

"Thank you Micah." I replied and he gave me a small smile before we finished setting up everything. Judy came out of the bathroom a few minutes after, looking refreshed. She squealed once she noticed we set up the movie stuff and quickly tried to jump into bed, her wet hair spilled over her shoulders and Micah quickly reached out to grab her and redirected her to sit on the floor as he sat behind her on one of our chairs. Judy pouted as Micah began to gently towel dry her hair as much as possible while I grabbed the blowdryer from the bathroom. Micah and I came to the horrifying realization early on that Judy was never really taught to dry her hair before getting into bed when all three of us were in a pillow fight and she smacked Micah across the face with her wet pillow. Ever since we had been drying her hair for hair after every shower or bath.

Once I handed the dirty blonde boy the hair dryer it only took a few minutes for Judy to be dry enough that she was allowed in the bed.

We all crawled into our preferred spots, Micah on the left, Judy on the right, and I was in the middle. They both cuddled close to me and we were all enveloped in soft comfy blankets after Micah pressed play on the movie. 

I felt a hand sneak into mine as their fingers interlocked with my own. I squeezed his hand and he squeezed mine back. Micah wasnt very big on physical reassurance but he liked cuddling with us and would hold either of our hands. Judy was always up and personal in my space, her head on my shoulder of chest.

As the movie progressed I felt myself slowly drift on and wished for more moments like these to happen in our uncertain future.