You don't realize how much you value life until you actually start living.

For a large portion of my own life I wasn't really doing anything worthwhile. I mean, maybe the scientists would tell you otherwise, that there was some use for me, something to be made, a vaccine, perhaps. I can't think of anything else they could have gotten out of me.

It was mostly just the same thing over and over, with minimal change. Concrete, tile, linoleum, glass, steel. I hated it. The lights were so bright they almost burnt holes into my head where my eyeballs would be, not literally, but it felt that way. And the clothes, They were going to be destroyed 90% of the time, anyway, so they never bothered to give me anything more than a paper gown. They also never shaved my hair, they didn't need to, since, you know. The destroying. It would grow back pretty fast every time, it was usually newborn-baby-soft (which is kind of a perk, having your hair and skin constantly be as soft as a baby's, not a single blemish or scar left over, but I never got to properly enjoy it), they didn't give it time to grow much between partictulary brutal sessions.

I don't remember much, I can't recall any specific details, just general memories. That might be a good thing, because I don't think I want to. Everything I do recall is bad enough. It's mostly the repetitive things, things that get stored as long term memories in the back of your brain. The other memories I either blocked out or were decimated entirely from my mind after a brain injury. I remember they called me "A1". I remember the food not being great. I can't remember if I managed to fully digest it more times than my body purged it from my system. Just bland nutrient paste. Maybe occassionally a bran muffin? I didn't know that was what they were called, "muffins", until years later. I remember being allowed to draw things. I was always a terrible artist. I remember the crayons, they were just straight wax, with the paper sleeves pulled off. I remember drawing with blood. Hard medium to use, actually. It dries out and becomes sticky too fast.

I remember seeing others there, specifically that one girl, I don't know why they focused on me so much when she was such a handful. She had a physical aura around her all the time, you could feel the atoms in the air vibrating near her. She could boil water by looking at it. She sent a lamp flying towards my head one time without even touching it, which I did not appreciate very much, but the only reason i'm here right now and not in, like, afghanistan (fighting in the war, they almost drafted me as a "super-soldier". can you imagine??) or something is because of her. One afternoon they ran some kind of test, I never found out what the test was exactly. Something that required a very large room that nobody could go into. I was in my room (if you could even call it that, it was more of an enclosure or maybe cell) at the time, and I had no clue what happened, so i'm not even going to bother trying to explain it here. all I know is that one second everything was normal, and the next, I hear the alarm. The red light on the wall that never gets turned on was lit and spinning. I tried opening the door, but it was locked, obviously, as they didn't want me out of there for any reason. So I turned to the mirror on the wall. I knew there was an observation room on the other side, people watching my every behaviour, but I don't think anyone was there. I hear a loud noise. Very loud. And suddenly the door is open, and so is every other door, and the sprinkler system is on.

I walk outside of the room by myself, something I hadnt done at all up until that point. I was unsupervised. more noises come from the hallway, and it feels like the whole building is vibrating. I think a reflex activated in me, because I found myself making a run for it, and so did the others, it seemed, their rooms were left empty. I ran down hallways and stairwells, not having a goal or place in mind, just running. A whole section of the building collapses behind me. It's very hot, I can see flames now, something's exploded. Everything was exploding. I run through doors that look like they should have been closed, past people I had never seen before, people in suits and skirts, more scientists, I assumed, they didn't bother catching me, because they were too focused on getting out of there, or because they were too busy being dead. Death was weird to me, I never knew why it happened, but I learned it was normal and that I was actually the abnormal one because I didn't-- couldn't-- die. That's the main reason I was locked up in that place, I think. anyway, I was running, and I get to a place with windows. ones that show outside. the excitement at being able to see more of the outdoors fueled me, and I kept going until I get to a foyer--

--And then the whole place blows. Glass breaks, concrete crumbles, and I go flying out of a window into the clearing below.