Page 36 of The Program

I approached the womenooh-ing andaah-ing over the heaps of metal for Dave Junior’s sake with an amused smirk tilting up my lips. I knew they’d been held captive inside The Program and its facilities, but I would’ve thought they’d have been more wary of the local wildlife than this. Sure, Junior was adorable, but he was constantly snapping at anyone who dared get too close to me. It was an issue when it came to Libby, and both of them spent more time glaring at the other than trying to bond, but I found their bickering immensely amusing.

Right now, though, Junior was allowing them closer to him than ever before, clearing foregoing his previous aggressiveness (and clinginess) in exchange for the cooing and attention. And he seemed to be enjoying sniffing and batting at the metal scraps like they were his own personal toys.

I hoped the women would take a page out of Junior’s book and, with time and patience, take the opportunity to grow more confident to explore the outside world. There was so much for them to see, and I felt strangely compelled in that moment to ensure they were able to experience it. They weren’t Libby, but I still felt a sense of protectiveness over them like they were my family, too.

Extended family borne from shared experiences, but family, nonetheless.

‘Sorry, ladies,’ I cut in. ‘I need those now.’

I could tell they didn’t want to hand them over, but their eagerness to watch me while I worked overcame any reluctancy.

‘What are you doing with them?’ asked Francesca. She was sitting to the side, mostly avoiding social interaction. Her partner, Marcella, stood close by while still allowing her her space.

Libby was also sitting nearby, but it was clear there was some sort of wall between them that hadn’t been present the night before. I made a mental note to talk to Libby to make sure everything was okay. Their interactions weren’t really adding up to me.

I explained my plans.

‘Can I watch?’

I shrugged. ‘Sure, just don’t get too close. It’s gonna get hot and I don’t want you to burn yourself.’

I’d purposefully stacked the scraps near a foliage-free clearing so that I could use the rocks to melt the metal without setting fire to the surrounding trees. ‘Okay, stand back everyone, it’s about to gethot.Libs, can you hold Junior back, please?’

She complied with clear reluctance and positioned herself in front of the infantile creature. He let us all know of his displeasure through a series of high-pitched bleating and half-formed growls, but I tuned him out, trusting my best friend to keep him at a safe distance.

I was used to an audience when I used my abilities, my life spent like a fish in a bowl while scientists bent over me with keen eyes and scrutinised me. Yet, this time things were different. These women didn’t know what to expect from me, they had no clue how my abilities worked, nor were they taking notes to determine what needed to be changed, improved upon or removed. It was just me, the metal, and my hands.

I rubbed them together – for effect since it didn’t actually do anything – and watched as they heated up. It always hurt. My flesh was still flesh and burned just like everything else, and while I could withstand a greater temperature than most without incurring an injury, this type of metal would require some pretty extreme heat to melt.

I ignored the gasps when my skin started to bubble and blacken, and I quickly understood that whatever this metal substance was held a higher melting temperature than I had anticipated. This wasn’t going to be pretty.

Within a few ticks the entire flesh covering my hands had disappeared from the burnt bones beneath. They glinted from beneath the charring, the metallic implants that had been painstakingly grafted into my bones still managing to gleam in the light. The pain was a distant factor in the back of my mind as I focused on my task that quickly disappeared once my nerve endings were fully singed off. It was a sight and sensation I had become desensitised to after the never-ending tests performed by the scientists revealed the unseen parts of me too many times to count, though I still hated to do it to myself. In the moment I was fine, but I knew what my nightmares would revolve around tonight.

It didn’t take long to melt everything down into a more useable and malleable shape, and I stepped back when I was done to inspect my work. I held my skeletal hands out in front of me to prevent my clothes from catchingfire, and within a click or two they were completely healed like nothing had even happened. The entire process happened quicker than I was used to, but I was learning to expect the unexpected when it came to my abilities. Who was I to complain about even faster healing?

I turned back around to face the crowd only to find them standing there, eyes wide with horror and mouths gaping in sheer terror. Libby was holding Dave Junior back who seemed to be trying to reach me, and a couple of the women stepped forward as if to check on me, too. I couldn’t fathom why they would try to get closer when I’d already warned them to stay clear for their own safety.

‘She’s fine!’ Libby kept shouting at them as she worked to keep Junior from rushing me. I watched them struggle for a little longer before the words finally pierced the others’ panic-induced barriers. ‘Look,’ she pointed at me. ‘She’s already healed. She’s fine.’

‘Fuck me! What in the burning stars?’ Francesca exclaimed, collapsing against the purple trunk of a tree closer than the one she’d been leaning against before. Her face had paled from an already white shade to almost translucent and had taken on a rather alarming green tint.

In fact, most of the women now had a similar greenish hue, and a few even bent over to heave up their last meals.

‘What?’ I asked, suddenly self-conscious. It wasn’t like they hadn’t grown up being tortured and experimented on by The Program just like me. Their reactions made no sense and it made me feel like a freak where I had expected to be understood.

‘What did theydoto you?’ asked the blonde. I knew I should really start to learn their names, but I couldn’t care less about that while they stared at me in abject horror.

‘That’s rude, Christine,’ her brunette friend scolded, and the blonde –Christine– at least had the decency to look remorseful. However, she didn’t take back her question, and all of them were looking to me while they awaited my answer.

‘I-I don’t know what you mean…’ I stuttered, my words tiny and unsure even though it was the truth. While I hadn’t dug deeper into the gory details I’d been more open with these women than I’d ever been with anyone other than Libby in my entire life. Not even T knew the extent of what I’d beenthrough and he’d been present for a lot of the aftermath, so showing these women not only what I could do but the repercussions was a huge leap. One that seemed to be dropping me on my ass.

‘I’ll tell you what,’ came a voice I was unfamiliar with. It belonged to a woman I’d seen around but hadn’t interacted with yet, and I was suddenly even more nervous about what she was going to say. ‘I’m glad she’s on our side and nottheirs.’

Okay, that wasn’t so bad…

‘What about you?’ Francesca asked, though this time her question wasn’t directed towards me.

I watched with a growing feeling of dread and sadness as Libby’s face fell, and I knew without having to ask that she was experiencing a sense of betrayal. I still wasn’t a hundred percent sure what was going on between them – their interactions so far had been inconsistent and confusing – but I suspected their dynamic had just shifted in the wrong direction.

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