The Failed And Damned

Excellence Award in the 'Horizon of Dreams 2018' competition

Darkness, that’s was she was. Well, that’s what every other inmate called her. Lanky and tall, skinny and wasted. A head that no longer existed, replaced by a visor wrapped in bloodstained bandages. Her legs were like needles, never making a sound as she stalked her cell. No one ever approached her, her death toll already passed ten. Her coat was run down, no longer white, thin and covered in scabs, all but the fur on her neck and tail. She was a failure, the scientists had noted that on her file. She wasn’t fit to serve children, not like her brother.

He was known as Purity, gentle and meek. He was a success, his head was perfectly removed and replaced. He had emotion, he had a voice. Darkness didn’t, her voice was ripped from her, as was her emotion. All she felt, was anguish. All she wanted to do, was kill those who ruined her. Alas, that was never to happen. They made sure of that, that no one was to touch her. Unlike Purity - who would go to see the children at the local preparatory school - Darkness was kept at the basement level of the facility, where all the disasters were kept. She was never fed, never had seen daylight. They didn’t trust her, didn’t trust the fact that although she was blind, she was an assassin.

The cell was a disgrace, blood from her never-closing wound was smeared across the floor. Dents on the walls. She could barely stand due to the slipperiness of the tiles, caused by the bright red substance that coated the floor. Her legs, underbelly and the front of her neck were smothered. They didn’t understand.

“Why isn’t she dead?” They would often say, baffled.

They didn’t think she could hear them, but she always could. She could hear everything.

Every other inmate was able to talk, their voice transceivers allowed that. They all had I.Ds around their neck, but Darkness possessed a red, infected brand of her number on her flank. #606. She was the thirty-sixth experiment conducted since the facility’s opening, since her, there had been thousands. Only a handful of experiments had failed, every other inmate down in solitary had been involved in an accident.

The world was collapsing around them, and the humans had turned to drastic measures, using the world’s fauna for their own purposes. Medics, child care, and even transport. But the one they were most proud of, was their weapons. They assisted in the army, filled with genetic mutants, although were only used on if necessary.

But not Darkness. No, she would kill any human who crossed her path, even children. She wasn’t permitted to go anywhere, chained to the back wall of her cold, dark, lonely cell. Unloved, unwanted. Sitting, staring at the impenetrable glass before her, waiting.

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