Cykopath- Birth

by Luca Braña

  “Then it’s decided, next time, we will chat with the telepathic girl. Maybe she will have come up with something by then,” Anna said, earning nods from the others. They all got back up as the sound boxes repeated the message, this time with a reminder that the guards were expecting them. They did not want a free beating, so they would comply.

  “Well, guess this is goodbye for now,” Cyko said, trying not to let his smile drop. His family gave him smiles just as sad as his own, but they all waved to him.

  “Don’t be sad, Cyko, we’ll see each other soon, count on it!” Matthew said enthusiastically.

  “Yes! Be safe, and don’t do anything stupid until then, remember we will wait for you!” Anna said with a reassuring smile.

  “Stay safe, brother, we’ll see each other again soon,” Geon said, smiling.

  “Think positive, Cyko, we’ll be waiting to see you again,” Sara said gently.

  “Take care, big brother Cyko!”

  “Yeah, don’t let those fools win!” Starry and Torch said simultaneously. The blue-haired boy smiled at them, waving his hands as he made his way to the gate he came through.

  “Thanks guys! I’ll be seeing you soon, so stay safe!” he yelled to them before turning back towards the way he was going. He frowned. Even if he was happy with meeting his family again, it didn’t change the fact that the rest of them were gone now, and he wasn’t naïve to think they might be alive. He clenched his fists. This wasn’t fair. It wasn’t.

  “Oh?” Cyko blinked, stopping his walk as he felt something between his legs. He looked down and nearly yelped in surprise. It was a cat! A cat of all things! The feline was white as snow and had golden yellow eyes, and it was rubbing itself on his legs. Where did that cat come from? How did it even get there? he wondered, trying to stay calm and undetected.

  “What the, where did you come from, little guy?” Cyko crouched down to look at it better. It was a very pretty and surprisingly clean cat. The feline looked up at him and meowed. He started to pet it and the cat seemed to love it, rubbing itself against his arms and legs, earning a chuckle from the boy.

  “Attention all test subjects, socialization time is over…” the sound boxes shouted again, louder this time. Dang it, if he took any longer, the guards would get annoyed at him and he would be unable to do anything about it. He should hurry and leave, but what will he do about the cat?

  It meowed again. Somehow, no one saw or heard it, preoccupied as they were, either with last minute talking or hurrying over to the gate. Maybe he could try to bring it back to his room? It would be hard, he would be forced to eat less in order to give some to the cat, and he will have to clean up after it, but at least, he would have someone to talk to…

  “Hey, little guy, if I put you in my shirt, will you keep quiet?” he asked in concern. The cat just looked up at him and meowed again. Uh, maybe he could give it a try? The good thing about the rag he was wearing was that it was larger than him, so he could fit the cat in there without problems, as long as it behaved.

  “Well, I’ll give it a try. Come here, little guy,” he said aloud. He picked the small cat up. It offered no resistance and immediately snuck in under his shirt and didn’t make a fuss, so hopefully it would stay that way.

  Making his way towards the gate, while holding his arms over his belly where the cat was, he nodded to a few kids and blended in with them. Hopefully the guards wouldn’t ask why he was holding his stomach like that.

  Soon enough, the gate opened, and a full platoon of security was already waiting for them. The largest of them, the same guy who ‘gently’ woke Cyko up, moved to the front. “All right, rats, listen up! We’ll be calling for you as we pass through your dorms, don’t try anything funny! Those things in our arms aren’t just for show! Now move out, quickly!” he barked loudly, the metallic tone of his voice sent shivers down their spines. The children were quick to comply and hastily moved along.

  One by one, they entered their wards, waiting for their turn to be called. When Cyko’s turn came, he breathed a sigh of relief, none of them had noticed it seemed, so he should just move— “Hey, blue rat.” The large guard suddenly appeared behind him, making Cyko stiffen up in surprise. Oh no, this was bad, this was bad, this was bad—

  “Why are you acting like that? Are you trying to sneak something from the gym into your room, hm?” he whispered in his ear, making the boy sweat bullets. If he gave the wrong answers, he knew he would receive a terrible beating.

  “A-a-a, I-I j-just have a… stomachache!” he yelled nervously, desperately trying to keep the struggling cat still. It was so quiet until now, why was it trying to get out so suddenly?!

  “A stomachache, eh? You think I’m dumb, rat?” the guard spat out, making Cyko shiver even more. He wouldn’t ask him to strip down, would he? He just wanted the cat! He wouldn’t dare to imagine what those people would do to it, so he had to maintain the lie better!

  “Y-yes! A s-stomachache-OUCH!” He held his stomach in genuine pain now, as the cat was clawing him! The boy was desperately trying to stop the cat from moving, but now it started scratching him, and it hurt. Thankfully, he had experienced much worse than that, so he could resist it somewhat, but it was still painful.

  “Humph, as if I cared about what you bring with you or not!” the guard shouted in annoyance. “You can’t escape, you hear me? No matter how hard you try! This facility is made to keep people IN and OUT, no one will come for you, and you will stay here forever, so go ahead, bring yourself some rocks, it will help a lot! Not!” He shoved Cyko towards his dorm room.

  “Go inside before you pee your pants and make a mess of the corridors! Remember, any mess you make, you clean it, rat!” And with that, he slammed the door closed, the loud bang echoing in the small room. Still shaking, the boy let the cat fall out of his shirt to land gracefully on the ground. He still couldn’t believe he survived that. It was way too close for comfort, that guard is so scary—

  “Meow.” The white cat, now sitting in one of the beds, stared at him. The little thing was back to being calm, must’ve been nice, clawing his poor belly like that!

  “Ahhh,” Cyko let out, falling down in the adjacent bed, “at least you’re safe now, little guy, but how did you get there, anyway?” he questioned the cat who completely ignored him and started to lick its paws. Cyko sighed in frustration before getting up and moving towards it.

  Meow!” the cat exclaimed as it was picked up by the blue-haired boy, who had a look of both curiosity and annoyance on his face.

  “So, you are ‘she’ then. You are a girl, not a boy. Still, how come no one noticed you before?” The cat just stared at his face with an expression that was almost smug, making his eyebrow twitch.

  “Yeah, I didn’t think you’d be able to tell me how in the world you got there, little girl. Ahhh.” He sighed before sitting down in the bed and placing the white cat on his lap. The kitty then started to rub herself against him affectionately, making the boy give a small smile. Well, at least he had company now, didn’t he?

  “Hmm, I guess I can’t keep calling you little girl, huh? I know! How about a name?” he asked out loud as the cat rubbed her head against his hand, purring occasionally. Now, what would be a good name for a cute, white kitten? Ah, of course! “Snow! What do you think of Snow, little one?” he asked the cat who stopped her rubbing to meow at him again before going back to her previous activity. The boy chuckled, did that mean she liked it?

  “Snow it is then! Hah!” He started to play with the small cat on his lap, patting her and sometimes making her try to catch his fingers, which she would try and swipe at, thankfully, without pulling her claws out. This was fun, he thought. He would be back to loneliness once the socialization time was over, but now he had a pet! Snow!

  He quickly realized that the small cat loved to play around and also loved to be petted. She was a nice cat and Cyko quickly grew to like her. For the first time, he had fun in the small room he was in. Maybe he should sneak her b
ack the next time they let them out? Cyko would love to introduce Snow to his friends, especially the girls as he knew they would fuss over her.

  A sudden bang on the door made him yelp, and the cat jumped from his lap to the floor, running to hide under the bed. Curse that guard! Why do they always have to do that?! Grumbling in annoyance, he got up and resolved to go back to playing with Snow, before the small compartment on the steel door opened and a plate of food slid in before it closed again.

  Realizing only now that he was hungry, the boy went over to get the plate. This time, the porridge was green and had several solid looking… things… mixed in. Sighing in defeat, he steeled his resolve. It would taste horrible, he knew, but at least it would fill him up.

  Sitting down in the bed he was at previously, Cyko began to work through the disgusting food, noting that the solid parts tasted and seemed like cardboard pieces. It wasn’t that hard to chew, but it was definitely bad tasting. Thankfully it didn’t nearly make him puke with each mouthful, what was that stuff made out of, anyway? he thought.

  Snow meowed, making the blue-haired boy blink. He looked down and saw that the white cat was staring intently at him while licking her lips, then she meowed again. She eyed the plate of food he was eating.

  “Meow!” the feline exclaimed again, this time raising her foremost paws and making a clawing motion at the air. She was hungry, it was obvious. But the question was… Would she even want to eat this disgusting stuff? He knew that cats were predators and could eat small critters, but… He sighed, it would be best to make sure his new companion didn’t suffer from an empty stomach at least.

  “Here, I know it tastes horrible, but you need to eat too, Snow.” Separating a small part of his meal with the thankfully provided spoon, he quickly finished his portion of the disgusting porridge, before setting the plate on the ground. The cat started to sniff at the food before turning away with a seemingly disgusted face while meowing. Cyko gave a short laugh at the poor cat.

  “I know it smells horrible, and it will taste just as bad, but it’s all we have Snow, it’s all those mean guards will give us.” He told the feline who meowed once again, before reluctantly eating the green paste. She hissed every few seconds—it was apparent the poor thing detested the food, but it wasn’t like he could do anything about it.

  As he watched the feline eat, he began to wonder about today’s events, particularly, about the ‘socialization time’ as the guards called it. He got to meet his family again and got to see a lot of other children too, including the mysterious telepath who had broken the ice and motivated them all. It was suspicious. Not the girl, but the suddenness of it. Why would they, after months of keeping them confined in those small rooms, allow for the children to go and have fun with each other?

  He had a bad feeling about it, but he knew that these meetings would be their only chance of making possible plans for their escape, their only chance of having any happiness at all in this hellhole. He sighed, he just knew they were planning to do something, but the question was, what? Exhaling again, he decided to take a shower, one of the very few commodities they were allowed to have. Which was strange, all things considered.

  Snow had finished eating the paste and was making a weird face. He really hoped it wouldn’t upset her stomach because he literally had nothing else to give her to eat. He picked the feline up and put her in the bed he was previously sitting in, petting her until she closed her eyes. At least she could take it easy, since she was a cat and wouldn’t have to worry about being tortured.

  As he cleaned himself, Cyko thought about Snow. He had thought about it several times already, but how the heck did she manage to sneak all the way into this place? Maybe… Maybe she was a pet of one of the guards, or possibly of one of the scientists? It seemed unlikely, they were all terrible people, and Snow herself was a very nice cat. He discarded that possibility.

  Maybe there was some sort of secret passage? A way to sneak in… And possibly out of this place?! “I mean, what other way could she have gotten in? There are guards and giant steel doors everywhere,” he mumbled to himself in annoyance. He knew that there were at least two floors in this place, and that it was massive, but he never went beyond where the guards allowed him to go, so it was possible that there was a secret passage somewhere.

  Yes, that was another topic worthy of discussing with the others when they were allowed to come out again. If they all were on the lookout for something then they would be bound to find it, maybe another animal would make their way down there, who knows?

  Finishing his bath, he went about the next part of his routine. Cleaning his rags. They were the only clothes he had, so he would be damned if he let them stink. Terrible situation or not, he was determined to not let it get to him in such a way that would make him slip in his hygiene. He simply would not.

  Still, all he had to work with was cold water, some generic white soap, and detergent that the guards provided every few days, but he did what he could. This was a curious thing as well; the guards would also give them some cleaning supplies. He had a mop that he would use to clean the floor of his room and even had a generic toothpaste and brush set. As he was conservative with what he had, there were quite a few supplies accumulated in the corner of his room. He had even used an old plastic bottle of detergent to fashion himself a small cup to drink water from.

  It was as if they went out of their way to make the rooms as uncomfortable as possible, all the while being comfortable enough so that they could sleep without problems. If he was older, he would probably assume that it was because the scientists wanted the subjects to be as rested as possible for the next time they would be experimented on, but as it was, Cyko didn’t think much about it, although he still treated everything with suspicion.

  Finished cleaning his clothes, he wrapped a towel around himself and left the cramped bathroom, breathing a sigh of relief. Now, all he had to do was hang them off the side of the upper bed in his bunker, and they hopefully would be dry tomorrow. He would have to sleep in the nude, but being a kid, he didn’t think much of it.

  “Hello, can everyone hear me?” Jumping in surprise, Cyko looked around, before realizing that the voice was from the telepathic girl, Tela. He blinked. How did she get in his head from wherever she was? He heard a few yelps across the corridor, so the others probably heard her as well.

  “How did she…?” Cyko asked out loud. She did say they could make use of her powers to talk secretly with her using their minds, but he thought it would only work in the gymnasium where there was nothing between them! The fact that she could do this was amazing; a huge advantage if they were to plan for anything!

  He then heard a hum as if she could hear either his or other people’s questions. “I didn’t mention it before, but at the time I managed to memorize all of your soul signatures. What are they? It’s a name I gave to the feeling I get from individual people. Everyone has a different signature, and that allows me to tell the difference between you and the guards. Anyone whose signature I can’t recognize, I don’t communicate with. Previously, I could only talk with my roommates and a few children I had seen in the corridors. I don’t dare try to talk to guards, they know of my powers.” Cyko heard a buzzing sound, what was that?

  “Yes, all of you are located in different wards. There are many in this place, and I can tell you that not all the wards were allowed to go to the socialization time. I don’t know what or who are in them, even if I reach out with my mind, I don’t have a connection with them yet,” she explained, earning a thoughtful frown from the blue-haired boy. He did see all those different doors, and he had noted that only a few had brought children in, but he didn’t think that all the doors led to where they were being kept… Just how many kids were there?!

  He heard the buzzing sound again. “Where am I? It’s a place that the guards said has additional security features. All of you know about magic, yes? The walls of this entire building are magically strengthened and sealed, my telepathy
can’t breach through those walls.” Another buzzing sound, what did these noises mean? They always sound after she starts making some explanation, does that mean people were trying to talk to her, and he heard the buzzing instead?

  “How am I talking to you all, then? The ventilation shafts! I heard one of the guards talking about how all the shafts in this floor and the one above us were connected with each other, that’s why it’s never hot in here. If you look at your ceiling, you may see a very small metal shaft. It isn’t big enough for us to crawl through, but it’s large enough to allow fresh air to freely circulate through. I am using those to send my telepathy through all the openings,” she explained, and this time, the buzzing that he could hear intensified. Blinking, Cyko decided to try to send in a question of his own.

  “How does it work?” he thought, trying to make his question focused at her rather than himself, and suddenly, he could feel as if a pair of eyes was directed at him. He turned to look at Snow, but she was happily snoring away, that could only mean that the telepathic girl was focusing on him now, maybe?

  “That’s a good question, and a hard one to explain,” she said amidst the buzzing of likely several questions directed at her, “I imagine my telepathy as tendrils, and I send them inside the ventilation shaft. Then I make the tendrils poke around everywhere, and whenever they find a person, they ask me if I want to make contact or not. If I recognize the person, I start to talk to them, if I don’t, I avoid them. It feels a little weird, and it took me some time to get used to it, but with that, I can talk with all of you at once!” she exclaimed, and after a pause, the buzzing started again and Tela giggled.

  “No, silly! I am not an octopus! Well, you can imagine my telepathy links being like tentacles, but they don’t coil around you!” she said in good humor, making Cyko himself chuckle at the strange proposition, for he could suddenly imagine an octopus vaguely shaped like her putting its tendrils inside the shaft, it was a weird scene.