The Genesis Saga

Resigned to going through the door, he moved through as the guard motioned. By this point, he had gone about halfway down the hallway. He was unable to see what lay around the corner where the researcher had gone like he had hoped. Turning his gaze forward, he walked in to what could only be described as an infirmary mixed with a tattoo parlor. The sharp smell of disinfectant stung at his nose while he breathed. It was decidedly unpleasant. There was an undertone to it, a thin, metallic smell that he couldn’t identify. It was faint, but present. He paid it no mind for the time being.

On one side of the room was a long counter with a stainless-steel sink. There were several folders littering its teal surface, next to a clipboard. A computer monitor decorated the counter, displaying some sort of spreadsheet that he couldn’t read from afar. Next to the counter was a scale, as well as a seven-foot-tall ruler secured to the wall.

On the other side of the room was a cot, as well as tattoo station. It was adorned by an empty dark brown leather chair, a small table cluttered with supplies and nurse, sitting next to the empty chair. The woman looked to be in her late twenties and was dressed in blue nurse scrubs. She patiently waited for him to enter.

“Come in,” she said pleasantly. “Please, have a seat.” Adrian did as he was told, finding the chair to be surprisingly comfortable. “Let’s start with the basics, shall we? How old are you?”

“I’m twenty-two,” he replied. The nurse picked up a clipboard and pen off of the table and jotted it down

“Lovely,” she said warmly. Her countenance made Adrian relax slightly. “Can you tell me your birthday? I need to jot it down.”

Adrian replied warily. There was no use in avoiding the questions. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be allowed to leave unless he was compliant. The fact that it was just him and the nurse in the room told Adrian that they didn’t expect any violence here. Looking around, he was reasonably certain nothing here would hurt him.

Apart from the tattoo machine.

Adrian eyed the machine suspiciously. “What’s that?” he asked curiously, pointing to the machine.

“Oh, that’s for you,” the nurse smiled. “It’s how we mark you.”

“Mark me?” Adrian spluttered. “For what? I’m not cattle. Why would you need to mark me with anything?”

“Every person here is given a serial code. It helps us identify you in our systems,” she replied patiently. This wasn’t the first time she’d had that conversation that day, nor would it be the last.

Adrian blanched. Was he just a faceless entity who’s only identifying feature was a number? His mind spun with possibilities. “I don’t have a choice, do I?” he asked morosely.

“Nope!” the nurse said cheerfully. She put on a fresh pair of gloves she took from a box on the table. “I’m going to need you arm.”

Adrian lifted his cuffs. “That might be a bit of a problem.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be tattooing the top of your arm near the shoulder.”

Lovely, he thought sarcastically.

The nurse rolled up his left sleeve of his t-shirt. Satisfied that the shirt wouldn’t move during the procedure, she picked up the tattooing machine and began her work.

A short time later, Adrian was sporting his first ever tattoo. His arm smarted and it had hurt more than he was expecting, but the pain was manageable. Peering over his shoulder, he saw ARD-BX17-008 spelled out in big, bold letters across his arm. “What does it mean?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“Typically I don’t talk to candidates, but I guess it really doesn’t matter.” The nurse decided to humour her unwitting captive. “There’s nothing you could really do with the information anyway. It stands for Active Research Division, batch X-seventeen, candidate eight.”

Adrian filed the information away for later. He wanted to know what they were candidates for but knew he wouldn’t get a straight answer. “Why a tattoo?” he asked instead.

“It prevents runaways,” the nurse said offhandedly from across the room as she entered data into the computer on the counter. “Only candidates have a tattoo. It’s not something you can hide, and it sets you apart from the personnel working here. It’s very easy to find somebody hiding in plain sight if you call for an inspection.”

A knot formed in his stomach. His hopes of escaping seemed nothing more than a pipe dream. “I see,” he said despondently. “Thank you for telling me. It won’t do much, but it’s nice to know,” he gave a thin smile.

“Just a few more things here and then we’re done. I need you to stand on the scale so that I can weigh you.”

He did just that and waited for her to record the information.

“Perfect!” she continued. “One last thing, now. Let’s measure you.”

Adrian moved off the scale and stood with his back against the ruler. He waited patiently as the nurse measured him. Once she was done, he looked back out of curiosity. He apparently stood at 5’10” and some change. He wasn’t surprised upon seeing that number. It was the same as the last time he was measured a few months ago at the doctor’s office. He honestly could’ve just told her and saved everybody some time. “Is there anything else that I need to do?”

“No, we’re all done for now. They’ll come get you when it’s time for more tests. Today is really just about processing. We need to get you all entered into the system before we can do anything else.”

The room had two doors, one placed on either end. The nurse finished up at her work station and moved towards the back end of the room and opened the door. She poked her head out and spoke to what Adrian assumed was another guard.

Shortly after, the nurse turned around to face Adrian. “It’s time for you to go. My colleague here will escort you to your room.” She opened the door fully and Adrian saw two guards waiting outside. Wishing the nurse a good day, he stepped out of the room and followed the guard that started walking.

He found himself in a spacious corridor with two elevators. The walls were white, with no discerning features. Compared to the lobby he had first entered the stark difference was off-putting.

The guard wore the same clothes as the ones he had seen previously. The stranger walked up to the elevator on the right and pushed the button to call it. They waited in silence.

Adrian found it odd that two separate sets of elevators were needed in the building. Mentally mapping what he had seen of the building, he realized that the elevators weren’t that far apart from one another.

The elevator came and he got on it without fanfare. The guard joined him. It was an ordinary elevator. The walls were mirrored and framed with stainless steel rails and the floor was tiled a pleasant beige. he noticed the lack of elevator music.

He looked around for anything that might be useful to learn. He saw that the control panel indicated eleven floors to the building and had a key slot. Adrian was impressed by the apparent size of the building and assumed that it extended upwards into the mountain. Carving into a mountain was no small feat, and he gave credit where credit was due.

The guard moved towards the control panel and inserted a key into the wall and turned it to the left. He then then pushed four and the elevator began descending, contrary to Adrian’s expectations.

Down? Adrian thought. So they dug out eleven floors below ground for this complex? To what end? This whole place is strange and is giving me a bad feeling. I’m not sure I want to know what they need eleven floors for. We’re only twenty-eight people. Unless there’s more of us?

The elevator quickly descended and all too soon the doors were opening. White flooded Adrian’s vision as he stepped out. The long corridor he found himself in had white walls and a white ceiling. White doors adorned the hall, complete with off-white tiles.

The corridor eventually ended in a T.

“Follow,” the guard said stoically. Adrian jumped. He had been too engrossed in analyzing the hallway and forgot about the guard.

Chastising himself, he followed meekly behind the guard. The doors were a mystery to Adrian. They each had a metal slot at eye height and a latching mechanism attached. Each door had deadbolt and a three-digit number painted in large black letters above the slot. Each one started with 4, presumably for the fact that this was the floor below ground. These were the only non-white details Adrian could make out.

Stopping in front of the door numbered 406, the guard fished out another key and opened the slot to peer inside. Satisfied with what he saw, he then unlocked the door and undid the deadbolt for opening it and ushering Adrian inside.

The inside of the room consisted of white painted stone for the walls, the same tiled flooring as the corridor and a white ceiling. Original, Adrian thought with an eye roll.

Five cots were laid out side by side along the walls. There was a nook in the back of the wall that had a sink and toilet. On the cots were, unsurprisingly, white sheets with white pillows. The sheets were slightly yellowed from use but appeared to be in good condition otherwise.

Entering the room, Adrian made to go sit on one of the cots when the guard stopped him.

“Wait,” the guard said gruffly as he fished around in his pocket. He pulled out a ring of keys and began sorting through them. “Come here. I’m going to take your cuffs off. You don’t need them now that you’re in your cell. Legs first.”

Adrian turned and waited. Selecting a small bronze key, the guard knelt down on one knee and unlocked both cuffs around his ankles. Standing back up, the guard selected a different key, silver this time, and undid the cuffs on Adrian’s outstretched wrists.

Rubbing his raw wrists now that the cuffs were off, Adrian felt circulation return to his extremities. His cuffs had been placed too tightly and it was getting painful to keep wearing them. He bit back the thanks he had on his tongue, not willing to thank the very people who captured him for loosening their restraints.

The guard left, locking the door as he did so, leaving Adrian alone in the room. A short time later, the door opened again, revealing the portly, fox-like man Adrian had seen briefly before getting onto the truck.

Adrian nodded in the man’s direction, only to be ignored. The man claimed a cot at the back end of the room after his cuffs were removed and lay on it silently. Sensing that the man didn’t want to talk, Adrian was more than happy to enjoy some peace and quiet.

The shuffling of footsteps outside the door caught Adrian’s attention. It opened again, this time revealing Lily. She entered the room with her head held high and patiently waited for the guard to remove her cuffs. “Hello again, Adrian,” she said, once the guard left.

“I didn’t think we’d end up in the same room together when we first met. I didn’t think I’d be sharing a room, for that matter,” Adrian replied in surprise.

“Colour me surprised as well.” Lily looked around the room. “I take it there are more people coming,” she said, eyeing the empty cots.

“I would assume so. I don’t know who we’re going to get, but it shouldn’t be too long before somebody else gets placed in here with us.”

“Are we just supposed to wait here?”

“The guards only open the door to let people in. They haven’t asked for any individuals yet.”

The two lapsed into discussion about who might come next and how people were assigned their rooms. Predictably, the door opened again a short while later and presented them with a rather pale John. The guard undid his cuffs and promptly left without so much as a hello.

“John, you look awful!” exclaimed Lily, taking her first good look at him. “Are you ok? What happened?” she questioned vigorously.

“It’s the needles, man. I can’t stand needles. I’ll be fine in a little bit, don’t worry.”

Lily shot John a concerned look before guiding him to a cot. “Here, sit down at least until you feel better.” John allowed himself to be helped sitting down before questioning “Why the tattoos though?”

“I actually asked about that,” Adrian piped up.

Lily shot him a surprised look. “And they actually answered?”

“Yeah,” he said, proceeding to explain what he had been told earlier by the nurse.

“So it’s a serial number?” John said, dumbfounded.

“I guess that makes sense,” Lily reasoned, looking at the tattoo on her arm.

“What did you think it was, John?” Adrian asked.

“I haven’t really looked at mine yet,” he replied, somewhat embarrassed. “Needles and all, yeah?”

The trio proceeded to discuss the implications of what the tattoos stood for. They came to some dark conclusions.

They were not the first group of people to have this happen to. They reasoned that at least sixteen other groups had met the same fate. They doubted the compound would be able to house all seventeen groups with only ten floors. What happened to the other groups before them? If they weren’t here then that didn’t bode well for them.