I wake up, chained to a metal bed in the cleanest white room I have ever seen. The unfamiliar smell of chemicals burns my nostrils, and I realize I am not the only one here. All around me are other children just like me, dirty, poor, and alone. We are called The Fallen in our society, forced to scavenge for basic needs. Most kids like me are in bands to make life easier, but there’s a lot of violence. I’ve been alone for as long as I can remember. Some of the faces are familiar, but none I know the name of. I hear the door swing open. A man in his thirties walks in, and everyone stares. He is dressed in a white outfit, clean shaven and a trench coat.

“Congratulations!” the man shouts as if we’ve won the lottery, “You have all been selected for an experiment far beyond your comprehension. You are taking a step forward for humanity and will be remembered for your sacrifice.” He smiles, but an unfamiliar face a few beds away from me speaks up.

    “What if we don’t agree?” the boy says, and the man opens his trench coat, revealing several syringes filled with icky green liquid. The boy’s face sinks in terror.

“You, my dear boy,” he chuckles “will be a perfect example.” The boy starts struggling to get out of his chains, but he knows he can’t get out. The man sticks one of the syringes into the boy’s neck and shoots in half of the liquid. The boy’s body falls limply as he stops struggling. Everyone is in shock. The man calmly gets up and walks to the center of the room.

   “My dear children, I cannot tell you much about what’s to come, but I can tell you about your leader. One of you has been hand-picked to be the leader of the 24 other test subjects. They are in complete control of what will happen to all of you, and what all of you do. If you do not listen to them, what happened over here,” he gestures to the boy, “will happen to you. Your leader has implants in her brain that she can use at will to kill you, but everyone else is immune to it, including your leader.” He sticks the same syringe he used on the boy into his neck and finishes it. He doesn’t die, though I wish he did. He walks over to me and pushes a button that makes my bed stand straight, and I’d fall if I wasn’t chained to the bed. He smiles.

“This is your leader. Your test begins now.”