"Get up, Freak!" Josh's voice rings in my ear and I sit straight up in bed.

    "Piss off, Josh." I yawn back and Josh laughs.

"Well don't you just look so cute tangled in the General's sheets." He teases and I chuck a pillow at him. Why is he in here anyway? Doesn't he have better things to do than wake up sleeping girls? "I have come to summon you to breakfast. General Parker is apparently too lazy to get up and do it himself." Or, is Parker still mad from our fight yesterday and doesn't want to talk to me?

I crawl out of bed, the sheets crumpling under my hands and knees, and scavenge for a pair of pants. Josh stays silent and pointedly looks the other direction. I find a pair of jeans that look my size neatly folded on the desk chair Parker was sitting in last night. My hairbrush, a hair tie, and my toothbrush are on top of the jeans and my combat boots are next to the chair on the floor.

There's no shirt.

I guess I'll just have to wear one of his. I tug on the jeans, brush through my hair, put it up in a ponytail, and savagely brush my teeth without toothpaste or water while searching through his dresser for a shirt close to my size. There's a black one that is about one size too big but works well enough. I toss that on and slip into my boots, tie them up, and then stand before Josh finally ready for breakfast. His eyes do a quick glance down my body. He shrugs. I can feel Parker's scent starting to cling to my body and for some reason it makes me shiver. Stupid, rebellious body.

"It took way longer than necessary to end up looking like that." He comments and I glare. The door opens at the will of his hand and he gestures me through. We're walking towards the cafeteria in no time and once we're in there, I can hear the French toast and syrup calling my name. I didn't even realize I was that hungry but when I notice all of the eyes on me, I almost lose my appetite. Almost.

Do they know what happened? Josh probably does and obviously Parker does, but what about everyone else. My eyes land on Ty sitting all by himself at the end of a table and he looks rough. His eyes are blood shot, his hair is a mess, his shirt looks like it's on backwards, and he's picking at his food like it's the plague.

Yeah, they know.

The line could not move slower. I stand there holding my blue tray for what seems like ages, and when I finally reach the front they're out of French toast. I stare at the empty plate until one of the soldiers behind me nudges me forward. The only thing left is waffles. It's not that I don't like waffles but even pancakes go before waffles on my breakfast list.

At least it isn't an egg sandwich or something like that. Eggs and Bacon are not my favorite. I used to like them but now when I look at eggs or bacon all I can see is Mitch dead on the ground. Eggs and Bacon were his favorite things to eat. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner, it didn't matter. I wrinkle my nose at the smell of the bacon as I pass a plate of it. I actually feel nauseated.

My legs move me to the spot next to Parker which I become familiar with. He sits in the same spot everyday therefor, so do I. He glances over at my plate when I sit down and I notice the edge of his mouth tilt down just a little. He is still pissed about our fight. I notice he has French toast on his plate. He shouldn't be complaining. I sit there staring at the waffles for a second before Parker takes my fork from me, stabs his French toast with it, and puts it on top of my waffle. He picks up the syrup from the middle of the table and pours just enough on the toast.

It's funny how such a small act of kindness can bring tears to my eyes.

The fact that I don't have French toast isn't even that big of a deal. It really doesn't matter that much, but the Parker noticed and even though he was mad, he gave me his food anyway. I don't know why but this makes me want to hug him.

"Thanks." I say, my voice shaking and I can practically hear my heart breaking inside of my ribs. The cracks are running swiftly through my heart and every gash is like being stabbed in the chest.

"How did you sleep?" Parker asks, his eyes finding mine and holding them. I sit there unable to move under his gaze. The cafeteria practically goes silent waiting for my response. He's asking a question that I don't know how to answer.

"Fine. Perfectly fine." I reply and actually hear someone laugh. It's not a lie though. Somehow, I managed to sleep nightmare free the whole night. I woke up once and that was when Parker and I fought.

But even after that, I was okay.

"That's good." He offers and the soldiers resume their conversations. I, on the other hand, start to eat Parker's sacrificed breakfast.

An officer talks to Parker about his plans for the week which sound almost the exact same as our old schedules except instead of running outside, he'll run through his own drills. Parker nods and listens to the soldier speak, but every once-and-a-while I'll catch him sneak a glance at me. The French toast is gone before I know it and I sit there pretending to be interested in whatever the soldier has to say. I actually have no idea what he's talking about.

When I feel a tap on my shoulder, I'm lost in thought. My jaw strains not to drop to the floor when I turn around to face the intruder. It's a girl. She's probably in her mid-twenties, tall, has dull brown eyes, brown hair, and isn't dressed in a uniform. Normal is how she's dressed from her blue jeans to her green t-shirt to her tennis shoes. I swallow hard and stare wide eyed up at her. Her smile is a little weak but I can tell she means it.

"I'm Kathryn Smith." Her voice is soft yet demanding. That's quite the ordinary name. Everything about her screams normal and I can't help but be drawn to it. I can feel the eyes of many observing what's going on over here. Their minds must be reeling from the fact there's now two girls in the compound. But none of them seem surprised to see Kathryn. They seem to recognize her. My eyes involuntarily travel back to Parker and he gives me a slight nod telling me Kathryn is respectable.

"Riley Evans." I offer my hand and she laughs before shaking it. My handshake is a little awkward but it's decent enough to except.

"I have your suit ready if you'd like to try it on now, Ms. Evans." She suggests. My eyes snap to Parker. He somewhat nods, telling me to say yes.

Suit?

"Uh, sure?" I reply uncertain and she laughs again. What is with all this laughing? I haven't heard anyone say one joke or do anything funny.  This girl must be laughing at me. Suddenly, I don't like her as much. Her nonchalant attitude seems weird now, her smile looks fake, and her laugh is just a little too loud. I lean away from here a little and if she notices, she says nothing. Parker, on the other hand, notices and frowns.

"Would you like me to join you, Evans?" Parker questions curiously. I find myself nodding without really thinking. He stands and I follow. Kathryn starts leading us and as she walks, unfortunately she talks.

"I'm really excited to see how my design works for you." Kathryn is saying. "It has all you need for your power. Unlike the regular uniform, this is flexible and acts as if it's your own skin. The suit's material can hold an electric charge better than any other fabric. I'm sure you'll love the design too...." Her voice fades away and I focus on how confidently Parker walks in front of me. He's so sure of himself. How can he possibly care for such an unstable human being like me? I just don't understand.

"Ms. Evans?" Kathryn questions and my eyes snap up to meet hers looking over her shoulder at me. She's obviously waiting for my response to something but I wasn't listening. I remain silent and watch her eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"Don't worry, Smith." Parker eases. "She's just uncomfortable. Riley remains silent due to her fear of speaking something to cause her even more distress. It has nothing to do with you. Carry on. You were saying something about the fibers in the material?" Is that true? Do I shut down when I'm uncomfortable? Parker was pretty quick to diminish the flames though.

"Oh yeah, um, the fibers in the fabric of the suit..." She starts again. I don't care what she has to say. I've realize why I'm annoyed with her.

She's obviously never felt pain.

I can see it in her eyes. No one has ever hurt her to a degree of real pain. Maybe her dog died when she was little or her Grandma passed away of old age, but I can just see her complete ignorance to the horrors of the world. She has no idea what tragedies the world is capable of.

This woman has never seen her family murdered before her eyes or felt the pain of carrying that guilt on her shoulders every day. No, her life is ordinary. Kathryn Smith is a completely ordinary, innocent person living in a world full of chaos and ruin and she can't even see the rubble crumbling around her. Yet she thinks she can laugh at me? Um, yeah, I don't think so.

We stop walking when we're in front of a random door in a random hallway that looks the same as the rest of them. Kathryn opens the door for us and gives me a bright smile. I glare. Parker presses a hand to my lower back and ushers me inside the room. Once we're in there though, he still doesn't remove his hand. He keeps it right there, pressed against my lower back, sending electric pulses through my body like the blood in my veins.

The lights flicker a little.

Parker smirks as if he knows that he's the reason the lights are convulsing, but he doesn't meet my gaze in the slightest. He watches attentively as Kathryn takes a suit out of a closet. There's a giant desk in the room, with a chair behind it, piled with papers and drawings and a cork board with the same kind of papers pinned to it. Other than that there's the closet and two sitting chairs facing the desk.

"This is it, Ms. Evan." Kathryn says as she hands me the suit. I take it and the feel of the fabric shocks me. It's soft like silk but there's so much strength to it it's crazy. There's such a strength that it's almost like I can feel how the atoms are fused together. I rub my fingers against the fabric and shiver. Parker's hand slips away from my back, and the spot feels cold and a little awkward like I'm missing something. I don't let the feeling show as I hold the suit out in front of me.

The suit is my size, there are holes in the material where my hands and feet go but other than that it's like a suit a super hero would wear. I remember reading about the super heroes in Mitch's comic books. He would laugh when he told me the story about Superman or Spiderman.

They reminded me of myself; they had powers no one understood. The heroes themselves didn't even understand the extent of their powers. I loved seeing how their powers helped them save the world or an innocent civilian. I remember hoping I could save the world with my power one day. Obviously now I know that will never happen. That's why I don't believe in hope.

Almost all of it is false.

"You can go change into it in the closet." She suggests and I walk and open the closet door. It's just a small walk-in closet with nothing but a rack with one hanger on it that must have once hung the suit I currently hold. There are a few things in the corner I just ignore for the time being.

"I hope you like it. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into that thing." Kathryn laughing voice calls after me as I'm about to close the door.

Ignoring that last comment, I close the door a little too noisily and start undressing. I slip into the smooth suit easily. It fits perfectly. Pulling it on, it's loose and feels like a summer breeze against my skin but then once I have it zipped up it clings to my figure, hugging my every curve, and showing every bone that should probably be covered by fat I don't have. The effects of being starved.

When I move, you can see my ribs poking out of my body and it doesn't look good. It just looks...sad and...unhealthy. The suit is thick enough to cover everything and tight enough to hold everything in place like a swim suit would. The color is a dark bluish green and changes color a little when I move like snake skin. In the corner of the closet there are dark blue combat boots, socks, and a pair of dark green gloves. Everything goes on fine and when I'm all finished changing, I feel like I can save the world like Spiderman. All I need is a mask to hide my identity.

"Alright." I say as I open the door, my voice a little tight.

Kathryn's eyes ponder how I look in this closely and I can see her evaluation of the suit in general going up just a little bit more in her eyes. Parker's reaction is just this blank look. His eyes go up and down my body fast and then once again way slower. But his expression never changes. It's almost like he doesn't have any emotions at all. How is he so good at concealing them? I flex my hands in the gloves before setting my hands on my hips and waiting for instructions of some kind.

"We figured that because you're the only one fighting who has....a special power, you shouldn't wear the usual army uniform but instead something that compliments and helps the power. This is the best, and so far only, solution we have discovered. And I guess by we, I mean me. Is it fitting well?" And in that moment, I don't hate her as much. I nod my head to her question. She came up with an idea that could help me and strived to make this idea a reality. It's not only smart but considerate. Then I look at her fake smile and the moment is over. Parker remains quiet as Kathryn explains more about details I don't care about.

"Can I change out of it now?" I ask and she nods with the fake smile plastered to her face. I go back into the closet, undress, redress, and then reenter the room.

"Are you prepared to leave?" Parker asks suddenly and I nod my head, caught off guard.

"Where to?"

"Why does it matter?"

"I don't want to be lead to an unknown destination. It makes me nervous." I reply and he nods his head. From the asylum, I was never allowed to know anything. They would lead me to torture chambers and glass boxes and metal experiment chairs without any explanation of where we're going or even why.

"I had planned on just going for a walk outside." He seems to understand where I'm coming from on my demand for knowledge. "Is that suitable?"

"Yeah, a walk sounds fine." I emphasize the fine to show him that no one uses the word suitable in this century. Especially not a nineteen-year-old boy. He smirks down at me and after a nod in Kathryn's direction, he's out the door and walking.