Pepa sat in her shift leads office staring into her lap. 

"This isn't the first time you've been called in here, Pepa, and it's always over the same thing," the man behind the desk grumbled. "You get to close to those Breeders.  I'm starting to think this job isn't the right fit for you."

Pepa's eyes shot up, "I don't see where I did anything wrong."

"You let a mating pair into the quad before they procreated that day."

"It's inhumane to make them earn free time by having sex," Pepa argued back.

"That's how this place works!" He growled, "Why were you even in that monitoring room.  Aren't you looking after a bred female?"

"Stanley asked me to cover his shift today because he's sick with the flu," she stated.

"Look, I'm going to let this one slide but I'd start complying to the norm around here, if i were you.  I'm not supposed to tell you but the  Curators are keeping an eye on you.  I'm not sure what you did to piss them off but they directly told me to report any reprimands."

A sickly feeling settles in the pit of her stomach.  

"I didn't tell them about this incident but you've got to start blending in here.  When I hired you on it was a favour to your dad but it's getting to the point where I'm putting my neck on the line now."

"I wasn't trying to stir up trouble, Zek," Pepa said trying to defend her actions.

"Well, whether you were trying or not trouble is exactly what you stirred up, and if you're not careful a shit storm is going to hit."

It wasn't exactly Pepa's nature to blend in.  She was always a sharp spunky vibrate person.  At a young age, her parents taught her to stand for herself and others.  They were worried that in a world where society was forcing people to see disabilities and unnecessary she would be ridiculed and outcasted.  

They were right to be worried, of course, when defects, were considered a bad thing what teasing and bullying already existed, were amplified.  Several times the ridicule Pepa had to endure was soul crushing.  But she pushed through and in spite of what others said about her grew into a headstrong young woman who wanted to make a difference in the world.  She wanted to show the society that labelled her as defective that she was anything but.

Pepa excelled in school and became the top of her class in, not only, her primary and secondary school but in college as well. 

Despite her medical degree she couldn't find a job that would hire her.  She was well over qualified to be a mear Medic, but that's all she could get and that was with the help of her father's friend, Zek.

Pepa left the office with a heavy feeling in her gut.  She didn't feel right about just disappearing into the shadows and watching kid after kid being used as slaves.  How had the world done such a horrible three-sixty?  

She thought about her private conversation with Venus.     "It will be impossible on my own but if I had help-"

The Breeder looked desperate and it tore Pepa's heart out, but the idea of trying to sneak one Breeder out scarred her to death, much less three.  It was a suicide mission and she knew it.  She couldn't get the idea out of her mind.  If Pepa did help the Breeders to get out she knew she would have to escape with them.  It was easy for Peter to live out in wild. He had been doing it since he was a teenager.  the government had decided that they were going to put their genetically enhanced resources to good use and force all modified beings, or MBs, into their militaries.

If you didn't fight you were killed if you did fight your chances of life weren't much better.  Before Peter's fifteenth birthday he took off into the woods and started his own silent militia.  Their goal, however, was to free all MBs.  Whether they were in facilities or society all MBs were enslaved.  Pepa supported their cause from a distance but she started to wonder if it was time to support from the inside.  

The thought made her blood run cold and a knot form in her throat.  Bravery was hard to come by.  Her life was easy compared to Venus, Peter, and others like them, and it was hard to give up.  She had a home, she had friends, she had her parents, and most of all she was alive.  If she helped the Breeders and Peter she could be giving all of that up and most likely would be.

"Could you live with yourself, though?" She asked herself.

She knew the answer, and it was no.  She conscience would always be burdened with Venus's desperate pleading eyes. She wouldn't be able to bear watching her slowly faded away in a hopeless nothing the longer Venus stayed in the Cube. 

With a sigh, she passed through the exam room where Venus would soon show up for her daily check-in.  She knew that her pleading purple eyes would dig into Pepa's soul.  

When the door opened, though, the young Breeder didn't look at her.  She just climbed up on the table quietly and waited for the exam to start.  Had she already given up hope?

"How are you feeling?" Pepa questioned with her normal chipper attitude.

"About the same," Venus sighed deeply.  It was very clear by the young girl's overcast eyes and turned down lips that something was wrong.

"Today we're going to take the first ultrasound to send to the parents," Pepa informed her.  It wasn't meant for encouragement but just to inform the Breeder what to expect.  The fetus was too small to be seen on an ultrasound ran across the stomach so they would need a "closer" picture.

Venus nodded knowing what that meant and slide off the table to undress from the waist down.  It saddened Pepa that it this had become something regular for the Breeder.

When the exam started and the ultrasound machine flashed to life in shades of grey two little lima bean black dots came into view.

Pepa watched the already suffering state sink into a deeper depression.

"Not again," Venus whispered in a pained tone.

Twins were on the menu and the parents only wanted one.  It would be another child put through the hellhole existence and if Pepa didn't help it would be all her fault.

A/N: I'm sorry it's taking so long to update.  I am really trying to publish as often as I can.  I can't believe "The Breeders" has already reached 1,000 views.  It just seems so unreal that so many of you are reading this and voting on it.  You have no idea how much it means to me and just know the reason I keep writing is because of all of you.  Thank you so much

Much Love,

Reading_Mermaid08