K-8 and the Unforgotten Children Transcript

Link to the episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1231289/5862238-k-8-and-the-unforgotten-child...

Well, 27 is totally dead. He stopped moving over half an hour ago, I should get up and go. God, It hurts to even walk. I was shot in the back, stabbed in the shoulder, cut in the stomach, and losing a chunk of my hair. Some injuries were worse than others. I pulled myself up off the bench and hobbled over to the elevator. I had bandages wrapped around every part of me that was injured, but it still hurt. Maybe there are still some painkillers around here. I think there was a medical lab downstairs. I stumbled into the elevator and started the descent back to the bottom floor. God, I’m having a hard time even walking, maybe I’ll just camp out here tonight. No, there's a good chance more Tengen nutjobs will show up. The elevator stopped, then hung in midair. Great. I got up and kicked open the door that was nearest to me. It was locked pretty tight, so it took a few kicks to get open. I stepped into the room, blood dripping onto a lavish carpet. As I reapplied the bandages, I gazed in awe at the room. Even left alone for years, it was still the most luxurious thing I had ever seen. The carpet floor was patterned in white, gold and silver, with similar golden ornaments lining the walls. A grandfather clock sat in the corner, still ticking away as it would for a long time. I flopped down on one of the plush sofas in the room. If I ended up bleeding on this red one, it wouldn’t be very noticeable. I realized that I had just laid down on a piece of paper. I took it out from under my body and looked at it. It was a photo of a young girl with blonde hair. The name Issabella was written on the back. I tossed it in my backpack.This must have been the guards living area, a place where they stayed when they weren’t doing their job. Then I saw something on the walls. Ten doors, each adorned with a number. 470. 471. 472. Continuing on like that until it reached 479. This was a storage area for us. I had heard that the ones with higher numbers had better living areas, but I didn’t think it got this good. We lived in a small metal box with no heating, real lights, and very little food. These people were living with a giant window, a plasma TV, and the ability to order anything they wanted. Seriously, there was a menu full of food on a coffee table next to the sofa. It was like one of those menus from a fancy french restaurant you see in movies. I tossed it to the side. Most of the food would be rotten by now. As I lay on the couch, I stared out through the cracked window, pondering. Why had my friends and I been stuck in that hellhole when the higher numbers were kept in paradise? Why did I have to live like an unwanted pest, when these people lived like kings? As I was deep in thought, a kid left one of the bedrooms, and saw me lying on the couch. 

    “Oh fuck. Dad, wake up!” Shouted the kid. He was around fifteen years old, with short black hair and pale green eyes. He rushed back toward one of the bedrooms, pounding on the door.

    “Unless someone is bleeding or hurt, we’ll deal with it later.” Said a tired sounding voice from one of the bedrooms. 

    “There's a girl out here, it looks like she's been shot! Stabbed too!” Said the kid. His Dad pulled himself out of bed and came out of the bedroom. He was a much older man, old enough to be my Dad. He was around forty years old, he had a shaggy beard and taped together glasses. He rushed out of the room and brought back a first aid kit. Basically the same thing that I had. The Dad looked at what I had already done and sighed. 

    “Why did you put the bandages on the outside of your dress?” He asked. Well I can’t just get undressed randomly out in the open, someone could have seen me. I know for a fact that there are much weirder things living in here than you two. 

    “Okay, you look like you know how to do this yourself, so I’m gonna let you stay in one of these bedrooms and get yourself bandaged. Properly.” Said the Dad. He put my arm around his shoulder and helped me off the sofa. I went behind the door labeled 472 and layed down on the bed. The door closed behind me, and I covered the little glass window the door had on it. It had its own shade that I could bring down, believe it or not. The room was nearly three times the size of what I had in the bottom levels. So that meant that this room was basically a king sized bed and nothing else. I took the time to bandage myself up and then left the room. 

    “Hey, settle a debate for us, is that dress red and blue, or is that dried blood all over it?” Asked the Dad. I pinched a part of the dress and rubbed off a few flecks of dried blood. 

    “Yeah, that's dried blood alright. Hang on, I can get you something better to wear.” Said the Dad. He walked over to another one of the bedrooms, 474 this time, and got out a light blue sundress. He handed it over to me and pointed at room 472.

    “Dad, are you sure about that? I know how much that-” 

    “Honestly Jasper, I’ve been meaning to get rid of that for a while. I think it's time we leave this place. My daughter is probably dead by this point.” Said the Dad. The kid named Jasper shrugged and headed off to grab his stuff.

    “The TV broke down anyway.” Said Jasper shrugging his shoulders. He came back with a small backpack, loaded up with food. 

    “This place is a great shelter, but we’ve run out of food, and hunting is a bitch here. I’m not sure how much longer that elevator is going to last.” Said the Dad. Yeah, about that. The elevator is completely busted. Once Jasper and his Dad saw the busted doors, they both immediately panicked. Well, Jasper panicked, his Dad sighed and grabbed several cables out of his backpack. 

    “We’ll have to repel down. Ma’am, what's your name?” Asked the Dad. I reached into my own backpack and took out a laminated card. The Dad read it off.

    “My name is Kate. I am mute. I have a mouth injury which caused this, so I will keep this scarf on to cover it up. I guess that explains that. Anyway, Jasper and I will lower you down, it's gonna be a lot harder for you with your injuries.” The Dad and Jasper helped me get the climbing gear on, and began to lower me downwards. I had to wonder what these two were doing here? Jasper and his father were the only people living here I’ll bet. I wonder why. He mentioned his daughter, so maybe she was kidnapped by Tengen. I heard they did that with some of the higher numbers, it was less expensive than creating artificial humans. That was what I and many others from Tengen were. Artificial humans, grown in a test tube with no parents or family. I landed at the bottom floor, back at my old home. My old prison. I took off the climbing gear and sent it back up for Jasper and his Dad to use. I walked outside the building. It wasn’t raining out anymore, the dark clouds had gone away. I waited outside for the others to come down. Jasper followed me out, but his Dad stayed behind. 

    “Dad, come on. Let's get out of here.” Said Jasper. His Dad lifted a chunk of metal off of the ground and carried it outside. He walked past the large metal fence topped with barbed wire, and down the ruined streets of the surrounding town. Jasper followed him, calling out for him, but his Dad seemed to be in a trance. Jasper followed his Dad, and I followed him out of town, and into a forest. Jasper's Dad jammed the shard of metal under an oak tree, then scratched something onto it with a nearby rock. Jasper and I walked up to see what was carved there. It was a name. Isabella. 

    “I tried. I really did. We all did. Even after everyone ran off, I still stayed. I pounded on the doors, I fought with the guards to let you go, but they were too strong. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Jasper's Dad sobbed like the smallest child as Jasper stood behind him, unsure of what to do. Isabella could have been any of the Tengen experiments, she could have been kept at the top of the tower, or she could have been stuck in the basement, starving with us. Maybe she was one of the ones I was imprisoned with. Well, if she is dead, she got a better deal than most of us did. I left Jasper and his Father at the makeshift grave, and walked away from the ruined town. As I walked, I took inventory of all my things. A heavy grey and red winter coat, a light blue sleeping bag, a pillow, the new dress, the photo I took from Tengen, a large kitchen knife, and a grey stuffed rabbit named Billow. Yes, I sleep with a stuffed animal. Don’t laugh. I have to wonder if that girl is still alive somewhere. You know what, I’m going to go find that girl. I need a new project anyway. If she's dead, I’ll just fight whatever did her in. Unless it's a super high numbered Killer, then I’m going to test how fast I can run away from something. 
 

Robo Jacket

VT

YWP Alumni