Project Songbird

Chapter 4

"We're allowed outside?"
I tilt my head as I stare out at the garden that was on the other side of the door.
It separated us from the outside.
"Sorta." Jack shakes his hand in a so-so motion, "But I appreciate you volunteering to help me in the garden." A bright smile is plastered on his face.
He steps towards the door.
A large beam of red light scans up and down his body, and an automotive voice speaks "Subject 03: Jack." Two robotic claws make their way out of the wall and clasp something around his neck. The door then slides open and he steps out into the sunshine.
I step forward and flinch slightly at the red beam that scans me.
"Subject 1212: Ethan."
The claws clasp the thing around my neck and the door opens.
Nervous, I step through the door and outside. I wince at the bright sunlight that pierces my eyes. Two weeks without seeing the sun.
The fresh air fills my lungs as I take in a deep breath.
"It's beautiful."
"Definitely is." Jack voice pulls me from my thoughts and I turn to look at him. He is busying himself picking weeds away from the sunflowers.
"So what is stopping you from running?" I look out at wide open space behind the abandoned hospital.
"The shock collar is a pretty good deterrent." Jack answers my question.
"Like a dog shock collar?" I question which makes him laugh.
"If you call laying on the ground incapacitated a dog shock collar then yeah." He coughs a bit after laughing hard.
"Incapacitated?" I face him.
"Yeah," He sits back on his heels, his eyes now scanning the horizon, "The amount of volts that shoot through your body is almost enough to kill you."
"And there's no one that has the ability to avoid this?" I bend down to start picking the peppers.
"Tyler, maybe? But he won't leave." Jack turns back to his weeds.
"He won't? But he could get us help." I lean away to sneeze as the pollen makes my nose itch.
"It's a long story." Jack mutters, he stares hard at the flowers in front of him as if our conversation triggers a memory.
The door behind us makes a sliding sound and I glance behind us to see Mark.
"Hi Mark." I wave at him.
He waves back, "How are you guys doing?"
"Okay. I didn't think we were out here long enough for a checkup." I shade my eyes from the sun as I watch the man walk over. He chuckles lightly, "Oh, no, not at all." He touches Jack's shoulder, the man flinches under the touch, but relaxes as he sees who it is.
They seem to have a silent conversation.
Jack mutters and then turns back to the flowers. Mark walks out of sight, momentarily, and then returns with a lawn chair. He sits it up near the rose bush and then kicks back in the chair, soaking in the warm sun.

"...I used to be a hotel manager." Jack wipes the sweat off his forehead. For a while I had forgotten where I was with the peaceful silence of the garden.
"That's cool." I sit back, using my shirt to wipe the sweat off my head, "I was a musician."
"Well that explains why they picked you for Songbird." Jack sets his gardening tools aside, "That probably helped the transformation, and it explains why your song was soothing rather than violent."
"It makes a difference?" I stretch my wings, letting out a soft groan as the muscles relieve the cramping.
"Actually yes, we did have another musician, but I'm unsure on why their singing did not help." Jack dusts the dirt off his hands, "Mm, a warm shower would be nice."
"Do we have a limited time out here?" I watch as Jack stands.
"Not that I know of. You better not be thinking of running, trust me, it'll just make things worse for everyone." Jack replies as he makes his way over to Mark, who fell asleep.
"No, I don't really want to be incapacitated." I shake my head, "I'm just not ready to return to the hospital."
"I understand. It's hard being cooped up. Why don't you stretch your wings in a flight to the roof?" Jack suggests.
"I can't fly yet, no one has taught me." I gesture to my wings, "They are beautiful and all but so far they have just been strange to get used to and they itch."
"Hm." Jack turns from Mark and walks over to a wing, "May I?"
"Sure?" I watch him grab a wing. He was gentle as if he had held a wing before. He runs his fingers through the feathers, carefully looking at them before he slowly makes his way to my back. "Do they itch here?" His finger taps at the part of my back where the wings have sprouted out from.
"Yeah, right there." I confirm.
His finger runs over the skin, "Hm, well a good shower might help with that. You're just not used to the feathers that brush against the skin."
"Not sure how I would be able to reach that." I demonstrate by trying to reach the middle of my upper back.
"You'll just have to get some help then." Jack offers a solution as he walks over to my other wing; delicate hands filter through the feathers.
"You seem to have experience." I turn my head to look at him.
His eyes meet mine for a second, a flash of pain before it was covered with a smile, "That's because Mark also has wings. I usually help him clean them. Healthy wings are most important."
"Oh, I didn't know Mark had wings." I glance at the sleeping man.
Why did he look so upset when I say he had experience with wings??
"Yep. Mark, Felix, and you all have wings." Jack confirms.
"Not too many of us." I stand up to dust the dirt off of me.
"Oh, well, there used to be more but they all had a difficult time adjusting and it resulted in a terrible accident." Jack sounds like he was struggling with the word accident. Almost like it might be something more.
He clears his throat, "Anyway, it's getting late and I'm ready to smell like something other than dirt." He moves past me and over to Mark, gently shaking his shoulder.
Mark woke almost immediately.
He sits up but relaxes at the sight of Jack, "Ready to head inside?"
"Yeah, Ethan is thinking of staying a bit longer though." Jack replies quietly.
"Oh alright." Mark stands, giving me a wave, taking Jack by the waist and the two make their way back inside.
I look back at the garden, taking in the beauty of the outside.
I want to escape.
There has to be a way.
But it wouldn't be smart to try now, I need to find out more information from the others about the layout of the building. Then I can possibly formulate a plan to escape.
Perfect.
Tyler said that they all had been here for over ten years, I should start my questions with the very first, but who is that? The computer or robot said Jack was Subject 03 meaning two people were here first. How do I find that out?
Could I just ask? Would that start a fight?? Maybe I should ask Bob and Wade, they are telepathic.

"Hey Ethan! Just in time for dinner!" Mark loudly exclaims as I make my way back into the cafeteria.
"Saved you a seat!" He pats to an empty spot on his left side.
"Oh, thanks." I take my food tray and make my way over to the table, taking the empty seat between both Mark and Tyler. I set my tray down and make myself comfortable before glancing around to see who was sitting at the table.
Bob and Wade both made uncomfortable faces at each other and then me.
"Something wrong?" I voice.
"You think that's a good idea?" Wade asks.
"Do you have a better idea?" I counter.
"You're making a mistake. We've tried." Bob counters my counter.
"But maybe fresh eyes can help." I shrug my shoulder as I take a bite of food. Both fall silent and then glance at the others as if speaking to each of them.
"I don't think so." Mark squeaks out, "He doesn't hate you but he definitely isn't a fan."
"Who?" I ask.
"Subject 01." Jack mutters.
"Do I know him?" I ask.
"You've met him." Mark nods his head, "But just because he seemed happy that you're here, doesn't mean he'd be willing to help you with your quest."
"Who?" I repeat.
"Felix." Wade answers.
"He is Subject 01." Bob confirms.
"But why wouldn't he help me to find a way out for everyone?" I was confused.
"We already tried Ethan." Tyler's voice makes me flinch slightly. "No one wants to talk about what happened back then, just know that it was awful and painful. Most would prefer to leave it behind us."
He stirs his soup with the broken look that I first saw.
"...b-but..." I sigh.
I don't seem to be getting through to anyone. Maybe I should let it go.
Is this my life now? Forever?
I stare down at my food, an overwhelming sense of hopelessly washes over me and I fight back tears.
I scoot my bowl away from me, quietly excusing myself from the table.

Dammit, now I'm lost.
I can't remember where Tyler's room is.
I look both ways down the hallway, trying to figure out which direction I came from.
"Lost?" A sultry voice comes from behind me and I turn around to see a woman walking towards me.
She's a busty woman, with tan skin.
Her clothes remind me of some kind of villager from a movie?
Her dark green hair was held out of her face by an orange headband.
Her eyes are covered by a cloth.
"Kind of." I rub my arm.
"I can help, where are you headed?" She asks, smoothly.
"I was looking for Tyler's room." I answer.
She places her hand against her cheek, her pointer finger tapping her cheek in thought, "Oh, I remember! Follow me."
She turns around and starts off in a direction. I hurry to keep pace.

We walked for what seemed like several minutes before we turned a corner and walked into a space I didn't recognize.
"Where are we? I thought you were taking me to Tyler's room?"
"Thank you Daisy." A voice I do recognize comes from the shadows.
I squint, trying to figure out who it was.
"Of course." Daisy smiles before she gives a slight bow and then makes her way out of the room, closing the door behind her. I back a bit towards the door, feeling scared.
"You do not have to fear me, Ethan." The figure steps forward and I relax seeing Felix.
"So what's with standing creepily in the corner?" I ask.
He ignores my question as he steps forward, "I asked Daisy to bring you here because I heard you had some questions for me."
"How did-?"
"I have my ways. When you're here the longest, you create systems and followers." He answers, placing his hands behind his back as he turns to pace the room in front of me.
"Amy tells me that you're not ready to handle the answers you seek."
"Maybe?" I shrug. I wasn't a doctor.
"Why do you want to know? To escape? Fresh eyes? Is that what you said?" He rapidly fires questions.
He turns and stalks towards me in a swift manner, backing me further into a corner. "You think you can just waltz in here and give us the answer we seek?"
He all but growls in my ear. His body is pressed up against mine, keeping me from making any kind of escape from the corner.
"I just want to help." I whisper.
"Help? You want to help? Or do you just want to find a way out and leave the rest of us here to rot? You've only been here for a few weeks, the rest of us have been trapped for years." He grumbles.
"I want to help everyone."
I was terrified now.
'He's not exactly your fan.' Mark's words echo in my head and I felt like a fool for not listening.
Felix moves forward until his nose brushes against mine, his piercing blue eyes locked with mine, "I bet you're curious about the accident. About this." He jerks his shirt collar back out of the way to reveal more of the nasty scar that crawled up his neck.
I nod, afraid to speak.
"If you learn of this, you won't look at any of us the same way. Those friends of yours aren't as sweet as they make themselves out to be." He continues, "Do you really want to shatter that image? I think you should sleep on it." He pulls back to give me breathing room. His hands move to my face, "After sleeping on this, if you decide to go through with it, seek out Daisy. She will bring you back to me and I will answer all of your questions."
"Promise?" I wanted to be sure.
He chuckles, "Scout's honor." Before he backs away completely and then gestures to the door, "You're free to go."
Now I have a decision to make.