[Mac the Janitor]

Next chapter...

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It's been one week since our attempted uprising. They still haven't fed us. I have barely enough energy to talk now. I've thrown up many times as a result of my hunger; nobody has cleaned it up. Day after day I am forced to lie in the puddle of my own puke, just hoping that a sloppy vykker will drop a half-eaten Paramite Pie near me. But we all knew they would never feed us again. They wanted to kill off all the rebellious ones to stay in power.

Every day I've watched limp, lifeless fuzzle bodies be carried out of the lab. I have no idea why I'm still alive. The wrenching hunger is slowly picking every one of us off. We all knew they weren't taking those deceased fuzzles to the burial grounds. They were taking them to the dumpster.

I'm going to die soon. I'm sure of it. I'm one of the weakest of the nine fuzzles left. I'm next.

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I have accepted the fact that I'm going to die. I'll just close my eyes and sit here, and the pain and hunger will be over. Everything will be happy. I will leave this world.

I saw everything go blurry. The dark, dingy room was slowly fading out, my body becoming numb. I've always wondered what it's like to die, and now I know.

Just then, a miracle happened. No, seriously. I was lieing on the stained table, waiting for death to come, when the same Vykker who was secretly chanting along with us came up to me.

"Here you go," she said soothingly. She handed me a Scrab Cake.

My eyes lit up. Food! Precious, precious food! I gobbled down the Scrab Cake in a matter of seconds. That Scrab Cake was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten. I owe my life to Chloe.

Every night Chloe visits us. She feeds us many things. In the day, the vykkers study us to see why we'ver survived so long without food. They think it's because of the new dietary pill they tested on us last week. Heh.

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There are only three of us fuzzles left from the rebellion. 22 had died. Every night we pray for them.

Chloe had started feeding us when there were only four left; I plan to ask her why tonight.

I leaned over to one of my remaining comrades and whispered, "Hi, I'm Lily. What's your name?" She was bald like me and had numerous of needles and seringes stuck in her tiny body.

The fuzzle stared at me as if she were offended. "Aren't you the one who did this to us?" she whispered back.

"Um...yeah, but--"

"Why?"

I could see the sadness in her eyes. I understood why she was acting so rude. She was talking to Lily, the one who caused many of her brothers and sisters' deaths. I opened my mouth, but I was at a loss for words.

"No, you know what, I shouldn't have asked." I could see her forcefully holding back her tears. "I don't want to hear some lame excuse for such a horrible deed."

"Hey now, go easy on her, Ophelia," I heard a deeper voice say. I looked over Celia's shoulder and saw a fuzzle with many, many teeth missing. He was one of the very few fuzzles I'd ever seen with all of their fur here at Vykkers Labs. I could tell that he had trouble talking.

Ophelia turned around and stared at the other fuzzle. "Why should I, Bo?" she asked bitterly. "Look what she's done to us and the rest of those deceased fuzzles!"

I just stared down at the old, cracked tiled floor. "She does have a point. I was the cause of 22 fuzzles' deaths. They all lost their lives because of me."

"Oh, c'mon now," Bo said softly. "You did it with good intentions, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah..."

Ophelia opened her mouth to say something, but Bo cut her off. "Now, I feel extremely sorry for those poor fuzzles too, but you can't put all the blame on Lily here. She didn't know that would result in this."

I looked at Ophelia. She appeared to be rethinking something. Suddenly, I heard a fuzzle murmur.

"Who was that?" I asked, peering around.

"I didn't hear anything," Bo said.

"Hmm...that's funny..." I stared at Bo for a second. Suddenly, the voice came back. It sounded an awful lot like Bo's, too. I listened harder. Yes, I thought, I'm picking up some conversation.

"Why is she staring at me like that?" it said. "I sure wish she'd stop...it's really creeping me out."

Whoa. Could it be? Can...I...read minds...?

I sat back in awe for a second, then leapt back up. I've got to test it.

"Hey Ophelia, think of a number between 1 and 1000!" I said, ecstatic with joy.

"Why should I?" she answered in a surly tone.

"Just do it!"

"Okay..." she closed her eyes momentarily. I stared at her, trying to concentrate. I heard her voice.

"32.9621," it said. What a brat.

I looked at Ophelia proudly and repeated the number. "32.9621."

Ophelia gasped in awe. "Whoa, girl, how'd you do that?"

"I don't know," I said, filled with excitement.

Bo jumped inbetween us. "Hey now, let me try!"

I correctly guessed Bo's number, too. This is amazing. Lily the mind-reader. It just seemed so unreal.

"Lily, we could use this power of yours to our advantage!" Bo told me.

"How?" I asked.

"Whenever we go like this," Bo paused. He blinked one eye, then the other. "That means we have something to tell you. We'll just think of it, and you read our minds!"

"Okay, let's do that," I replied. "It could prove very useful later on."

"Hey, girl, you should do your stuff on those vykkers, baby!" exclaimed Ophelia.

"Yeah," I answered, "maybe I will..."

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The conversation was still not finished at 4:00 A.M. the next morning. The lights slowly flickered on as usual, and we instantly shut our mouths as the vykkers entered the lab. Each day I was assigned a new vykker, so I didn't know what to expect. But this time an intern came to me and tossed me into a cage. Two other interns did the same with Bo and Ophelia. Ophelia seemed quite hesitant, biting and snapping at the intern. Bo just let the intern do anything, his head up in the clouds.

The intern carried me out into the narrow dusty hall. I clenched my teeth around the bars of the cage. Volts of electricity instantly flooded throughout my body, and I quickly let go. I was temporarily reminded of the Pain-B-Gone incident from way back when.

I jossled and bounced about in the cage. "Can't you carry the stupid cage a bit more smoothly?" I snapped angrily. He just ignored me; he naturally couldn't understand me. The laid-back intern purposely slapped the cage as he chuckled to himself.

We stopped along the way at the Supply Room. Alas, my chance has come to see the wonders--or horrors--hidden in the behind the rustic Supply Room door. He pulled a discreet panel off the wall near the door and revealed a number pad almost identical to the one in the Labratory, except the buttons were blue on this one. If I could just see the access code he types in...

He sets my cage down. Damn. I need to see what he's typing in.

I looked back at Bo. He blinked one eye, then the other.

The secret code.

I stared at him momentarily, then his voice came. "Hey now, Lily, read his mind to find out the access code!"

I nodded. Duh. Why didn't I think of that. I looked back at the intern and concentrated deeply. I wonder if this works on other creatures, too...

I heard a voice. "Hum de dum dum..."

Yes. It's working.

"I can't wait to go to the gym tonight, get all beefed up and pumped...then I'll show that rude slig down at the Freezer who's boss. Heh-heh," thought the intern. What an egotistic moron.

Oh, wait. He's thinking something again. "Hmm...now, what was that code again? 507...no...124..no..." C'mon, hurry up, you idiotic intern!

"Oh yeah! 306032!" Finally. 306032. I'll have to remember that.

He typed in the code and entered the Supply Room. it was very dark, and all I could see were silouhettes of large crates and other things. He snuck out with a small, plastic seringe. It had a thick, pink liquid inside. He stabbed the needle into his thigh and pushed the liquid in. His face instantly expressed extreme comfort and pleasure. The idiot. He's stealing drugs for pleasure.

The drug addict intern stealthily looked around, just in case someone saw. He then gave the seringe to his buddies carrying Bo and Ophelia for them to use. He picked me up and carried on.

We finally reached a large, metal door with the crooked words "Public Labratory 492" sloppily stamped across the top. I gasped at the horrid sight revealed. Oh no. Dear Odd, no. This is the place where audiences can watch a vykker tourture and slice open a helpless creature.

We're next.

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