I put down my diary at the sound of my door opening, A facilitator stared down at me with annoyance.

  “No.963, lunch time.”

  I got up and slovenly followed behind him, slowly converging with the other children like zombies moving in a pack.

  The cafeteria excursions had become a regular occurrence. To correct the mistake I had made previously, for the past week I have been waiting until everyone has taken their seat before finding the most isolated place.

  The scarcity of food has made the children severely hostile and the facilitators have deemed the deadly issue irrelevant until it’s time to return to our rooms.

  However, today I wanted to test my boundaries slightly. It’s important to not attract attention, but sometimes to gather information you have to be in the spotlight.

  Escaping is my highest priority, and to do that I need information on the hierarchy here. I’ll start small. See just how much I can get away with, and just how much chaos needs to happen before the facilitators step in.

  My target today….was the gourmet table where the single-digits were eating. I heard that they usually had their own dining hall, but it was currently undergoing maintenance. Thus, they were forced to eat here with the riff raff. There was no explicit sign that barred lower numbers from entering, it was just automatically assumed. So, I decided to test the waters to start.

  I walked over to the table and sat down at the far-edge, away from the single-digits. The chattering and screaming of the cafeteria came to a halt as I began eating my food. The single-digits all looked toward me with a mixture of awe and confusion.

  Me sitting at this table seemed to have caused a stir to even the wildest of children.

  The only thing that could be heard was the sound of my chewing. I purposely acted oblivious and didn’t look up from my food.

  “Hey!” A shrill voice yelled from my right.

  A pale boy with wavy red hair stomped over to my seat. Unlike me and the rest of us, who were wearing a flimsy hospital-like gown, he had on a red shirt with a logo and a white jacket. And unlike us, he actually had pants…jeans at that.

  I ignored him.

  “Hey!”

  He slammed his foot down on the seat of the table and leaned close. I turned to face him; his expression was stern and his cheeks as red as a tomato..

  “What’s a filthy triple-digit like you doing at our table? You’re stinking up the place, get out of here! Can you even understand what I’m saying?”!”

  I turned back to my food, placing the spoon in my mouth. “I don’t see any rule or sign that indicates I can’t sit at this table.”

  “I’m saying you can’t sit at this table! Leave before I make you!”

  I glanced over at the facilitators and saw them making no movements to step in.

  “And how would you do that?” I scoffed, chewing my food.

  He smiled a toothy grin and opened the palm of his hand. A red flame burst forth, dancing wildly in his palm.

  “I’ll scorch ya, that’s how.” He said, bringing it closer to my face.

  Fascinating.

  If I had a power like that, I would have already escaped this place. The fact that he hasn’t yet means he’s either stupid, or is treated so well that he doesn’t want to leave. It could possibly be both.

  “It feels lukewarm if you ask me.”

  “Pfft!”

  A white-haired girl was staring at the situation with an amused expression. Next to her was a boy with swampy green and black hair. He looked at the situation with a different type of amusement than her, but made no moves to step in. Besides those 2, the other 7 looked as if they were curious on what would happen next.

  “D-Do you even know who I am?! You can’t be talking to me this way!” He screamed sheepishly, his face red as a tomato.

  “Then do something about it, fire boy.” I said coldly, grabbing his wrist. I slowly brought the flame closer to my face, the heated air colliding with my skin. I let his arm go loose for half a second and he immediately ripped it away.

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  “What the hell’s wrong with you? Freak!” He said, with tears welling up in his eyes as he rubbed his wrist.

  “Freak….? I could say the same about all of you.” I said, standing up from my seat and leaving my food there in the process. “You all can do whatever you want, right? Because you have powers? Sure, sure, if I was a fool I would keep believing that lie. You’re all worthless, just like the rest of us. Why else would you not want to show off your abilities when I gave you the perfect opportunity?” I asked, bumping into his shoulder on the way.

  I hadn’t even taken another couple steps when I was stopped by the kid with swampy green hair. He wore a purple jacket and orange shorts, and had his hands in his pockets as he stood in front of me.

  “Hey. You’re pretty smart, huh. You don’t think I see what you’re trying to do?” He said with a calm smile.

  “What is it I’m trying to do? Enlighten me.”

  He only smiled, staring right through me with his murky eyes. “No.8!” He yelled, breaking the silence. “Man….you’re making us look bad. Now this triple-digit is looking down on us, all because you were too afraid to swing.” He sighed. “What can he do? He’s powerless and malnourished. Considering how you treat the triple-digits on the daily, it’s not a morality thing is it?”

  “Well no, I—!”

  Don’t tell me…..you were actually afraid of him?” He said, lowering his tone.

  No.8 stood there trembling for a couple seconds before taking the bait. I could hear his loud footsteps and crackling flame as he rushed towards me with an inflamed fist. I looked at the facilitators and saw that they had turned their heads away.

  I see.

  Why even seat the single-digits and lower numbers in the cafeteria in the first place?

  If the subjects toughed it out and happened to awaken a power, they would be treated the same as the single-digits. There were no rules barrin where you choose to sit because it was intentional. To showcase their power and superiority, one eventual subject would sit there and rock the lion’s cradle. Further strengthening the hierarchical system that had been thrust upon us.

  Before I turned my attention to no.8, who was running at me, my eyes crossed paths with the boy in front of me who had taken a step back. I wasn’t good at reading emotions, nor expressions in social situations. But even an ant could tell what the green-haired boy was thinking right now.

  Have you figured out how things work around here yet?

  No.8 swung his fist at the back of my head, but I quickly side-stepped away, causing him to flounder to my right. While he was off-balance, I turned my body, slamming the plastic tray in his face then kicked him in the calf.

  “Agh!”

  He fell to the ground and looked up at me with a desperate expression.

  “Subject 963, cease at once.”

  A facilitator had taken out a weapon and had it aimed at me. I put both my hands up as I was quickly surrounded.

  “....What is the meaning of this?” I asked aloud.

  “You harmed another subject with malicious intent, we are only following protocol.”

  “You don’t stop triple-digits from harming one another. It’s because they have special abilities, is it not?” I asked once more, glancing at the both of them.

  “.....”

  “Regardless of protocol, he attacked me first. My word holds some weight.” I explained to them.

  “Yes, but you goaded him into it.” One of them responded.

  “I had already stepped away from the altercation. He ran up to me of his own volition and attempted to strike me, with an inflamed fist at that. Is it not reasonable to respond in kind?”

  “That’s….”

  “Stop arguing with him." The other one said, raising his rifle. "We don’t need to explain ourselves to you. We’re following protocol and decided to take action, now come with us.”

  I looked up to the top-right of the room, and saw a small glint of light. I took a deep breath and stared directly at the small camera.

  “Can you truly call yourself a scientist that is acting upon logic and fact? Ignoring the moral dilemma, I….a triple-digit who is malnourished and put in terrible living conditions have easily bested a single-digit. Do you not wonder what latent potential lies in my body? Do you not wonder how I am able to act like this, even in such a situation?” I asked, as they grabbed my arms. “If you are letting this undeniable sense of curiosity get the best of you, then you can’t call yourself a scientist!”

  “Hey, shut up!” A facilitator yelled, pushing me to the ground. “You shouldn’t have acted all tough, you brought this upon—what?” He asked, pressing his hand to his ear. “You’re serious? No sir, I’m not…..! I apologize. Yes, yes, as you say.” He muttered, releasing me.

  I stood up and dusted myself off, glaring at the facilitator who pushed me to the ground.

  “Subject 963, you will return to your room at once! That’s an order! You will also be barred from food for 3 days, be grateful that’s the only punishment you’re receiving!” He said, grabbing my arm and pushing me toward the exit.

  I looked back at the single-digits, staring through all of them. “You’re all worthless specks of nothing. Tools who have no drive or motivation, despite your abilities. All of you make me sick.” I spat before the doors closed behind me. Each of their expressions forming in my mind.

  Fear, embarrassment, confusion, anxiety, indifference, amusement, anger. Just from their expressions, I could already tell the type of people they were. All except for one. The green-haired boy had stared at me with dull eyes, and in that moment the only word I could use to describe his expression was….

  “Hmmm...” I muttered as I was thrown in my room. My endlessly gray walls greeted me upon my return. The doors slid shut from behind me, and the irritated facilitator stormed off.

  “Ok….let’s go over the things I’ve learned.” I whispered to myself, grabbing my diary. I contemplated writing in it, but quickly decided against it. I had decided to only use my diary for purposeless thoughts I needed out of my head, not to illustrate important information.

  First….they’ll step in if I mess with a single-digit. They are their precious trophy pieces after all. Second, the head researcher here prioritizes ‘potential’ over rules. He’s willing to overlook a certain amount of misbehavior if it can get him some good data, or at least the prospect of future numbers. This is what I’ll be exploiting over the next couple of days…..how much can I get away with? How much should I stand out to get him interested? I may go through a little pain along the way…..but it’s worth it to find out.

  I laid in my bed and extended my hand upward, flipping it back and forth.

  “In two days time…..yeah. I think I’ll do that.”