"Well done, you should go back and get some rest. We will continue the work after two hours.", the instructor told Ellie and left.
"Okay. Thanks." Ellie returned to her room, it seems like she has gradually gotten used to the place of life here. She was up to her ears in work, but it was fun and exciting for her. Returning to a room decorated like back in her dorm with many idol posters and stuffed animals, Ellie hopped on her bed and exhaled. Maybe she should take a nap, or do something to kill time. But… she started pondering. She pondered about life and about her current job, but a bit more positive than before. Her chance of working here has given her a second life, maybe… she should thank her mom, although she didn’t even know what kind of place she’d thrown her daughter into. Ellie chuckled, there wasn’t any smile on her face for a long time.
A sudden ring, turns out she fell asleep a long time ago. Ellie quickly fixes her clothes, holds the notebook in her hand and hurries to the next cell.
"Sorry, I’m a bit late.", she said while panting.
"Oh no problem, you are right on time. We have just started."
"Oh… so what are we learning today? Some more expert subjects or studying malicious entities?"
"Simple stuff, just checking the inventory."
"Checking the inventory? Do you mean we’re checking the facility’s infrastructure or getting new stuff?
"You’ll get it soon enough."
Both of them walk down the hallway, enter an underground area beneath the facility. This place is quite different from the area above, a large space, empty, with gigantic automatic doors facing upwards. There are just a few guards standing around here, but if you tell me, they don’t have much to do. If you really wanna go into the details, there are also some big steel cages, with weird goo sticking on them.
"So… is this some kind of a garage or something?"
"You’re not exactly wrong, this is the place where we receive odd things from outside. We’re supposed to be able to receive things from above, and this place is a bit rundown too, but tradition is still tradition." As the instructor stopped, the big steel doors swung open. Three big trucks came running down towards them, stopping in front of the guards.
"Oi Jimmy, got a lot today?"
"Somewhat, the really old stuff doesn’t count but the rest hurts my ears."
"What are you guys talking about? Can anyone explain to me?", Ellie said.
A guard approached her and said, "You’re the new intern here, aren’t ya? You still have got a lot to learn, kid. Checking the inventory is the word around this Divison, this is the place where we receive anomalies or abnormal items for the guys up there to look into them. Basically, just treat us as your normal delivery guys."
"Do me a favour, grab this list and check the number while we unload.", the researcher gave Ellie a file and headed towards the car.
They proceed to open the crate in front of her, nothing special. Some items with anomalous property so little they don’t even get classified as SCPs, maybe she should just steal a thing or two and take them home as souvenirs. But then, her mind was blown away after reading this note:
Item Description: A human (Homo sapiens), female at the age of 4-5. Current capabilities are unknown, can manipulate mind, contained after causing the death of its own family.
Date of Recovery: ██-██-2033
Location of Recovery: ████████, USA.
Current Status: Moved to EduSkip Division, Site-133.
Notes: Don’t trust it.
"Hu… human? You all see her as a commodity? What the hell is wrong with you.", Ellie yelled so loud it made them all stop.
The researcher sighed, "Don’t you get it Ellie? Once it's an anomaly it’s no longer human. If you feel sorry for it, then you’ve lost this game. This despicable animal killed its own family, even the people giving birth to it— and yet you can still feel sorry for it?"
An iron cage was unloaded from the back of the truck, inside was just a little girl with messy hair and ragged clothes. The little girl's messy face revealed two streams of tears slowly dropping on her hand, tightly hugging her teddy bear. What a sad sight, the criminal looks no different from a poor prisoner right now.
"But… but it's just a kid anyway and I don’t believe that a kid can do such horrible things. Can’t we do anything else? At least get her out of the cage?"
"If you want it out killing everyone."
The monster burst into tears, its cry seems to pierce deep into Ellie’s heart. Ellie knew that she had to do something, she approached the cage. She reached inside, trying to grab the little girl’s hands with hers and said.
"Are you okay? I will help you to get out of this place so don’t worry. You're scared and hungry, right?". Just as she finished her words, her two hands were bleeding furiously in front of her eyes. The girl… the young girl is biting Ellie’s hand. But she doesn't feel pain… that monster… is no longer crying, it just smiles in such a way that sends chills down Ellie’s spine.
Immediately, the professor and the guards sprint as fast as they can to the cage to suppress the monster, shocking it with a current. The monster faints, finally releasing Ellie’s hands.
"Ellie, are you with us? We’ll need to get you to the infirmary ASAP. That’s quite a bite you got there.”
"I think I will be fine. Just need to stay here for a while."
"Well then, wait here and I’ll call some medical personnel. Guards, watch this girl while I’m gone.", the researcher headed toward the door then paused, he said: "Congratulation, now you learned your first lesson."
"I understand."
Ellie just sat there in silence, deep in her thoughts, looking at her bloody hands and averting her gaze towards that monster, now look no different from a sleeping child. For a brief moment, she felt fear, she was afraid.
