Gary took a deep breath before he descended into the bowels of the hospital, over the last few days since Bobby had left he’d been releasing the mutants, they’d decided to do it in batches as they didn’t want the thirty or so people to all panic and flee at once.

  So far they had let out twenty of the people, the last ten had been given medical attention by one of the mothers of a gang member who visited every other day. The elderly woman had been a doctor in her prime, but now she came and made food for her son and his friends. It was surprisingly wholesome, everyone loved kind old ladies.

  Gary had even heard from one of the men that the two Jameson scions early into their reign had threatened the woman, causing about a third of the men to go on strike until they’d given her a formal apology. It was ironic how the masses could have such revolutionary force on a small scale, but the moment it got to the megacorporation scale with greed involved unions were faced with mass unemployment and a zero tolerance policy instead.

  Gary walked past all the cells full of skeletons, all lying crosshatched like in jenga, unmoving. You couldn’t even tell they had been reanimated, he thought, staring at the piles. Then he was past them and to the final cells. One of the things he found unnerving about this area of the hospital was the fact that the air smelled so clean out here, compared to the unwashed dank odor that permeated the cells where the mutants had been kept.

  He looked through the window of the next cell, his eyes meeting a sight that always made him want to weep. A father and a daughter were sat in the middle of the cell looking like they had been there for years, they had crystalline growths on their heads where hair should be and the rest of their skin seemed to have gone semi transparent, their muscles included, meaning you could see all the way through to their bones, pinkish but still transparent sections showing where their blood passed. The overall effect made them look like some deep sea dweller.

  The mutants like them were the hardest to let out, some of them at least would have a chance at hiding their deformities and reintegrating into society, but these two wouldn’t ever be able to live a normal life. Gary felt a slight pang in the cold lump he’d once called his heart before he’d joined the army of a dying country and killed hundreds for seemingly no reason.

  He slid back the ancient bolt lock on the door, left over from when those types of medical machines had cost millions. With the door opening wafted some stale air and a vile odor, but it wasn’t as bad as some of the air from mutants he’d released. A few of the other mutants had experimental organs that produced chemicals, they were the foulest.

  The father and daughters' heads whipped around to look at him nervously. They’d been informed the gang was under new management, but the trauma of being stuck in the room had probably left a permanent mark on their minds. It didn’t help that the one who’d visited them the most was the very same unhinged individual who’d kidnapped them from the streets and pumped them full of a short lived gene modification virus.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Are we being… let out?” the semi transparent girl asked timidly, her father just remaining silent and watching Gary.

  “Yes, we have a much nicer room for you on the third floor with a view and a communal area.” Gary told her.

  “Will I be able to play with the other kids?” a hopeful expression filled her face and more pain filled Gary at what she’d been missing confined here.

  “Of course, I’ve got some people building a little padded funzone in one of the rooms.”

  The desperate hope filled expression swapped to one of happiness and he was able to easily coax the father and the girl from their room. The girl's father followed her out, holding her hand, looking a bit empty like something was missing from his life. I hope it’s not his wife, some of these other families are down a member or two due to genetic rejection.

  Gary passed the man an old cheap tablet, it was a show of good faith, all of the adults knew not to call for help to escape, those coming would most likely be the ones responsible for their condition by proxy. Still they would be allowed free roam of the hospital, he’d instructed the men to let them everywhere except for out the front gates. Hopefully they will come to enjoy it here.

  Then he led the duo up the stairs. On the way they passed the newly made thralls Jay and James who were mopping the cafeteria. The two had blank expressions, all traces of their previous personalities gone. Though that didn’t stop the girl and her father shivering at the sight of their demonically inclined cyborg captors.

  Luckily the two didn’t ask what had happened to them, Gary always found it hard to explain Bobby’s magic, the man himself did a good job of it, but Gary wasn’t capable of answering all the questions that came after telling someone magic was real. He led them higher into the building and to the third floor.

  After giving them a tour around the newly done up east ward he showed them to their rooms, the ward had been one of the areas that had not been impacted too badly from the leaks caused by years of dank liquids dripping through the building. He’d gotten the men to repaint it with the bright colours they’d had in the store room and it had a much more primary school atmosphere, which tended to put everyone at ease.

  He left the two to get used to their new room, and headed over to the communal area, which had once been the breakroom for doctors. There he watched the ancient tv that had been badly mounted to the wall showing an episode of an old cartoon where some creatures beat each other up, although their bodies seemed to be made of rubber because the damage never lasted.

  He’d taken to coming here to watch an episode between releasing the mutants, the unserious nature of the cartoon helped take his mind off moving the mutants around, the levels of depravity which had been inflicted on some of the captives was sometimes beyond the atrocities he’d encountered in the army.

  +++++

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