“Everything looking good?”, Emmanuel questioned. He was holding a US themed coffee cup on his left hand, while ogling the news through his laptop with his right one. He was sitting on a plain looking retractable chair, with a much smaller desk than the one he had seen yesterday, inside what looked like a giant camping tent. He wore an aloof expression, seemingly relaxed and enjoying his morning.

“Yes, sir. All children assigned to A section have showed positive reactions and recoveries so far. I believe that, besides number 8, the rest of them should be eligible for the next batch.”, a woman, clad in a white suit, responded. She was Nana.

“What about our latest addition?”, he inquired, wondering what the situation with the bald child was.

“Number 9 has showed cooperative results after the injection was provided. I’ve written a detailed report of how the process went…”, she said, holding and passing to him a stack of documents. After that, Emmanuel began reading closely in silence, raising a brow here and there.

“Well, good job so far. Keep a close eye on number 9 especially, the madam wants an in-depth run-through of his quirk too. We won’t have additional products until the current batch gets shipped out, so focus on it. Also, did you take care of the other child I gave to you?”, he asked, dripping a donut into the cup of coffee, taking a huge bite.

“Yes, sir. I moved him to B section, since you mentioned the possibility of being sent to the red category.”, she said.

“Mhm, good choice indeed. And?”, he proved further.

“He’s shown a stable recovery but hasn’t woken up yet. I believe it’s related to his body condition, as your report mentioned. However, we shouldn’t have a problem shipping him with the next batch.”, she followed. Afterwards, the conversation drifted into the usual check up of the rest of the camp. Later, Nana ended up her report and exited the tent, leaving Emmanuel alone and moving towards another section of the camp.

8 days went by in a flash, and the ‘shipment day’ was tomorrow…

During these days, Zo was still unconscious, but much healthier than before. His skin no longer tanned, now regaining a much whitish tone. His legs were fully recovered, and he no longer looked malnourished; his previous hollow cheeks now full, and the tight-dry skin swapped with a baby-smooth skin and full of vitality. His old white braided hair, as if going through a first-class spa, regained a much vibrant colour, shining and no longer braided, but straightened instead. Although he didn’t grow, his complexion was worlds apart from his previous state. During these past few days, Zac had been allowed to visit Zo’s room, where he spent some time talking to himself, since Zo couldn’t respond. Contrary to Zac’s expectations and doubts, the facility he was in did match with what Nana kept describing to him; plain passages between hospital rooms, with regular patients, although he was quite intrigued on why all of them were children.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Oh, it’s a children’s hospital, Zac. We reach out to the abandoned children we find after clan skirmishes in the Somalian areas and offer refuge to them. That’s why all patients here are young.”, she mentioned before.

‘I guess that clears out some of my doubts.’, he felt resentful for having suspected so much this place and people, seeing that they were truly trying to help them. Just seeing the other patients’ smiles was enough to deepen his trust for them a bit, feeling somewhat ashamed of his previous behaviour…

“Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to today’s auction! I’m Zacarias, your host for this pleasant evening!”, inside a small white booth, a man with short black hair, who was wearing a squirrel-mask and a one-piece black suit, exclaimed towards a camera on one of the walls. “But that’s enough for the introduction.”, he did a shaffle of hands. “Now, if you could please check your screens; we’ll begin the auction from the very south, the South African branch. As always, to know the schedule, just click on the calendar icon, so you can find at what times each kind gets auctioned. Now, without further ado…”, at that, in front of the man appeared a list on the wall.

“We shall begin with the lower category, in batches of one hundred each, we present…”, he kept presenting the different ‘products’ available in the lower category, otherwise known as neutral category, which were basically quirkless people, including both children and adults, that were sold as working labour or for the buyer’s needs.

“One hundred! Anybody got more?!”, Zacarias kept enthusiastically inquiring to the camera.

“One hundred for number 27. Last chance… and… sold! Congratulations number 27 for acquiring the last Kenyan batch for one hundred credits! Now, let’s proceed with the last sector for tonight, Somalia! We have reserved the finest of the finest deals for this one! Hope you’ll be pleasantly surprised. We’ll begin as always with the neutral section, followed suit with the most awaited part of all our auctions, the premium category. As for the latter, not spoiling too much, but I can certainly say it’s the biggest and of highest quality ever!”, he made a grand posture, with both arms wide open, as if awaiting a grand applause. However, since he was alone, he didn’t receive any feedback for his overacted performance. That didn’t stop him, although sometimes he wished these kinds of details, which he had with the audience, were given some feedback.

The auction moved on with the neutral section, until…

“Now, sirs and madams, if I could have your attention for this…”, he commented, showing a captivating smirk. Behind him, the colouring of the screen swapped from the elegant pure white of before, into a seductive and captivating dark red. All over the screen, new ‘products’ showed up, but there was a certain characteristic shared among them; all were ‘beautiful’ in different ways, either because of their apparent charm or specific exotic traits, such as their hair or beauty marks.

“Some might know what this change in the scenery means, but since it’s a rare occurrence I’ll explain it just in case. I hope those aware won’t mind…”, he made an apologetic gesture, and after a slight pause, he nodded and continued with the explanation.

“It has been 4 years since the last time we had the honour to present you with such a valuable collection of unique jewels, among the dirt across the continent. We have harboured throughout this time beautiful and excellent products for your excellencies. All these behind me have been verified and certified as presently, and in the future, quirkless. So, there’s no need to worry about possible troubles with them. These, in comparison to the neutral section ones, have been nurtured with top-class ingredients due to their apparent and exquisite features, as you can see. Now, let’s begin with…”, he commented, signalling the beginning of the bidding… .