The first thing I notice is an overwhelmingly putrid stench. It is like that of meat left out to rot in the warm sun. My eyes snap open and I immediately feel my stomach curling as I roll to my side and throw up whatever was left of my insides. Wiping my mouth I sit up with a blank stare and try to take in my surroundings. It is a move that I quickly regret. In every direction there lie bodies. All of them are going through various degrees of decay. Each one of them the slim, small corpses of children.

I need to leave.

Pushing off the ground with my hands, I shakily stand up. Swallowing both my spit and my nerves I do my best to stumble towards the edge of this hell hole. My foot catches on something beneath me and I end up spawling forwards, crashing heavily on top a corpse.

I know that I should not, but how can I? I look down and a mere inch below my nose lies the lifeless eyes of a young girl. Her eyebrows all but gone and not but one thin strand of black hair is clinging weakly to her skull like the last piece of straw on an old broom.

With great effort, I pull myself back up and move much more carefully than before to the edge of the… communal? That is what they said, right? That is what this is I suppose. Just one big communal grave.

So these were the others that Hank always misspoke of? The other criminals? What a crock of shit. These are children. Most of them appear younger than me. A cold laugh escapes my lips. All this time they tried to make me feel guilty for something I didn’t do. They told me over and over again about how terrible my crime was. How I deserved to be locked in my white birdhouse and fed their seeds. Meanwhile, they were slaughtering children and tossing their bodies in the backyard. Fuck.

The ditch in question is easily 5 feet deeper than I am tall, which means escaping will be somewhat difficult. There is no way I can simply pull myself out so I consider kicking a hole in the dirt wall that could be used as leverage but, as I should have expected, my shoes and my robes were taken. Just a boy in his underwear hanging out with a bunch of dead children, you know, day in the life.

Looking around I spot a rock with a large divot on one side. Perfect! I can use that to scoop out the footholds and make my escape easier. I reach for it then pause. Not a rock, a bone. A shoulder bone maybe?

Whoever it belonged to does not need it anymore. I doubt they would begrudge me doing whatever I can to escape the terrible death that awaits me here. At least I hope they would not. If they do, then they deserve to sacrifice their scapula to me. This logic is circular and I’m an idiot.

I clasp my hands together and off a quick thanks to the whichever child this belonged to, hoping that either heaven accepts them or their next incarnation goes better. Next, I pick up the bone and begin my dirty work. Hah! That was a good one. ‘Dirt-y’ work because it is both dirty and I’m scooping dirt. How funny I am at this moment.

Alone.

Naked.

Surrounded by dead bodies.

I’m not insane, you’re insane!

“Pheew,” I exhale slowly and wipe my brow. I really need to get my head straight. This place is getting to me, and I can feel it. I was never the most balanced sort and this particular situation is not helping. I can lose my mind later but for now, I need to focus on surviving.

Soon I have dug out four decent sized holes and wedge my feet into the crevices to leverage my body upwards. It doesn’t take long and before my pale thin hands are clawing at the top of the wall. Small clumps of dirt fall upon my head and stick to my sweaty back. Briefly, I become amused at the thought of some scientist showing up right now and pissing his pants in terror thinking that the children have become zombies to enact their karmic vengeance. I must perfectly look the part.

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Finally, I get my knee over the top of the ledge and pull my body completely upwards. Struck by inspiration I suddenly know what must be done. Nothing in my life has been clearer to me than this moment.

“Braaaaains!” I groan in my best zombie impersonation.

Silence echoes through the night. Well, I suppose that is fair, it is not like I expected applause anyhow.

A weird cough escapes my lungs, ow it hurts to laugh. That makes me laugh harder. Soon I am in hysteric, and soon after that, I am bawling. This is probably the most pathetic cry of my life. My chest is heaving and I have lost all control of my facial muscles, not that I had much, to begin with. I feel like a young toddler taking his first faceplant on asphalt. Experiencing a new form of pain, formerly unknown to me.

All this time there was no reason for my torment. To our torment. We were all just lab rats to be plugged full of chemicals and tossed in the trash once our minds were sufficiently rotten. I once read that only the weak are cruel and that kindness was a trait of the strong. I don’t think that is true. The weak are never given the chance to choose whether they should be kind or cruel because the strong always take that choice from them.

Shakily rising to my feet I take a look around. I am in a woods of sorts. There is light coming from one direction, several lights actually, dim and multifarious in nature but almost blinding to my darkened eyes. The lab, I presume. I stare at it for just a moment before then around. Ponderously placing one foot in front of the other I begin my journey as far away from the light as I can go. Honestly I don’t know if I can ever feel safe again, not with humans. Definitely not in the light. Now In front of me now lies naught but trees and darkness. It is comforting.

After a while the ditch is behind is long behind but it is not enough. I keep going forward. I must. The ground has cut open my pale, unused feet. In an odd corner of my mind, of which there are many, I wonder whether lab rats who have escaped to the wild adapt to the circumstances or simply die an innocuous death? I read that the founders of Rome: Romulus and Remus, were raised by a she-wolf. That sounds awfully convenient to me. If a big mama wolf wanders up to me right now and lifts her tit I am all for it. Ew. There should be a better word for that. Breast? I guess that’s a small improvement.

At a certain point, I realize that I should stop walking. Truly I should. The lights from the lab are not even a dim flicker from here. The stars are now the brightest thing in the sky along with the moon and that big red crescent thing. Big red thing? Mars perhaps? I never read that it had phases like the moon but perhaps that is just another detail stripped from my education by my dear friends Hank & Co.

I need food, water, and sleep. If I am to live past tonight these are my requirements as a human. Related to this, I need to not be murdered by a roving band of child murdering scientists. I quiet my erratic brain and try to listen for any sound that may alert me to those needs. There is nothing of course. No sound of flowing water, nor… what the hell would food sound like? Just a wild burger with two legs running around the tree’s screaming, ‘sizzle!’ for all the world to hear? That would be amazing. After red stripe Mars who knows? I think it may just be best to keep an eye out for this elusive Sizzle monster.

The easier option then would be rainwater. The leaves around me are damp and the grass has grown thick enough to hint at regular rainfall. But is that enough of an indication for me to bet my life on?

The last option would be finding and following animal tracks. First off, I don’t know what the fuck animal tracks look like. Second off, who's to say those tracks would lead me to water and not a bears belly? Lamenting my education of unsorted non-fiction books I decide on gathering rainwater.

I walk a bit further until I find a tree with unusually wide and firm leaves. Not really knowing how it should be done I gather small pebbles and use them to way down the middle of the leaves, leveling them out some and forming a dip in the middle. It is far from impressive but its the best I can do with my quickly fading focus. Admiring the wide and winding branches of the tree, I decided it would make a reasonably safe place to sleep for the night. With the last of my strength, I clumsily work my way upwards earning myself several scrapes for my efforts. Reaching a point where it seems safe to lie down without risk of falling to my death, I do so. I close my eyes and tree to find some peace in the blackness. But I am not alone, in my mind, I see hundreds of dull-eyed children watching me. I fear they will be my nightly companions for a very long time.