• "The pain will subside." The Rabbit said to the child as it shoved another needle into her chest. The small thing's black button eyes seemed to shine at the red sea that ran. "Sufficient." It muttered as it picked up another needle. The child said nothing, simply stared with glassy eyes, her breath billowed out like a dull fog.

    The Rabbit was a Liar. That pain was always there, and it grew bigger like the blood clot in his chest, every day. The second needle was easier to take, and it was then that the Child tilted her head, watching the Rabbit work. It opened its mouth, but no sound came, just what sounded like a hiss, the sound of water rushing, rushing like her blood did. She sighed, breathing was painful, as was the ache of hunger in her stomach.

    The Rabbit grinned as it shoved the last needle into the Child's neck, and pulled them out all very slowly. "The pain will subside." It said again, watching as the Child moved uncomfortably.

    The room was cold, as was the blood. The Rabbit wiped it's hands free of the stains and looked around. The house was in shambles, dark, dirty, disgusting. The Rabbit laughed, as it always did, and the button eyes swirled to look at the Child once more.
    "Go on, there is much to be done, much to be seen and heard." The Child nodded and rolled off of the table running out the door and wandering outside.

    The streets were busy, busy as they always were, and the Child was cold. Walking for what seemed to be ages the Child stopped and looked at a Man sitting on a mailbox. She raised a brow in question, then opened her mouth to speak..

    "Whatever are you doing there?" She asked, and the Man looked down on her from his high mailbox. His face was twisted, as was his neck, and it was obvious that his body was facing the other way. A low ticking sound was heard around him. "Whatever are you doing there?" He mimicked, hissing at the little girl. He turned his body around, his neck was what was ticking, and it ticked away until he faced her again. He pulled open his coat and a glass pane showed his inner workings, his heart still beating rapidly, his neck still turning. There was metal there too, gears shoved inside of him like he was a clock. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. The little girl, horrified, backed away quickly. She winced, feeling his stomach burble. There went the sickness from his mouth. Acidic and black as it burnt through the pavement.

    "Nasty little creature you are." Said the Ticking Man and the Little girl ran away, still horrified by what she had seen.

    "The world is a wonderful place." The town sirens echoed as the televisions on every street corner flashed and there was a Mouse, dancing for the amusement of all. "The world is a wonderful place!" The sirens shouted again, and the Child cringed, trying to cover her ears. "THE WORLD IS A WONDERFUL PLACE!" The sirens roared as the damned Mouse began laughing. "I don't believe in you!" The child screamed.
    "I don't believe in you..."

    Then there was darkness.

    +

    Darkness... The sound within was silence, and silence was a comfort every once in awhile.
    The Child woke, the metal caress of the operating table made her shiver. There was no sight within the darkness of the room, but there was talk, and the sounds of someone crying. She tried to move, desperately tried, but the belts of the table simply dug deeper into her stomach and she sighed, slumping back and waiting patiently.
    The Rabbit hopped in, it's body stitched together, it's button eyes staring at the Child. "Do you know what you are? Why you must not challenge the world?" The Child shook her head, staring at the animal with glassy eyes once more.

    "No Mother, no Father, no natural birth, no gender either.. May I remind you that you do not have to eat or drink? Or even go to the bathroom?" The Rabbit hopped over to the operating table and stared down at the genderless wonder. "You, are a b*****d child of science."
    The Child winced as the belts tightened down, and finally came free. It sat up, strange thoughts stemming from the fact it believed it was a 'she'. Calm eyes stared at the Doctor Rabbit, the Rabbit held no needles or other instruments of torture and the Child sighed out of relief. "If I am a b*****d child of your peoples experiments.. What does that make me? I cannot be Nothing if I exist."

    "Defiant, aren't we?" The Rabbit asked as it stared up at the Child. "No name, no family, no imagination, it is a strange coincidence that you have emotions at all..." The lights flickered on to the room, and there were other children, some looked dead, one was crying, and the others stared around blankly. The room was massive, and in total there were close to thirty of the children. "You were the one that told me to go out there!" The Child shouted, but the Rabbit said nothing as it hopped over to a chart on the wall. "You are identifiable by a series of numbers, like the other children.. However... there are a few deformities about you." He picked up the chart, scanned over the front page with his button eyes and looked back at It.
    "Serial number: 378-864-507-109-7, The seventh child to come from the tanks. Height: 5'6'', Weight is approximately 95 pounds, Hair color is White, you are Caucasian pale on their scale, and your eye color.. Your eyes are two different colors, thus making you different from your brothers and sisters. Left eye is green, Right eye is brown."

    The Rabbit paused in its speaking and looked at the Child. "Are you understanding any of this?" Without waiting for so much as a nod it continued to speak. "Our world has been taken over by the corporations of old. Most of them are faceless, or represented by a golden idol, such as the mouse you saw earlier, there is also a clown, a polar bear, a smiley face, and a window." The Rabbit explained and sighed.

    "Your purpose here, is to go through and destroy each one. You have no imagination, no dreams, you have nothing for them to take and to destroy. You are not a minority for them to enslave.. To them you are nothing and pose no threat, but to us you are salvation, along with your siblings. The Wars have long since passed, and there is really nothing left of the planet to harvest. If we fail, they will move from this planet across the universe destroying what they can."

    The Rabbit sat down on the floor, looking up at the Child. "Go now, take them with you. Whatever you see, it isn't real. Remember that."
    And so, the thirty children were released from the depths of the underground and into the city to find what it was they were to destroy.

    But how do you destroy something with no face?

    +

    The horde of children came upon a grouping of buildings, their tall black windows reached up into the clouds, cutting off the sunlight from the world. The landscape there was dead and dried out, though there had been astro-turf laid out to try and make things look lively. Above the moving doors to enter there was a yellow face, it's mouth lifted as if in a smile, not knowing the destruction that it housed.

    The Child frowned, It closed its eyes, then looked to its siblings. They all did look remotely the same, but It, It was different. Looking down at the starch white uniforms they had been given, they all had a number sewn on the left sleeve. A '7' stood bold in bright red against the white fabric. it's hand went and brushed the number gently. "Seven." An older child said, and It smiled, showing off the '3' sewn on its left sleeve. "They may be numbers, but they are also a way to identify us. I am the third from the tanks, so they call me Three." Three smiled brightly and Seven nodded slowly, then looked at the other numbers. As ominous as ever the sky threatened to rain down on their heads, the clouds were heavy and the sun was gone. Seven stared at the revolving doors for a moment, before it entered and looked around.

    The first room was large, the florescent lights flickered, and there was a low hum from a ring of computers surrounding what could only be assumed was the secretary. The Secretary was a horrifying thing, her face was compiled of three different faces, each angled differently so that she could look at the many screens around the ring desk. she had two normal arms, but also had a second set of arms that came from her back, just under the shoulder blade. One of the three faces looked up at the large amount of children and she smiled politely.

    "Do you have an appointment?" Seven blinked at her and coughed uncomfortably. The three faces pivoted simultaneously to look at It. Then the arms went back to typing and jotting down notes. "No, you have not called ahead. However.." The three faces looked back at the children then at one of the screens.. "You must be the new shipment of workers. Please report to the accountants and they will guide you from there."

    Seven looked at the woman, then to the others and shrugged. "What floor?" It asked and the Secretary smiled. " Floor 50. I request that you take the stairs to keep the elevator free of germs. Thank you for choosing Mal-Mart as your designated Child labor station."

    It took nearly half the day for the children to march up the stairs, and by the time they reached the 50th floor most of them were crying. After about an hour of rest it was time to move on. The door was opened by Three and they walked into The Cubicle labyrinth. A few of the accountants looked up, many of them had calculators stapled into their arms so that they would have them at all times. A very short timid looking man looked up at all of the children and smiled. "Please, this desk." he called out in a squeaky voice. The children moved over, but only a few of them could cram into the cubicle.

    His desk was the same as the others, there were no ornaments to mark individuality, no witty mugs, no little birds that drank water from a cup. Except for the computer, and the normal calendar in the back, there was absolutely nothing. His hands flew over the keys of the keyboard and over his coke bottle glasses he stared the children down. "It is unfortunate, but it seems they have sent us the wrong shipment. Company termination will begin shortly, please prepare for death."

    +

    The Rabbit sighed as it stared at the tubes that were teaming with life. Bittersweet ideas flooded its mind on how the world would eventually be free again, but now it was working; and now it would have to forget about Seven's failure.