WICKED Is Weird (The Fever Code)

A few months after my eye surgery, Dr. Colt once again came into my room, but two things were different: he didn't have my breakfast tray, and he had a guard with him.

"Good news, May!" He said with his usual smile. "You've been cleared to join the other girls, how does that sound?"

"Really?" I asked, unable to believe it.

I'd been asking questions about the other kids who lived here for years- as long as I'd been there, in fact. What can I say? I'm an extrovert, and the teachers and doctors weren't exactly meeting my human-interaction needs (since I was convinced that at least 3 of them were actually either robots or aliens).

His smile somehow widened, and he gestured for me to come with them.

So there I was, little 5-year-old me, walking through the dozens of corridors between Dr. Colt and Joe the Guard (I'm not being funny, that was literally what he told me to call him, he was actually kinda nice) until we reached a giant cafeteria, with maybe 20-30 other girls already there, aged anywhere from 3 to maybe 8 or 9 years old.

"Alright May, I have some work I need to get done," Dr. Colt said, patting my head as a goodbye. "I'll see you for your blood draw after lunch, okay?"

I nodded and said goodbye, before turning back to the cafeteria, suddenly a bit more nervous.

I'd never even seen this many people in one place, let alone been in a room with so many. A few of the girls had looked up when I came in, but most of them had just kept on eating, and none of them had said anything.

I was just starting to wonder if it was weird for me to just stand here for as long as I had when a girl about my age with long blonde hair got up from her table and walked up to me.

"Hi!" She said with a warm smile. "I'm Sonya, what's your name?"

"May," I replied.

"Hi May, your hair's the same colour as mine!"

It wouldn't be for long; while Sonya's hair would brighten over the next few years to an almost gold colour, mine would darken and dull into a brown-ish dirty blonde.

But for the moment, she was right, and we had the same light blonde keratin growing out of our scalps.

I nodded, smiling back. "Yeah, we do."

"Wanna be friends?"

"Okay!"

Because that's all you need when you're a 5-year-old in a science facility trying to cure a brain-eating disease.

Sonya took my hand and dragged me back over to the table she'd been sitting at. Only one other girl was sitting there: she was maybe 2 years older than the two of us, had beautiful dark skin, and very intricate braids through her black hair.

Sonya stopped me at the head of the small table before sitting down.

"Harri, this is May, she's our friend now. May, Harriet."

This seemed to be enough convincing for Harriet because she smiled at me too and stuck her hand out for me to shake, which I did.

"Hi May, nice to meet you." She said. My smile widened now that I had 2 friends instead of 1.

"Nice to meet you, too."

As soon as we'd let go, Sonya basically pushed me into a seat, before taking the one across from me, next to Harriet.

"How old are you?" She asked as a lady placed some toast, apple sauce, and a juice box in front of me.

"5."