He had heard of all his friends talking, there was a large buzz around the town. Something big was happening. The other night down at the corner shop, he had overheard Old Man Gillman talking to Mrs. Tohdstuf. From the small bit he caught, Gillman had seen a large crowd around the city hall. Alfred didn’t know what exactly that meant, but he himself had seen lots of foot traffic headed towards the center of town all week.

One day while out buying the things his mother had asked, he found himself unconsciously following a group of older men. Taller than him, and with faces full of hair; Alfred was captivated with these men. Rough looking customers, all of them.

Scars gnarled their faces, smiles into crooked smirks and eyebrows permanently raised. They stepped in unison, a well oiled and worked machine; but this machine had a bug. Then all limped within this unison, giving way to tales of even more damage dealt to them. Falling in line behind them, Alfred tried to mimic their stepping sequence. He tilted his back a few degrees, puffing out his chest and swung his arms to a fro.

Marching on and on, towards the City Hall; Every male that caught site of the marchers soon followed suit. Soon, a long line stretching for blocks was headed down towards the center of town.  Alfred became so enthralled by what was happening; he didn’t even comprehend the low piercing whine getting louder and louder.

The City Hall was a building reaching towards the heavens. Its exterior was nothing but stainless steel walls. No eyes peered within, and none without. There was one entrance into the monolith, a small ramp leading from the street to the ground underneath it. Down the troupe marched, disappearing from the site of the city.

The basement was flooded with Red Lights and concrete barriers.  Along the wall, stretching from one end to the other small areas hollowed out; just big enough to fit a man standing. The man behind a glass control room in the corner of the large room pressed a button and a speaker activated in the room.

“Greetings, Gentlemen. We are about to begin. If you would please take your place along the wall, we can get started.”

Without a thought or a word of protest, the collection of men who had marched down to City Hall were now lining its basement walls. Once the last man was inside a crevice, the lights dimmed even more and a brace lowered from above each man. Pressing them close into the wall, a breather appeared as well and covered their mouths. Within seconds the room had passed out.

When Alfred awoke, he had no bearing as to where he was. The room was dark and the floor kept cold and damp. He could hear the dripping of liquid somewhere in the room, and that only reminded him more of how dehydrated he was. He was wearing clothes he didn’t remember putting on. They were baggy and hanging from his body, they felt coarse and itchy; something his mother would never make him to wear. Finding a corner, he crawled up into it and tried to comfort himself.

A large groan resounded throughout the walls and floor, and a sliver of light transformed into a canyon. Bright and intense, it strained Alfred’s eyes; making him realizing he must have been locked away for quite a while.

A voice boomed from the light, “Number 040076, Stand. You are being summoned”

“My name is Alfred! Where am I? What did I do?”

From out the opening, Alfred heard the voice talk to someone else “076 is still experiencing pre-Transformation symptoms. How shall I proceed? … Roger”

The light became shadowed with a hulking figure. The head was very round, as if it wore an egg. In its hand was a club of sorts. “Number 040076, Stand now or face punishment.”

Still disorientated, Alfred continued to shout out “My name is Alfred! I am not a number! I am Alfred!”

The guard took that as good reason to enact the punishment. Taking three quick steps and standing over the boy, he began to crack him with the club. Knocking his knees and shins, he yelled over and over, “You are Number 040076. You are now a Government Employee. You do as WE say” The guard taught Alfred this lesson until he could no longer bear to be conscious.

 “Number 040076 needed a crash course in his lesson from last week. I don’t think we are making any headway with this little shit. I recommend we just dump him.”

Crackling over the radio, “Negative, we need every pumping heart we can get. I’ll see if the Bio-Tech boys need any more brains for this new project they are working on.”

“Copy that, I’ll have someone tie him up and prepare for transport.” The guard replied.

                Being shaken around in the flatbed of a transport truck on a bumpy road was the next thing Alfred remembered. His hands were tied behind his back; his feet bound by a chain the hands. Over his head, a black plastic band was taped in place. Coughing with a horrible wheeze, Alfred spit out a clot of blood; that splattered against the plastic and flecked into his eye. He revolted back in pain.

                That was a bad move, for the guard sitting in the back with him took that as a hostile action; and again cracked a club sharply against his skull. Knocking him out once more.