I lay in the cage as feeling slowly returned to my limbs and with effort I sat up, a motion made awkward by how cramped the cage was. It was dark in the back of the van and as my eyes slowly adjusted I could see that there were three other cages, two of which were occupied.
“Hello?” I croaked, my voice scratchy from the stun shock.
The figures looked up at me but before they could reply a slot opened at the front, blinding my dark adapted eyes for a second before the light was blocked by the head of one of the men. “Quiet back there!” He snarled, his face lit by the flicker of the prod. I swallowed and clammed up, not wanting to be shocked again, and I guess the others felt the same way considering neither protested.
Shortly the van pulled to a stop and I could make out the sound of a gate opening before the van continued. A minute or so later it pulled to a stop again, but this time the engine cut out and I heard the men getting out. The door was flung open and my cage was opened up.
“Out!” barked a new voice and I complied without objection. A guard in body armour was standing next to the van and he nodded, satisfied with my compliance.
“What’s go-“ I began but the guard cut me off.
“Keep quiet unless I tell you to got it?” He snapped. I nodded and he gestured with his prod towards a desk behind which sat a doctor. “Over there.”
I gulped and walked over, conscious not to run lest that net me another cattle prod to the ribs. As I approached the doctor looked up at me and smiled.
“Hello, I’m Doctor Carver, please take a seat and we can begin.”
“Begin what? What is this place? Why am I here?”
He blinked in confusion. “My dear this is the Repurposing Centre; it’s where we take unproductive or undesirable members of society like yourself and, ahem, ‘repurpose’ then into someone more useful. You’re here because you’ve been judge to be a drain on society. You should know all this...”. He glance over at the van and tutted. “I see they’re being a bit heavy handed again; they’re supposed to explain things better to the people they bring in not rough them all up on the street.” He shook his head and turned back to me “But you should know all this.”
“How?” I protested “This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
He frowned. “You can’t get out of it by lying my dear. Like everyone else in town you signed the contract when you turned eighteen consenting to this; and you should have been expecting this given your last two aptitude tests at school.”
My last two tests had been ‘inconclusive’ but I thought that just meant I displayed no overt aptitude for anything in particular. I turned my attention back to Doctor Carver who was studying a file and checking it against a computer readout. I craned my neck trying to get a look but was prevented by glare from the overhead lights. “Everything appears to be in order, so I think we can take you straight to treatment as soon as the other two have been processed.”
“Treatment?” I asked with trepidation.
“We’ll go through that once I’ve dealt with the others.”
With a sigh I got up and moved over to stand next to a set of double doors that he indicated. I looked over to the other two that had been captured with me and saw that they were...
