BONUM

You wake up to the sound of prison guards, banging on the cell door. Following the other prisoners, and their guards, you are led down a hall that you’ve never walked before. Impatient hums and grunts of annoyance fill the hall as inmates attempt to decipher what is going on. A clock flashes in your peripheral, through the window of a door you pass. You had been woken up two hours earlier than the usual gruelling routine that had been built up over the past 10 years. Never once had it changed. Till now.

A few minutes of walking later and you reach the end of the long passage. Walking through the large, reinforced doors, you are greeted with concrete and steel. The room is massive, easily fitting 50 or so people room is largely empty. Concrete support beams rise up to meet the ceiling, steel beams extend down the walls from the ceiling to the grey, concrete floors. There are no windows and the only light in the room spills from a flickering, industrial ceiling light, hanging from the blank white ceiling. It reminds you of a warehouse.

After a while, the overhead doors you went through open again and two men in their late 30s walked in, following a man in their 50s. They were dressed like the typical researchers, with white lab coats and clipboards. They began addressing you and the other inmates, mentioning something about a new reforming technology and an experiment. The guards then split the large group into two smaller groups, labelling them 1 and 2. You’re in group 1, the larger of the groups.

Do you wish to switch groups?