How did I even get here? My head hurts as if it's splitting while my throat bruised and aching from being strangled. I awoke to what seemed to be a dirty clinic, being observed by people wearing hazmat suits behind a large glass window. “What the hell is going on!” I yelled, only being met with silence as a reply. The people behind the glass face one another seemingly conversing, then one walks closer towards the window, picking up a small object. “Lucas, you are being held in quarantine. You have come into direct contact with a Shifter, we must do this for the safety of staff and others.” A Shifter? Is that what those monsters are called? “What happened to my family? Where are my mom and dad?” I knew the answer to my own question already, yet I didn’t want to believe it. Waiting for a reply, I sat in silence; blankly staring at the person until they replied, yet they kept staring back without uttering a word. Then it hit me, how did they know my name? I never had the opportunity to tell them, and no one else knew besides my family. My thinking was interrupted by a deep ragged voice speaking to me: “They are gone. Your mother was found disfigured while your father’s body was never retrieved. Which just leaves you, life can surely be unfortunate at times huh?” I sat breathless. It hurts, my chest, my head, my heart. I felt everything shattering, my whole world had been changed in what should’ve been a peaceful night's sleep. I couldn’t help but cry out loud, holding myself tight as I tried to piece together what I had left; even then I still felt broken. “Listen up Lucas, this is very important. You could either go into an orphanage and try to live a normal life again, or join the exterminator regiment. Now I know that a lot has happened to you in such a short time but be sure to make a decision by tomorrow, if not you’ll be kept here for experimentation.” Why the hell would I try to live a normal life again. The one I had was already taken, I won’t go through the same thing again. I shakingly asked, “Experimentation? No please I don’t want that. I don’t want to go into an orphanage either.” The man sighed, “Then you’ve made your choice, you will join the Exterminator regiment, but I understand you need some time to yourself and to be cleared from quarantine.” Right, quarantine. Why am I even here in the first place? “Why am I in quarantine? I don’t have any wounds, just a bruise on my neck.” The man chuckled “You see, Shifters are very lethal when coming into direct contact hence why Exterminators wear thick protective gear. Yet you came into skin to skin contact with no repercussions, you don’t seem to be a Shifter either, if you were our machines would’ve detected it and we’d put you down on the spot.” What? This is too much to handle, yet I need to get my head around it quickly so as to not fall behind. Just what exactly am I getting myself into.