"Dad?" the little kid whispered. Little did this boy know that he'd never see his Father after this night. "Dad, where are we going?"

The older man glared down at the nine-year-old. "Don't ask questions. You can do that when you make yourself useful, kid," he handed the boy a large rifle. The weight of the gun caused the child to topple over, only to receive another dirty look from his Father.

"I don't like shooting people," he grimaced, "why do we have to do it?"

"You don't have a choice," the man said bluntly, "sometimes you've gotta remember that if you've got too many weaknesses, people aren't gonna want you around. Friends and family aren't an option anymore, if you don't benefit them in any way they ain't gonna love you anymore," he poked his son harshly on the chest, and the child winced in pain. "You gotta get rid of these feelings, Evans."

"Okay, Dad." The child mumbled. His Father raised a disappointed eyebrow. "Okay, sir," he corrected himself.

Mark had dealt with many hurtful things in his short life, but hearing the closest person to him say that family wasn't important hurt even more than the collapsing buildings around them. Often, as he patrolled the streets with the 'Sergeant', Mark would smile at the little kids on the street and give them some of his rations. This made his Father look down on him immensely. But Mark didn't really care much, he enjoyed talking to the little boys and girls sitting on the side of the pavements. His favourite conversations were always with a boy around the same age as him. He had dirty blonde hair that fell below his ears, which Mark thought was very cool. His Father never let him grow his hair out, it always had to be shaved until he had close to no hair left. The short blonde boy was called Nico, and he and Mark loved playing hide and seek during Mark's patrolling breaks. They also had their own little wall where they'd doodle together. And when they couldn't find each other, they'd write little notes on the wall for the other to find later on.

Nico was the only reason Mark didn't believe his father's words about friends being unimportant.

But now Mark wasn't sure if he'd ever see his best friend again. The Sergeant was leading him far out of their little town.

"There," the older man said, stopping in front of a large building. The young boy's eyes widened in fear.

"Why am I here?" he asked, panic lacing his voice. Mark had heard bad things about the organisation living in that building. He knew all about how they took children from their families to run tests on them. He knew all about how they got kids to do dangerous things for them. That was one of the reasons this civil war had started in the first place.

"This place wants more test subjects, and The Administration needs an inside spy," his Dad looked up at the impressive building. "And since you're no use to me, you might as well be to someone else. Finally, knock all that wimpiness out of you."

Mark couldn't believe his ears. His own family was giving him up simply because his son didn't benefit him in any way. It was like giving up a lamb for slaughter.

"In, you go," the man said, shoving the child inside and slamming the door. The sound of the impact echoed in the empty hall, drowning out Mark's terrified whimpers and cries.

He'd never see Nico again. Oh, how he hoped that the other boy would see the notes left for him.

He hoped his mother still loved him, wherever she was.

He hoped he had a brother or sister somewhere.

He also really hoped he wouldn't have to use the rifle he was still clutching to his chest.

Before he had time to make any more last-wishes, a door on his right opened to reveal a tall woman with a toothy smile. She seemed quite nice, but scary.

"Ah, you must be Mark," she grinned, "come in, love. Meet the other test subjects. Let's hope you're one of the useful ones."

And that's when Mark made a vow to himself.

He was never going to be useless to anyone ever again.

Losing more people wasn't a path he wanted to take.

Never again.

a/n – different chapter this time, what did you think?  :)