<span style="font-style: italic">Melt him?</span>thought Melody.<span style="font-style: italic">What was he saying? Was that a code or something?</span>As far as she knew there's no way for a human being to<span style="font-style: italic">melt</span>someone. Just what was this place? Just a short walk later she started getting some answers. They came up to a large gate where several of the guards had to simultaneously insert their keys and the leader had to enter a password for them to open. There was a mechanical whooshing sound and a discharge of vaporized cooling fluids that looked like steam coming from the hinges of the 3 foot thick steel barrier.<br/><br/>They were herded inside before the gates automatically closed at the 30 second mark. Inside was a large dusty lot, there were several things that looked like what you would use in a military camp. There were bamboo poles with straw thickly tied to them. Like what you would use for sword training, or kicking practice. There were sack dummies with targets painted on them. There was a very challenging looking obstacle course complete with barbed wire and mud. There was a big track and some rocks with ropes tied around them, no make that boulders. God knows what those were for. Then there were trees, which looked like they had been worn down by something other than the elements. They were covered in slash marks, burns, foot prints, claw marks, and dents, possibly made by the rope boulders.<br/><br/>Surrounding the courtyard were six major buildings. It looked the one on the right was a girls dorm, and the one on the left was a boys dorm. The two directly ahead looked like a meeting hall and a cafeteria. The one to the front right... well it was making some nasty beeping sounds. Maybe it was something like that lab where they'd tested on her. Then the one to the front left seemed to be, well, some sort of gym. Maybe they'd play games in there? Melody paused then shuddered at the idea of what kinds of games a place like this would have.<br/><br/>Those six buildings weren't the only ones of course. There were sure to be more underground. And she didn't wanna know what might be in those. More to the point: How the heck had she ended up in a place like this? What was this Project 00304? And when would she get to go home?<br/><br/>Once they were inside and had had a moment to look around the lead guard person called them to attention, which made melody jump, then he started to explain more about Project 00304, and why they were there. She made sure not to miss a word of it.