They're Watching

Chapter 1 - Life As We Know It

No one stays on this God forsaken planet past their eighteenth birthday, that's the way it goes.

Unless you work for the Superior.

It's been this way for hundreds of years. I stared at my housing space as silver spider-like machines appear through the pure white walls and clear the top bunk of my bed. I watch as they gracefully travel across the beddings, smoothing them, removing every trace of the dark haired girl who occupied them only moments ago.

I never really talked to her; there was nothing to talk about. She turned eighteen a few seconds ago. The timer, on the wall by the head of her bed, stopped at let out a shrill alarm. Everyone on our floor, level 197 of housing block 89, stood around her, glum faced as she made her way to the steel elevator at the end of the hall. As she walked towards the elevator, she constantly bit her bottom lip and tugged on the end of her plain white T-shirt, trying in vain to stop her hands shaking. Here eyes were darting around the hall, as if looking for a way out. There was no point in saying goodbye, we all knew.

She stopped at the closed door. A high pitched bell sound eruped through the hallway and the steel doors of the elevator opened silently. Two men, heavily armed, and cover head-to-toe in a white medical protective suit sprang out, grasped onto the girls arms and yanked her into the small metal box.

They roughly turned her to face us, one man to each side of her. Similtaneously, we all closed our eyes and bowed are head as a sign of respect. I opened my eyes to see the floor of the elevator glow neon blue. A machanical voice boom over head.

'Subject confirmed, starting primary sequence'.

Her eyes widened, her mouth opened as if about to scream, but the doors slammed tight shut. The clank of the doors closing echoed in the hallway.

We stood there, no one dared to make a sound. We didn't even look at each other, we continued to look at the closed door. We all knew our time will come when it'll be us. It was only a matter of time.

I brought up the image of her face in my mind: her bright green eyes, her high cheekbones, her tiny nose, her full lips and short black cropped hair. I will try to remember her face but I know deep down that the memory will fade. If only she had a name, names stick in you mind.

My eyes drifted down to my left forearm, there, tatooed onto my skin permenantly is my number: 8,450,243,263,810,903.

I have no name, no identity; just a production number.

Everyone else is the same.

Everyone driftened from the place they were standing back to their rooms. I turned to head back to my room, outside my door I held my hand up to the scanner. The image of my face flashed up on the small screen, staring back at me; the door swung open.

I peered into the room just as the robots retreated back into the wall. The room was simple and like every other room; white, with two sets of draws where your clothes are stored, a bunk bed and on the wall by the heads of the beds were giant digital clocks counting down the time you have before you turn eighteen. There were two doors which led to small bathrooms with the basics: sonic showers that don't use water, toilets, a small wash basin and a mirror. On the celing of the room there is a black domes, these black domes are everywhere, you can't hide from them.

They're video cameras. Watching your every move, everything you do is being tracked by the Superior. No one really knows why they track us, the most common theory is that they are making sure we're alive and well. But as I look at one, a shiver shoots through my spine, whatever they're for, it must be far more sinister than we believe.

I have reason behind this thought. Though I have never dared mention it, it was always playing in the back of my mind. It happened on my first night in this housing block, when I was five; something out of the ordinary happened.