Enhancement

- - 45 - -

"Nicolette!" I shout. 

Nicolette's eyes blink open, slightly blinded. She adjust to the lighting, her skin not at all blemished like the last time I saw her. "Holland?"

"Yeah, it's me," I say. "We only have two minutes together, so we have to talk fast."

"Okay," she says, fully opening her eyes. She sits up on the table, cuffed to it just like I am. She jiggles the cuff while looking around the room. "Um, where are we? And why am I handcuffed?"

"I don't know, I just woke up, too," I say, glancing at her wrists. I can't get a good look at her tattoos. The ElectriWrist cuffs block them from view. "All I know is a Screener left you in this room with me."

"Screener?" Nicolette panics, "There was a Screener here?"

"Yeah, but it's not our biggest concern at the moment," I say in disbelief, already despising the friend I used to love. I thought it'd be obvious to her that we're in a life-or-death situation. "Our biggest concern is--"

"No, stop. Our biggest concern is the Screener. This could ruin my future, and everything I've worked for--"

"Nicolette!" I say. "Seriously, you can worry about it later. Right now we need to figure out how to get back home. So what's the last thing you remember before waking up here?"

Nicolette pauses, her voice tapering off. I can tell she wants to argue more about the Screener, but she lets it go. "Um... I remember catching our SkyTrain."

"And anything else? Anything--"

"I remember the derailment, too! Our Train fell off the tracks, and I remember you falling out of your seat. And Screeners started pulling us out of the wreckage. They gave us trauma relief medicine, and then I remember going home... but nothing else. My last memory is going to bed at night. Then I woke up here."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course."

"So that's it?" I ask. Nicolette isn't telling me anything about the Project, causing me to think her memory was partially erased. Which means I need to bring it back. If the rebellion is dead, then I'll use my knowledge to resurrect a friend.

I watch Nicolette reaction as I say, "So you don't remember being suffocated by yellow gas? In a room just like this?"

Nicolette's expression darkens. Her eyes turn fearful as her eyebrows crinkle in through. "No, it can't be. That's impossible... I've never been here before."

"Nicolette, you have been here before," I say. "If you want to remember, I'll help you."

"Uh, um," she falters. Her mind remembers the pain, but she doesn't. She feels more than she knows.

"I'll help you," I repeat. "Just lie down and close your eyes, okay? I'll walk you through it."

She nods, afraid. I have no idea what I'm doing, but somehow I know exactly what to do. I'm going to use the Enhancement Project against itself.

Nicolette lies down on her table. "Okay," I begin. "You woke up on a table just like this, except there were no handcuffs. There were belts holding you down instead. They restrained your wrists, ankles, torso. Forget you were ever cuffed with metal. You were held down with itchy, woven belts.

Nicolette shudders. "The table was freezing, and you shivered. Once you came to your senses, you became afraid. You opened your eyes to a pale, empty room."

Nicolette opens her eyes. I watch her scan the white room with fear. Her eyes look through me as if I'm not even in the room. She's re-living her worst nightmare.

"So you fought against the belts," I say, "because you wanted to be free. Nothing made any sense, and you wanted to go home. You cried because you couldn't loosen the belts.

"Then the vents opened. Yellow, swirling gas entered the room and your screamed. At first, you weren't sure how dangerous it really was. But you yanked against the belts, harder and faster. You cried because you didn't want to die. Then the gas touched you, and you--"

Nicolette screams out loud, her voice octaves higher than normal. It's the exact same scream from when the gas actually did touched her so many months ago. I could recognize that scream from a mile away.

Twitching fiercely, Nicolette screams and screams. I know she doesn't need my help figuring out the rest of the memory. In her mind, the gas is eating her alive. She doesn't see or hear me anymore; instead, sees deadly poison killing her.

Nicolette finally calms down, her body becoming still. I see her chest rise and fall. She's alive this time, not dead.

"The only reason I know all this," I say, "is because this room was my trigger, too. At first I remembered nothing, but then I felt it. I felt the pain and the agony, and my memories returned to me all at once. I remembered watching your pain, Nicolette. I watched it happen from the room next to yours, and I tried to help."

I pause, inhaling a breath of air. I'm half-lying to Nicolette, but it's necessary for my own protection. The scientists running the Project are watching me closely right now, and I want them to think I was brain erased. This is my best option for my survival as well as the rebellion's if it's still intact.

"It's okay now, Nicolette. You can wake up and tell me what happened to you,"
I say.

Nicolette sits bolt upright, gasping for air. Her eyes widen, facing me with sudden desperation. "I remember everything, Holland. We were in the Enhancement Project. Ethan shared a cell with me, and both of us got those injections. We couldn't move by ourselves anymore, and I knew it wasn't an accident. Then I was sorted to the left in that giant room. They sent me to Minneapolis..."

"I thought you were dead!" I tell her. "They made me watch you with the yellow gas. I thought they killed you."

"No, they didn't," she says, "Thankfully, but I don't know why. But, Holland, when I was in Minneapolis, I saw up--"

"Your two minutes have ended," the Enhancement Project voice interrupts.

A Screener rushes into the room, taking Nicolette. She screams to me, "Wait, stop! There were uprisings, fights! Lower-class people against Screeners!"

Her table is wheeled outside the room as the door closes. Her words cut off, "It--"

The door locks.

"You have completed part three with record timing, Miss Renner," the voice says, "You've proven the negative effects of erasing memories."

"Why?" I can't help but ask in anger. Nicolette's word ring through my head, "Why does it matter? Why are you going this?"

"To perfect the system," the voice says. "A strong society needs a way to ensure elimination of unfavorable events. So if memory erasing doesn't work, then the Enhancement Project technology will, especially the improved version."

"Improved version?" I stutter.

"Indeed. Now that the the technology is improved, dangers like yourself can be allowed back into society. So whether you like it or not, this is your final chance, Miss Renner. If you find a flaw in the technology, you will be killed."

I swallow, not sure what do to next. The Project will have full control over me, regardless of where I am. I just hope they don't threaten Stephen or Nicolette or anyone else I love.

"Prepare for relocation in three... two... one."

-- -- -- -- --

cliffhanger once again, as if you were expecting anything else ;) minneapolis was the winning location, but i will be using another one soon!

Question: Choose a person: Stephen, Nicolette, or Delphin.