Chapter 1
Ali's POV
The sharp beeping of the alarm bells rang out through the whole facility. This is not going to be easy to get out of. I was knelt down in a dark corridor inside the building. All I could hear was the quiet sounds of people shouting in the far distance. Even though my heart was pounding a million times a minute I still loved what I did, the pure adrenaline rush was enough to keep me going. The fact that we could get caught at any minute was an excitement, everyone I know thinks I’m mad for doing these sorts of missions but I know what I’m doing so there isn’t much to worry about.
“On my count we run for the exit, okay?” I whispered to my two partners, Annie and Dana. They nodded in agreement. I heard faint footsteps coming closer. I pushed up against the wall and the two girls copied. We stayed completely silent for a few minutes, and then we silently stood up and made a dash for the door.
I don’t know whether we were any good or if it was just pure luck that we made it out alive. The buildings were heavily guarded and I’m sure I saw some people aim their guns at us on our retreat but I suppose that answers the question: who is better? Girls always come out on top.
We had been running non-stop for at least ten minutes. We all stopped to catch our breath and reflect on this mission.
“That was definitely the hardest one yet!” Dana complained. I rolled my eyes at her. She was a new recruit so she hasn’t been on as many missions as me or Annie. Annie has always been my best friend whenever there is a serious task it’s always Annie and I to do it. According to Wendy we’re her ‘star pupils’.
We walked slowly back to headquarters where the team were waiting for us. We opened the door and everyone inside the building began clapping their hands. I smiled triumphantly, I always feel proud after a difficult mission but the round of applause at the end was worth it, it’s all I had really.
“Ali, another mission accomplished!” Wendy smiled at me speaking in her posh accent I had grown so fond of. She really was just like my mother, I really missed her sometimes.
You see this world is split up into four different civilisations. The first one is the one I live in; it’s the girl’s side of the earth. Any trespasser are given a fine, jailed or executed.
The second is the boy’s side or as my age range likes to call it ‘the dark side’. That’s where the boy’s plot their missions just like ours and only on occasions have they ever succeeded. They’re not as well trained as us, even though a lot of them are stronger than us. The same rules apply on their side for trespassing.
The third is the place where women and men live together. There are mainly people from the ages of thirty upwards because they’re either too old to do missions or they’re not smart enough to crack codes, in other words they have no special characteristics. That’s where my mother is and my father but I’m not sure whether he’s working as a security guard for the boy’s side.
The trouble with the third side is that, to many officials it just known as the ‘breeders’ as though their just animals used to make more soldiers. They train you in all different ways until you’re about eleven then they put you to the test and if you’re not good enough they send you back to the third side where you live until you die. My whole family a part from my brother live there, they obviously noticed something special in us both.
And the fourth side is just a wasteland where they either torture people by just dumping them there or they just put waste there. I’ve heard of only one person to come out of the wasteland alive and even he had to be taken into a special care home after just ten days. They say it sends your mind crazy and if the lack of water doesn’t kill you, your own mind will.
The horrific thing about all this is that it only happened a few years ago. I can remember it clearly. I was only about three at the time; my brother and I were just sat at home. I was sat on my father’s knee with him reading me a bedtime story and my mother was playing with my brother trying to help him walk and talk, he was only one. Then there were shrill screams and shouting. Suddenly our door was knocked down and men with guns stood at the door. They eyed the room and only took my brother. They had to hold back my parents. I still remember the deafening screams leaving my mother’s mouth.
Moments later two women knocked on our door. They went into the kitchen to have a word with my parents. At first all I could hear was my mother shouting things like “you can’t have her!” or “she’s all I have left!” but after a few minutes my mother walked back into the room. Her eyes red and puffy and I could hear her sniffling. She crouched down beside me and gave me a big hug.
“These kind ladies are going to take you away for a little bit, it’s only for your own good, just know that I love you and always will.” She whispered softly into my ear and before she handed me over she took off her golden locket that my father had given her as a wedding gift and put it around my neck. She opened it and I saw a picture of her and my father. I smiled at her, I still didn’t know what was going on until one of the ladies, who I later found out was called Michelle, picked me up.
I began crying and screaming because they were taking me away from my parents. I hated them for a while because all they did was stand there and not even save me but it was for the best because if you didn’t give up your child to be trained you would have been shot and the child would have been taken anyway.
Many children did return home when they failed their exam when they turned eleven. But the ones who didn’t were trained until they were sixteen. I’ve been doing missions for about two years, and according to everyone I talk to I’m the best at it. It does make me feel proud but I can’t help but wonder what it would have been like if I returned to my parents.
I walked into the control room to hand over what I had taken from the boys. It was a memory stick filled with different documents, I didn’t understand all the technical things it’s a good job we have someone as smart as Gemma on our side or we’d be screwed. There are plenty of other smart girls but non as smart as Gemma.
“Here you go!” I handed over the USB. She snatched it out of my hands, plugged it into the computer and began typing as quickly as she could. I perched on the end of the large desk.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Trying to unlock the code that leads to the file we need.” She smiled at me. Gemma is my age but nowhere near as strong or athletic as me. when they’re sorting you after you pass the exam they either train your brain or train your muscles. I got into the muscles side and Gemma went to the other.
“Why do you need the file?” I asked curious as to what we were doing. I was never in the know; no one ever told me why I was going on missions or what the things were specifically for.
“Urm, that’s classified information.” She answered sounding unsure. I sighed and rolled my eyes. I stood up and walked out of the room, perhaps Annie knows.
I walked into the cafeteria where Annie was sat with Rach, Fran and Hailey. They were laughing at something Fran had said, I’m sure it would have been something stupid given her low IQ.
“Hey.” I smiled siting down next to Hailey. They smiled back.
“Ali, who’s going on the next mission?” Rach asked eagerly. She’s always wanted to go on a mission with me; the thing with Rach is that she isn’t very fast so she slows us down quite a lot.
“I’m not sure.” I said, I wasn’t completely lying I didn’t know when it is, all I know is that it was soon and I couldn't wait.
