Finding the Emotions

Chapter 1

"It says here that he was found at age 4, parentless in the forest, poor kid."
"He will be perfect then. No baggage, no understanding, no family."
They were starting to pack the documents back into the folder and lock them in the safe, which held all of the other profiles for everyone in the vicinity. I quickly and quietly slunk away from the gap in door that I had been listening through and crept away. I walked briskly to the canteen, my eyes fixed to the ground.

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I should probably relate to you my situation; I know little about my life before I got taken here, 'here' being a secret organisation based in the Atlantic Ocean with corespondents and threads reaching out across the whole of Europe and the USA.

They aren't kidnappers as you may have presumed but instead environmentalists that aim to save our planet before it's too late. They recruit anyone who is willing to work and train for them and then all those people are taken in large submarines to join us here in the Epidon, the epicentre of our underwater resistance, to continue their training until they are sent on a mission.  Few return from a mission, but we always hear what they've achieved whether it's infiltrating meetings of major businesses or destroying an oil tanker.

When I was taken here, I was numbered and given a small room that I have slept in every night for 15 years. I don't know if I even have a family or where I came from, and no one will tell me anything - it's either 'not their business' or 'strictly confidential'.

In the day, at the Epidon, it's like what you would call school: a lesson or two then a break lasting 30mins. That format continues through out the day until 8:00pm when we recite our laws and hear the world news. reports of recent ecosystem destruction and the latest animals to become extinct.

This was no normal day however and it all started in the canteen.

"Number 49!"
I grit my teeth as I recognise the familiar sneering voice of no.74. He came up behind me and the silence from my other peers was almost tangible. Slowly, I stood up and turned to face the gorilla-like 18yr old who was flexing and cracking his neck in front of me. All the guardians that happened to be in the hall were watching sideways as they made a pretence of ignorance to small disputes like this.
He towered over me and I looked straight into his dull grey eyes, making every effort to look uninterested and bored with him.
At least once a week, all this month, a boy picks a fight with me and so far has lost. This increase in 'spirit' was caused by a 'disagreement' I had that ended with one boy drowned in the water outside and me in the hall of fame for it. It won't last but I'll enjoy it for now.
"Think your so tough, do you?" He snarled.
"Yeah, I do. I guess that's why I'm the one who's won this fight," I stared blankly at him, then picked up the apple from my tray and started to shine it on my sleeve. I grinned, knowing that his wooden head was having difficulty processing my words. His eyebrows faltered and whispers and sniggers were garnishing the hall.
"But you haven't won-" I shot out my hand and hit him hard in the lower neck, below his Adam's apple, he gasped and dropped to his knees. I stood still for a few moments just to look around at the guffawing, gaping faces, then I crouched elegantly, putting my face close to his.
"What were you saying?" I smiled obliviously as he crumpled up like a piece of paper on fire. He was gasping for breath and I could see the guardians starting to look over properly. The talking from around the room was now at peak with hundreds of eyes still fastened on me as I left the room and stood in the corridor. I knew it would look cool to strut out, leaving number 74 struggling to stand, so I did, pushing forward with my shoulders and holding an air of cockiness as I exited. Once I couldn't hear the excitable chatter and laughter, I stopped and didn't know what to do, so I just slumped down and bit into my apple.

I watched the fish swim past the glass walls. Mackerel were swimming low in a large pack, the water's shadow was dancing across my face and the blue carpet. I followed the silver shimmering fish until a larger, brownish yellow cod came from behind them, a small hook of skin on its chin like a beard. I watched with slight interest as the mackerel swam into the coral. They were barely covered with there large bodies but they seemed to find it comforting.

Then I heard footsteps and voices from further down the corridor. We aren't permitted to be in the corridors during lunch. Jumping to my feet, I hid in the room closest to me: a common room filled with chairs and tables.