A u g u s t , 2 1 4 7
I wake up smoothly, frozen in an alert standing position. As soon as I feel a helmet on my head and gear on my shoulders, fear fills my stomach. I look down at my outfit through the helmet's visor, and my heart jumps into my throat; it's red.
My thoughts scramble. This is impossible. Why am I dressed as a Screener? Why aren't I keeled over in a prison cell? Where am I? Aren't I supposed to be dead? I peer around the massive room, scanning the countless rows of red Screeners.
Where's Stephen?
I nearly faint. Oh, God, where's Stephen?
I focus my eyes around the room. Ranks of red Screeners stand motionless in the clean, barn-like building. A pair of massive doors swing open nearby, a forest peaking through the opening. All of us Screeners face a bare road in the middle of the thicket of woods.
I scan the rows for Stephen in vain. Every single line of Screeners stands immobile as they wait for an unknown cue. Confusion couldn't be more apparent in my mind. I'm in a barn with an army of Screeners, and I don't know why or how.
Maps and directions appear on the visor of my helmet, zooming quickly to their positions. They glow in bright red colors while a cursor appears on each chart, indicating my exact position.
I glance at the date in pure shock: it's August when it should be April. Was I really in the Enhancement Project for four months? Or was I just knocked out for all those months?
The rows of Screeners sporadically march forward, footsteps in sync. My boots move mechanically with them. The Enhancement Project technology does all the work for me, dictating each movement.
But where's Stephen? I try to stay calm, slowing my breathing. It doesn't help the growing levels of panic.
"Holland," a familiar voice hisses into my helmet's earpiece.
"Stephen," I say gratefully, relieved that my lips aren't locked shut by the Project. It's good to know he went the extra mile to contact me, even though we barely know each other. "What's going on?"
He exhales. "I don't know, where are we?"
Just as I open my mouth to confirm my lack of knowledge, I feel a sharp zap in both my temples. I flinch, expecting to stumble, but my body keeps moving forward.
"Stephen, did you feel that?"
"Yeah, I did."
"The experiment," I say, defeated. "You were right all along. It's never going to end. We're still being tested. This stupid torture will never stop."
A rough voice interrupts our conversation. "Cut the communications, Screeners."
I bite my lip. I hope the man didn't hear what Stephen and I were talking about. It could get us in serious trouble, whatever that even means anymore.
My body continues to march itself through the woods as I begin to perspire. I keep my mind focused and alert, but I'm overcome by the trees. It's is the first time I've ever been outside any city, and it's surprisingly gorgeous. Who knew so much beauty could cure a stroke of fear.
The Screeners and I truck across the sun-peaked woods, finally reaching the lower class sector of the city. Screeners drop off into random buildings, rushing to form small groups of four. A sense of dread fills my stomach as the roads become more and more familiar. Before I know it, only four sweaty Screeners remain. My stomach drops even further when we stomp right into my air-conditioned apartment building. This can't be good.
My footsteps speed up as we jog through the empty lobby, hurrying into the restricted elevator meant only for Screeners. Nothing can describe the horrible feeling of being trapped inside myself, and everything I used to be is gone.
My heart pounds against my ribs in the elevator cab. I'm literally feet away from my parents, unable to reunite with them. They probably think I'm dead, and they'll never know the truth.
Another sickening thought enters my mind: if I'm back in my home city, that means the Enhancement Project isn't an illegal experiment. There's no way a rogue group of scientists and Screeners could slip 200 people into society without anyone noticing. The enemy is everywhere in every portion of the city, and there's no way to stop it. It's wrong and illegal and inhumane, but no one is big enough to overturn the government's Project, the atrocities they allow. The good guys are the bad guys, and they win.
The doors of the elevator slide shut, and we skyrocket to the roof. Due to the speed of the elevator, two of the four Screeners react to the pressure in the air by grabbing the railing and bending. In contrast, I'm completely frozen, and so is one other Screener: Stephen, or at least I hope it's him. Based on the Screener's height and posture, I assume it is. I need to, or else I'm fighting this war alone.
When the elevator doors open again, four red suits rush out onto the roof, ducking beneath the SkyRails. My feet carry me to the far right corner of the roof, and I watch Stephen jog to an adjacent corner until he vanishes into my blindspot.
I try not to give up hope, but I can't help myself anymore. The biggest, all-knowing body of people in the country is behind the Enhancement Project. The government always had power, at least with good reason, but now they can control people on cue.
I finally understand why Stephen and I are in Philadelphia: the scientists are testing us. They're testing their abilities to control us in society, and they're testing us to see how much we reject the control.
Without my own consent, I turn to face the rest of the roof, completely frightened. No longer am I that innocent teen who used to catch SkyTrains for school. I'm now trapped within my own mind, a test subject within an experiment.
Painful bolts of lightning zap at my temples again. I jerk with a cringe, and my hands unfreeze. I flex my fingers and try to talk to Stephen, but my mouth is locked shut. What is going on with me?
"Holland, are you there?" Stephen says through my earpiece.
"S-Shut u-u-up, S-S-Steph-phen," I say sharply, the Project overriding the words I'm dying to say. "G-Get back-k to w-w-work."
"I-I-I ag-g-gree," Stephen says.
My mouth clamps itself shut again, and the electrifying zaps return, setting my temples on fire. I continue to fight my body's lockdown, twitching my head to Stephen and watching him spazz out, too.
The twitching soon stops without warning. Middle-class teens begin to rush up the fire escapes of the building, hopping onto the roof to wait for their SkyTrains. My jaw mentally locks when I see my some of my old friends a year below me. If it's August, they must be seniors in high school. I watch them closely as they climb onto the roof.
Another thought hits me: I missed my own graduation. Long gone and ended. Bitterness bites my tongue, reminding me I'm supposed to be dead. I would've been absent from the ceremony anyway.
Wait, what? I click my brain into rewind. Those seniors were in the crash with me. How on Earth are they still alive?
Yet another gear turns within my thoughts.
The seatbelt. I was the only person not wearing a seatbelt on the Train. But that doesn't explain why Nicolette was taken into the Project with me. They could have let her live, but she was instead part of an experiment involving poisonous gas.
A whoosh of wind blows north, as indicated by my visor, and SkyTrain 267-B pulls to a stop on the Rails. Students run towards their pillars and climb into the train. I remain motionless, stuck wondering why none of the students are wearing jackets. I swear it was April just days or weeks ago. I remind myself it's sweltering August now.
Once the Train pulls away, my helmet echoes with the morning announcements, the same ones that used to bellow overhead during my morning rides to school just months ago. "Today is Monday, August 31, 2147. It is 75 degrees outside with pollution levels at a low 18 percent."
"August 31st?" Stephen and I say at the same time. I thank fate for letting us speak to each other again, or just speak in general. "Heck, it's nearly September!
"Stephen," I say, "How is that possible? Were we really--"
"Gone that long," Stephen finishes. "That last injection must have been an experiment in itself that kept us unconscious."
I scan the roof again, not looking at Stephen so I don't draw attention to ourselves. "Why? Why on earth are they doing this. They already know that they discovered body control, and we know they're just testing it out now. So why would they dress us up as Screeners if they already have what they want?"
"I don't know," Stephen says. "All I know is they're letting us talk and move our heads, but not anything else. What could that possibly mean?"
The morning announcements beat into our ear pieces again. "There are approximately 21 more days until the 220th Autumnal Equinox."
-- -- -- -- --
did you like how i spaced out the dates over three chapters? i thought it was very classy of me to do so.
also, do you remember the autumnal equinoxes from the first chapter? In case you don't remember, here's the exact quote:
"There are approximately 160 more days until the 220th Autumnal Equinox."
A small wave of fear bounces around my stomach. I've been dreading this particular Equinox for a long time. It'll be my first one and my life will be reduced to misery unless someone--
(and then the train derailed.)
Question: Pick a word: blend, defy, or unite.