Dystopia

Chapter One

Two large men dragged a small girl down a hall. She let them. She focused on memorizing the halls and the features of the guards. Knowing what the guards looked like would be important soon. They took a right and entered a hall full of cells. Focus through the voices, she told herself, gritting her teeth in concentration. They passed three more cells before the guard on her left unlocked a door and shoved her in a lot harder than was necessary. In return for their hard work, and to show her appreciation, she turned around and flipped them off. They shook their heads in disgust as they locked her cell door and left.

She smirked at the results of her small act of defiance. Then she got to work. She pulled her brown hair up with a strip of cloth and examined her surroundings. This portion of the building was clearly older than the rest of the building. The walls chipped and crumbled in some places painted an off white color. The door of the cell was rusted and squeaked in protest when opened. They should get an upgrade, she mused as she walked her small cell to stretch out and wake up her tired muscles. She rubbed the muscles of her upper arms trying to relieve the pain from the right grip of the guards.

Her small size blended in well, especially with what she had to do a lot of the time. But her eyes really stood out. Bright, icy blue that was unmistakable and easily distinguished. However, she did have a particular skill that made her able to blend in any where. She could change how she looked. Something about genetic mutations caused by the world wide plague that happened nearly twenty years ago. Focus through the voices, she thought to herself. The voices. She had been hearing the voices for as long as she could remember. She had no control over them, and she could not make them silent. It always seemed like they were trying to tell her something, but she was never able to make out what they were saying, it was like they had bad reception. As if her appearance changing was not freaky enough.  She leaned back against the wall and began recalling the appearance of the guard that was on her right. Almost immediately she felt herself growing taller and wider while her hair grew shorter. When the  change was complete she ran her new, larger hands over her new, shorter hair. This was Alex's least favorite part. The few minutes right after the change. She shook it off quickly though and grabbed the keys of the uniform she was now in and quickly let herself out. As she walked out she saw someone who looked only a little bit bigger than herself curled in a heap on the floor of the cell. The voices grew quieter as she looked at the person. "Focus," she told herself, "you know what you need to do. Just keep going. You're halfway there."

With that final bit of encouragement, she took off at a soldierly pace down the hall to the computer control room. The military of her sector had her break into the head quarters of other sectors to gather information. They recruited her when she was ten, living in the streets alone, and protecting herself by fighting and shifting her appearance-- she was not in any place to refuse when they offered her shelter, clothes, and most importantly food in exchange for work. When she got into the control room she plugged in the device that would copy and save all the information so she could return it to her sector--Sector 18. While all the information was being downloaded she used another computer to look through all the faces of the prisoners here. She did this every time. A job for her sector's military and a personal search as well. She was looking for someone, but she did not who she was  looking for. She only knew that she would know if it was then by the voices. Because the voices would be quiet. When she clicked over to see the next person she froze because the voices stopped. They were silent. The boy in the picture was dark all the way around. Dark black hair, darkly tanned skin, and piercing black eyes. Elijah was what it said in the name box. She memorized the cell information quickly, cell 432. Right across from her own cell.

She grabbed the data device and left the room quickly. She marched down to the hall and slowed only when she got close to his cell. She began undoing her disguise and then decided not to because it would be easier to get him out if she looked like she didn't belong in a cell too. "Boy. Get up. We are going for a walk," she shouted in the deep voice of the guard.

The heap on the floor began to get up as she unlocked the door. She grabbed his arm and leaned in close and whispered, "I am breaking you out. You need to play along."

He fixed his sharp black eyes on her and said, "Prove it. Prove that you are not the normal jack ass because you certainly look like him."

"Watch my eyes." She flashed her eyes back to their normal icy blue for an instant and watched his eyes get larger. "Now come on. We have to go. I will show you what I really look like once we get out, Elijah, but right now I need you to trust me and come on."

Elijah nodded, and Alex began pulling him down the hall. Thank goodness they did not run into any guards. Once out of the decaying building and rather far away, Alex stopped and changed back to her true form.