Infinite (Unedited)

∞CHAPTER TWENTY THREE∞

I sit there, head still tucked between my knees, breathing heavily for what seems like hours. My head is spinning, I don't know what to do. I can't leave my friends here, I'm not really sure if I want to leave at all, but I'm scared to stay. I slowly straighten up, cross my legs and stare at my hands. I purse my lips and knot my eyebrows together.

"I'm going to stay," I whisper my decision.

Light footsteps echo through the hall, so I jump up and walk shakily back to my room to avoid discovery. Carrie isn't here, she's probably eating lunch. I should go too, but I'm not hungry. I lay on my bed, buried in turquoise blankets, and stare at the ceiling.

"First training sessions in twenty minutes! Anyone signed up for, Swords, Archery, or both, please make your way to-" The PA sings out a command.

I groan and drag myself out of bed. I stand in front of the mirror and decide to change into something better for being active. That's the last thing I feel like doing, pretending everything's okay and that I'm so excited for the abilities. If they were as perfect as I've been imagining in my head all this time, I'd still be ecstatic; but they're not. The cold reality is like a knife, twisted in through my rib cage. People could die again. People could die.

I shuffle through my closet for a pair of yoga pants, a tank top, and a pair of runners.

"Its fine, it's been fifty years since the last experimentation! They'll have it fixed! The memory hung works the way it should, and you're not dead, right?" I tell myself, trying to calm myself down. It helps reassure me a bit, but honestly, I'm still terrified. I've always been scared of death, and I know that everyone is to a certain extent, but I am absolutely terrified. It never made sense to me, because it wasn't the pain of dying that scared me, it was just being gone. No longer alive. Jen never was afraid, she's always been a risk taker. I always thought of her as completely fearless. Everyone's afraid of something though. For her it turned out to be spiders. She's deathly afraid of spiders. Nothing else.

I jog down to the training room to begin my first session of archery training.

I actually have a lot of fun, and Nate shows me how to do it while the instructor is helping everyone else. I miss the target over, and over again, but eventually I get the hang of it. After an hour of practice the instructor asks us to line up and show her what we've learned to do so far. We line up in alphabetical order, using last names, so I'm standing around the middle of the line. While waiting, I play with a sleek silver arrow, twirling it around in my hand. I notice the blue ring around my wrist, and think of the file. Out of curiosity, I poke it with the end of the arrow. A little too hard I might add. The sharp tip pierces my skin and the ring lights up.

"Oh!" I drop the arrow in panic.

People turn to stare at me, and I feel my cheeks turn bright red. It doesn't last long though, as I begin to feel heavy, and can't keep my eyes open. I tumble to the ground.

"Oh great," I groan before blacking out.

**********

My eyes flicker open to reveal one of the sick rooms. "Ugh," I groan, holding my hands against my skull while attempting to sit up. I close my eyes again to dull the pain in my head.

"Ms. Parker!" A loud male voice says sharply.

"What!" I snap. "Sorry, the pain..."

I open my eyes to see a red headed man, probably in his fifties, in a crisp white lab coat. Small silver glasses sit at the end of his nose. A few other scientists or doctors are also in the room.

"Um, hi," I say awkwardly. My wrist is bandaged and is no longer glowing.

"Do you know why you're here?" He glares at me.