Subject 0017

Chapter One.

Today was different. Although she did not yet know it, her ridiculously miserable life was about to do a full 180 degrees, and she would live this life no more.

It started off like a normal day, well, what constituted as normal for her anyway. Surrounded by space grey walls, two of which were gradually transforming into a pale white, courtesy of her only companion, the trusty chalk. Lines cascaded over said walls, the one on the left side to represent how long she had been in this hell, the one on the right representing the duration of time it had been since anyone had visited her. She classed anyone walking into her confinement cell as a visit, whether it be a guard on patrol, or a family member demanding the request to see her.

Her routine was the same. Having woken up, she rose from her concrete slab of a bed. Her feet levitated off the floor and she travelled over to both sides of the room, and drew a line, one on each wall. Transcending to the centre of the cell, she allowed gravity to take over her. The icy cold seeped through her feet once in contact with the floor, just another reminder as to why she was encased in there in the first place.

Her entire life she had been exposed to conditioning, just a pawn in the governments' game to creating a more enhanced human race. When she wasn't even ten minutes old, the serum had been injected into her veins, kick-starting the initiation process. Every day since, she had learned to harness and increase her power through the use of both positive and negative reinforcements. It didn't matter whether she had wanted to live this way. She had no choice.

At some point, her life had spiralled into disaster. It's as if a switch had been flicked inside her, and suddenly she wasn't worthy of seeing the real world. The beauty of the sunlight, the vibrancy of the colours surrounding her, the warmth of a cosy fire in the middle of a frosty winter night; All of this had been deprived from her. It was all too soon. She didn't get a proper goodbye, or even a warning that this were to happen. One minute she was heating up some food - the simple delicacy of Pasta that she loved so much - and the next her house was being barged into, restraints were being accessorised to her skin, and she was forced into seeing nothing but black, some kind of vile material thrown over her head, and then she was gone. This very cell was where she had woken up, the gap between then and now forever being something she strives for.

She knows why she's there. She was an experiment, always had been. Now though, she was an experiment gone wrong, a failure, a freak. It's no wonder that she hasn't been visited for 400 of the 752 days that she had spent there.

She was in the middle of her daily stretches. She may not have the space to run, but she refuses to allow her body to cripple into even more physical pain. It's bad enough that she is suffering from the lack of vitamin D in her system, she will not allow her bones to erode away, not like this.

The only focus on her mind was ensuring that every muscle in her body was somehow exercised, when it began. A series of systematic clicks could be heard outside. Once familiar, the alien-like noise resonated through the heavy silence. At first, she had assumed it was her mind playing tricks on her once more; being isolated from the outside world for over two years can do that to a person. When her ears had recognised the steady rhythm that was being produced on the other side of her cell door, every single one of her thoughts and actions came to a halt. Three clicks, followed by one click followed by two clicks. This was repeated another two times until silence took over once again. The tension in the room was impenetrable. No, it couldn't be.

The door to her confinement cell opened.

"Subject 0017, I will help you to escape, but we don't have time. Come with me, now." A young man, no older than 21 she presumed, stood a few meters away from her, completely on edge. His dark brown hair, which almost looked black due to sweat, swayed with his head as he looked around, obviously aware of the state that he had gotten himself into by opening this door. Minuscule scars lay on his face, becoming more prominent as he darted his focus back on to her. "What don't you understand? Now!"

"I - I don't even know who you are! What's your name? How do I know you're helping me? Where are my parents?"

"Look, we have-" he looked down at the black watch that seemed camouflaged into his black bulky clothing. "Exactly two minutes until the warning bell rings and we're hunted, and you can trust me on this, that won't be good for the both of us, c'mon!"

"No." She protested. "First tell me where my parents are."

"We have to leave!"

"Just tell me!"

His frantic movements stopped abruptly, his hazel eyes focusing solely on her emerald ones.

"Your parents are dead."