RISING

5

Present Day.

I was awake at six sharp, opening my eyes to the subtle, but noticeable, alarm that rang through the room. I should be used to waking up this early as "It's the life of a soldier" but, frankly, I never wake up smoothly. Stretching with a yawn to boot, I popped out the clothing drawers and got what I needed to take a shower. After letting the hot water run over me, I cleaned myself up and finished my morning routine, emptying the bathroom for Essien.

Right next to the door, a slip of paper printed from the slot, giving me my schedule for today. I narrowed my eyes to make sure I was seeing it correctly. Instead of my usual schedule involving training or exercise, there was only one line printed at the top: 600 see administrators. I've never seen something like this written on a sheet, so it couldn't be good.

"So what've you got planned today?" Essien asked, scrubbing his teeth with his toothbrush.

I looked over the paper again to make sure I wasn't missing anything. "The usual," I responded.

Essien spit out the toothpaste. "Everything's usual here except us. I'm surprised we Projects aren't subject to more challenging exercises." Projects. That's what Essien called us. A giant science project with us being the product. It was a term he used to label us, and I was indifferent to it.

Before Essien could say anything else, I stepped outside the room and made my way down the hall, watching as everyone started to exit their rooms and begin their daily activities. Was I the only one who got a schedule like this? I haven't been doing anything wrong, so I don't understand what would cause this change.

I walked up to the distribution line and asked about the schedule. After showing them it, they directed me into a door on the left, telling me to take the first right and enter a door at the very end of the hall. I walked inside the room, a comfortably sized office, and was relieved to see that I wasn't the only...Project in the room.

Aurora and the girl from the infirmary, Emmory, were even here. Aurora looked back and when she saw me, she did some sort of ugly eye roll that resulted in one eye being cross-eyed, and me breaking my straight face. An older man sat across from all of us, resting his elbows on a wooden desk. A scar ran through his left eyebrow and it looked as if it was an old wound.

I recognized this man and straightened up immediately. This man was the one behind the experiments in the first place. Every video we've ever been shown regarding the history of this initiative had his face in it. He was I stepped in line and awaited his words. Two more Projects came in, a Yellow and an Orange, before the man began to speak.

"I can tell by some of your confused looks that you're trying to figure out exactly why your here." The man wasn't just older, but old. The years were apparent on his voice. "You're here because I need the twelve of you."

I shared a look with the Green on my right. No one dared to speak, so the man continued. "You all know who I am. Howard J. Conway, head of the Deus Initiative. The initiative to create better soldiers. You all are supposed to be the hope of the people. The hope for a better age." Conway leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples. "Now how can you represent the hope of people if the people haven't even seen you."

He scanned his eyes across all of us. "Or what you can do."

Conway crossed his arms. "Tomorrow, I'm taking you twelve out of this stuffy complex and you're going to host a demonstration in the neighboring town of Lansing."

I couldn't help but smile after hearing this. For the first time, we're actually leaving this place. We're going back into the world. I could tell that the other Projects rejoiced silently as well by the way their stances changed, or their crossed arms dropped.