Storm-Boi

Chapter 1 - Awakening

Chapter 1 - Awakening

The adrenaline keeps pushing me forward. I have to escape, I have to run. I don't want to be caged up again. Storm clouds rumble over my head and the tension in the air is mounting. I hear gunshots. They are chasing me. I run as fast as I can, I can't let my self be recaptured. Lightning splits the sky, giving me the energy I need to pull away.

I snap open my eyes, and hear a slow beeping noise that tells them I’m awake. It’s pitch black, and I remember exactly why I hate the pod so much. My wrists are chafed from the bindings and my ankles ache. The neck’s the worst though, not being able to move my head while I sleep.

The pods are relatively new technology. They monitor everything about me while I sleep, from my heart rate to whether I’m subconsciously using my abilities. If I did that I think the techie at the data desk will have a heart attack, it’s never happened before. The pod grows with me, so I never get strangled. I’m pretty tall, so it’s quite long. I’d hate to think what Holly’s looks like, she way surpasses me, and she’s 12.

Then I remember. I’m fourteen today. Can’t the bastards hurry up and lift the lid of the bloody pod, it’s my birthday. 

A minute later, just as I’m cursing to every god I know of, even the virtual ones, the lid lifts. I immediately squint against the harsh light coming from my left, where the artificial window is. I’m not allowed a real one because I’m on level five security.

The bindings spring open as I regain my sight, leaving me rubbing my wrists where years of sleeping in that thing  has rubbed my skin raw. I climb out of the pod. It’s a white and silver, streamlined shaped thing with air-conditioning and oxygen supplied directly. It also gives me sleeping drugs while I’m in it, so I don’t wake up when I’m in it. The lid is computer controlled from the security room next door, just like everything else.

I change into the silver slimsuit hanging from the clothes rack in the corner. Apart from that and the pod, the room is relatively empty. Leaving plenty of room for me to “discover my abilities” as the head doctor said last week.

It’s really quiet, almost too quiet. I don’t know where the lab techs are, but they better hurry up and let me out, I’m starting to get creeped out a bit. Suddenly I hear the hiss of the thrice locked door opening. I spin around and am faced with the expressionless face of the head doctor and my creator, Dr Stein. He always wears the same clothes and doesn’t look like he’s aged a bit since I was little. Actually, he probably injects himself with botox 4 every day or something.

“Storm,” he says. His voice is velvety smooth, like something out of a horror movie. But I’ve never seen a horror movie so I can’t be sure.

“Stein,” my voice is equally as cool as I stare back into his creepy unblinking eyes.

“Follow me.” That’s it. No happy birthday, no greeting, just ‘follow me’. Seriously, was I going to get any recognition?

I glare at the techs outside my cell. There are always at least three monitoring the computers out here. I hate it, they can see everything I’m doing, all the time. I have no privacy. 

Stein leads me down the corridor to the testing room. Typical, testing first thing on my birthday. I slouch into the familiarly cold room and slump in the high backed chair. A techie attaches a cord to my head. I reach for the keyboard.

An hour later I have hacked into 10 top secret databases and the social networking profile of the President of the United American Nations. Surprisingly her profile had more security than MI6. I have also searched the net In the past hour there have been 4 million blog updates, 4000 new sites created, 7 billion videos posted and 1 000 402 326 Facebook updates. I am puzzled at this. Facebook is so old, over a century, it’s so ancient. Maybe theres a new plug in everyone wants to try out.