Dystopia

Chapter 7

He was not supposed to talk to that Commoner, that was for sure. It was unbelievably lucky for him to not be caught by anyone. I-111502 was in his ward, laying on his bed tired after a day of hard training. It was made known throughout the base that more soldiers would be sent to the East to fight for colonization. It made sense to I-111502 that more soldiers were required since none of the ones previously sent had returned. However, he did despise the intensive training they endured.

However, today's training had brought a reward. As far as he knew, the only members of the Military Elite were all male, but today right across from the training grounds, he saw something unexpected. There were soldiers using blouses, and members of the Elite are not supposed to wear shirts due to the fact that they were all born with marks on their chests that identified them as part of a Task Force. 

It made it stranger that these soldiers had long hair that was tied at the top and falling down to the middle of their backs. Their chests, were the opposite of flat too.

I-111502 followed his curiosity impulse out of his room, to find these distinct soldiers. He figured since they were on the end of the training grounds opposite of him, they would reside on that side. He walked from the Southwest Wing to the Northeast Wing. As he neared it, the halls and wards all looked the same and he was starting to doubt he took the right way. 

"It should be around here." I-111502 said to himself. He did that often, speak his mind out loud when he was alone. 

As he was looking behind his back, he turned his head only to collide with someone. They both fell to the ground and I-111502 looked at who he had just crashed with. Coincidentally, he found what he was looking for. He had just crashed with one of those mystical creatures. The soldier looked at him and their eyes were grey and cold. They looked exactly the same as the other thousands of pairs of eyes in the Military Elite. 

The creature stared in an ice-etched stare. I-111502 got up and offered his hand to the creature. In turn, they stood up on their own. I-111502 was mesmerized by the creature's beauty. 

"Pardon the question, but . . . what are you?" I-111502 asked to the creature. 

"I am C-011818. I am part of the female Military Elite." the creature answered.

"Female?" 

I-111502 had never met any females, he believed they were all born males. If he was in the Commoner Elite, this would mean he just met a woman. He admired her beauty, she was so perfect. As he continued gazing at her, he could feel an abnormal sensation forming in his intestines. 

"I must return to my station, may I be dismissed?" C-011818 inquired as I-111502 continued his fixed stare on her.

He cleared his throat and moved aside as he granted her passage. As he walked back to his ward, he couldn't take C-011818 out of his head. But upon return, he saw his comrades march past him. They were having second training in a few minutes, I-111502 had completely forgotten. He sprinted to the group but one of his superiors caught him. 

"I-111502!" he called in a booming voice. 

"Yes, sir?" I-111502 said, already knowing what he would be told.

"Where have you been? Did you forget we were doing second training?" 

"I did not, sir. I was just walking around, sir." 

The Superior shot him a suspicious look and I-111502 went to formation. They all went outside into the freezing night air. They stopped as the Superior raised his fist in the air, he walked to a stage and stood proudly at the top.

"Soldiers, in the days to come you shall train solely to the task you are given! Divide yourselves by Task Force, now!" The Superior commanded.

The soldiers all divided themselves according to their Task Forces, forming perfect squares of twelve by twelve. 

"At rest!" 

The men separated their feet and placed both of their hands together right below their stomachs. They listened attentively for orders, as that was what they were programmed to do. 

"In front of you, a fire arm shall be presented as well as a target you must shoot and kill with a single bullet. The front row will take its turn, then run to the back of the formation and the second lane will give two steps forward, and grab the arm at my signal. Am I clear?" the Superior explained and looked at all of them with a stern look. 

"Yes sir!" all the soldiers exclaimed. 

The front row took two steps forward and the Superior said:

"Armed!"

They obeyed.

"Aim!"

They aimed. 

"Shoot!"

Thirty six gunshots were heard at the same time and then silence followed. I-111502 was in the sixth row in the Intelligence Task Force, so he couldn't exactly see what they had to shoot. He imagined it would be some type of bird if it was alive, or a sack full of sand. The rows were moving up and four rows later, it was I-111502's turn. He took two steps forward along with everyone. He was born to do this, to obey any order given to him without hesitation. 

"Armed!" the Superior commanded. 

Twelve gates in the ground opened as a platform rose painfully slow. I-111502 could not believe his eyes. The targets were real living people whom he recognized as part of the Undesired Elite. They were all tied and crying as they witnessed the soldiers with their guns in their hands. 

"Aim!"

Everyone aimed without hesitation but I-111502 couldn't raise his weapon. He couldn't kill innocent people.

"I-111502, AIM! That's an order soldier!"

I-111502 aimed hesitantly as he trembled. Why would they do this? These people had done nothing! I-111502 was still shaking and blinked hard, he started sweating cold. He couldn't do it. He looked at the soldiers standing next to him. None of them wavered from the sight. All of their fingers were ready to pull the trigger. They only needed the order. Why were none of them fighting this?

"Shoot!" 

Everyone shot to kill and all the other eleven targets died. This time, only thirty five gunshots erupted.

"I-111502 what do you think you're doing? SHOOT!" The Superior screamed with fury.

I-111502 searched in him that DNA code that commanded him to obey, but he couldn't find it. Why could everyone else shoot innocent people without thinking about it twice? Why couldn't he do it? He was born the same as everyone else, why was he hesitating? Why didn't anyone else? He aimed more precisely at the young girl he had as a target. She was pleading with her eyes to not do it, and he should do it. He shouldn't care, he never met this insignificant human nor was she important. 

The Superior walked down from the stage and went to the frozen soldier's side. He stood level to his ear and yelled:

"Shoot it, soldier!" 

I-111502 shook even more. He was ordering his fingers to pull the trigger but they wouldn't move. He couldn't tell if he was frozen of fear or the cold. The Superior continued ordering him to kill, but how could a man kill someone and sleep soundly? And that's when I-111502 did the unthinkable. 

He broke under the Superior's pressure and trembled like an earthquake. 

"SHOOT NOW!"

"I CAN'T!" I-111502 shouted at the top of his lungs.

A deafening silence followed and I-111502 dropped the arm as he kneeled to the ground.

"I can't do it." He whispered as he sobbed.

The Superior's eyes went wider than his eye sockets as he couldn't believe his ears. One of his magnificent war machines just voided an order. A Humanoid born to obey, disobeyed.