Endless War (Complete)

Chapter 2 "Chip Day"

Chip Day

As I roll out of bed I find my mind is still trying to wrap itself around the fact, I will be joining the war today. I close my eyes and take a deep breath before reaching out to grab the uniform sitting on the chair beside me. I look at the grey concrete walls surrounding me, last night I said goodbye to my mother and home. We are instructed to leave our family the night before reporting, so we wake in an unfamiliar environment. I reach back to my port, my head is aching, I just make sure it is not overheating.

I quickly twist my long blond hair up in a bun prior to covering it with my cap, that is actually called a cover. I look down at my dessert covered camouflage uniform, the actual name jumps into my head but I ignore it. I am told killing is the only way, I may be forced to kill these aliens, but I am not part of this. Therapist, is gone now, with this new chip upgrade. Otherwise she would have interjected and say, "You should embrace..."

"Shit." I curse, "I may as well still have her in my head."

I hear laughter on the other side of my curtain so I pull it back to reveal the source of the noise.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to listen in." A tall woman stands in front of me dressed in the same clothes with the same cap, but her hair is black and her skin is caramel in color, that is compared to my soft ivory skin. She is a good foot taller than my five foot four stature, so I look up into her brown eyes. Her eyes meet my own, of blue.

"It is ok, not like I thought I was alone." I just shrug my shoulders, and look at her name tape. "Andrews, well I am Te... Petrova." I look down at my own name tape before saying my last name and hold out my hand.

She takes my hand, giving me a firm handshake, "Nice to meet you." She looks down at her boots. "I didn't like having her in my head either, though it would have been lonely without her." She looks back up and smiles, showing a beautiful white smile, and it looks good on her.

"So, are you headed to the debriefing?" I ask to fill the quiet, as I already know that she is.

"Yeah, it was strange, I just woke up, and suddenly knew I needed to dress and go to the meeting. It was surreal. I really hate how much this chips make my head hurt. The information is just flooding my mind, I don't have any control over it. If they hadn't sedated us last night after insertion, I wouldn't have been able to sleep." She confesses in a whisper.

I take a deep breath and slowly let it out, relief floods my mind. "I thought it was just me. I have a massive headache." However, I am not being flooded with new information, but I keep that to myself.

She nods her head and we keep walking through the maze of hallways, like second nature, despite never having been here before. It will take a while to get used to the fact that my mind knows more than I do. With me it is kind of like a random access memory thing. I am not being flooded with information like Andrews, I just figure things out as I need it.

We arrive to a room the doors are open wide and I can see all of the days recruits. There are eighteen others standing together in the center of the room. Their faces are so young, they look like children who are dressed in their parents clothing. I suppose that must be how I look as well.

Andrews, just walks into the room and stands beside the rest of them without looking around. So, I quickly follow her making sure to not make eye contact.