The Enhanced

Chapter One

My body makes a loud 'thwack' as it makes contact with the hard, linoleum floor. The thin duvet pulled around me brings little warmth or comfort as I curl back up in my bed. Even the friction of my feet rubbing against the sheets seems to have no effect. I don't even have to check my clock to know it's early. Too early.

My alarm was set for five in the morning and the morning bell was at five thirty. Yet, here I was, lying awake before even the earliest of risers. It wasn't foreign to me, I often had trouble sleeping. I found it difficult to stay asleep for more than four hours at a time.

After about twenty minutes, a sigh escapes my lips as I accept the inevitable and pull myself out of bed. The cold is distracting and unwanted but I'd be in the shower soon. None of the girls would be up yet and the showers would be completely empty. Just how I liked it.

I look around my room for my toiletries. My room was small, more of a cupboard than a bedroom. It had enough space for a thin, single bed and a built in chest of drawers that kept the few sets of clothes that I owned. There was also a small mirror, a clock and hanger for coats and the like. It was simple, functional.

There were many of us in the facility, hundreds. All female, all under twenty five, all kept here. Strangely, I was the only person to have their own room, everyone else slept in big rooms with bunk beds. I had never been aware of the true reason to my separation. Throughout my youth, I had tried to justify it, was I uglier, dimmer, quieter... In the end, I assumed it could only be my age that kept me separated from the other girls. I was younger, not by much, but still younger, I was barely seventeen, while every other woman here was around twenty years old.

But I had been here the longest. Since I was barely two and a half, I've been here. Working and eating and sleeping, never taking my time with anything. Boredom wasn't an option in this place. There was always classes to attend and moves to learn and homework to do. Never any peace and quiet, never a moment's breath. Never a break.

I drag myself through all the grey corridors and up the winding staircases until I reached the equally dull shower room. There were only two shower rooms for the four thousand two hundred and sixty four of us. Each shower room held two hundred and fifty showers. Enough for an eighth of us to have a shower at once. It didn't create many problems as everyone had different schedules. Most people took showers after combat classes. This was, for most people, every two days. But for me, I had two sessions a day.

Once in the morning, from six thirty to nine and once in the evening, from three thirty to six. Overall, I had about twenty six hours of combat every week. And thirteen classes. Since Sunday was more laid back, I only had one combat class that day. I often did extra track running to tire myself out for the night though.

All of my classes were separate from the others and were one on one. I was faster, stronger and smarter. We had all been given the same drug. I didn't even know the name of It, people didn't talk about it much. We were given it as a trial. We were 'helping the world move forward in scientific discovery' as Sierra McLane put it.

Sierra was the head scientist and effective leader of the facility. She ran all the tests and lead everything. That was another reason we were given some of Sunday off. Everybody had medical tests on that day. To make sure we were still responding well to the drug. To ensure we were still useful to the facility. As far as I knew, we were all still responding well.

I exit the shower and brush out my long blonde waves in the mirror, taking time and care with each stroke. My green eyes shone in the steamy mist that wisped around the room. My eyes were probably my best feature. They were intense and eye catching and I remember being complimented on them as a child here.