"Number 62." The announcers monotone voice booms overhead.
The last place I want to be is at the injection ceremony. I only know two things about the injection ceremony.
1: Everyone who turned 18 during the year gets injected by a serum named memophis at the end of the year.
2: In rare cases, a persons body rejects the serum, and the person dies.
There is also rumors; stuff that I've heard, but I'm not really sure is true. Someone said that the serum is used to keep our town calm. Another person said that it allows the officials to control us, and keep our power to a minimum. But for the most part people just say that its just an old custom. Most of the people who pass the rumors around don't believe the gossip themselves, while others fear it so much they pack up and leave. Nobody has heard back from those who took their belongings and dashed.
"64!" My number is called. I walk up to the counter, and the woman tells me to go to room number 2. I walk through a long hallway and go into the room with a big 2 plastered above the door. I reach out and yank the door open with a little too much force and sit down on the white couch. The room is small, and the only thing in the room is a white couch with a small wooden table in front of it. No windows and on the inside of the door there wasn't a handle. A small knock sounds making me jump slightly. A pretty woman with a tight bun and a white lab coat walks into the room, smiling with her Colgate white teeth. I can't help but being a little freaked out by her.
"Katerina Jacobs?" She asks in high pitched voice. "It's Kay." I reply.
"Here's a form for you to fill out, I'll be back in 5 minutes Katerina." The lady totally disregards my objection to my real name. She hands me a clipboard with a couple pages and a pen, and then she leaves.
Most of the questions are the normal ones you would expect if your were going to the doctor; "When was your last ovulation?"
"How often do you ovulate?"
"Is there any chance of pregnancy?"
While some of the questions were normal, others were down right weird.
"Are you feeling any strong emotions?"
Are you in love?
Would your friends/family describe you as over emotional?
What do you regret most in life?
Put a little about yourself on the following lines.
What kind of questions are these? Am I supposed to be telling them my life's story? I finish the survey and walk to the door to see where this woman went. It's been way more than 5 minutes. Are they planning on keeping me in here all goddamn day? I go to try to open the door but it's locked and there's no handle. This just pisses me off even more, it's like I'm some sort of prisoner here.
"HEY!" I yell, banging on the door a few times just for good measure. Angry, I stomp back to the couch and plop down with a huff.
There's another knock, then the same woman comes in with a tray that has alcohol swabs, and a needle.
"Took you long enough!" I complain rather rudely. She ignores me and starts to talk in her all to sweet little voice.
"Hello Katerina, did you finish the questions?"
"It's Kay, and yes."
"Great!" She beams. "I'm going to wipe your arm with this, and then I'll give you the memophis."
She pulls out the shot, and takes the cap off.
"Holy shit," I squeak, "that's a big ass needle!" The needle is basically gloating at me, it looks about a centimeter thick, and about 5 inches long. Hot damn!
"Don't worry, it won't hurt too much, sooner or later the pain will fade." She says while wiping the alcohol on my forearm.
Before I can object, she takes the thick needle and punctures my skin with it. Shit, that huts. She pushes down the pump, and the memophis fills my body.
"You're good to go!" She says.
I stand up too quickly, and all the blood rushes to my head making me wobble a little, then fall backwards onto the couch.
"Are you okay?" she asks.
"I'll be fine." I respond, as I stand back up. I take a few steps before wobbling a little more. My vision become blurry, and my head starts to throb with pain.
"Ah!" I scream in pain, falling to the ground while clutching my forehead.
"We've got one in room number 2!" The lady says into a high tech walkie talkie.
"Don't worry, this is a common side effect, you'll be just fine." She lies.
My head is pounding, and all the anger I've felt today comes rushing forward. I can't take the pain and the anger anymore when it all goes black, and I'm out cold.
Holder
It's December 31st, the end of the year, the day of the Injection ceremony. 2 years ago, I turned 17, two years ago my life went even further into shit.
The Injection killed my older sister, or at least that's what I thought. She was a defect, her body couldn't handle the serum, and it killed her. That's the story, that's why every couple years there's someone who dies after taking the memophis. I believed the story until I found out the truth, the day of my very own injection ceremony. I heard my dad talking about Rebecca on the phone. What I heard told me enough. When a persons body doesn't take the serum right, the person changes. My dad murdered my sister because she didn't react right. It wasn't something that just happened. He killed her, just like he would have done to me if I hadn't gotten away. Now it's December 31st, 2013 and I'm back. This is the first time I've come back to this stupid town since I left. I've studied a map of the building takes place in multiple times, and I know all the exits. There's a room on the first floor where they will take anyone who has rejected the shot. I'm going to go in there, and I'm going to get that person out of there. I don't agree with what my fathers company does, I'm actually against it. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing.
There's one man at the front door of the building, they don't need top notch security around here because this entire town is full of zombies. He's not too big, and I can easily take him out. I walk up the steps to the small building and smile at the man as I do. I walk forward to the door and put my hand on the knob to open it.
"Sorry sir, you're not allowed to go in here." The man says from behind me. I clench my fist and prepare to break a jaw. I turn around and slam a fist harder than concrete dead in the center of his face. He drops flat, I slip on his uniform, and continue on my way.
