Drifters: The First Generation

7

December 31, 2019
APG, Maryland
5:10 p.m.

The four heroes arrived back at the facility just in time for dinner. Tam and Jamie ran ahead of the others, eager to fill their empty bellies. Atlas walked alone, headphones in his ears. Shiloh brought up the rear, hands in the pockets of her jeans. She hadn’t brought a jacket, which was her mistake as it was freezing outside, in New York and in Maryland. She took her time walking to the door, viewing the cold as consequence for her actions in New York. In the deepest part of her soul, she knew it was her fault.

Edith stood at the entrance to greet her agents. She gave them all warm smiles and salutes. Shiloh could barely glance in her direction. Edith put a hand out and patted Shiloh’s shoulder as she passed by. “Get yourselves cleaned up and head to the cafeteria. You got twenty minutes!”

Shiloh went to her room; the one she had had since the beginning of her time with Servare. She took off her bloody clothes and hoppe in the shower. She made sure to be quick, but she took extra care of the areas where blood spilt. She scrubbed her body as well as she could, thinking it might erase some of the memories of Kellan’s death if she didn’t feel the blood anymore. No matter how hard she scrubbed, it didn’t eliminate the feeling of remorse. 

When she finished, she dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants and a blue long-sleeved shirt. A ding came over the intercom system in her room, alerting Shiloh that it was dinnertime. She hurried upstairs, where the cafeteria awaited. The three other agents were seated with the doctor, a feast laid out on the table in front of them. Other soldiers and doctors filled the area, the usual employees of the Aberdeen Proving Ground; they kept a wary eye on the doctor and her test subjects. Shiloh reached her seat, next to Atlas and in front of Jamie and Tam. The doctor stood from her place at the head of the table.

“Congratulations on your first day on the field, agents. All of you did an exceptional job today. I am very proud of each of you.” She said, raising her glass in the air and smiling. Jamie and Tam raised their glasses and tipped them in Edith’s direction. “As a reward for your hard work, I had the cooks prepare a feast featuring popular items from each of your home countries. Dig in!”

Tam rubbed her hands together, greedily eyeing the Spanish food. Jamie started piling hamburgers and steaks on his plate, with assorted potato salad and baked beans. Atlas seemed to perk up for once as he grabbed gyros and baklava. Soon, the only food that hadn’t been touched were the Iraqi dishes. Shiloh stared at the various bowls and items, lost in thought and growing sicker by the minute. 

All Shiloh could picture was the man’s face as blood poured from his neck, her father’s face when he dropped to the ground on the outskirts of Raqqa, and Tamir’s face when the bullet went through his skull. Nothing put her in the mood to eat. In fact, she began to get angry as the sounds of chewing and laughter rang around her. It was as if no one cared that Shiloh had committed murder earlier that day. She blamed herself for their deaths, especially her father’s and Kellan’s. She was outraged that everybody let it slide, or that Edith thought murder of any sort was necessary. 

Shiloh slammed her hand down on the table, cracking the plate in front of her and scaring the inhabitants seated at the table. Blood pulsed out of a cut that Shiloh received from the plate’s jagged edge. She stormed out of the cafeteria with hundreds of eyes at her back. She went back to her room, ran straight to the bathroom, and threw up. 

She carefully cleaned her cut, watching as the mark began to slowly heal itself. After the operation, she had gotten extra regenerative abilities like the others. This made the agents harder to kill. Jamie was nearly impossible to kill because of his healing powers and super metabolism. Nevertheless, Shiloh had yet to show any sign of her powers even though it had been months since her operation. Shiloh never understood why Edith put her in charge of the team, in a sense. Shiloh kinda figured it was because she was the best at combat, no offense to the others. Shiloh was a true assassin at heart; it was what she had been made for.