Chapter 01- The Beginning

My life has never been normal. But how do you define normal anyway? My definition of normal is never worrying about being hunted down and dragged back to an experiment facility. Normal is having everyday worries: whether you are going to be late or not, food, sleep, family. Normal is never having to hide secrets that could get you killed. But, as I said, I have never been normal.

Twenty years ago, America was attacked. Everybody wanted to see America fall. For days bombs were dropped, destroying more than half of the country. America fell to one of the poorest countries. The world today is not a good world to live in. Anybody will do anything for just a little cash.

Welcome to my world.

I was born in the year 2008. Wait, correction, I was made then injected into a surrogate mother, which led to my birth in 2008. I’m sure I’ve probably lost you. Try to stick with me. Back before I moved to New York, I was from Connecticut. Just outside of New Haven was a genetic facility. To the public, it was just an abandoned building. The government knew about it though and did nothing as long as it remained private.

I was one of six girls to be created. For the first few years of life, they let us grow almost naturally, only the games we played weren’t for fun. Then at about age five, they began combat skills.

Then, it happened. In 2015, we were all seven years old and Kendra, my only older “sister”, decided she was going to run away…

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17 December 2015

It was late at night when I heard the sound of the door opening. ‘Great,’ I think. ‘Another drill.’ Instead, I see one of my “sisters” leaving the room; it’s Kendra. “Kendra, what are you doing?” I whisper.

She whips around to face me and brushes her dirty blonde hair out of her face. “I’m getting out of here. Come with me,” she replies.

“I can’t,” I answer.

“That’s right. You always do what you’re told. Take a chance for once. Unlike you I refuse to be treated like one of Callaghan’s slaves around here. I’m going to find a better place,” Kendra says.

“Kendra, listen to me. This is crazy. What could they possibly have out there that we don’t have in here? Think about it. We have beds, food, shelter, companions, everything we could really need,” I respond.

“But we don’t have freedom. I’m leaving. If you don’t want to come, you had better forget this conversation,” Kendra orders, her dark brown eyes glaring at me. Then she starts to leave the room. I think back on one of our lessons from over a year ago. One rule we learned and had been stressed to us was to never do anything alone. Always have someone to back you up. I couldn’t let Kendra go by herself. I sneak out of the room, leaving my three remaining younger “sisters” behind. But as I leave I begin to feel that fear in my gut, the fear that we’ll be caught. It is in that moment I wish that I were more like my sister Lani.

All six of us are very similar, yet very different at the same time. We are similar because we were all created, born, and raised in the facility. Yet we were all created differently. Chris was made with the alteration in her genes to make her immune to all disease. Ever since she was five years old, they have taken her away from the rest of us to teach her everything they knew about diseases, medications, treatments, and anything else relevant to the medical field. Izzy was made to not be able to feel anger or hatred. They thought that it would be useful to not have as many emotions in the way but it hasn’t really helped her. Lani is literally fearless. Again, they believed that not feeling fear would help in combat situations. They didn’t count on her being so reckless due to lack of fear. My youngest sister Dakota was the control for this experiment that is our lives. She never had the alterations that everyone else was created with. She always tried to prove that she was as good as the rest of us. Well at least until she… … never mind. I’d rather not live in the past. Kendra is the complete opposite. The scientists thought it would be cool for one child to have all of the alterations. Because of that Kendra doesn’t feel fear, anger or hatred, she is immune to disease and she doesn’t feel pain. I don’t know how it will affect her or any of us for that matter. I’ve never imagined a life in which I could actually feel pain. Someone could shoot me right now and it wouldn’t even phase me. I’m definitely not your average, everyday girl.

Kendra turns as I catch up with her. “Glad to see you changed your mind,” she says.

“I haven’t. I’m just here to make sure you stay safe,” I reply.

“Of course. Never go out alone. You had better not say anything about this to anyone.”

“I won’t Kendra. If I say anything, they’ll come after you and kill you.”

“Good. Let’s go.” Together, we slowly make our way outside. My senses are constantly working, waiting for a sign that they are following us. To be caught outside after lockdown meant death. I wanted Kendra to turn around more than anything but I also knew how stubborn she could be. Once her mind was made up, no one could stop her. My only reason for following her is to make sure she’s safe. Because no matter what, she’s still my family and family supports one another. We creep around the building to where the lowest fence is located. But to get to the fence, we have to go across the open yard.

Kendra looks around, searching for guards. Then she gives me the O.K. signal. I nod and she silently counts to three. On three we begin to sprint across the yard. We reach the fence and jump up, almost clearing the top. We climb over and drop to the ground. Kendra looks back to me. “I’m free now. You should go back before they catch you. Unless you’ve decided to come with me.”

“No way. I have to go back. But you’re not safe until you’ve reached the road. We should hurry.” She nods and we begin to run through the woods surrounding the facility. I stop to take in my surroundings and listen for the guards. No siren is going off. They still aren’t aware of the escape. I continue after Kendra. The weather is very cold and there is an inch of snow on the ground. No matter what, they will know of the escape by morning.

We reach the road and Kendra looks back to me. “If you ever decide to leave the nuthouse, come find me.” I nod and she walks onto the road. As she tries to decide which way to go, I notice a car speeding towards her.

“Kendra, look out,” I yell. She looks over and sees the car. Her eyes widen as she realizes what is going to happen. Before she starts to move the car hits her and throws her several feet. The car jolts to a stop. The door opens and a man gets out. Kendra looks over in my direction. Her eyes tell me not to say or do anything.

The man runs over to Kendra. He looks over her wounds and realizes that she is as good as dead. Despite her injuries, Kendra is not in pain; She never was in pain. It was because of the alterations in our genes. Kendra was probably the strongest of all of us. She is immune to pain, fear, disease, and emotion. Well, maybe not all emotion. Kendra was mainly immune to anger the most dangerous emotion. I watch as Kendra opens her mouth as if to say something. The man bends down to listen. I hear her say, “Genetic experiments.” Then she points back towards the facility before she goes limp. The man gets up and looks around, then runs back to his car. Somehow I knew he would go looking for the facility. The car speeds off and I run to Kendra. She opens her eyes and looks straight up at me. She had been faking it so the guy would leave. “If you ever decide to escape, don’t look back, and don’t let them get you.”

I nod in response, unable to speak. “Promise me Skye,” she orders.

“I promise,” I whisper.

“Hurry, before they find you,” she answers.

“But…” I begin.

“Go!” I get up and run back to the facility. I crawl into bed and cry. After a couple hours I fall asleep.