Prologue & Chapter One

Prologue:

“Sir, subject eighty-seven has escaped.”

            “How could anyone escape?”

            “It seems we underestimated her… abilities.”

            “Get her back. Without her, the whole operation falls apart.”

 

Chapter One:

Branches tore at her clothes and drew blood across bare arms. That wouldn’t stop her, she was going to run until every muscle gave in and demanded rest. Breathing was growing harder by the minute, and the metal band fixed around her neck felt tighter with even breath.

            Alexia. In the mirror, she had seen that the band said “Alexia �" 87.” It was the only name she could remember, so she had decided it must be her own.

            Waking up in a metal room, nothing had been familiar, but her already active body seemed to be following a set routine. Memories of books flashed through her mind, all of them containing endless pictures of weaponry and their internal workings.

            “The mirror.” Two words, scrawled onto the page next to one of the diagrams. Something violent and deadly, but she didn’t know its name.

            Her left arm was in agony from the branches ripping at her skin, but the right hung limply and was flung back and forth against her body and the trees. Feeling was starting to come back, and that was what would force her to stop. Letting a limb be permanently damaged would be stupid when trying to get away, but slowing down too soon could make everything a waste of time.

            After what felt like hours, the arm had feeling back. It could finally be kept from crashing into every tree she passed. Without the flailing limb to worry about, Alexia began darting left and right at random, pushing through heavy foliage and scrambling over rocks. As she cut her bizarre path through the forest, the trees grew denser until they were broken by a small clearing.

            Not natural, she thought. The ground was covered with leaves and moss, but the trees around the clearing’s edge had scorch marks around their roots. Someone had tried to cover up making this, but hadn’t covered their tracks very well. Her suspicions were proven right when a twig snapped somewhere to her left. A moment later, the foliage to her right shuffled. Not the wind, too heavy for that.

            Dead set against back-tracking, Alexia leapt into the clearing and darted towards the trees at the other side. More rustling, faster footsteps than hers, getting closer.

            She turned, closing her eyes, and screamed as a deafening roar filled the forest. Light flickered through her eyelids, and Alexia opened her eyes to find the forest on fire, no one was there, but someone had been. Deep footprints led to where she now stood, before heading back into the denser part of the forest.

            Turning to run, Alexia quickly discovered that neither arm would respond. The feeling in both was gone, and they struck against her when she tried to pick up speed. Her foot caught something, and one arm struck her in the stomach, ruining any chance she had to stay balanced.

            Crashing into a stream she hadn’t seen in her confusion, the last thing Alexia heard was footsteps. At least three people, catching up and mumbling to one another.

            She had failed. She had been caught.