Preface:
I could feel the darkness closing in. I didn't want to die, but the black was like Novocain, numbing my mind and dulling my senses. I remembered being in the car with my family, and then… CRASH. I could faintly hear sirens, a man's urgent voice, and most prominently, my irregular, sputtering heartbeat. I started slipping. My heartbeat became a dull thrum, barely audible, then even that slipped away. I panicked, fearing the nothingness that was quickly consuming me. I struggled to grasp anything that would keep me in touch with reality, with who I was. My name! My name is Anna! Anna Carson! I held on to that small piece of my existence. It kept me going for a seemingly infinite amount of time.
There was no pain, no feeling, no sounds, nothing. Slowly, though I started to feel sheets on my skin, I heard a faint, rhythmic beeping. Relief washed over me, only to have it disappear. Pain clutched my head, my arm, my ribcage, and my leg. I tried to open my eyes but I felt paralyzed. A voice floated to me.
"-a very promising subject." said a gruff man's voice.
"Yes," said a woman "with no family left."
"Stable brain wave patterns." the man mused.
"And… Kartitch?"
"Hmm?"
"She has no chance of survival?"
"Mason, this is the best were ever going to get. I know it's hard for you. All the failures… Well it doesn't matter. We fixed the error. Nothing has gone wrong yet with any of the others. Don't worry about it." Kartitch sounded sure.
"Alright," Mason sighed, "let's take her."