12:45 PM, September 19, 2517, Elysium City
"That lady over there is totally checking you out!"
"Steve," Jeff replied with a nod. "Always great to see you."
"No, but for real, when you walked over here, I could see her tracking you."
"Who, the gardener?" He pulled himself up beside his friend who was perched on the metal railing. Steve was just about as smart as Jeff, so he could carry on an actual conversation.
"Whoa. Good eyes. Two o'clock, dark shades, good looking and nice hair. I'm telling you, out of the hundreds of kids on the playground today, she's only looking at you."
"Now I know you're lying."
"What?"
"Shades."
"Just because she doesn't look from out of the corner of her eyes, like every good spy should, doesn't mean she's not suspicious."
"Well, okay then. If she is watching me, my good looks probably attracted her attention, yeah?"
Steve socked him in the arm and shook his head. "You're six, first of all. You can't be using that line. Anyway, every time I glance over there, she doesn't do any work. Water a couple of plants, fiddle with a spade… I don't think she's a real gardener."
"Maybe she's incompetent."
"Come on, now."
"Then let's play your game. Why would someone need to spy on me? I'm a damn six-year old, for crying out. What am I, special?"
"You're a funny guy. You remember last month, in the courtyard?"
"What, you mean with those… two?" Jeff asked.
"Yes. Exactly with those two," Steve muttered.
"You were spying on us? Look out, it could be you they're after."
After a look of terror cross Steve's face, Jeff sighed. "Lighten up. Those guys are clueless. We don't have to worry about any conspiracy theories, okay?"
"I don't know. They just don't seem to be the parental type."
"Well, many people don't seem to be the parental type. Just ease up. You can't always think the worst about people."
"But that guy…he was with the navy," Steve continued. "Not many people can get off duty just to go to some school for a few minutes."
Jeff raised an eyebrow and smiled. "That's true. But what's the worst that can happen?"
As the two dropped the subject and walked away to their next class, the gardener lowered her sunglasses and watched the two disappear into the main building. She removed a glove, reached into her back pocket and removed a chatter. She punched in a code and spoke into the receiver.
"Everything is set, Doctor. Subject Benson is in place."
"So, I should probably take the time and tell you now that you can hand your assignments in tomorrow," Jeff's teacher began, and paused over the cheer of his class. "However, you're going to need to go downstairs to for your shots." The class groaned from hearing this.
Jeff narrowed his eyes and turned to Steve. "What did he say?"
"Some kind of mineral injection—it was planned since last week. Why, are you scared?"
Jeff stood up and stretched his arms, then made his way to the door, followed by Steve. "What? Never. Come on; let's just get this over with."
"You're totally scared. You know what the worst part is?"
"Shut up."
"Those needles are like, six inches long," Steve grinned and held up two hands. "Boy that's gotta hurt."
"I'll get you after school."
The two rounded the corner and fell into line with the rest of his class. Jeff waited until he was called forward into the room. The lady scrutinized his face for a moment, then told him to roll up his sleeve and sit in a chair. He watched as Steve received the injection, nodded to Jeff, then strolled outside. He waited for the nurse to come over and finish with him, so he could leave too. As she attended to the next student, ignoring Jeff, he leaned back and drummed his fingers against a nearby table with an irritated sigh. Suddenly, there was a felt a prick on his upper arm, and pain shot through his left extremity. He winced and began to roll down his sleeve.
"Okay, that's great. Quick and professional," he said, and when he turned to the person with the syringe, his eyes widened with surprise. It was… the gardener? He never got a good look at her outside, but her hair and shades were the same. Except, now she wore a white lab coat and her hair hung down at shoulder's length. Before Jeff could say anything, she wordlessly pushed him forward, out of the room with a gentle shove.
He stumbled forward and met with Steve, and they exited through the doors. They decided to take the scenic route back to class, through the garden just inside the school courtyard.
"That wasn't so bad, right?" Steve said, then laughed. "How could they do this to us? They shot us! Hey, are you all right?"
His voice was kind of wavy to Jeff, and his vision began to blur. As he stretched out his hands to regain his balance, everything seemed to be slowing down. Jeff's knees buckled and gave away, and the cool, hard ground rose to meet his head.
Jeff's eyelids parted slowly, and he inhaled, taking in the sterile air and smells of chemicals. Tilting his head, he saw he was in a hospital bed, and a nurse above, looking him over. As he came to, she gave him a friendly smile.
"What happened?" he inquired and sat up.
"You hit your head. We think it's because of the injection, but you look fine to me," she said with slowly, like she was talking to a kid.
"Good to know. All right," he said, and held up his right wrist, "if you'll just unhook me now, I'll be on my way."
She shook her head, and her friendly attitude disappeared. "You have to stay here for the time being, kid. Until Dr. Halsey figures out what to do with you from here."
"…Who?"
A/n (April 19, 2007): More rewrites to come.
