Next morning the bad weather had settled, Max woke up late sitting at her computer. The electricity had come back on around 4:00am, and she had been asleep at her keyboard since then.
The file flashed an error message at Max, and made a loud bleep. She woke up with a start only to find that her vision was blurry. She felt around for her glasses, and stared at the computer screen as all the colours merged together to make sense. It was time to call Logan.
The printer clicked and whirred as a printout of the damaged record came out. Fragments of text were missing, but a picture was intact, along with a fair chunk of writing. Logan rubbed his eyes, and read through.
"Do you need to borrow these?"
Logan looked up at Max, who was waving her glasses around at him. He gave a slight smile, but looked down at the picture. It was fuzzy, probably because the photographed SMS was trying to escape. Logan's eyes zoomed in on the rushed blur, and found that he could make out a 'tag' the person had branded on his/her upper shoulder.
"I know who it is," he said quietly. Max looked up from her readout, and walked over to Logan.
"How? The picture, it's impossible to make out..."
"It's not when your eyes can focus into a picture a 1/60 of an inch small"
Max sat back; his tricks amazed her even now. Logan scanned through the text, and read out a paragraph to her.
"...A strange girl was seen attacking a 30-year-old woman yesterday at Sandy Springs on the lake. She sent the woman to hospital with a fractured arm and a broken collarbone. However, the attacked woman refused treatment only to knock down a doctor and run out of the care unit..."
"How do you know who it is?"
"All Super Manticore Soldiers carry a branded mark on their upper shoulder, you know, like cattle had back in the late 1900's. It was SMS number 1 mark 03. We called her Cindy"
"What are you going to do now?"
"The only thing I can. Track down Cindy"
LOGAN'S STORY
Sometimes when I close my eyes, I can see myself marching down the empty corridors of Manticore. Like a nightmare all is black and dreary, sounds echo around my head with no mouth speaking them. I look down upon the child that was a mindless soldier through and through. The only times I was happy was back in the dorm rooms, when all six of us were together. Zack would rig up the security camera to film one part of the room only, so we could all group in the other corner to talk. Cindy and Brinn were best of friends; they were always smiling and joking together. Zack, Jace, Dennis and I were always talking about our recent walks in Manticore forest, and what we saw. I can't help but remember how excited young Dennis was at seeing a big black crow fly down in front of him. It saddens me to think that they are still back there, confined behind the walls of Manticore.
As we grew older together we drifted apart slightly. Cindy and Brinn stayed as good friends as ever, but over time Jace became an outsider, she was trained by herself sometimes. A mysterious woman always came to see how Jace was getting on, we never found out who she was. However, Zack, Dennis and I always tried to keep on good terms. That was what kept us going through the long hours of training and being screamed at by Sketch.
I know that I owe them a lot. I owe them my sanity. So after I hook up with Cindy and the other escapee we are going to bust our brothers and sisters out of there, somehow.
I didn't ask to be an experiment. I didn't ask to be faster, stronger or smarter than the average bear.
MAX'S STORY
I admit it, but only to you. I like Logan. I mean, who wouldn't? A strong, smart and cute guy like him is desirable for a single woman. But he is tormented by inner demons the likes of which we 'average' humans cannot fathom. He has his family to save, the people still stuck back in that hellhole of a place. Experimentation on humans is just wrong, messing with nature is wrong. Those people are playing god with children who could of lead a nice, ordinary life. But on reflection, who would want to swap the fantastic abilities they could have for a weak body such as this. I wouldn't mind having great eyesight so I can dump these glasses...
I don't know how I can help; coming along on his crusade may slow him down, although he could use my resourcefulness in tracking Cindy down.
I have my own problems however. My boss, Herbal, has been on my back all week. I agreed to write a follow-up article on one I did a couple of weeks ago, but I just haven't had time. He's been leaving phone messages every hour on my mobile; I just delete them every time.
Herbal is a strange little man. He's really quiet one minute, then he's yelling in your ear the next. He seems to have a limited vocabulary too. Either it's 'bip bip bip!' or 'I don't pay you people to stand around and talk like dat!' He's really cheap too. Wears the same suit everyday and the same bad smelling perfume too, that's why we nicknamed him Herbal: he always stinks of flowers. His co-editor-in-chief isn't as bad; his secretary calls him Normal, because in comparison to Herbal, he is.
I wish that my life wasn't so dull; when all I have to talk about are the people I work with. I should tag along with Logan.
MAJOR SKETCH'S STORY
They're still out there...laughing at me, I know it. They think they've won, but they're so wrong, so very wrong. I trained them, I catch them. Before the board lay into me for losing them, I've kept the fact that they disappeared in the middle of a mission a secret. The fools upstairs think this is all part of the mission briefing, being deep undercover with no contact, god I'm good.
I must say that I am disappointed with mark 01. He had potential, the leadership skills and intelligence to go far in this operation. He was the first of them all, one of the unique SMS. The other two surprised me when they went AWOL, it seems that mark 01 had a bigger influence on his group then I thought. The other three have been through rigorous training to iron out any rebellious tendencies in them too. Mark 02 has been resisting, but he always took after mark 01. The rest have been fairly compliant, though until the rogue three are brought in, they will not be loyal to Manticore, but to mark 01, mark 03 and mark 04.
But that will still change. I've laid bait to reel my SMS in.
The file flashed an error message at Max, and made a loud bleep. She woke up with a start only to find that her vision was blurry. She felt around for her glasses, and stared at the computer screen as all the colours merged together to make sense. It was time to call Logan.
The printer clicked and whirred as a printout of the damaged record came out. Fragments of text were missing, but a picture was intact, along with a fair chunk of writing. Logan rubbed his eyes, and read through.
"Do you need to borrow these?"
Logan looked up at Max, who was waving her glasses around at him. He gave a slight smile, but looked down at the picture. It was fuzzy, probably because the photographed SMS was trying to escape. Logan's eyes zoomed in on the rushed blur, and found that he could make out a 'tag' the person had branded on his/her upper shoulder.
"I know who it is," he said quietly. Max looked up from her readout, and walked over to Logan.
"How? The picture, it's impossible to make out..."
"It's not when your eyes can focus into a picture a 1/60 of an inch small"
Max sat back; his tricks amazed her even now. Logan scanned through the text, and read out a paragraph to her.
"...A strange girl was seen attacking a 30-year-old woman yesterday at Sandy Springs on the lake. She sent the woman to hospital with a fractured arm and a broken collarbone. However, the attacked woman refused treatment only to knock down a doctor and run out of the care unit..."
"How do you know who it is?"
"All Super Manticore Soldiers carry a branded mark on their upper shoulder, you know, like cattle had back in the late 1900's. It was SMS number 1 mark 03. We called her Cindy"
"What are you going to do now?"
"The only thing I can. Track down Cindy"
LOGAN'S STORY
Sometimes when I close my eyes, I can see myself marching down the empty corridors of Manticore. Like a nightmare all is black and dreary, sounds echo around my head with no mouth speaking them. I look down upon the child that was a mindless soldier through and through. The only times I was happy was back in the dorm rooms, when all six of us were together. Zack would rig up the security camera to film one part of the room only, so we could all group in the other corner to talk. Cindy and Brinn were best of friends; they were always smiling and joking together. Zack, Jace, Dennis and I were always talking about our recent walks in Manticore forest, and what we saw. I can't help but remember how excited young Dennis was at seeing a big black crow fly down in front of him. It saddens me to think that they are still back there, confined behind the walls of Manticore.
As we grew older together we drifted apart slightly. Cindy and Brinn stayed as good friends as ever, but over time Jace became an outsider, she was trained by herself sometimes. A mysterious woman always came to see how Jace was getting on, we never found out who she was. However, Zack, Dennis and I always tried to keep on good terms. That was what kept us going through the long hours of training and being screamed at by Sketch.
I know that I owe them a lot. I owe them my sanity. So after I hook up with Cindy and the other escapee we are going to bust our brothers and sisters out of there, somehow.
I didn't ask to be an experiment. I didn't ask to be faster, stronger or smarter than the average bear.
MAX'S STORY
I admit it, but only to you. I like Logan. I mean, who wouldn't? A strong, smart and cute guy like him is desirable for a single woman. But he is tormented by inner demons the likes of which we 'average' humans cannot fathom. He has his family to save, the people still stuck back in that hellhole of a place. Experimentation on humans is just wrong, messing with nature is wrong. Those people are playing god with children who could of lead a nice, ordinary life. But on reflection, who would want to swap the fantastic abilities they could have for a weak body such as this. I wouldn't mind having great eyesight so I can dump these glasses...
I don't know how I can help; coming along on his crusade may slow him down, although he could use my resourcefulness in tracking Cindy down.
I have my own problems however. My boss, Herbal, has been on my back all week. I agreed to write a follow-up article on one I did a couple of weeks ago, but I just haven't had time. He's been leaving phone messages every hour on my mobile; I just delete them every time.
Herbal is a strange little man. He's really quiet one minute, then he's yelling in your ear the next. He seems to have a limited vocabulary too. Either it's 'bip bip bip!' or 'I don't pay you people to stand around and talk like dat!' He's really cheap too. Wears the same suit everyday and the same bad smelling perfume too, that's why we nicknamed him Herbal: he always stinks of flowers. His co-editor-in-chief isn't as bad; his secretary calls him Normal, because in comparison to Herbal, he is.
I wish that my life wasn't so dull; when all I have to talk about are the people I work with. I should tag along with Logan.
MAJOR SKETCH'S STORY
They're still out there...laughing at me, I know it. They think they've won, but they're so wrong, so very wrong. I trained them, I catch them. Before the board lay into me for losing them, I've kept the fact that they disappeared in the middle of a mission a secret. The fools upstairs think this is all part of the mission briefing, being deep undercover with no contact, god I'm good.
I must say that I am disappointed with mark 01. He had potential, the leadership skills and intelligence to go far in this operation. He was the first of them all, one of the unique SMS. The other two surprised me when they went AWOL, it seems that mark 01 had a bigger influence on his group then I thought. The other three have been through rigorous training to iron out any rebellious tendencies in them too. Mark 02 has been resisting, but he always took after mark 01. The rest have been fairly compliant, though until the rogue three are brought in, they will not be loyal to Manticore, but to mark 01, mark 03 and mark 04.
But that will still change. I've laid bait to reel my SMS in.