I'm not a native English speaker, so please excuse mistakes in language. I'm really bad, when it comes to grammar, but I try to do my best, of course.
Chapter 1: All hell breaks looseHi, my name is...
I have to stop right here, because nobody named me, when I was born. They just gave me a number. A real long number it is too. And to make sure they would not forget my number, they gave me this nice little tattoo in my neck in form of a barcode.
But my 'family' gave me a name. It is Zoe. And this is my story.
It starts in a secret military building called Manticore. I was born there, along with a few dozen other children. But we weren't considered children. We were soldiers. Not normal ones, but the prototypes of a military experiment. We were a genetically high tuned something, trained to become the best killers the United States ever had. But of course we didn't know about being an experiment. We all lived that life, because we didn't know, that it could be otherwise. We didn't know about the world that was outside of Manticore. And this world didn't know about us either.
It was in February 2009, when something happened that changed our life. I was nine years old then. My unit (the boys and girls in there were the only family I've known, so I called them brothers and sisters) and I just had witnessed how Lydecker shot one of us, just because she was disobedient. That's when it all started.
It wasn't my idea to run away, but when Zack suggested it, I was in right for it. Eva's death affected all of us, but with me it was something different. Eva had been, what you would call my identical twin. I considered the others in our unit to be my siblings, too, but Eva was something like a mirror for me. We were not the closest friends, but we had a connection nobody else had. We were very alike in personality, but not entirely, we didn't always behave like good soldiers. It was the outward similarity and the inward differences between the two of us, that made all of us realize, that we were individuals, not just exchangeable soldiers. So when Eva died, it was a great shock to me. Not only did I have to find out, that we all were dispensable to Lydecker, but I knew that it was just a lucky chance, that it was Eva lying motionless on the cold floor and not me.
Lydecker had killed my sister. At this moment I hated him more than at any other time before.
So we made arrangements for the escape.
I don't remember much of what happened, but I know it was night. I ran through the snow, with my feet bare, but I didn't notice the cold. Not on my feet nor on my body, that was covered only in one of the thin military nightgowns. Get out of here, as fast as you can, was all I could think or feel.
I knew every inch of the terrain and knew exactly where I had to run. The lights of the choppers overhead and the snowmobiles behind me bathed the forest in light so bright, that it almost seemed like daytime. The incredible roar they made, urged me on to run faster. I heard myself breathing regularly. Right next to me was Tinga, running mechanically, not out of breath either and not showing the slightest sign of exhaustion. On Zack's order our unit had split up into groups of two. Tinga was my partner. We had left the others behind us long ago. But we could hear other snowmobiles, not coming our direction and choppers moving farther away. They were probably chasing the others. Tinga and I had seen how Lydecker's people tracked down two of our brothers that had been a little behind us. I didn't want to get caught and brought back to that place I had grown up in. Since today, Manticore didn't seem to be a home anymore.
Finally we reached the high security fence with the barbed wire and jumped over it easily. I realized that we had succeeded in leaving the grounds of Manticore. For the first time in my life. I shot a quick glance back at the fence and I promised myself to never see that fence from the other side again.
We were still kids, but our bodies were better trained than the ones of any grown up.
The snowmobile behind us was still catching up with every minute. But we had almost reached the river. I could already see the dam in front of us. Freedom, whatever that word meant, wasn't far away anymore.
I only remember running, trying to hide from the lights and running, speeding up even more and still running farther. Running as far away from Manticore and those snowmobiles, that were constantly catching up, as possible. Run for your life, was the only thought I had in my mind.
Tinga and I reached the dam. When we crossed it, my feet touched the stone. It felt rough compared to the soft snow, but there was no time thinking about it. We kept close to the side of the dam to make it harder for them to see and target us. Then there was a loud sound, like the gunshot that had killed Eva.
And then there was the pain in my breast, as everything turned black.
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