The Modified (The Biotics Trilogy, #1) (6 page)

“Where are you all from?” Joey asks.

Geoffrey raises his hand. “Pennsylvania.”

“New York, baby,” Sam says with a wide grin.

For the first time since we stepped into the room Caleb turns around and says, “Tennessee.” His eyes are a shocking bright blue, which is a stark contrast to his dark skin tone.

The lone television in the room suddenly turns on and is stuck on what seems to be a test screen with a periodic high-pitch beep. The face of the head general for the Allied Federation, Roman Barclay, flickers onto the screen. He’s the youngest head general we’ve ever had and kind of looks out of place in his uniform. He seems to clean cut to be a general, and his personality is like that of your stereotypical used car salesman. His black hair is perfectly slicked back as always, and those piercing green eyes only add to his charming smile.

“If this video is playing, that means everyone is present and accounted for from the Appalachian Mountains region. I’d first like to congratulate you all for being the best and brightest of your entire region. Selection for the Magnus Project is a great honor, and you should feel a sense of pride in the fact you were handpicked for it. You’re the last hope for our world, and though that is a huge cross to bear, we know you will succeed. Once again, the Allied Federation thanks you for your service.” As the general speaks his last word, the television turns off.

“I’ve never heard someone so full of shit in my whole life,” Sam comments and then laughs.

“I agree, but he sells it well. How else do you think he got where he is today?” I interject.

Sam snorts her reply, “True, true.”

The door to the room opens and a Federation guard enters. “Your transport to the Shrouded Facility is ready,” the man says, gesturing to the open door. As we head outside, we’re greeted by two other guards. They lead us to an elevator with large shiny metal doors. One of the guards presses his palm on a panel at the side of the elevator and a keypad projects out from it. He punches in a code and the keypad sucks back into the panel as the doors to the elevator open. I’ve only seen technology like that in the movies, but never thought it really existed. My shocked face meets Joey’s.

Even though the elevator is enormous, we stay close together as if something bad might happen. The "safety in numbers" thing, I guess. The walls of the elevator are made of frosted glass and are framed in a shiny metal. A white light shines from behind the walls and ceiling. The floor panels light up as we move about the space. I put my hand out to touch one of the walls of the elevator and the light follows my hand around the glass.

“Please don’t touch anything,” one of the guards snaps at me. I quickly draw my hand back to my side and stare straight-ahead.

It seems like we’re in the elevator only a few seconds before the doors open again. It didn’t even seem like we moved at all. Before us lies a huge open area with a wide staircase leading up to a platform. The whole area resembles a subway, but with walls made of jagged rocks. It kind of looks like they just hollowed out a cave. As we walk out onto the platform, I notice a shiny metal track suspended from the ceiling over what seems to be a tram tunnel. I glance down the long dark tunnel, first looking right, and then left. Both paths are slightly illuminated, but I can’t see down very far in either direction.

“What is this place?” I ask one of the guards standing next to us.

“This is the Hexagon’s light tram platform. This tunnel connects to key destinations throughout the world. It utilizes state of the art suspended tram technology. Your light tram should be arriving shortly to transport you to the Shrouded Facility,” he replies in a very cold manner.

“What’s this Shrouded Facility everyone keeps talking about?” I ask, but again get no answer. The guard just continues to look forward.
It was worth a shot, I guess,
I think to myself.

We hear a slight buzzing noise coming from down the tunnel and suddenly a huge white vehicle stops right in front of us. The design is something I’ve never seen before. The whole body shimmers in the lights and looks super polished and smooth. It has a streamlined cylindrical shape, but is rounded off at either end. I notice that the tram is attached at several points to the track overhead.

The double doors on the side of the light tram slide open, which is followed by an odd sounding electronic chime. As we board, the first thing I see is the stark contrast between the floor and the rest of the tram. The floor is a glossy blue surface and the rest of the interior is polished bright white. I almost don’t want to touch anything at the risk of getting it dirty.

“Please take a seat,” one of the guards says as he steps inside behind us. He performs a similar trick to the one he did with the elevator, and a keypad appears on the interior wall. He puts in a code and proceeds to tell us to buckle up and hang on tight.

“Hey, what about all the stuff we brought with us?” I ask the guard just as he turns to leave.

“You won’t need it where you’re going,” he replies. Once he sees we’re all buckled up, he steps out of the tram and the doors close behind him.

I can see into the area at the front of the tram where a driver should be and there is no one. Hopefully it’s automatic.

The interior lights slowly dim and we slide back slightly as if it’s settling into gear. I hear a noise that sounds somewhat mechanical, which is the best way I can describe it. The next thing I know we launch into high speed. My stomach immediately goes into my throat and all I can get out is a tiny scream. I can hear Sam, who’s two seats over from me, yelling to go faster. Joey reaches over and grabs my hand as I tense up even more from the force. My face feels like it’s going to peel off.

The tram begins to gradually slow down and I’m able to relax into my seat. “That was kind of cool,” Joey states as he pats my hand reassuringly. He knows that I’m not a huge fan of thrill rides.

“Yeah, probably not the way I’d describe that,” I joke.

“Oh, come on, Grayson. That was awesome!” Sam cries out.

I turn to look at Geoffrey, who’s sitting right next to me on my left, and he looks ill. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone turn that many shades of green so quickly and then back to pale white. Even paler than normal. “You okay, Geoffrey?”

“Yeah…I’ll be fine…just a little motion sickness,” he chokes out between gags.

Caleb’s just sitting there smiling. I guess he enjoyed the ride.

We begin to slow even more, and it seems like we’re getting close to the Shrouded Facility. As I’m gazing out the windows of the tram, I see the tunnel open up into a huge well-lit cave. I notice several other tracks all converging toward one giant area in the distance. Pulling up to the platform, we see a large crowd of teenagers all standing in front of an enormous metal door which is embedded into the rock wall.

The tram comes to a crawl and then stops. I begin to scan the crowd through the window, and my gaze fixes on a single guy. My heart skips a beat. He’s unlike any guy I’ve ever seen. I mean, there have been guys I’ve had crushes on back home, but there’s something so different about him. His sun-kissed skin and beautiful chestnut brown hair takes my breath away. I never thought I’d feel this way, especially not while in my current situation.

Joey catches me staring at something. “What’s up?”

I lie and tell him it’s nothing.

“A boy out there caught your eye, didn’t he? Come on, you can tell me,” he says with a mischievous grin.

I give him a playful slap on the shoulder. “It’s not like that.” I laugh because I know I’m lying.

“All right, I believe you,” Joey says with an eyebrow raised.

“Ooooh, which one is it?” Sam chimes in. “I bet I can guess.”

I look over to Sam. “It’s nothing, really.”

“Sure it isn’t. I got my eye on you, Grayson. Keep those hormones in check, girl. We’ve got a war to win,” she jokes.

My gaze inconspicuously wanders back over to where I saw the guy standing before, but he isn’t there anymore.

The tram’s doors finally open. We unbuckle our seat belts and head out to join everyone else on the platform.

An unfamiliar male’s voice comes over the intercom system. “Welcome, everyone, to the Shrouded Facility. We will begin your processing shortly.  We thank you in advance for your patience. When the door opens, we would like all the females to proceed toward the left side entrance, and all the males to proceed toward the right side entrance.”

I look around the crowd again to see if I can find the guy from before, but to no avail. I’m still not quite sure why I’m so intrigued by him. Is it wrong to have feelings like this right now? 

“Look, the doors are beginning to open,” I hear Joey say and then my focus pans over to them. There’s a large circle in the middle of the door that rotates and then slides upward, disappearing into the frame. The left and right parts of the door slide open quickly after.

As we begin to separate into girls and boys, Joey gives me a hug and whispers into my ear, “See you on the other side, okay? Be strong, Kenley.” With that, he moves away from me and into the crowd of males gathering around the right side entrance. I see Geoffrey and Caleb join him as well.

I feel someone put an arm around my shoulder and turn my head to see that it’s Sam. “Come on, Grayson, we’ve got a date with destiny.”

“How can you be so calm and cheery about this?” I ask her.

“What? Would you rather me be scared? Life’s too short, Grayson. Besides, I’ve spent plenty of time being all gloom and doom, but now I’m ready to kick some ass. And that makes me happy. We’re in a war, if you haven’t noticed.”

“Oh, I’ve noticed. Probably more than you think,” I murmur. “I’ve already lost someone to this war.”

“Looks like you and I’ve got a lot more in common than I first thought. I’ve lost a brother and my dad so far,” she replies with a serious face instead of her usual joking one. “But the moment you let that get to you, they’ve won, and we can’t have that now, can we?” she continues and flashes me a smirk.

“You’re right.”

“I’m never wrong,” Sam says with a laugh. “Now, like I said, let’s go meet our destiny.”

Sam and I are two of the last girls to make it through the left side entrance and into the room beyond. The first thing I notice is a pile of clothes to the right of us. There are several lines of girls, all in their underwear, standing in front of more doors. A large sign above the row of doors reads:
Decontamination Zone
.

A few female guards are standing off to our left and one approaches us. “Please strip down and then proceed toward one of the lines. You must be decontaminated prior to receiving your implant,” the female guard explains sharply.

Now I know why they split us up
, I say to myself.

It’s my turn to step into the decontamination chamber. The door slides open and I see a small room ahead of me. A blue scanner grid is stationary in the middle of the space, causing the white walls to have a blue tint to them. As I step into the room, the door slides shut behind me and I begin to feel slightly claustrophobic.

An electronic voice flows into the room. “Please stand still. The decontamination process will commence immediately.”

The scanner grid moves back and forth over my body multiple times. It tingles like someone is giving me a light massage with their fingertips.

The electronic voice comes back into the room. “Decontamination process complete.”

The door on the other end of the small room opens, revealing a long and narrow bright white chamber. In front of me is a row of large cylindrical glass tubes, positioned at an angle. They’re being held in place by a metal base and a mechanical arm affixed to the top of it that seems to be attached to the wall.

I notice a few of the other girls enter the area and see Sam emerge from the door a few down from mine. The electronic voice filters into the room as the rest of the girls join us in the chamber. “Please proceed to the implant administration conduit directly in front of you.”

As I approach the tube, the electronic voice comes through once more. “Please place your hand onto the triangular pad to the right of the implant administration conduit.”

I place my hand on the pad and a blue light emanates from it. I feel a prick on all of my fingers and gasp as I pull my hand back quickly. I look at my hand and there are small puncture wounds on each of my fingertips, but they’ve already begun healing and are not bleeding. I notice a stream of red fluid flowing through the clear hose that’s connected from the pad to the base of the tube. I assume it’s the blood it just took from me. It mixes quickly with the clear liquid that’s collected at the bottom of the tube, turning it a neon blue color.

I can’t do this. I need to get out of here. This is all too much. I trust my dad, but I’m not ready for this. This is crazy,
my inner voice says. My mind begins to ramble with all the worries that I’ve been holding in. I try to calm myself and not hyperventilate.

“Please enter the implant administration conduit at this time,” the electronic voice states. The door to the tube opens and slides upward.

No, I’m not going to do this. I don’t care what they do to me
, I tell myself.

“Is there a problem with your implant administration conduit? Shall I call a guard over to assist you?” the electronic voice asks. I see a female guard heading my way and I turn to look back at the glass tube in front of me. Taking in a calming breath, I push out all the negative thoughts gathered in my mind. A sense of strength begins to build up inside me.