Subject Seventeen: Wraith Among Shadows
Chapter 1

All around me is a sea of darkness - in the midst of which I can just barely make out vague noises. The ticking of a clock. The sound of hard shoes clashing against the ground. I can hear some more sounds in the background but they’re too faint to recognise. Now there’s some rustling. Shouting. Someone barking orders. Whose voice is that? Feeling a little bit more focused, I try to open my eyes, willing my eyelids to fly up but to no avail. I can’t muster up enough energy. The air is cool at first before dropping to a sharp cold temperature and then heating up again in a constant state of fluctuation. The change from hot to cold again and again leaves my body in pain. It hurts so much I lack the words to describe it better, even in my thoughts. All I know is that I am alone. The colour black is the only thing I know. All I ever have. At least that hasn’t left me yet.

“Increase the voltage to three-hundred.”

Ah, a voice. Finally. Maybe that voice can get me out of here. Maybe. I’ll follow that voice. Turning my head is the hardest task I can do as the pain in my neck throbs, triggering a chain reaction as the rest of my body begins to ache even more. My eyelids feel lighter now, so I force them open with the rest of my remaining energy.

“Subject Seventeen has regained consciousness.”

“Switching output.”

“Scanning vitals.”

“Link successful.”

Cheering? I don’t understand… Looking up a light hits me hard and I shut my eyes. I slowly open them again as my eyes become accustomed to the brightness. I quickly look at my surroundings. A white room with glass extending from the ceiling to the floor. I still can’t make everything out properly; some things are still blurry. It looks like what people call a lair? No, a lap? No, that still doesn’t sound right. A lab? Yeah, that one. It looks like a lab.

A man in a white coat and horn-rimmed glasses is standing in front of me. I can barely make out the features on his face. He looks like he’s in his forties with greying hair near his temples. Lines stretch from cheek to cheek and his broad jaw carefully defines his sullen grey eyes and dark peach complexion. I try my best to take note of all his details but can’t maintain my focus as my vision blurs every now and then.

I think… I think he is smiling? He’s eyeing me, his head examining every inch of my body as he moves around. Ironic, huh? Trying not to mind his gaze too much I attempt to make out more features of the white room I’m in, but only end up with a throbbing pain in my head from whatever they drugged me with – or at least that’s my guess.

I try to move, desperately trying to leave until I realise I have been restrained.

“How are you feeling?”

Looking around, I see there is no-one behind me, so he must be talking to me. I ignore him and try to remember how I got here. My memories only reach the point where I ran away from the orphanage.

“M-m-me?” I ask, barely able to hear my own voice. I sound like a mouse. No, I don’t even think it’s an accurate comparison. The voice which I hear is raspy and hoarse, almost as if someone’s being trying to drown me for hours on end with no luck. My throat is sore and I can feel it burning. There are too many things I can complain about right now, but I’m too scared to do anything. I don’t know where I am. I don’t know what to do. I’m surrounded by strangers. Did this happen when I ran away? Was I kidnapped?

“I see you’ve come to. How are you feeling?” The horn-rimmed glasses man uses his beady eyes to stare at me and I already feel uneasy.

“F-f-f-fine…” I squeak out despite my throat throbbing as if someone has poured acid down it.

“Good, good.” He turns and nods to another man in white who is behind the glass. I see him pressing a button and as soon as he does I am released from the restraints and fall to the floor. Strangely, I don’t feel any pain.

“Project Shadow has obtained its greatest success with subject Seventeen. Keep the subject under observation and monitor his vitals around the clock.”

Glasses guy walks out and the room is left full of more men in white coats. One of them steps forward, a needle in his hand. A needle… I hate them. I’m so confused. I woke up in a lab, not knowing where I was, and I’m surrounded by strangers who are as creepy as creepy can be. Seeing the needle draw closer I make a quick decision, doing the only thing I think I can do. I run.

Running to the other side of the room isn’t exactly the greatest plan I’ve ever had. Outnumbered, I now have my back against my wall. I’m surprised at how fast I get there, it feels as if I crossed about forty yards within two seconds. In any case, I’m more concerned about the needle closing in on me.

“Get away… Get away!” I scream at the man, and without warning he flies up and hits the ceiling. The air is knocked out of him and his eyes roll over, his body limp. I back away on all fours. I would love to be able to say it was an act of nature, but what just happened is way too freaky, and I’ve had the privilege to see one or two horror movies in the orphanage. Frightened the same will happen to me I struggle to my feet and start to move around the room, my hand in constant contact with the wall. Everything else in the room begins to float up also. The utensils, the syringes, the computers and even the other men. Some men start clasping their throats, their eyes rolling over as if they are choking, or suffocating. As creeped out as I am, I begin to head for the door.

This is a dream. It has to be. It’s the only explanation. I laugh, realising how silly I was to ever think that this was real. Soon I’ll wake up and this will be in the past. All that needs to be done is for me to go through that door. Before I can reach it however, it opens. The guy with the horned-rimmed glasses walks back in with another man in a black suit. His tie is also black, but it’s skinny, and he is stroking it as if it is a cat. His dark complexion matches his brown eyes, and his bald head reflects the overhead light brilliantly.

“So?” Glasses says.

“Perfect.” The other man says back. It sounds like he's British. “Seems as if you’ve finally achieved your objective, Doctor.”

“Hmm, yes… although his abilities will be quite troublesome to control. Especially since we used the X-25G7 Core Nano-mites for his operation.”

“So, essentially, he’s the best we can produce until we can upgrade, is that it?”

“Well, yes. I was hoping for a better result, however, this one – as defect as it is – may still be able to get the job done. But just in case, I do expect some improved products to work with from you in the future.”

“That may take a few years, Doctor. I’m confident that our elite team can manage to carry out the tasks ahead of them to perfection. Especially with you leading them.” He nods towards me as if I have any idea what he's talking about. “And if not, there are those we've... Forgotten."

There's a short moment of silence and I use this time to resolve myself to escape.

"Prep him for the borrachero," the man continues. "We need him ready in four days.”

“The center?”

“We’ve received word that they’ve almost finished production. We can’t let them mass produce it. We need to take care of it now. Use him.”

“Do you think that’s wise? We’ve only just done the procedure.”

“Hence why I told you to use the borrachero. Give him an extra dose if it helps. Don’t make me repeat myself, Doctor.”

Their conversation goes on for a while and I don’t understand any of it but I know that it's now or never. Taking my chances, I charge straight for the small gap between them. The next thing I see is black.

June 12th, 2096

I watched as they brought him in. The new member of the team. Seventeen. I never managed to get a good look at him, all I saw was dark hair. While I’m not all that bothered about the person in question, I can’t help but wonder how he’ll shape the new dynamics of our teamwork. Supposedly, Seventeen had the best compatibility percentage with the Nanos. The best the Doctor had ever seen, so I’m hoping he’ll be able to fill the void Four left. I know he’s being kept in a separate block; it’s the same way all of us were inducted. He’ll wake up and immediately be put into a deadly situation to test his immediate fight or flight reactions to assess where his training needs to begin. It’s usually fun for the rest of us to watch new recruits go through the process, but for some reasons unknown to me, we’ve had orders restricting us from viewing Seventeen’s induction. Weird… Ten was pretty pissed at this though; I think that he might actually fear the new recruit’s prowess could be better than his own. Ha. Isn’t that a laugh? While I would love to see that, it’s hard to imagine anyone who could outshine Ten. Maybe Thirteen, but that’s another story. Anyways, enough of that. Lately nine has been acting a little bit strange… disappearing during missions for a short while, and asking me questions about what I remember before I enlisted. I think that he might -

The hand I’m using to grip the black ball point pen comes to a halt as I rethink what I’m about to write. Maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea to put down that all that information for anyone to see. After all, we wouldn’t want any prying eyes to know this. With a deep sigh I cover the pen and lock my journal, jumping off of the bed to make my way to my desk on the other side of the room. After I lock it securely inside my desk drawer, I instinctively – out of habit – begin playing with the tips of my hair.

Raising my arm, I wince as I feel a slight pain. During training today, Three beat me up pretty badly because I lost my concentration. The bruises on my arm still ache and stay a bright red colour. When I yelled at her she had simply said I should toughen up.

“The Russians won’t be as nice to you as I am,” she always says. “It is a war after all.”

I should have punched her when I had the chance. Standing up, I walk towards the first aid kit and treat the bruises, carefully making sure to disinfect each one. I raise my hand and the bottle of water on the other side of the room is flung into my hand by a small gust of wind.

“I know you’re using your powers, Two!” a voice says aloud.

“Tsch, shut up…” I reply, leaving my room. I start walking towards the common room. It takes a few minutes but I pre-occupy my mind with different ideas about what type of person the new guy is.

Entering the common room, I take in the aesthetics the same way I do every time I enter. As per usual the red carpet bears too much of a resemblance to blood. Even the smell – or maybe I have too big an imagination. The walls are decorated with white wallpaper which always gets too dirty for its own good. I look at the board in the corner of the room showing a map of the world. Britain, France, Australia and the U.S, along with a few other countries were coloured in green, and China, Russia and India in red. This war doesn’t seem like it will end anytime soon. Most of the world’s superpowers are already involved. All except Mongolia who've somehow risen to become a superpower in the last two decades.

“Just staring daggers at them on a map won’t help us win.”

Glancing out of the corner of my eye, I see Nine entering with Five. Nine pushes his glasses up with a smug look on his face whilst flicking a few strands of his brown hair aside. I look through the lenses in his glasses and stare deeply into those lifeless green eyes. They return the favour. Five ignores me and hunches his back over whilst walking to one of the leather chairs behind me. His blonde unruly hair is sticking up again. Before he sits down he snaps his head back to look at me.

“Stop using your powers so carelessly. You know that I know everything anyone does.”

Glaring at him doesn’t seem to get Five to apologise for invading my privacy.

“Hypocrite,” I say. “You would only know that by using your powers too.”

“You should both calm down,” Nine interrupts, pushing his glasses up again. “There’s no need to be arguing over how we use our powers, as long as we learn to control them.”

“Why should I, Dad?” Five mocks. “Not as if my powers are particularly useful for any sort of assault. I’m only there for back-up and to help you guys. If anything, you should be the one learning," he points to me. "After all, you still can’t even create a proper storm.”

Silence follows. No-one says anything. My eyes gaze at the floor, making me somehow ashamed. I know I haven’t mastered my powers. Great. You don’t have to point it out.

“You guys are too loud…”

We all turn to see Three walking in, her raven black hair flowing behind her. It almost looks like silk. Every time I see her hair I can’t help but stare. As vague as it sounds, the best way I can honestly describe her hair is beautiful.

“Sorry,” we all reply in unison. She’s our leader. Everyone respects her, and probably always will.

“It’s about time you showed up,” I begin. “I was starting to hate being the only girl in the room.”

Three laughs, letting out a longer than necessary sigh. Then she opens her mouth to speak.

“I take it you all know about the new guy?”

No-one talks. No-one says anything at all. Five and Nine turn to watch the T.V and I decide to join them.

“I’ll take that as a yes then.”

Three takes a seat at the far end of the room and crosses her legs. She seems a tad bit depressed (assuming I’m reading her face right). Maybe she is worried about the new guy? Personally, I have no reason to be concerned about a loser who none of us even know, and who thinks he can waltz into our squad and take over. If anything, I’ll kill him when I get the chance. Well maybe not kill, but giving him a few bruises to teach him a lesson would be a good idea.

Three already has too much on her plate. During the last mission, Four and Six got caught in an ambush which resulted in them being MIA. I think that she blames herself even though she’s in no way responsible. There aren’t many of us around right now, including Seventeen – most of us have been going on individual missions lately.

“I wonder if the new guy is awake yet,” my mouth automatically blurts out.

“Probably,” Three says. “If he is he’ll probably freak out. I remember I did the same thing before my memories returned.”

Figures. He wouldn’t be the only one. I freaked out when I first woke up in here. Before I got here I lived on the streets scavenging for whatever food I could replace after losing my parents. It was me and the rest of the street kids vs the pigeons in a way. With the new police drones patrolling the streets it’s become near impossible to pickpocket or shoplift anything. Although it took me a while to remember all of it. About three weeks.

“To be fair though, isn’t becoming a soldier better for all of us rather than the life we would have out there?”

Three looks at me and shrugs. I can see the weariness in her eyes. She should probably get some rest. Nine lets out a yawn and waves his hand, instantly shutting down all the lights in the room. Next he constantly flicks his finger through the air, the channels changing with every flick until he at last reaches a channel with a decent movie. There aren't a lot of channels we have access to, so fighting something good to watch is a pain.

I turn away from him and pick up a book titled ‘Alexander The Great.’ I read the back; it talks about a famous king and conqueror. I sigh and start reading. I have nothing better to do after all.

Five turns and looks at me.

“You alright?” he asks me.

I nod at him and sigh. The room doesn’t feel quite the same without everyone else here. The atmosphere is calm, yet I feel as if there is a subtle undertone I can’t quite determine. The words on the page of the book become blurry and I decide to close it.

Three looks at me as I rise and head towards the door. Maybe a walk will clear my head.

For some reason I haven’t been completely at ease since I caught a glimpse of Seventeen when he was brought in. Maybe I can sneak a look at him.

I stay close to the wall as I speed down the corridor. If he is being held in containment then he would probably be in Block G. It is right next to H where the control room and training room 3 is.

The door to Block G doesn’t open. I swipe my security card one more type for good measure but still get the same result.

Maybe the entire block has been locked down. I turn back in the direction that I came in. I will see him eventually so there isn’t really a heavy need for me to see him now.

I go back to Block B. It’s best for me to get some sleep now. One emerges from a door on my left as I walk. She’s bouncing up and down. Clearly something has happened to put her in a good mood.

“What’s up with you?” I ask.

“Nothing,” she sings. “I was just looking for Ten, have you seen him?”

“He’s sleeping already. Training tired him out apparently.”

“Ah damn…”

One turns and skips off in the direction of the common room. I wonder what made her so excited? I try to put her out of my mind as I enter my room. I head straight for my bed to lie down, not bothering to change into my PJs. I’m too tired for that.

We haven’t been on a mission for ages. It’s starting to worry me. Is it because of what happened last time? We all knew there would be casualties in the midst of a war. It’s only natural after all.

I think back to when Three entered the common room. She seemed like she had something on her mind. Maybe it was another mission, but I doubt it. It was more likely that she would be the one testing Seventeen.

I let out a small laugh. How long will it take for Seventeen to learn how to use his powers? A week? A month? Either way he won’t be joining us for a good while I suppose.

My mind is back inside the common room; simply wandering about. There must be something there that’s causing me to be restless. Perhaps it was the silence? It felt like the calm before a storm – almost as if something big is going to happen.

Even now I can feel the silence creeping its way back into my room and I can’t help but close my eyes and hope for a good dream.