Announced Dead

"Our goal is to initiate the very best soldiers, to protect our thriving society. After careful consideration, we've decided that your son, Jonathan Lee has met our standards and expectations. Please fill out the rest of the forms with the needed information and we'll get started right away." My mother beams at the letter, her hand on my head. At seven years old, I knew this was something big. I just couldn't fathom how. As she begins to excitedly talk to my father about it, I peek at the note some more. Re-reading it, I see that it doesn't have a yes or no option; it basically screams we want your kid, and this is when we're getting him. "I thought the training didn't start until he turned thirteen. Doesn't this seem a little too soon?" My father questioned. Despite he himself having gone through the same training, he questioned everything and everyone. He had a better understanding to this life, and that made him one of the best soldiers there was. Standing

10 years later...I pulled my hood up as I walked through the destroyed streets of Umbridge Town. My feet dragged against the cracked cement of the sidewalk, a hunched figure pattering along with me. Stopping, I felt my body shudder as I coughed, shoulders shaking with the nasty sound. The small person accompanying me stopped, placing their hand on my leg. I waved off their unspoken worry, my ears perking up at the sound of someone approaching us. Since the streetlamps were barely flicking on, lighting up the depressed sight of town, three figures emerged, throwing down their hoods, angry steel blue eyes boring into my own. Of course they'd appear; I was easy bait. The ringleader of the group stepped up, standing at 6 foot 3. He had a vest on that was unbuttoned, the color once light blue but so dirty it had turned gray. He had thick bands of muscle with faded bruises and almost healed scars, hair buzzed near to his scalp. I stared at his face, taking in his crooke

I know I should be looking for Celia. But this journal has answers that to the questions I need. It's a diary, Lu's Mother's diary, and it starts off with her first pregnancy, the child before Lu. The dates are smudged, and I struggle to read her swirling letters, as she wrote in an old font that no longer exists. Cursive, I believe the word was. I traced the words with my fingers, trying to get them in the correct order, sounding out each letter until the proper word fits. Lu's Mother, Astra, was pregnant before Lu had been thought of. An older sister name Leah. She had been overjoyed, her husband even more so. The talk about the Tests putting a strain on the marriage. Astra's husband was harsh, forcing Leah to go through rigorous training by the time she was ten years old. She had tried to get him to calm down, but it was moot point; her husband was determined to make Leah into a perfect soldier by the time her 13th birthday came around. Not only that, bu

I stare at her dumbfounded, my mouth a bit agape. She closes it, before smiling a bit. "You didn't think you were the only one that could escape despite having a Dead status, did you?" "I mean, at the time, I was seven when they found me, and did a whole bunch of experiments on like as if I was a guinea pig." I replied. "Did they enhance you though? Were you brought up to that level?" she asked, face lost in thought. "The needles? Did they inject me with something?" I asked, sounding more and more unsure. "Don't feel bad. To some they did, and some they didn't." she explained. The tic was back again, and I chewed on my lower lip, lost in thought. "By the way, my name is Nova." she said, with her hand extended out to me. "Jonathan." I replied, taking it and shaking her hand. "Well, Jonathan, get ready to meet a fellow Zomb." she said, as she got up from her seat, and walked away, gesturing for me to follow her.

When we made it back from Zomb's home, we separated. Nova went back to the lab, and I went back to the bunker house. I collapsed on my bed, letting sleep take over, wishing it would be a dreamless sleep. I'm not that lucky though, and nightmares plague me, forcing me back to the Testing building. A bound woman sits in the chair, panic in her blue eyes. She switches from the woman they wanted me to kill, to my mother. When I refuse, they pick me up like a small child, and I scream, and try to fight back. They have me strapped down on the table, my head moving wildly around but that doesn't matter so as long as the doctor can have a good area of my arm strapped down to inject me. I feel it go in and I convulse, and panic, trying to yank away from the table, spit pooling in my mouth. I'mgoingtodiediedie- I sit up from the bed, coughing wildly, sweat pooling on my forehead, the sheets and blankets twisted around me. I throw them off to the floor, swinging my legs t