WWF

Fourteen

"Life signs are stable." A strange voice says.

The voice, along with other sounds, is muffled by something.

When the small girl opens her eyes she finds that she's floating in a tank filled with strange liquid.

"Subject seven is awake." One of the men in white lab coats says.

"Neural patterns indicate she's ready for the transfer." Another scientists says, handing his colleague a tablet.

"Understood. Set up the transfer systems." The colleague says, turning to the group of scientists behind him.

They proceed to work on a series of advanced computers that show symbols the girl can't understand.

As she looks at them she wonders who they are. She wonders who she is.

But she doesn't know any words so her thoughts are filled with pictures. Pictures assembled from the few things she has seen since opening her eyes for the first time.

Then she spots something in the glass in front of her.

It's a face. She wonders what it could be, not realising that it is her own reflection.

The first scientist steps in front of her.

"If this succeeds you will herald a new generation of humanity."

She hears his muffled voice but can't understand what he's saying.

"Start the transfer." He says turning away from her.

A female scientist nods.

"Transfer in three, two, one. Initiating transfer."

Suddenly the girl feels a strange sensation in her head that is immediately followed by an intense surge of pain.

Her body contorts and she grinds her teeth from the pain. To her it feels as if her head is going to explode.

Alongside the pain her head is being filled with knowledge. Knowledge of how to speak and how to write. But most of all, of how to fight.

Then the pain is gone.

"Tell me, subject seven, what is your purpose?" The scientist asks her.

On the screen behind him her response appears in letters she can now read.

"I don't know."

With a sigh he turns away from the screen.

"You disappoint me. But even a failure can have its uses." He tells her before turning to the others.

"Send this one to the Warden. Let him decide what to do with her."

And so she was maid to clean the living quarters of the other, succesful, subjects.

The other subjects who know that their purpose is to obey. Mindless drones who can speak and read, but cannot think.

Subject seven watched as the scientists made more like her. Although these were considered succesful whereas she was dubbed a failure.

The women who worked with her treated her well and the Warden had even given her a name.

He was a skeleton of a man with a hooked beak of a nose. His grey hair hung like a mop around his head and his old, grey eyes never smiled.

And yet, he was a kind man.

He had given her decent clothes and a warm bed. He would sometimes even smuggle sweets into the base for her.

But, most importantly, he had given her a name.

She was happy. Then her body started to change. The others told her she was becoming a woman.

And like a proud father, the Warden had bought her new things. Things to women taught her to use.

But, the scientists had taken notice of this and had begun to make new plans.

They were going to use her as livestock to breed more like her. This would reduce the costs of their program as they would no longer need to tank breed them.

Then one night the Warden woke her up. She could tell that he had been crying.

"What's wrong?" She had asked him.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't let them do those things to you. I'm breaking you out of here." He replied.

So, he lead her outside where she found the base to be burning.

Through the windows of burning buildings she could see her sister quietly burning to death.

"I turned off the speaker systems so they can't recieve any orders." The Warden explained, noticing her gaze.

"Take this. If you join the army they might not come looking for you." The Warden told her as he picked her up and put her on the passenger side of a truck. The driver was one of the women who had raised her.

"Come with me." She said, holding her hand out to him.

He gave her a smile and shook her head.

"Nay. If I come with you even the government will turn against you." He had replied.

But she kept calling out to him even as they drove away. Her last memory of him is of a burning guard tower falling ontop of him. There was no way he could have survived.

The woman drove her to an army camp where she had done all the girl's paperwork.

The woman was then arrested for high treason.

The girl later found out that she had been executed, but not before sending her a farewell letter.

The girl had remained safe because it was made clear to the government that she had no part in their actions.

The government then placed her in one of the lesser known units.

They had asked to see her shoot as she had been given a Rifle by the army.

She was so proficient at destroying playing cards that they called her Alice.

But she had not forgotten her first name or even her second.

She was hunting the man responsible for her existence.

She had heard he started working for a clandestine group on the Fur side.

He had named her Subject Seven.

Her team had named her Alice.

But the Warden had given her, her real name.

He had named her after the goddess he worshipped. A goddess he called pure and fair. Her name was a reflection of his wish for her.

A wish of freedom and happiness.

He had named her.

Artemis.