Enhancement

- - 64 - -

The icy voice doesn't waste any time. A single hologram pops up merely a few feet from me. The loud, bold text of a single phrase:

THE EQUINOX

Then four words materialize beneath it:

TENDENCIES, LIKELIHOODS, POSSIBILITIES, CONFIRMATIONS

I hiss silently under my breath. My heart starts beating faster and faster. Fingers twitching against my leg, I swallow. What is my body trying to tell me that I don't know?

To fear everything. To never trust a word I read or hear again. Everything is a trap, a lie, or a flat-out threat.

Except for Stephen and Nicolette, plus the rebels of Pod 14. They are only people in the world who would sacrifice themselves for a sliver of peace.  The only ones who I absolutely trust.

Stephen. The boy I barely know yet understand better than anyone else in the world. Every time I just look at him, I sense the goodness in him, the pure strength he has for sticking with me. Too bad I wrecked what little safety we had.

I close my eyes for just a second, a tremor throttling my heart. Just hold onto them, and somehow we'll make it out of this. They have Screeners, cameras, power, and force. We have resilience and perseverance. They cannot crush us all with terror.

I flick my eyes open again. The words on the hovering hologram fade away, except for TENDENCIES.

"Tendencies," the voice says. All too familiar I'm reminded of the Enhancement Project. There's a trick hiding in that voice, but I don't know when it's going to spring out and kill me. "Tendencies are the inclinations towards particular behaviors or actions."

The hologram rises a few feet. I turn my gaze to the glass boxes pinched together around me. Everyone's holograms are identical, gliding upwards. It's freaking me out.

"Tendencies... for example, are you inclined to attack or to be attacked?"

Another word appears in front of me:

ATTACK

"Band together or go apart?"

BAND TOGETHER

"Rescue yourself or help others?"

HELP OTHERS

"Discover or take hints?"

DISCOVER

I sense a change in tone before the voice asks the next question. "Obey the law?"

NO

The back of my neck electrifies, stabbing me with a knife. I scream and fall off the pedestal with moving an inch. My body is glued into stillness, except for my blinking.

"Are you willing to follow orders? Respect officials? Accept your duties without hesitation? Remain loyal to the correct forces?"

NO. NO. NO. NO.

Flash after flash of agony rips apart my insides. Lighting enters my temples, stomach, and backside. My lungs protest and scream, but not even a whisper of sound escapes my mouth. It's as torturous as being thrust into a fire and forced to absorb each degree of unrelenting heat.

There's nothing I can do but take it. It's not like you can be immune to it when you've endured it a hundred times. A punch is a punch, always painful.

My brainwaves scream and claw for freedom. My eyes scrunch closed, trying to relieve the burning. Make it stop, make it stop.

Finally, it does. The stab wounds and bruises vanish or cool over. My lungs return to my control, and I inhale a heave of air. I'm gonna be okay for now.

"Tendencies are who you are," the voice cuts in, returning. I nearly hear a snicker woven in the words. A taunt that makes me want to shoot President Hybriad a million times. He's the one behind everything I know, yet where is he now?

Hiding from inductees caged in glass. Masking himself behind a voice emitting from speakers.

Screw you, Hybriad. Try to crush me, and I'll bounce back. Stephen, Nicolette, and I are bigger than your Enhancement Project. We will handle it all and lead the pack when the rebels come to take this nation from your talons.

"Tendencies are who you are. The nation values positive tendencies and will rewards you. Negative tendencies, however, result in punishment. It is in your best interest to sustain good qualities and reverse bad ones. If not..."

The words in front of me vanish away. Images form instead, displaying photos of President Hybriad, a pristine Screener, and a SkyTrain. Even a school classroom of happy children makes its way into the collection.

"...you will find yourself to be an outcast of the glorious nation, deprived of luxuries all citizens enjoy."

I laugh quietly to myself, shoving a hand in front of my lips. Another chuckle echoes from me. This is ridiculous.

Then a bolt of electric blasts into my skull so forcefully I'm knocked from my pedestal.

-- -- -- -- --

new update whoop-whoop! somehow i'm still so unbelievably excited about winning a Watty Award! i still can't believe it. i still can't :)

anywho, i forgot to add the question in the last chapter, and after i added it, not many people responded because they already read the whole chapter. so to make up for that, i'm going to post the same question and drop the winning response into the next update.

hope that makes sense!

Question: Choose a phrase: give us the answer, give us a minute, or give us the world.

PS: inline comments don't show up at all on the Wattpad app for me. Does that happen for anyone else or is it just me? It's bugging me so much!