She looked out across the open grassy area of the Compound known as The Park, her electric blue eyes sweeping down to the 20-foot tall electrified fence and the woods beyond. She’d once seen a deer step out of the edge of the forest in the early morning hours, and she’d come back at the same time every day since then, but the delicate creature had not reappeared.
Usually she’d be headed to fortified vehicle training right now, but they’d all been given the day off. ‘They’ being she and the other GELFs, or Genetically Enhanced Life Forms, a term used by first the guards, then the scientists, and finally the GELFs themselves. She was Unit 8-71, meaning that she was the seventy-first EnGen of the eighth Series to be generated by Dr. Whitehead and the other scientists. They weren’t given names and she’d never considered giving herself one. From the time they were extracted, the GELFs were taught that they were something other than human. Their origins were never kept from them, and they saw themselves in terms of their purpose - tools to be used as their government saw fit. They were genetically enhanced both mentally and physically. Dr. Whitehead called it ‘accelerated evolution’.
Whereas most humans use only 10-20% of their brain capacity, the GELFs use 60-70% of theirs, allowing them to learn more quickly and store more information. Oddly enough, unlike normal humans, GELFs don’t dream.
Their eyesight and night vision are super keen, and they have ultra sensitive hearing. Their olfactory sense is 80% more sensitive than a normal human’s, and even their sense of taste is more acute. The GELFs are three times as strong as other humans, and their speed and endurance are far greater. The fence surrounding the Compound is so high because it isn’t unusual for them to be able to jump 6-10 feet straight up. Their lung capacity and oxygen efficiency have been maximized, allowing them to exert themselves for longer and to hold their breath for up to ten or fifteen minutes at a time.
Their reflexes are lightning fast and their bone density has been increased so that a blow which would break a normal human bone won’t effect them. Which isn’t to say that they can’t break a bone, it would just be more difficult. Also, their reproductive organs have been sterilized, preventing them from ever having children.
She knew all this, yet it was not something she dwelt upon. She was what she was - a GELF, at the same time less than and more than human.
8-71 unfolded herself from her crouched position and stood up. 5’10” tall, she was lithe and muscular with dark hair and pale skin. Her angular face was coldly beautiful and intelligent, betraying nothing of her thoughts or emotions. The GELFs were as diverse in appearance as normal humans, but they all had the same short haircut which allowed the scientists and guards at the Compound to see the ID number tattooed on the left side of their necks.
A thunderstorm was brewing - there were dark heavy clouds on the horizon and she could detect the drop in air pressure. It was still 20-30 miles away, but she could hear the faint rumbling of thunder. She estimated it would pass over the Compound in a little over an hour. She walked back into Building 7B which housed an open lounge area where the GELFs could go to relax during their off time. It was connected to building 7A, which was the Library, where books and training manuals were available to anyone, and the walls were lined with long banks of computers networked to the Compound’s main database.
Forty or so people were in the Lounge doing various activities - reading, watching the vidscreen, doing puzzles, painting, etc., all dressed in identical dark blue outfits and black boots. Made out of a flame retardant material called polylycratine, the body-hugging one piece suits were sleeveless but otherwise covered you from neck to ankle. The GELFs were less affected by heat and cold, and the suits allowed for the most freedom of movement. Also, because of their sometimes androgynous appearance, it allowed the staff to differentiate between males and females.
No one took any notice of her as she sat down in a chair near a window. The GELFs could identify each other by sight, but they were solitary beings and were not friends as a rule. They had no friends. The Compound housed approximately 900 people; 600 GELFs, Series 5-10 with 100 EnGens per Series; 100 or so scientists and training personnel; and 200 guards. The Compound was made up of 17 buildings that contained labs, living quarters, training and simulation areas, classrooms, and other areas like the Mess Hall and the Lounge/Library. It was situated on five acres in a wooded area of Adirondack Park in New York, a couple of miles from Indian Lake. New York had sold the land to the federal government with the stipulation that it be established as a nature preserve. The government even went so far as to stock it with animals cloned from genetic material from the National DNA Repository. Of course, they’d closed it to the public. Two years after buying the land construction on the Compound had begun. Experimentation began a year later, and eight years after that the first successful Series of GELFs had been extracted. She’d been part of the third successful lot, Series 8. Two more Series had come after hers. Series 9 were 21 years old, and Series 10 were 19 years old. 7 and 6 were still at the Compound, but Series 5 had all been rounded up and taken away in trucks three years ago and had never returned. Nobody ever questioned it or talked about it.
It began to rain outside and water streamed down the glass in irregular rivulets. Lightning flashed, followed immediately by a clap of thunder. For a second or two she thought she detected another sound below the storm and she strained her ears, but heard only the rain pounding on the roof. A second later a cool female voice came on over the speaker system and instructed them to go to their quarters. 8-71 rose immediately to obey, as did everyone else. They began filing silently through the door into a brightly lit corridor that would take them to Buildings 6A-E, the Barracks, where the GELFs slept in small, private rooms. She was the last to exit the room, and as she looked back through the window she spied a furtive motion near the fence. She hesitated, watching. A small brown doe stepped out from the tree line, startled into the open by a lightning strike in the woods.
She’d been told to go to her quarters but nothing had been said about how to get there, so 8-71 decided to take a short cut across The Park to get to Building 6C where her living space was, and hopefully she’d be able to get closer to the deer on her way there. She didn’t know why she wanted to do this, it certainly wasn’t logical to venture out in a storm, but something drove her to do it nonetheless. She exited the building through the same door she’d come in through. She ran lightly across the wet grass until she came to a tree. She knew it wasn’t safe to stay under the tree, but she didn’t want to startle the animal. Crouched low, she ran from the tree to one of the Guard Towers spaced along the fence. The deer was about fifty feet away, standing perfectly still with her head raised. 8-71 walked slowly along the fence, making no sound. Suddenly the deer tensed, and 8-71 could see her nostrils dilate. She was ten feet away when the creature’s head whipped up toward the sky, then it broke and ran, bounding back into the woods with a crash of underbrush.
Curiously, she looked up toward the sky, wondering what had frightened the deer. Descending through the gloom was a large black shape with a sleek outline. She recognized it instantly as a Raptor VIII helicopter, and she’d been unable to hear it through the storm while it was on stealth mode. It landed a hundred yards away and she counted fifty figures in body armor carrying military-issue V-12 automatic weapons disembark from the aircraft. She wondered who they were and why they were at the Compound, but it was ingrained into her makeup to accept things and not question them, so she continued on toward her quarters. She entered the building, but when she tried her door it was locked. All doors in the Compound were equipped with electronic locks that could be accessed from the Control Center. She tried the doors to either side of hers and found them to be locked as well. She looked in through the small window set into each and viewed its occupant already inside. Because of her detour she’d been absent when the doors had been locked.
I guess I’ll just have to wait out here in the hallway, she thought.
She’d been waiting for maybe five minutes when the first sounds of gunfire reached her ears. Live ammunition was only used in advanced tactical training, and if the GELFs were all in their rooms, who would be training? Her curiosity warred with her antipathy at disregarding an order, but finally she exited the building. A second later came another burst of weapons fire, and it sounded to her finely attuned sense of hearing that it came not from one of the training bunkers, but from one of the Barracks. She slipped around the side of the building and faced the four other long, low-roofed buildings. There was no mistake this time, the shots had come from Building 6A. After a moment, about half of the squad of people she’d seen leaving the helicopter exited the building. They marched across the small open space between Building 6A and Building 6B and entered 6B.
Once they were out of sight, she crept over to 6A and entered the door that had been left open. The strong, coppery odor of fresh blood immediately assaulted her nostrils. She looked through the first door on her left. The body was slumped in a chair, the head thrown back and the chest a mass of red, ravaged flesh. Blood spattered the walls and ceiling. In every room she found something similar, each GELF caught unawares and killed. Even after the shooting had begun, none of these had tried to fight back, assuming that there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for the disturbances going on just down the hall.
She left the building at a run, taking large gulps of clean air once outside to keep herself from heaving. She’d seen vids of dead and autopsied bodies, and had experienced no adverse reactions, but it was entirely different to see it first hand, to have the hot, heavy smell of blood so strong that you could taste it, to see it dripping from the ceiling and onto the face of the still-warm body it had coursed through only moments before.
What’s going on? She thought wildly. Why are these men killing us? Why aren’t the guards stopping them?
She heard gunfire from 6B and she knew she had to inform someone of what was happening. She ran to a large, square building that housed the Labs. Inside her eyes met only more death, as the bodies of Lab Technicians and Genetic Engineers lay sprawled on the floor amidst broken glass and overturned machinery. At least they, in their panic, had tried to escape. She went back outside and tried to regroup. The rain was really pouring down now and evening had fallen, severely reducing visibility. Even so, her enhancements permitted her to see under poor conditions better than any normal human, and she spied the structure that accommodated the offices of the Dr. Whitehead and the Project Coordinators, and the Compound Control Center.
She closed the distance quickly, and had just reached the door when the alarm sounded. The alarm was meant to be used in the event that one or more of the GELFs was trying to escape, but that had never happened so the system had never been used. The noise was harsh and klaxon-like, and the normal lights gave way to red emergency lights. The whole compound was bathed in an eerie scarlet glow, and 8-71 could only think that it looked as if everything was drenched in blood.
Inside, the body of a guard lay draped over one of the monitoring panels of the Control Center. From somewhere to her left she heard the unmistakable sound of a bullet being chambered. She stiffened as a voice spoke to her; “Hold it right there.”
She could see movement out of the corner of her eye. f he gets a few feet closer, I should be able to move and disarm him before he can fire.
“Oh,” said the voice, sounding relieved, “it’s one of you. Good, you can help me.” The figure moved into her line of sight and lowered the gun. It was Dr. Whitehead. His lab coat had blood stains on it, his white hair stuck out crazily in all directions, and one of the lenses of his glasses was broken. A short, portly man, he moved surprisingly quick for someone his age.
“They think they can simply destroy my project…took me years of research and trials…a lifetime of work…my experiment…”
8-71 realized that Dr. Whitehead was speaking to himself and not to her. He was most likely quite mad. It was a far cry from the brilliant scientist who’d created her and hundreds like her.
“You there,” he said, pointing at her, “guard the door. If anyone tries to enter, shoot them. Take this,” he tossed her the gun, a semi-automatic pistol.
“Where are all the guards?” She asked, wondering why nobody was defending the Compound against the attack. Dr. Whitehead snorted impatiently.
“The guards work for the military. They said we were going to be reassigned. Hmph. They never intended to reassign us. We knew too much. Couldn’t be trusted to keep a secret. The Guards have their own orders. My poor little GELFs. My poor children. They want to destroy you all. Well I won’t let them. A handful of GELFs are more than a match for an ERASer team. They’ll see, oh yes…” He was off rambling and muttering to himself again.
“But why do they want to destroy us?” She pressed him. He ignored her for a second.
“They said the experiment was a failure. That something is wrong with you. That you’re faulty. But you’re not, you’re perfect because I designed you that way. Perfect…aha!” He uttered a high, insane giggle. “There, I’ve unlocked all the Barrack doors.” He pushed a button and leaned over the console.
“Attention! Attention!” He said, and 8-71 could hear the echo from the speakers in the walls. “We are under attack, I repeat, we are under attack. All GELFs and able-bodied personnel should immediately begin counter measures to repel intruders. Kill them if you have to, kill them all! KILL THEM!” He leaned back. “That should take care of those bastards,” he said with an extremely satisfied look.
8-71 wasn’t so sure. First of all, there was no telling how many other GELFs were able to escape, if any at all. Secondly, all of the Compound’s weaponry was secured in the training facilities and storage hangars. Access to those areas required a special key card carried by a select number of guards and training personnel.
“Come on,” said Dr. Whitehead, “we’ve got to get out of here. My guess is that the ERASer team have orders to level this place once the mission is complete. At the first sign of trouble they may blow us to smithereens, their men on the ground be damned.”
She followed him outdoors. Sporadic bursts of gunfire were heard intermittently from different directions, along with the occasional shouting voice. Dr. Whitehead seemed to take no notice and walked purposefully to Building 11C in which were parked a selection of armored and unarmored transport vehicles.
“Hold it right there!” Commanded a voice from behind them.
8-71 froze, the gun held in front of her and hidden from view. Dr. Whitehead turned around and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re making a big mistake,” he said in a sing-song voice.
“Turn around!” A second voice ordered, this one female. Dr. Whitehead laughed. “Go ahead!” He shouted gleefully, “Turn around!”
Trained to obey orders unquestioningly, 8-71 complied. She whirled around and evaluated the situation instantly. Two people stood ten feet away with their weapons trained on Dr. Whitehead and herself. In one movement she raised her gun and fired at one of the figures and dove to the side away from Dr. Whitehead. She saw the attacker’s head snap back and a spray of blood explode from his forehead. The second person fired a round at the space where she’d been just a second before. She hit the ground and rolled, rising to her knees and squeezing off another shot. The second person joined the first on the ground.
“Ha!” Exclaimed Dr. Whitehead, and continued on to the hangar. 8-71 was now quite sure that he was crazy. But he was her creator, and an authority figure, so she followed him. She saw a number of shadowy shapes darting across the Compound, but couldn’t tell if they were friend or foe. A scream from somewhere ahead of them cut off abruptly.
“Here we are,” said Dr. Whitehead cheerfully when they reached the storage building. He opened the door. “We’ll take one of the Triton-mounted jeeps and be away from here in no time. Hopefully the others will follow suit.” She had her doubt as to the existence of any ’others’, but she kept her opinion to herself. He stepped through the doorway and the building exploded. She had time to glimpse the look of surprise on the Doctor’s face before he disappeared in a rush of light and heat and she was thrown backward.
She managed to twist in the air to land as she’d been taught before hitting the ground with a teeth-rattling jolt. She immediately sprang to her feet and ran to a safe distance from the inferno as munitions from the armed vehicles began detonating. She found herself near the electrified fence and realized that she’d lost the gun. Dr. Whitehead was dead, but grief was an emotion unknown to her, so she spent no time mourning his passing. The GELFs’ survival instinct had been honed through years of preparation and instruction, and her one thought was of getting out of the Compound alive.
If I go to the Control Center and shut off the electricity, I could climb the fence.
She heard the Raptor start its engine and knew that time was short. The chopper was equipped with Monarch-series laser-guided missiles, and once it was in the air it would target the Compound. She ran along the fence until she came to one of the Guard Towers and prepared to climb it. A heavy blow that would have crushed the skull of a normal human struck her from behind, and she fell to the ground. Looking up, she saw that her attacker was one of the Compound’s former guards. He had hit her with the butt of his Vulcan assault rifle. Now he stood over her with his feet spread apart, pointing the weapon at her.
“I always hated you mutants,” he snarled.
She pistoned her right foot into his left leg and heard the tibia bone snap. She rolled sideways as the man uttered a strangled cry and fired into the ground. She jumped to her feet and kicked the gun out of his hands, then delivered a blow to his chest that sent him flying five feet back. He slowly regained his footing, his left leg limp, and she advanced on him. He aimed a punch at her face but she easily dodged it. She grabbed his outstretched wrist with one hand, and with the other she struck his arm hard and upwards, breaking the bone. He smashed his head into hers and she grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air. He struggled to free himself, his face turning purple. Turning slightly, she threw him into the fence. The guard was engulfed in a shower of blue sparks as his body writhed and jiggled with the force of 50,000 Volts coursing through his body. She could smell burning hair and skin before the body finally dropped to the ground in a charred, smoking heap.
The helicopter was in the air now and she had only a few minutes at the most. She climbed the Tower without difficulty and found it empty. There was no ladder on the other side so she stood on the railing and jumped, landing lightly on her feet. The woods were about ten feet away and she ran to the cover of the trees before looking back. Much of the Compound was in flames, and every so often something would explode with a dull booming sound. She didn’t see or hear anyone on the ground, and she wondered if she was the only one to make it out alive.
The Raptor was hovering above the Compound making ever-widening circles. They were evidently wondering the same thing she was. Finally the pilot seemed satisfied that nothing was moving in the Compound, and the helicopter moved off into the darkness. 8-71 knew that it would travel to 500 yards before firing its missiles. She had ten seconds, maybe less, to get out of the blast zone. She began running away from the Compound, counting down the seconds as she ran.
Ten…nine…eight…seven…
She sprinted through the trees, pushing herself to go ever faster.
…six…five…four…
She hurdled a fallen log that lay about chest high across her path, diving over it and somersaulting to her feet on the other side, never breaking stride.
…three…two…one…
All sound was blotted out by the deafening roar from behind her. She could feel a wave of warm air pushing forcefully at her from behind. The warm wave became a hot surge that momentarily lifted her off of her feet. The forest in front of her was brightly illuminated for a few seconds and then the light turned a dull orange as the initial flash faded away. 8-71 continued running until she judged that she was a mile distant from the Compound. Assessing her injuries, she determined that there was no permanent damage, and she would be completely healed in a few days time.
The storm was beginning to diminish. She could see patches of starry night sky through breaks in the clouds. Her home for the past 23 years had been obliterated, and the odds were that all of the other GELFs were dead. She felt a certain sense of loss, but no real sorrow. She’d formed no sentimental attachments to people, places, or things, and could therefore not honestly say she would miss them. She had no doubts about her ability to stay alive on her own, but if the government ever discovered that she had survived they would hunt her down and kill her.
Mentally, she accessed the cache of the hundreds of maps she’d had to memorize. One advantage of being a GELF was total recall. Focusing in on New York, she immediately found her destination; New Delphi. The result of the merging of New York and Philadelphia after the earthquake of 2189, it was the largest city on the face of the Earth. MidCity, as the center of New Delphi was called, was a bustling metropolitan area, a center of art, fashion, and finance for the world. It was a clean, fast-paced place built with the newest technology in infrastructure at the time. The OuterCity consisted of the old areas of the original New York City and Philadelphia. It was a dark, dirty area that really only came alive after dusk. Crime-ridden, plagued by gang wars, inhabited by various bizarre and autonomous subcultures with their own rules and laws, one only ventured there if well-armed or crazy.
If she wanted to blend in, to disappear, New Delphi would be the perfect place. She had about 100 miles to go before she got there, so she began walking, using her unerring sense of direction to choose a path that would curve around and meet the road that had led up to the Compound. That road would lead to a highway, which in turn she could follow all the way to New Delphi.
I suppose if I’m going to play at being human, I’d better fashion an identity for myself. She recalled a story about the first woman ever to be created - not born, but created - and she decided to call herself after that woman.
Eve, she thought, my name is Eve.
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