Specimen

She opens a file on top of the lectern and continues.

“Our military has been stationed between here and your objective. You will have to get around them either by stealth or by elimination. The method is up to you.”

One of the men in uniform approaches us, and each specimen is handed a long rifle. At the tip of the barrel, there is a glowing green light.

“The weapons you have been given are designed to shoot a low-intensity laser. If you hit a target, or if you are hit, there is no true damage. However, you will feel the impact as if you had been wounded. If you take out a target, the mark will be considered incapacitated and no longer a threat to the completion of your assignme

nt. You, of course, are expected to go on. Your implants will send pain impulses through your system, mimicking the sensations you would experience as if you had actually been hit.”

“Sounds like fun,” Isaac mumbles. His voice is so low and his words are so quick, I doubt anyone is able to hear him other than Pike and me. I glance at Dr. Rahul, but she doesn’t look at her specimen.

“How else would they be able to evaluate our performance?” I keep my voice at the same frequency as his, and Riley doesn’t seem to notice.

Interesting.

“I guess we better do well,” Pike says. “First one hit buys the drinks.”

I grin, and Riley glances at me, her eyes narrowed. I keep looking at Captain Mills, feigning ignorance, but Riley looks between Pike, Isaac, and me before muttering herself.

“Stop it.”

I look at her sideways and see her suppressing her own grin. I know she hasn’t heard our words, but she’s well aware of what we’re doing. I shuffle my feet back and forth and focus once again on Captain Mills’ words.

“You will be traveling through the streets of Milton,” Captain Mills says. “Though we’ve removed non-essentials from the area, you will pass civilians during this mission. If any of these civilians is harmed in any way, the consequences to this project would be dire. Though the weapons you carry are not lethal, each of you is. Don’t forget that. If a single person is harmed, your continuation in this project will be voided.”

I wonder exactly what she means by that, and I glance at Riley.

“Voided?”

“Nothing to worry about,” she says quietly. “It won’t happen.”

“What does she mean?”

I don’t get an answer before Captain Mills is speaking again.

“Your objective is literally a flag inside the Yost Financial Building. I stress again: no civilian casualties. Find the flag inside the building and bring it back to base. Good luck, gentlemen.”

I’m fitted with a cross-shaped harness. The black square in the center is activated and glows with a set of green lights, the same color as the tip of the rifles. Riley adjusts a control on the side of it, and I sense the connection between the box and my implants.

“Don’t get hit.” She smiles up at me.

“I’ve got this,” I respond. Hit or not, I have no intention of disappointing Riley.

She reaches up and runs her hand over the side of my face, whispers good luck, and backs away with the other doctors.

I can clearly see a map of the entire area in my head. Each building is labeled, each street named. We briefly discuss the best paths, and I choose the one that is slightly longer but with limited access to the hospital and corporate buildings with the highest chance for civilian interaction, aside from the Yost Financial Building itself. I don’t want to take chances.

Stealth is key.

We move in a triangle formation with me taking point and the others behind me at equal distance. Isaac sets the pace, and our boots thump against the asphalt as we run through the streets.

It seems like I should feel some sense of freedom, but I don’t. This is the first time I’ve been outside and away from the physical confines of the Mills medical facility, the first time I’ve been on my own. There may not be any locked doors around me, but the bars inside my head hold strong. The thought of freedom is only a brief flicker in the back of my head.

“Status.” Riley’s voice calls out in my head.

I take in everything with all of my senses. I memorize the route, the buildings, and the faces I see as we run past. I catalog each sound I hear—each scent, each taste in the air. I count the number of steps I take and average the length of my strides. Comparing my strides, our speed, and the map in my head makes it easy to calculate how long it should take to complete our mission.

“Time to objective, forty-three minutes without incident.”