Talia

I woke up out of a nap hearing commotion outside of my room. I tugged at my handcuffs to help me sit up a bit more. I yawned as quietly as I could. Then I slowly started focusing on the commotion outside the room. I heard a woman's voice. It was commanding and harsh. She was talking to a group of men. She was talking about a test subject. Test subject 504F that happened to be my code or whatever you wanted to call it. I heard her discussing with the men that a decision has been made to terminate that test subject. The test subject's powers are beyond what they expected and her powers were surpassing the tools they had to control it. So the test subject had to be terminated before it was out of control. I had to be terminated because I was out of control.

I had heard of people being terminated before. I have heard their screams as they die. I have heard their hearts stop. I have done everything in my power to prove to them they didn’t have to do that with me. I tried so hard to always behave and take their tests with stride no matter how painful. I just wanted to live, was that so wrong. But even after all that they were coming in to kill me. I closed my eyes and let my body go limp as if I was sleeping. I didn’t want them to know I had woken up. So when they walked in I pretended to stay asleep until I heard a familiar warm voice. He said I know you're awake and open your eyes. I opened my eyes and locked eyes on him. He was the man who taught me everything I knew. He was the only form of interaction I really got other than the testing. Why, why was he going along with this?

The commanding women said it's time to get this over with. I said I have always done everything you asked, why are you doing this? She shook her head and said sorry kid this isn’t up for discussion. All the men took out their guns ready to fire. Why were there so many men? Why did I have to die? It wasn’t fair. I felt my blood boil in anger. Why was everyone against me? Including the only person who ever took care of me. I stood up and all the men backed up right away. I said I don’t want to die. I won’t let you. I released the pent up anger in a wave and the cuffs came flying off. Then I felt an even stronger wave of energy hit me. I felt stronger than ever before.

The men were going to pull the trigger and I said no. Their guns pointed at their own heads. I said please stop this, I don’t want to die. The woman said kill her now. The men grunted and said we are trying. We can’t do anything. I asked, even with your own guns pointed at you you're still trying to kill me? The men said yes that’s the job we’ve been given and if we can kill you then you can’t kill us. A tear trickled down and I said well then what are you waiting for to pull the trigger. Every last gun shot off at the same time and they all fell dead. The woman seemed to get scared at that moment and pulled out her own gun. She said well kill her. She pointed at the only guard who never lifted his gun to begin with. The guard who cared for me for what felt like my whole life.

I forced her to take her safety off the gun at that point. I wanted to understand what was happening and maybe he’d tell me. She said what the hell, stop this already. Except your fate girl. You need to die. Do you believe your life is more precious than the lives of those four men you killed already? I said I didn’t have a choice. I followed all your rules. I never planned to disobey them. I just wanted to live. But you won’t even allow that. I did what I had to do. But I was starting to falter. The guard said don’t falter, you are protecting yourself. It’s their fault for deciding this execution.

I looked at him and asked them why are you here? You were here with them to kill me too. He said no I wasn’t. I wouldn’t ever do something like that. I only found out five minutes before we came into the room. I was terrified they would kill you. I just wanted to keep you safe. The woman chuckled and said how sweet. But you know you're not making it out of here alive so would you be a darling and kill your daughter already. Or you can just both die together. My eyes widened and I asked, daughter? He glared at the women and said I’m your father. You were taken away from me when you were one. I couldn’t protect you then. I was given the choice to be able to follow and care for you here instead. If I could still show you love and do my best to be a father. I figured it was the best option. The other option was me dying to protect you and then you coming here with absolutely nothing. I did what I thought was best. I nodded and said, ``Can we get out of here. He smiled and said I’ve been planning it since you were taken away from me. This is the best opportunity. I said good then looked back at the woman who was trying very hard to take a step back. I forced her to hit herself in the head with the gun. With her knocked unconscious I felt woozy. I was covered in splattered blood. I was feeling all the adrenaline drain out of me. I felt my knees give out and my vision blurred and then I blacked out.