Supernatural

13

JANUARY — PENNSINGTON CITY COLLEGE — 4:22 PM

Rylie's heart beat erratically as he heaved, jogging along the track. Usually, he'd just use the wind to fly, but as a superhero, being a pathetic runner was not a good attribute. He had been trying to get faster and be able to run for longer distances without needing to stop, and Tyler was more than happy to be his motivator.

"Come on, you slow shit!" Tyler yelled, cupping his hands to make his voice longer as he took on the side of the track. He had attracted some other students' attention, who all wore amused or irritated expressions, but he didn't care. "Mon can run faster than you in heels!"

As he passed Tyler again, he gave him the middle finger, but not stopping. "Oh, come on! We've only done a few laps! Hurry your pretty little ass up!"

After doing a couple more laps, he stopped, sweating incredibly, and out of breath as he leaned on his knees. "I am going to kill you," he said breathlessly.

"Love you, too, bud," he clapped him on the back, then began to walk away while Rylie sprawled out across the track, trying to steady his heartbeat and cool down.

JANUARY — "THE LAB" — 12:50 PM

T2832 was getting out.

She actually was. Un-cuffed and fully conscious, she followed two men through halls she didn't recognize. They used their thumb prints to unlock the many doors—one of the precautions—and she was hit with something new. Not the hospital smell of the lab she had grown accustomed to, but a different smell, more coppery and mechanical.

The two guards at that door moved aside and let them pass. The doors began to move to the side, and a rush of wind hit her in the face immediately. She relished in the smell of nature, and squinted her eyes at the bright sun.

They were in a desert.

Not a sandy desert, but more like a flat plain of dirt and rock, nothing to be seen for miles. A semi desert. And here, in the middle of nowhere, was this secret military base, training superhumans. It was a large, wide building, surrounded with guards and a gate. No one currently still in the lab knew about all these extra fortifications. If they tried to get out, they'd be killed on sight.

The sun's heat beat down on her, flashes of summers with her friends floating in, but she shoved it away to the back of her mind. Those didn't matter anymore.

A jeep swerved in, the gate doors moving to let it in. She got in the backseat, and the driver looked at her through the rear mirror. "2832?"

"That's me."

"I'm Cole. I'll be your kind of mentor for your first month in the SN Unit. I'll be telling you where everything is in your new home, as well as the basics of being an SN. If you have any questions, don't be hesitant to ask. I can't say I can answer all of them." Cole spoke with the voice of an army sergeant. It was monotone, and not particularly friendly.

Cole had dark skin and a bald head that had small black hairs growing back. If 2832 had to guess, he looked like he was in his late-twenties. His dark eyes were difficult to read, but he wasn't sizing her up as she expected. She had earned her place in the SN Unit, and he had no reason to question it.

He drove out of the lab, and she opened her window to let air push her hair back. "Where are we?" She asked.

"Western Asia, Syria."