Allison struggled to keep her eyes open. They were heavy, unresponsive, but at least they were feeding her good intel. She still knew the layout of the hospital room she was in. She could still see the multiple IV’s stuck into her arms. Even if she could see them, she couldn’t feel them anymore. The sedative was like cold mercury flowing through her veins, leaving everything peacefully, yet unsettlingly, numb.

The door to her room opened and revealed a tall man with a dark crew cut and a clean shave. He wore a crisp black uniform adorned with more medals than she currently had the brainpower to count. Yet even then, she recognized the bars near his neck, marking his rank and position as her superior officer. Allison weakly attempted a salute more out of reflex than anything, only to have it weighed down.

“How are you feeling?” the Lieutenant asked. His tone was not gentle or kind, but caring.

“Cold, sir,” Allison managed, feeling her tongue crawl behind its usual reaction time. “The sedatives are strong… I’m testing to see how long I can withstand them.” He graced her with a smile.

“Good. I’m glad to see you haven’t changed since you graduated,” the Lieutenant said stately. Allison blinked a few times, her memory unable to put a name to the CO in front of her. But she at least remembered him, and that was a start. Perhaps, after it was all over, she would have a clearer recall.

“The procedure, sir,” Allison asked, speaking slower this time to compensate for her failing tongue. “I heard others have taken it. I never heard anything else about them. What are my orders?” It was an unusual for anyone who hadn’t been present for her training. She and the others she had trained with were kept secret, kept in check, and kept on top. This procedure had claimed the lives of her comrades. It was an enemy, a challenge to be overcome for their sakes. She was asking for his help.

“The procedure is no longer in the testing stage. If my minor grasp of medical technology is anything to go off of, you’ll be near invincible if you survive. That’s a big ‘if.’ Once you go under, it’s sink or swim. I leave it under your jurisdiction to decide whether to sink or to swim,” the Lieutenant answered carefully.

Allison surprised him, raising her hand to her forehead in a slow, shaky salute. But she made it all the same. With a half smile, the Lieutenant returned the salute and sat beside her as the sedatives took her. Her readings spiked, balanced, and went the other way. While she was unconscious, her body began to change in ways she’d never be able to understand. If she survived, she would be a pinnacle to mankind, the first of a new breed of soldiers. But as the Lieutenant had wisely iterated, that was an awfully big ‘if.’

He returned to the hallway outside Allison’s room, and surveyed the dozens and dozens of rooms on either side of the long hallway, each with a young teenager around Allison’s age undergoing the same go-for-broke procedure. A small, intelligent-looking man handed the Lieutenant a small screen covered in results of stage one. All candidates were under, and all had reached the start of the procedures. The small screen in his hand displayed the name and status of each of them.

One by one, he watched the bright green “Active” icon beside each name flicker into a deep crimson ‘Terminated’. He stood stoically in place as all the candidates who had volunteered slowly faded in their sleep. Dozens of them all around him. His face never twitched, even when he saw the single green status light up beside the name. The lone survivor of this project, this horror. He almost smiled. She had chosen to swim.