The Prowess Trials

The year is 2045. It has been 14 years since the government began the Prowess trials. In the beginning, the trials for the prototype were thought to be hope for a new world. A world where we did not have to worry about going hungry, becoming ill, or even dying of old age (at least not as quickly).

I still remember as a child, hearing the announcement in school. "The Prowess is a promise of a new age". Such a load of horse dung. Even as a child it did not feel right. How many books and movies did we need to watch to realise that something was not right.

By that afternoon it was all anyone could talk about. People were already lining up to put their name down the following day. Who could blame them though? It sounded too good to be true.

It had been about a month since the announcement, I still remember the screams from the night when the Prowess started to either overheat their hosts or take over completely. I felt like I was becoming about of one of those silly robot movies I use to watch.

I looked outside of my bedroom window to see my neighbours Ricardo and Carmela crying and begging for help as they watched their 8-year-old daughter Alannah become one of the Prowess’s first victims. The glow of her skin, the heat it gave off. I could feel it on my bedroom window. They had recently moved here from Cuba in hopes to be a part of the trials as Alannah had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour 8 weeks earlier.

Next thing I knew, my parents were pulling my sister and I out of the house and into the car. I was terrified, sirens everywhere, people running rampant in the streets and our poor dog Cassie. I knew we had no choice, but it was so hard to leave her behind. I cried my eyes out watching her chase after us in the car.

I am twenty-four now. The road, so dark and foggy. No surprise there, we are in England after all. Suddenly, a deer popped out of nowhere, I swerved and hit the brakes on my bike as fast as I could. "What the hell is a deer doing out here?" I have not seen one since just after the war began. Thought they would have all been extinct by now after how much they have been hunted. Deer meat was like gold in some colonies. "Get off the road you stupid animal". As it ran off into the distance, I got back on the bike and continued north. Today was the anniversary of Elsie's death. As I had done the last two years, I was on my way to visit where I buried her by sea, to watch the sunrise. Elsie loved to watch the sunrise. As children, she would pull me out of bed and make me watch it with her. She always promised that if I got up with her to watch it, she would make me a hot chocolate with marshmallows. They were never particularly good hot chocolates. It was always too watery, and the marshmallows would melt before I could drink it. I did not mind though. I knew how much joy it gave her to watch it together.

It had been three years since I talked or saw anyone from the colony. I could not go back, even if I wanted to. Not after what happened to Elsie and not after what I did to the camp. No one tried to help her that night, they just looked at her and said she was a lost cause, that she did this to herself. I will never be able to escape the images of that night. How she rolled on the ground in agony, her skin burning, glowing a bright orange like metal in a furnace. The scar I got from her heart shaped locket is still burned into my skin from trying to help her.

I knew it was a bad idea to let her into the Prowess trials, but we were starving and needed the money. After our parents were killed, Elsie felt it was he responsibility to take care of us. She made a deal with one of the rebel leaders. Her tasks were to get in and out with information on the latest experiments. Spying, I guess is the best way to put it. They sent her in, undercover, but unfortunately, they caught her trying to steal latest prototype. As punishment they implanted her with it. The base of the skull is where they put it, clinging to the brainstem, making it impossible to remove without killing her. They did not even try to close the wound properly. A mess of blood and staples. Like most, it overheated and burned her from the inside out. She promised me that nothing bad would happen. But now... She is gone.

I was so angry watching Elsie suffer. I could not contain the rage building up inside of me. After everything I had lost, I did not know how to handle it. I sat by Elsie’s body for a few hours at least, letting the anger build up inside of me. I blamed the leader of the camp for Elsie’s death. The whole thing was his idea.

I decided that if they were to let her burn, then they should burn as well. I grabbed one of the torches nearby and made a bee line for the leader’s tent. Unfortunately, one of the guards tackled me before I could get to him, but not before I took out two jeeps and half the barracks.

A week before Elsie died, we fought about her helping the rebels. We lost our parents because of them. They used our parents as pawns. They tried to swing the whole “a necessary sacrifice” and “they died as heroes” line. If anything, I believe it was a set up. Our parents always tried to fight for what was best of the colony, sometimes leaving them looking more like the enemy then the hero in many eyes. They did so much for the camp. They were both nurses at the local hospital. When war broke out, our parents chose to fight in the rebellion. They mostly worked as medics and training up others (including Elsie and I).

I wish I could erase that week from my memory. I wish I were not so stubborn and still got up with her the morning she left to watch the sunrise with her. Instead, I swapped shifts with one of the others in the camp just so I had an excuse not be there.

Resources were scarce, so I was not able to give her the burial she deserved. I found a stone that was almost perfectly square. I carved her name and dates on it and planted a few wildflowers around the stone. She always liked Primroses.

Two weeks ago, I received a letter from Aro. He calls himself “The General” of the rebellion. He has asked me to return to the colony. He claims he needs my help. Planning another attack, no doubt. He has planned so many in the last year, exhausting many resources and lives. The last one was so big; the explosion turned the sky red for two days. He must be desperately low on medics if he feels the need to contact me when I have not seen any of them in three years. I may only be 19 years, but I was easily one of the best they had thanks to my parents.

I have decided to go back. Not because I want to hear what he has to say, nor do I want to participate in this war, but to take back the only thing left of Elsie. Her heart-shaped locket. Aro knew that would be the cherry on top after kicking me out of the colony. I will get it back and I will not let my family’s sacrifices be in vain.