*WARNING: This is a fantasy fiction. Therefore, the characters and examples do NOT reflect reality completely. Also, please feel free to comment down below. :)
Thank you.*
Chapter 2: Roll Call
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“Zero! Zero!”
“go…away…”
“It’s 9 in the morning Zero, its roll call period!”
I get up immediately once I hear the word roll call. That word is not the one you want to hear. Every year they hold a roll call period where all the heroes around the camp gather together in one place. Usually we are separated into sections, or generations, but this is the only time all of us are gathered together and the only time we get to see the others from other sections.
The one who woke me up this morning is Hero 8, also known as An, she always wakes me up whenever I forget something. She’s like an alarm clock that never misses its count, except she doesn’t need electricity in order to be powered.
After getting ready I head straight to the group by the central door. The room we’re in has mostly white walls with a couple doors that are a little more gray-like. We don’t have much color around here other than our clothes, skin, and utensils we use on a daily basis.
After all of us have gathered at the door, a voice projects from the door in front.
“Please form yourselves in a line from first through third generations. All Heroes who do not comply will get one month in the sub-zero freezer. The doors will now open to corridor-D. Please proceed.”
The voice doesn’t sound enthusiastic about the roll call. It never does, there hasn’t been any excitement such as an escape attempt in years. Usually it gets rather dull around here, so of course the person projecting the voice would drone the announcement.
All of us get in our usual order from 10 to zero. This is supposed to be the order from oldest to youngest in the generation. However, it turns out I was actually born first. This didn’t really change anything since it made the owners of the Hero Plantation rather annoyed when I was put at the front. This Hero Plantation only houses three generations of Heroes as that is all that are allowed per plantation, other than the Birthing Plantation which holds one more generation. I don’t know the exact reasons why other than that they aren’t allowed to create more of us.
We head into corridor-D where we end up at the back of the line to the other two generations. We are the youngest generation of heroes at this plantation. Although, I wouldn’t really call ourselves a ‘generation’ as we are all born within the same year. All hero ‘generations’ are born within the same year. The only difference is that there is a gap of 5 years between each of these ‘generations’. This keeps the population of heroes at an amount that the governments can handle.
After walking for a little ways we came to a big room. This room is larger than where we usually live, but just large enough for all thirty-three of us to line up into three rows. As all of us settle down the walls become transparent revealing the other side of the glass. There are two people sitting on a balcony in front of us. One is the voice of the person who directed us here, the other a young lady. The lady stands up and starts talking.
“Haha…welcome heroes to the annual roll call! I don’t know about you, but I feel like getting this over as quickly as possible. Let’s start.
For the annual report we have had no escape attempts. That’s a rather wise choice heroes, looks like we don’t have trash here after all. Although I don’t recommend trying to escape, it’s no fun when all of you are smart. So I’ll give a reward to the next hero who tries. I won’t say what exactly, but rest assured it will be something to remember me by.” She gives a wink towards one of the older heroes in the front line, while the guy next to her face palms himself and quickly whacks the young lady over the head.
After a bit of fussing over the intercom, the lady walks out of the balcony. The man decides to finish the rest of the report himself. The report includes some of the events occurring around the world today and the winners of the last Hero Arena. I would love to explain what he said, but I lost interest after about 10 seconds. It’s not that I don’t care, but there hasn’t been any interesting events in the world during any of these years after I was born.
“Ok, now that we are done with the annual report it is time to start the roll call. First the Beta generation. Please yell present when I call your number. Hero 10.” “Present!” “Hero 9.” “Present” “Hero 8.” …
After he finished. “Ok, all of you should be 20 years of age. Tomorrow, you will be shipped to the Hero Center. There you will be sold to the largest bidder, or to the one who previously acquired you through our pre-purchases. You will also be granted a name by your new owner. You may go back now.” The oldest group was then lead back to their area to pack up anything that belonged to them, if they had anything.
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“Next, also the Beta generation of Heroes. 10.” “Present!” “Hero 9.”…
Looks like it is our generation’s turn.
“Lastly is the first of the Gamma generation!”
By the way…I just thought of this, but who is he talking to? It always seems like he’s not talking to us, but to someone behind us. I won’t dare turn my head though, I could get in serious trouble for breaking the line. I don’t think I’m the only one that is trying their hardest not to turn their head. Looks like Ted (Hero 3) is having the hardest time. I can see his sweat out of the corner of my eye.
“Hero Zero…”
“…Present!”
“Good. Looks like generation Gamma is all accounted for. All of you are now 10 years of age. As the newest generation of Heroes you will have noticed that you do not exactly have your powers yet.” The man has senile grin on his face…I don’t like it one bit.
“As the newest generation our genetics research has felt the need to explain a few things to you about yourselves. The newest generation of Heroes. Let me introduce you to the man in charge of this facility, and the man you’ve been itching to turn your head around for…haha! Boy I can see your sweat from all the way up here…yes you, Hero number....3. Anyways…we will allow you all this one time to turn around to meet your personal genetic creator. Dr. Holloway, you can take these pigs from here doctor.” He specifically looks at Ted in a laughing manner as the glass once again turns into a wall.
We turn around to see a man in another balcony who looks worn out. You can see the dark circles around is eyes and his posture is not that good either. He has a beard yet looks no older than 30. He straightens himself up and turns on a projector screen on the wall next to him. It is quite a large projector.
“Hello there, children. My name is Dr. Jesse Holloway. You may call me father as I am the one who made you possible. As a reward for being the first in the Gamma Series Generation I will be explaining everything you need to know about your special abilities.
Firstly, I should explain that you do not act your age, and you will see that soon enough in ten more years when you are sold. This is because of the mutations we have given you mentally for fortitude and quick learning. You will not just be slaves, but warriors and servants to bring honor and glory to your masters.
You may have noticed that the other generations have powers, and they may have even told you that they had them since before your age. This is all true. The previous generations, Alpha and Beta, were born with powers. This was because our thought process was that if they are born with powers then their powers will adapt to themselves becoming more powerful and effective. This thought process however, was horribly wrong.
We often had anomalies that we couldn’t explain because of this. Embryos dying before they could hatch. Mutations that caused rapid growth or third arms, etcetera, etcetera. This was because we thought incorrectly as to when the human body is most adaptive to mutation. In fact, it is at its best when you are at your age. Weak enough to be adaptive, yet strong enough to endure the mutation. It is your age which is the best for genetic enhancement. Although it took us way too long to realize this error. In my opinion, we should have started this during the Beta generation 300 years ago.
Anyway, to make the story short you will be receiving your powers today. Although we will have no idea what that power is until you receive the injection. Your DNA has been sequenced for a certain mutation; however, there may be unexpected circumstances.
You will go to the doors ahead of you, just beneath me, to receive your injection. Do not force our hand to give you the injection with lesser means.” He snaps his fingers and the echo can be heard around the room. A door opens beneath him and a squad of men in all white suits with electric rods come out. This is all they need for us as the electric rod sends a signal to our collars giving us the feeling that we are in great pain, even if we really aren’t.
Keeping our calm, we head towards the doors in a straight line. We can do nothing about this, as our stories are just about to begin.