Welcome to Our Life -- Chapter 34: Reese (X5-552)
Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Jondy, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Elle/X5-164, etc.).
I managed to give the doctor a half-decent salute, despite the pain in both of my sides and my left leg. God only knew how the rest of me was going to be sore in the morning. I shifted myself on the crutches and hobbled my beaten ass out of the infirmary and back towards my cell. And it’s still not even time for dinner yet. Great.
Today started off as decently as it ever gets here at Manticore. I’m really starting to dig being here in Seattle. Alec and Biggs are great buddies and there’s even more space to stretch my legs, so to speak. I’ve got my own cell, I’ve got my own bathroom…it’d be perfect if it wasn’t for that whole military-training-to-the-point-of-and-including-torture thing. Yeah, aside from the major crap that’s been a part of my life since the moment that I was born, I’m having a good time.
When I got my schedule for today from Zack at the crack of dawn today, I was scheduled to run some kind of exercise out in the woods right after lunch with a mixed group of other X5s that included Alec, Biggs, and Sasha. I did not have a good feeling about it. My apprehension did not come from the fact that aside from my sibs and my new friends I would be working with strangers, it was coming from the tiny little fact that the exact nature of the activity was not listen when I took a look at my schedule this morning when Zack had given it to me. Whenever that particular detail is omitted from a schedule, it usually means bad news. I was still in a pretty decent mood though slightly apprehensive as I marched out to one of the yards with Wayne, Ben, Rena, and Gale, though. It even started out pretty well. I smiled a little as I recalled what had happened when I’d first arrived at the yard.
“There they are,” Ben said. He waved and I looked and I spotted Alec, Biggs, and Sasha standing around with an X5 that I didn’t recognize. “Hey, guys.”
“Hey, bro,” Alec said. “Guys, this is 228. She’s from Unit 4 here in Seattle. 228, this is 493, 120, 552, 369, and 831.” He lowered his voice just enough so that we were the only ones who could hear him. “Otherwise known as Ben, Rena, Reese, Wayne, and Gale.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You told her about the name deal?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry, we’ve been friends with 228 for years,” Alec assured us. “She’s cool.”
“And you guys can call me CeCe,” 228 added.
“Awesome,” Wayne said. He reached for CeCe’s hand and brought it up to his lips. “Glad to make your acquaintance, fair lady. I am enchanted.”
CeCe looked over at Sasha and raised an eyebrow. “Is it just me, or is he as bad as Alec over here?”
“No, it’s not just you,” Sasha said. “The scary thing is that unlike Ben here, Wayne isn’t related to Alec that we know of.” She shrugged. “Either way, Wayne’s pretty harmless.”
Wayne turned to me. “Should I be insulted?”
“Beats the heck out of me,” I said. “I mean, considering the source—“
I reached our block and paused at the beginning of the hall to catch my breath. Damn, broken ribs suck so bad. Thank goodness they usually heal in about three days but it’s three days of non-stop pain when you do so much as cough. Fun to be had be all, huh?
“Reese? What are you doing here? I thought you would be busy with that exercise until after dinner.”
I smiled. “Hey, Zack. It kind of got called early.”
Zack frowned. “What happened to you, Reese?”
I dropped the smile. Zack was not going to like this. I sure as hell didn’t like what had happened. “Can we go into my cell? I really need to lie down before dinner.”
“Absolutely,” Zack said. We made our way down the hall and we went into my cell. I carefully lay down on my bunk and Zack sat down in my desk chair. “Tell me what happened.”
“Sure,” I said. I took as deep of a breath as I could manage and then began to tell Zack what had happened only a few hours earlier.
I suddenly stopped talking when I heard footsteps approaching and we all quickly formed a line and stood at attention when we saw that it was the trainers that were in charge of our mystery exercise. I took a deep breath. I hadn’t been this nervous since the day years ago back in Gillette that Brin and I were told that they found out that we had been classified as ‘at risk’ for that progeria disease and had taken us into the infirmary to correct whatever was or could go wrong.
“Listen up, you maggots,” the trainer yelled. “We are going to be working together this fine morning. All of you should know by now that even though you have been primarily trained to work with your own units, you can, will, and have worked with other soldiers from unfamiliar units. One of the purposes of this morning’s exercise is to reinforce you ability in this area.” He smirked as much as a trainer usually does in front of us. “Now, I come from New York, so I am unfamiliar with most of you and I can imagine that you are in a similar boat. Each and every one of you will give me your designations starting from that end now.” He pointed to Gale at one end of the line.
“Sir, X5-831, sir!” she yelled.
“Sir, X5-369, sir!” Wayne yelled
“Sir, X5-552, sir!” I yelled. I stood there at attention as Ben, Rena, Alec, and the rest of the thirty-six X5s present for the activity called out their designations. Nothing like getting to know each other, huh?
“Now that we know each other, let’s finish getting down to business,” the trainer said. Almost out of nowhere, we all saw another group of X5s approach us, none of whom I recognized. “Another purpose of this exercise is to work on your ability to persevere under adverse conditions.” I froze. Hell no. “You all know as well as anybody that as good and physically superior as each and every one of you are, you are not perfect and you might become injured while out in the field and have no choice but to continue to complete your objective. When one of your fellow X5s approaches you, you are not to resist. You will not fight back. When they are finished, only then will you be given your mission parameters.” He gestured to the other soldiers and I braced myself for what I knew was coming. I was not disappointed when one of the other X5s stepped up to me and swung a kick directly to my left side. I could feel and hear the ribs breaking as the soldier continued his attack.
“That again?” Zack said quietly. He shook his head. “When will those assholes ever stop this crap with us?” He sighed. “Are you going to be okay, Reese?”
“Yeah, I didn’t get off too badly,” I said. “I only at least cracked almost half of the bones between the clavicle and the ankles. I’m happy that I didn’t have to go under the knife.” I briefly closed my eyes as I remembered why the exercise had been called early. “One of the others had her ribs broken so badly that only about twenty minutes into the actual exercise, it punctured her lung and we had to call it an afternoon then. I heard that she’s going to be okay, though.” I smiled mirthlessly. “And I overheard that the X5 that worked her over is going to be thrown in solitary for a good month as punishment for going too far.”
“What about the others?” Zack asked softly.
“Well, I’m right here.” I turned my head to see Wayne standing in the doorway, also on crutches. “I actually spoke with one of the docs down in the infirmary before they kicked me loose. Gale’s got a concussion so she’ll be there overnight. They sprung Alec already and they should be releasing Rena, Sasha, and Biggs any minute now. We’re done for a week.”
“Enjoy your vacation,” Zack said. “I’ve got some things to go over before dinner.” He got up and walked over to the cell door and paused. “I’m sorry, you guys.”
“So are we,” I said quietly.
TBC