A-24
- The Youth's Lens
- Sep 16, 2018
- 3 min read
An excerpt from out partners at Airborne Orange. Written by Ajinkya Goyal.
She walked past the fence and glided into the house with ease. The gate hadn’t been unlocked, but the lock posed little hindrance to her. As she walked further into the sleeping house, this strange feeling passed over her - a certain sense of déjà-vu. The sensation was so strong she had to stop for a second, overwhelmed by her body's strange response. She shook her head, deciding to observe her surroundings to take her mind of off things. But that didn't help. The kitchen made her feel a strange sense of longing, while the living room opposite it made her feel as though what she was about to do was very, very wrong.
Then a rush of static through her earpiece broke through her strange musings, forcing her to concentrate on the present. "Why have you stopped, A-24?”, came their piercing inquiry.
For the first time since waking up, she felt something from inside herself telling her to lie to her superiors. "I thought I saw something out of my peripheral vision, sir."
Silence ensued as she waited for them to tell her they knew the truth, that they knew she was lying, that they knew she recognised this place.
"Nearby cameras can’t see any threats; you are clear to go. Proceed, A-24."
She straightened her shoulders and marched up the stairs, batting away any thoughts of doubt or guilt that began to creep into her brain. She needed to concentrate on the task at hand.
Pushing the door to her mission's bedroom, she strolled in to see a man sleeping with a child wrapped up in his arms. She paused for a moment taking in the way the full moon hit their faces. They looked so calm, so content. An image, strangely similar to the scene in front of her, flashed across her mind, as the feeling of déjà-vu returned. For a moment, she considered leaving, thinking this scene too pure to disturb. She didn’t know why she thought that way though, she’d killed plenty others before – none of those had bothered her.
Then, coming to her senses, she shook off any apprehension, and slowly unsheathed her standard issue Glock-17 and clicked a silencer to the mouth of the barrel, stalking forward like a tiger towards its prey. Her shadow draped over them, casting a blanket of death over their innocent forms.
The reservation then came back, as, for a split-second, she wondered if she knew the people laying in front of her; in the next she raised her firearm, aimed, and pulled the trigger, sending a studded projectile each towards their stomachs. A-24 wasn’t sure why they made her aim for the stomach, the temple would be much easier and quicker, but she didn’t argue, and didn’t ask questions. She simply did as she was told.
As the bullets made contact, the victims’ eyes flew wide open, the colour slowly draining from them. Their faces relaxed, and she watched impassively as the sheets they lay on slowly turned a dark shade of crimson. In that moment, she suddenly realised why she felt as though she had been to this place before, why she felt as though she knew the bodies before her.
It was because she did. She knew this place, she had laughed with these people. They had been her family. Before they took her and wiped her memories. The memories where she had nursed the dead child laying in front of her from the time he was a baby. Where she always put them first and took care of their every need. Where they were always a team each taking care of the other.
Yet she didn't know what scared her more: the fact that she had just killed her whole family, or the fact that she couldn't bring herself to regret it. A crackling in her ear jerked her back to the present.
“A-24, is there a problem? This is the second time you have stopped.” Her heart rate quickened, her voice was wavering when it escaped her mouth.
“No, no there isn’t. No problem.” She knew she was on the line, that they would end her if this response wasn’t acceptable. But would that really be a bad option? Considering what she had been turned into, what they had created out of her. What she had just done. Was her life worth anything anymore? To the system, certainly - they needed killers - but what of the damage she leaves in her wake?
By Airborne Orange
Comments