We are in training. One day we could be doing target practice, another day we were tied to the bottom of a pool to see how long we could stay underwater or we could be in the classroom.

 
     I know the enemy.  The doctors and the soldiers are the enemy.  I saw many of us killed.  So have some of the others.  Zack and Max told the others and me that Lydecker almost let one of us drown.

“Krit!”

    I sit up from the bed and look beside me.  It was Brin.  She was one of the youngest.  Zack and Max help protect her.  Brin wasn’t very careful in training.  I believe she won’t survive the training like some of the others.

“When is this going to stop?” she asked.

“Soon I hope.” I replied.

    The others were up as well.  Eva, she has seen many of us killed.   Some of us believe she would snap soon if sees another one of us about to be killed.

    Max, she was one of the best. She’s the big sister of us. She is a good hand-to-hand fighter and survivor. She can under water longer than most of us.  She hates guns.

    Zack is the leader of us and he is the oldest.  Like me, he hates the doctors and the soldiers. He looks out and cares for us. Like, Eva he has seen many of die.  He is getting sick and tired of it.

    Jondy and Tinga are close.  They always work together.  All of us are close but they were the best of friends.

    Zane is the curious one of all of us.  He wants to know how everything works.  Zane gets in trouble once and awhile for taking things apart.

    Jace is one of the few X5s that like this place.  She is one of Lydecker's favourites.
 
    The doors open to the barracks. All of us get of their beds and stand up straight for inspection.  I don’t know why we need the beds.  We never sleep because the doctors designed us that way.

    As the TAC leader walked by, one of us fell on the floor and began to have a seizure.  I saw her have short seizures before when the soldiers and doctors were not around.  The TAC team dragged her out of the barracks. Max walks forward to get a better look.

“Eyes Front.”  The TAC leader yelled at her.

    That night I saw Max leave the barracks.  About a half an hour later she comes back.  She tells us, our sister is dead.  I see tears coming from the other eyes.  I was sad too.  We all thought the same thing.  Any one of us could be next.  We had to escape.

    The next day between training, we began to plan the escape.  Zack planned most of it.  For some reason I thought he has someone else working with him that wasn’t one of us.

    Later that day, we had underwater testing.  Through the glass we see Lydecker, the person in charge of this place.  Many of us want to kill him but none of us could.  The others think it is because they were too scared of him.  Zack, Eva, and myself know the real reason; we were psychologically programmed not to kill him.

    That night we marched back into the building.  Lydecker and two soldiers lead.  Suddenly one of us fell to the ground.  Lydecker and the two soldiers turn around.  We gather around our fallen sibling to protect.  I looked up and saw Eva had a gun in her hand it was pointed at Lydecker and the two soldiers.  Lydecker takes out his own gun and shots.  Eva fell to the ground--dead.

“Get back in line.” yelled Lydecker.

    None of us listened to him.  Some of us stood around Eva. The rest of us looked toward the window.  Four of us jumped toward the window breaking the glass.  The rest of us followed them.  We landed on the cold snowy ground.  As we run, we see Jace in the window, watching.
 
    All of us ran into the woods.  Zack silently told us to split up; we would have a better chance at escaping.  I ran with Tinga. Jondy and Max went ahead of us.

    Tinga and I climbed the fence.  Both of us split up. Now we were beyond the wire. The soldiers are starting to shoot and stun us.  All of us knew of any of us makes it out of Manticore, they will never stop looking.

                                             The End

Max, Zack, Tinga, Jondy, Eva, Jace, Krit, Zane, Lydecker, belong to Fox’s Dark Angel.