Project Achilles

Noah

The next morning, I woke up, pretending everything was the same, but it wasn’t. That morning, during leisure time, I was reading in the commons when the double doors opened, immediately catching everyone’s attention. A young woman was being hauled in; it took me a moment to recognize her as Sally, one of the soldiers in my generation. Instead of wearing a uniform, she was dressed in shorts, a cut-up t-shirt, fishnets, and black boots. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think she was just another civilian. “Did you miss me?!” she exclaimed, clearly intoxicated, “cause I sure as fuck didn’t miss anyone of you, bitches, maybe next time I’ll stay out for good.” She was approached by Cathrine, one of our soldiers approached Sally, her face reflecting her perceived superiority, “Ah, Sally, raised to be a soldier, yet somehow you choose to throw yourself around on the street,” she commented. “Oh, hey, Cat, you and Wally still fucking?” Sally retorted. Cathrine’s face twisted in indignation, “That is none of your concern.” “Aren’t we all like made from clones of the same fucking sperm or some shit?” Sally said, gesturing to everyone in the room. “That’s fucking incest, dude, you’re fucking your own brother,” she continued her mockery until a commander walked right up to her. “Sally, I ask that you have the prudence necessary to return to your dorm, get washed, and change into your uniform before dinner,” he said, “I also ask that you stop harassing your comrades, if you’re not gonna take any pride in being an Achilles Soldier, at least don’t get in anyone’s way.” Sally threw her hands up. “Alright, I’ll see you cunts later, peace,” she said before she walked down the hall back to her dorm. After that whole ordeal, I made my way to the prison complex. I walked up to the guard sitting at the front desk. “I would like to speak to prisoner, Felix Medina,” I said. “I was assigned to interrogate him.” The guard doesn’t question me, after all, I do rank above him, so I follow him inside. As I walk through the prison, every inmate looks at me like I am an enemy. They didn’t matter, though. I wasn’t here for them. We turned the hallway, and on the way to the cell, I found Felix being harassed by a guard, who was holding him against the wall. I cleared my throat to get their attention, causing them both to turn to look at me. “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything, but I need to speak with this prisoner,” I said. The guard, who had a panicked expression on his face the second he saw me, slowly let go of the boy in his hands. “I apologize, sir,” he said, voice shaken. “Thank you, he’ll be back in a few minutes,” I said before, gesturing that Felix follow me. We left the common area before walking into one of the interrogation rooms. “The audio in this room doesn’t work, but the camera does,” I explained as I sat down at the table, “so we can speak freely, but we have to make it look like an actual interrogation.” “Why are you doing this?” he asked as he sat down, staring at me with apprehension. “You’re risking so much for me.” “I already told you, I haven’t met anyone else like me,” I explained. “When I found out you were like me, I felt compelled to protect you.” Felix scoffed in response, “I am not like you!” he exclaimed, “We may both be trans, but that’s where our similarities end! Other than that, we have nothing in common, cause I’m not a fucking murderer,” he exclaimed. “I take no pleasure in killing,” I defended myself, “I simply follow orders; it is not something I enjoy.” “But do you ever think about how those were human lives?” Felix said, “Do you ever think that those people had families, friends, people who loved them. People whose whole world would fucking stop if they died!” I took a deep breath before I continued talking, “It is a necessary evil.” “Was my brother’s death necessary?!” he demanded, the pain in his voice palpable. “What about my two friends, one of them had a father who was sick, you made a sick man watch his son’s brains spill onto the fucking concrete. You helped tear down my home, you helped take, EVERYTHING from me!” I searched for something to respond with, but I was instead left utterly speechless, “you can sit there and give me the whole ‘following orders’ shit all you want but it ain’t gonna fucking work, cause either way you still chose that fucking uniform, you chose this job, and you chose to kill those fucking people” “You think I chose this?” I respond, Felix looked back at me, confused, “I’m guessing they don’t teach you much about Project Achilles back at the Sanctuary. Achilles Soldiers are part of a 30-year-old experiment to evolve humanity. We are created through a selective breeding program, in which every year two hundred volunteers are artificially inseminated with a clone of the sperm of Micheal Hastrod, and then they give birth to a new generation of Achilles Soldiers, from then on we are raised to always strive for perfection and be the best soldier we can be” I explained. Felix looked back at me his face reflecting difficulty processing all the information he’s just received “when I was sixteen I was reading some psychology books and I stumbled on a section of gender dysphoria, that’s when I knew I was transgender, I managed to convince Hastrod Industries, with the aid of my mentor, to allow me to transition and assign me a male name” I said “but up until now, I’ve never met someone else who was like that, as a matter a fact, I didn’t know that there was knowledge about transgender people outside of Houston. Which is why I feel drawn to you. I don’t know how to explain it, but ever since that day, you’ve been all I can think about, and for the first time in my life, there is something of higher priority than my place as a soldier. You can hate me all you want, Felix, but as long as you’re here, I can’t let anything bad happen to you.” I took a moment to observe his reaction as he sat wordlessly. He stared at me, his face reflecting confusion. I realized that it was all too much for him, as I watched him try and mentally process everything I just said. He finally collected himself enough to speak. “You said they assigned a male name?” he said, “What is it?” “My name is Noah,” I introduced. “I was named an Achilles Soldier who passed away the year prior.” “Well, Noah, guess you’re my knight in shining armor now,” he said, “but ground rules, next time I try to escape, if you try and stop me, I won’t listen to you.” I nodded in response, “understood.” From that day forward, everything was about to change.

Felix

Once the “interrogation” was over, I returned to the commons and immediately caught the attention of Maya and Tony, who both looked like a mix between confused and relieved before they rushed over to me. “What the fuck, Felix, I thought you escaped last night,” Maya said. “I’ll explain when we’re in private,” I responded. We then met up again inside my cell. “So to recap, you almost got caught by the guards, and the only reason you didn’t was because there is an Achilles Soldier who is stalking you, because you’re both trans,” Tony said, trying to understand the situation. “He’s not ‘stalking’ per se,” I responded, god, I don’t want to think about it that way. “It’s just that he’s ‘compelled’ to protect me cause he’s never met another trans person before. Which is why he tried to save me from getting caught last night, and then the very next day, he ‘interrogated’ me and admitted that ever since he found out I was trans too, I became more important than his orders.” I looked up at Tony, who was staring at me with concern written on his face “it does sound kinda creepy when I say it out loud” “Maybe it’s a good thing.” Maya said, “If we’re getting out of this place, having an inside man is gonna be our best bet.” She said, “You should get closer to this Noah guy, convince him to help us escape.” “I don’t know, guys, he may be obsessed with Felix, but he’s still one of them, for all we know, this is a trick,” Tony said. “And what if it’s not?” I said, “Look, I don’t like this any more than you do. To be honest, I don’t know what to make of this soldier, but if it wasn’t for him, I’d be dead right now. He was raised by Hastrod. He knows this place like the back of his hand; he could be our best shot at escape. I say we go for it.” Tony conceded, “Fine,” he said. “But the second you start getting the sense that something is wrong, you will not stay there,” he said. The next day, I was called for another “interrogation” by Noah, in the same interrogation from before. Once again, the audio doesn’t work, so we can say whatever we like. “How have you been doing since the last time we spoke?” he asked. “Absolutely fine and dandy, I love being kidnapped by the people who took my home,” I respond. “There is no need for hostility, Felix.” Noah responded, “I just want to help you. I wanted to check up on you.” “I’m fine,” I answered for real this time, “is this why you pulled me out and shit?” “Yesterday, when I came to get you, there was a guard who was harassing you,” he stated. My mind went back to that asshole and the way he looked at me. “Do you know his name? I can get him to leave you alone if you would like.” I shook my head, “I don’t know his name, just that he’s a fucking creep,” I answered. “I see,” he responds, “no matter, I only need a description.” he answers, “There is one more thing I wanted to see you for,” he said before he reached into his pocket and handed me a walkie-talkie from underneath the table, “it has a range of 35 miles, and it can even be charged while in use, I would suggest you keep the volume at a medium to save battery” he explained “channel 15 is the last channel and no one ever uses it, if you ever need me, just reach me through here, to avoid suspicion” I take it in my hands and from under the table. “You did the song and dance just to give me this?” I asked. “Thought it would be easier to reach you than just periodically pulling you out, don’t you think?” Noah said. I stared down at the device in my hands. He’s lying about interrogations, he’s stealing equipment, and he’s freezing security cameras, all for me. As much as part of me still sees one of those soldiers who destroyed my home, killed my brother, and my friends, the other part of me knows what he’s sacrificing to keep me safe. If anyone finds out, we could both get in trouble. I’d most definitely get killed, but Noah would probably be punished with a fate worse than death. I put the walkie-talkie away, and then I look back at him. “That's everything?” “Yes, that’ll be all. Please use that radio if you’re ever in danger so I can reach you immediately.” Noah said. “Roger that,” I responded. A couple of hours later, I was lying in bed staring up at the ceiling. I looked over at the walkie-talkie he had just handed me. This man helped take my home, he was there when three people I love were brutally murdered, and yet now he was my savior.