25 May 2012
// Harder. Better. Faster. Stronger. //
It felt completely unnatural. Before, I'd been nothing above an average sophomore who had a passion for track that no one could ever understand. Track. The one area of my life that actually turned out to be successful. The easeful carelessness of running always lifted me to a point of ecstasy that others found baffling. Perhaps it was the monotanous bounce, the wind against my skin, the freedom. The few in the academy who did enjoy it were never close to my speed or athleticism, though I hardly pressed myself to work out or even eat healthy. But I always ran. Everyday without fail. Just before school ended for the day, I would grow anxious, my skin would crawl, and my legs would tremble, itching to break out of the building and dash off. I knew I had to run. All troubles or worries would wash off of me and trail off in the wind as I shot across the neighborhood. I was fast, fast, fast.
But never as fast as I was now. The others stared in awe as I flew around the training facility in a blur of motion. I wizzed past the panel of officials and sent their clipboards flying into the air and nearly knocked Coach over as well. I was flying. I was shear speed. My heart was beating a million pulses a minute. Behind me, a faint trail of smoke was steaming up from where I had run. With a massive force of momentum, I darted up the sides of the walls and flipped over once I reached the ceiling, landing where I had begun in front of the Coach. Everyone was slightly taken aback and startled by my strength. They hadn't expected so much power from a slender girl much younger than the rest of them. I basked in my glory for a brief moment. I felt different, just as they had explained because of the injection. I was no longer just a track girl with a five minute mile. By now I could run ten miles in about thirty seconds. I was speed. I was Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. "Well...looks like you're the fast one." the Coach remarked, observing me. I wasn't even breathless. I could have done it again in a split second. "We can work with that. Team, meet our newest asset, Elizabeth. Elizabeth, you are now a member of the Resistance, you are now a fighter, you are now super human." The other seven acknowledged me solemnly, perhaps just as terrified as I was. But something drastic had changed within me. I was no longer a weak, incompetent girl torn away from her family. I was now a fighter.
ET { Faster 2 } • Opuss № I