The Suicide Project (Rebirth Book 1) (16 page)

“You’re fine. Gideon and Sam will be dressing casually too. Today is a day of getting settled in and adjusting to your new surroundings, so you’re not expected in the Gym today. You’ll get to do some retail therapy by helping the guys buy new clothes. That’s the most important task for today and it’s at the top of the list since they really need new things ASAP. You’ll also get a chance to buy yourself whatever you need. Since today is Monday, hopefully you’ll be able to get all your orders in before noon so that they’ll be delivered by Wednesday. Later on today, you’ll meet the other military staff. Sergeant Ramsey is eager to show you guys off.” Jamie chuckled at me as she rolled her eyes. “I know he’s told you multiple times already, but he really is very proud of you three.”

Before I could reply, there were three loud knocks on the bedroom door. I was about to yell, “Come in!” but Jamie held up a hand, smiling at me as she said, “There’s a scanner on the wall beside your door and only a select few people can enter. You put your palm on the pad, and when it recognizes your handprint, the little red light above your door will turn green signaling that you can enter. I’m not surprised that you didn’t notice it last night because you were practically dead on your feet, you were so tired.” Intrigued, I stood up from my bed and followed Jamie to the door to see what the scanner looked like.

I stood beside Jamie when she opened the door and to my happy surprise, Gideon and Sam stood on the other side. “Gideon! Sam!” I squealed happily as I reached up to hug them both. Sam laughed at me and hugged me back just as hard. When he was done hugging me, he held me at arm’s length by my shoulders as he informed me seriously, “I missed you!” I just laughed at him and hugged him again.
My dear little Sam. Even though our rooms were only on opposite sides of the building, it still seemed too far of a distance away.
Gideon eyed me up and down when it was his turn to hug me, and I saw the appreciative gleam in his eyes as he grinned back. “Very hot.” He gave me a two thumbs up sign as he walked a circle around me. Accommodatingly, I struck a few faux model poses while Gideon let loose a wolf whistle. I heard Jamie laughing in the background, so I winked at her before executing my last pose.

“Look at you, Miss Fashionista!” Sam let his gaze run over me from my made up face to my black high heeled boots. “Me like very much! Sexy!”

“Likewise!” I laughed back. “You guys both managed your own hair without me! Good job!” I let my eyes run over Gideon’s perfectly spiked mane before appraising Sam’s Pompadour-like style. “I’m so proud!” Jamie and I stepped further back as I motioned for the guys to come in all the way. Currently, the four of us were squashed just inside the doorway. I noticed that both guys were wearing blue jeans and sneakers. Sam was wearing a green t-shirt that hugged his biceps, while Gideon was wearing a white plaid Western-type shirt with his sleeves rolled up on his forearms. “Nice!” I complimented. Gideon grinned at me again, and I rolled my eyes at him as I sighed and clutched a hand over my chest. “Be still my beating heart…I forgot about those killer dimples of yours!” I only had to wait a few seconds before a pink blush darkened his cheeks. I laughed uproariously at him as I ushered the guys to the middle of the room. “Stay right there!”

Before I shut the door, I poked my head into the hallway to see the hand scanner. Jamie joined me and explained how it worked. It was roughly the same size as a DVD case except taller, to accommodate those with larger hands. I told the guys to make themselves at home while I shut the door and stood in the hallway with Jamie.

“Right now it’s a black screen, but when you put your hand over it, the screen lights up blue. If you have access to the room, then the light above the door will turn from red to green.” Motioning to the light above the door, I saw the little red light she was talking about. Glancing down the hallway, I saw red lights above all the other closed bedroom doors. “Once the light turns green, you’ll hear the click of the door unlocking and you’ll have about 10 seconds to enter. If you don’t open the door within that time, it’s not a big deal. You just have to put your hand on the scanner again. The only ones who have access to your room besides yourself, is me, Kyrie, and Sergeant Kami.” Studying the outside of the door, I noticed there was no doorknob. “So I just push the door open when it unlocks? That’s sort of convenient in case I have my arms full or something.”

Hearing a little whirring noise, my head pivoted toward the sound and noticed a camera panning in our direction at the end of the hallway. I grinned at Jamie, and said, “Really? Here too?” She just shrugged as she explained, “Trust me—the others here need more supervision than you three do.”

Waving my fingers at the direction of the camera in acknowledgement, I asked, “So if the others are all exercising in the Gym right now, then who the heck is watching us?”

“That would be the scientists and doctors. Basically all the other military people who remain “behind the scenes”. I’m sure you’ll meet them all much later. Dr. Duffy is amongst the group observing all the units today. We have a surveillance room below grounds where the test subjects can all be observed. We also have our own Security Team and they watch the live camera feeds at all times, partially for monitoring progress of the test subjects, but primarily for the safety of all the participants on the Base. It’s their job to make sure everybody is where they’re supposed to be at any given time, day or night. They’re the ones responsible for bringing to our attention your night time activities in the gym.” Smiling innocently at me, she placed her hand back over the scanner and let us both back into my room.

There was a small couch and bean bag chair that sat in the center of the room, dividing Kyrie’s half of the room from mine. I saw that Gideon had made himself comfortable on the couch, while Sam was sitting cross legged on the floor. When I quirked my eyebrow at Sam, he explained, “I was afraid that all the filling would come out of the bean bag chair if I sat on it. That’s why I’m on the floor.” Dubiously eyeing the fluffy pink pouf on the floor, I admitted, “Eh. You’re probably right. Better safe than sorry.” I was about make myself comfortable on the end of my bed again, but before I got the chance Jamie held up her hand to me and announced, “Since we’re all here, we’ll be going down the hall to one of the empty conference rooms where you guys can do your online shopping. We have this rule that guys and girls aren’t supposed to be hanging out in the same room without a chaperone and as much as I’d like to spend the morning with you three, I have errands to run before I can return to escort you to lunch in the Mess Hall.”

I did a fist pump in the air as I chanted, “Retail therapy, retail therapy!” Sam joined in my chant while Gideon just laughed at us. Jamie smiled as she dug into her pocket and withdrew three credit cards. Handing each of us a card with our names on them, she instructed, “Okay, you each have a $2000 limit on your cards. Make sure to buy what you need. Socks, underwear, shoes, clothes, hair products, etc… I also give you permission to buy whatever you think will improve your living space, so if you want to buy posters for your walls or buy yourself a video game console (Jamie arched her eyebrow in Gideon’s direction as she said this), now would be the time to do so.”

We all stood up and exited the room, following behind Jamie as she led us down a maze of corridors. Last night, I had thought the building was in a “U shape” but this morning, I saw I was wrong. Even though there were hallways everywhere, it seemed like the building was really formed in a huge square shape. As we were passing by the Mess Hall, I saw a familiar face looking at me from within the kitchen area.

“Amos!! I knew I recognized your delicious cooking this morning!” I greeted, as I made a quick pit stop and zoomed into the kitchen to give Amos a quick hug. He chuckled as he returned my hug. “Good morning Miss Teagan. It’s good to see you.”

“So… this is where you hide out the rest of the time?”

Nodding at me he offered, “Miss Kyrie will be helping me frost cupcakes later. Will you be joining her? She talks about you non-stop and I know it would just make her day if you joined us. I only let 4 people into my kitchen, you know. You and Kyrie are two of them. Be here at 4 o’clock?”

Smiling indulgently at him, I said, “Yes Sir. You know you don’t have to guilt me into it. Of course I’ll be happy to help! See you later!”

I darted back out to rejoin the others as Gideon and Sam smiled and nodded at Amos. “We both saw him on our way to your room. It was great starting the day off by seeing a familiar face,” Sam explained.

Two more hallways later, Jamie led us into a large conference room that was empty except for a huge rectangular table in the middle and had enough chairs to fit maybe twenty people. In front of each chair sat a laptop, and I gleefully rubbed my hands together in anticipation. She directed us to sit down and I chose a spot in the middle so that I could supervise the guys’ screens on either side of me if they needed my opinion on anything they wanted to add to their shopping carts. Jamie gave each of us a small notepad and pens to first make a list of all the things we needed to get, so that we didn’t get overwhelmed and forget to order something crucial.

“Do you guys need anything else before I take off?”

I immediately held up my hand and said, “Two things. First of all, we need some ambient noise for shopping, so is there a radio we can borrow?” Jamie nodded her head and pointed to the corner of the room where a large stereo sat. It was so big, I don’t know how I missed it when I first walked in.

“Based on the past habits of you three, we knew you’d ask for “mood music” so Sergeant Flynn brought this in here earlier this morning for your use.” Jamie smiled as she asked me what the second question was.

“I just wondered if you knew what Kyrie’s shoe size is. I couldn’t help but notice that she has an affinity for all things pink and I thought it’d be nice to get her a “roommate gift”. I might be lucky enough to find a pink pair of sneakers online in her size. She was so nice and welcoming this morning when I met her, I just want to thank her for bringing me breakfast and making me feel at home. I like her a lot already.”

Jamie shot me an approving smile as she said “Awww….I
knew
you guys would hit it off! I’m so pleased! You’re a sweetheart, Teagan. She’s a size 5.” Turning for the door, she called over her shoulder, “Okay, you guys have fun shopping. I’ll be back for you in a few hours. And remember… everything in your shopping carts will be reviewed and approved by a military staff member before the orders are submitted, so make sure you don’t order anything inappropriate!”

I bit my lip and snorted in amusement at that last comment, but Jamie was already gone out the door. As we all turned on our laptops, we heard the gentle whirring of cameras and turned our heads to see that there were
two
cameras in the conference room currently aimed in our direction. In unison, all three of us waved at the cameras before smiling at each other. The guys got to work on their lists, while I got up to turn on the radio. I tried not to sigh in exasperation as one of the cameras followed my movements. Finding a station I liked, I sang to the music and danced my way back to my chair to do some serious shopping. I smirked as I peeked over Gideon’s shoulder and saw that the first purchase of the day for him was a new gaming console.

In no time at all, Jamie was back and I couldn’t believe three hours had sped by so fast. My stomach growled though so I knew it had to be true. All three of us successfully bought everything we needed on our lists and we were just absently browsing through art websites for decorations for the guys’ walls when Jamie returned. Gideon clicked on one last poster to add to his cart before submitting his order. Throwing my arms over my head, I arched my back and stretched just as my stomach let out another growl louder than the first. Sam went to turn off the radio as Jamie smiled and asked, “All ready for lunch?”

We all grinned tiredly and nodded our heads. Who knew shopping could work up such an appetite? Go figure! As we re-entered the Mess Hall, I was surprised to see that it was still empty. Amos was there though, and he nodded at us in acknowledgement as he finished loading up one last metal tray into the food warmers. The food was set up buffet style so we all grabbed a plate and helped ourselves. I was ravenous, and everything looked good. I chose a couple filets of citrus salmon, and loaded the other half of my plate with a steamed veggie medley. I was already seated and eating when the guys finally joined me. Jamie had fixed herself a plate too and to my happy surprise, Amos sat down to join us as well. He had never eaten with us in the past and I was happy for his company.

I guess all of us were starving because we finished eating in record time. We were all sipping our drinks, listening to Amos complain about what picky eaters some of the other program participants were, when the door to the Mess Hall suddenly opened up, and lo and behold in marched the current topic of our conversation. Not including the sergeants, I counted eleven other test subjects including Kyrie. With the exception of Kyrie, the others all looked shocked to see us sitting there because they had all stopped in one big cluster right inside the doors.

I recognized Sergeant Ramsey’s booming voice as he shouted, “Men to the left! Women to the right! Shower first and then you can return to the Mess Hall to gawk at the newbies!” I heard Gideon choke on his drink beside me and I whacked him on the back until he got his breath back. I saw that his face was red again as he tried not to notice that several of the girls were staring directly at him. Those girls all jumped as the woman whom I assumed was Sergeant Kami clapped her hands loudly behind them and yelled, “To the showers, ladies! Move, move, move!!” Well, at least the sergeants were all consistent. It seemed they each yelled at the same volume level.

Kyrie shot me a quick smile and a wave before turning to dart down the hallway. I had a feeling it was going to be her fastest shower ever. I bit my lip to prevent the laughter from coming out as I noticed that some of the guys took their time strutting down the hallway, puffing out their chests like they had something to prove as they darted quick looks my way. I tried not to roll my eyes at Sam and Gideon. Once all the participants had cleared out, Sergeant Ramsey made a bee line for our table. I scrambled from my seat and stood up in order to properly meet the other sergeants. Sam and Gideon followed my lead and fell in place on either side of me.