As expected, the first nurse stabbed him in the left bicep and drew blood. He winced at the feeling but got over it after she shoved a lollipop into his mouth. She applied a gel to the spot where he was poked and nudged him on. His blood was taken by a man in white and the vial disappeared to some other location. The second station was a short distance away and took some time to reach simply due to the congestion of other kids. Once there, he was stabbed again in his left arm. It felt great. The shot was pumped into his blood and he was nudged along. While he waited to reach the third station, a sack was stuffed into his arms. It was a black duffle bag. Afterwards, he gave his name to a woman with a clipboard and she walked off. Just as he reached the third station, she returned with his tag. He thanked her, then knelt down to check the contents.

Inside, as expected, was an assortment of necessary goods to live. But, the goods were on the light side. Clothes, toothbrush and paste, some food to last a few days, survival gear for a forest adventure, a notebook and a pack of pens, a heavy-duty flashlight with chargeable batteries, the battery charger, a hand map of the city, a combat knife, and rope. Rope? He shook his head, pocketed the knife, and closed the sack.

When he stood back up, he was immediately instructed to lean into some kind of apparatus with a robot arm. He felt queasy after just looking at it, but leaned into the thing anyways. A doctor told him to close his eyes and remain still. After a few seconds, and some mechanical buzzing, he felt a cold sensation on the back of his skull followed by a feeling of pressure on his neck. He winced at some pinching, then was told he was finished. He stood up and reached for the spot he felt the pinching. A doctor snatched his arm, stopping him.

“Don’t touch it for a few minutes. The gel is still closing the wound.” Wound? Oh right, the implant. He nodded and accepted the NIC he received at the end of the station. As he waited for the next one, he asked a nurse if it was okay to put the NIC on. She checked his wound and helped him do it carefully. He accessed the NIC interface as instructed by the nurse and found his vision flooded with digital information. It was a virtual display, pasted right into his view.

“Cool. Thanks ma’am. I can handle it from here.” Assuming it followed the same rules of HUDs in video games, he knew how it worked. He moved his right hand and indeed, it followed his commands. He tapped on a few different icons to get the gist of where everything was, then opened up the map program. Following Josey’s advice, he checked his tag and entered the short address for his living quarters. It popped up quickly. To his dismay, it was a thirty-minute walk from the entrance to the city. Oh well. Better than five. A longer distance meant it would be easier to deter a tail.

Using the application, he mapped out a route that would take him around the city a few different ways. It’d take him about three hours to make it to his living quarters. That was fine. Along the way, there were a few different shops and food locations for him to stop at. He also marked three phone stores. By that time, he had reached the fourth station. He looked to his left and Josey made eye contact with him from a separate walkway right beside the medical stations. That tunnel was likely so the Handlers could monitor their kids and make sure they didn’t do anything dumb.

When he was called, he stepped up onto a rubber pad and dropped his sack on the other side. He glanced around and noticed a small portion of kids were being pulled out of line ahead of him, and a few others were already off to the side. They likely got the burning feeling, or whatever. Though, if it was an “advantage”, why were they stepping out of line?

Focusing on himself again, he took off his NIC and set it down on a table to his right. Then, following instructions, he stripped down to nothing and held out his arms. A nurse checked his body, made some notes on a board, then made him get dressed again. Next, the hard part. A vial came from the same direction his blood had been sent. It was filled with a light blue liquid and the nurse didn’t hesitate to load it into an injection gun. Once it was primed, she turned and made Jake kneel. The needle a punched into the back of his neck, just below the implant, and he felt the cool fluid pump into him.

At first there was nothing. He told the nurse he felt fine and was told to continue, so he grabbed his things and moved on. However, just as he caught up with the line, his body erupted. Every nerve in his body felt as though it was on fire. His bones felt as though they were being snapped and crunched, and his breathing became extremely labored. He could hardly stand. Immediately, he looked to Josey. She made eye contact and put a finger to her lips.

“Stay quiet? You’re fucking mad.” Jake clenched his teeth and staggered forward, barely able to keep it together. Every step was like he was walking on burning glass. Every breath took more air out of him. His vision blurred and he found it difficult to stay conscious. He couldn’t think and he felt as though his body was being torn from the inside out. Josey met him at the other end and pulled out a syringe from her pocket. It was small, but whatever she stabbed him with began to immediately ease the pain.

“Looks like we have an advantage.” She seemed elated. He snarled as she forced him to continue walking.

“Screw this advantage… Just give me more of whatever that just was.”

“No can do. More than one dose will definitely kill you. Remember the plan. I’ll tell you more later.” Josey dragged Jake along until whatever she gave him went into full effect. He still felt like death, but it was numbing the pain he felt. But, that was all it was doing. Numbing the pain. He knew his body was still on fire, but the injection was simply putting his nerves to sleep. He’d feel it all again shortly.

“Here. Put these in your pack. Every hour, take one dose. Do not take more than one per hour, or you will die.” She passed him a small container with syringes, and there were four of them. Jake quickly stuffed them into his pack, along with his Tag.

“I’m giving you enough to reach your house. Once you get there, drop your stuff and go to bed. No detours or you’ll regret it.” She didn’t seem to be lying about that one, so he nodded and went along with it. He didn’t have much of a choice but to listen though, not any more.

“Remember the plan and don’t deviate unless it’s life or death. Got it?” She said. Jake nodded and hefted his duffle bag over his shoulders. He adjusted the knife in his pocket to make it easy to grab then set his pace. The kids who had already finished screening were all being herded towards a massive door. Beyond, Jake could see his district. It wasn’t as alive as the sixth district, but it wasn’t as dead as the fifth. As he passed through the last angled section onto a ramp, two large white numbers came into view on the walls: 4. He was in sector four.

“It’s all on you from here on. Good luck. What’s your name, by the way?” Josey stopped Jake by the exit and a short distance down the ramp. He paused and hesitated. Then, he checked his ID.

“Sparks, apparently,” he said. Sparks? What kind of a boring name was that?

“Sparks, huh? Sparks, when was the last time you got your blood drawn?” Josey asked an odd question. At first, Jake had to think about it but then he remembered during his physical six months ago, the doctor drew his blood. It was a bit more than usual. Two vials, instead of one.

“A few months ago, for a physical,” he answered. Josey hummed and nodded.

“I see. Well, get going. Don’t die.” Josey turned on her heels and waved her hand as she just walked away. Jake watched her back for as long as he could, but the longer he watched, the more he felt dependent on her. In this new world, she was the first face he knew, and the only familiar figure.

“Damn...” He muttered. Turning on his heels, he took the last few steps up the ramp and out into the city. Just as Josey had predicted; he was met with blood. And as he accepted his new word, he shed his old self. With each step he took towards the exit, he was given a reminder of who he now was.

Spark, a participant of the bloodiest experiment ever conducted.