Dear Secret Agent,
Based upon the concept of Aryan purity, Ellyssa is genetically engineered to be the perfect soldier: stronger, intelligent, unemotional, and telepathic. Her purpose? To eradicate inferior beings. A task she's spent her whole life training and conditioning for under the strict guidance of her creator.
Then she runs into the epitome of inferiority--a dark-haired renegade. He speaks to her by pushing his thoughts of a place she's never visited into her mind. An inconceivable possibility since she is the one who usually does the psychic picking. Not only that, but he's clearly not from her society. A substandard person who should not possess such an extraordinary gift.
Yet he does, and his unspoken words initiate a catalyst. Ellyssa finds herself questioning her indoctrination and, even worse, feeling emotions. Confused and afraid her creator will discover her mental breakdown Ellyssa runs away from her life and embarks on a journey that leads to the realization there is more to her than what she was bred to be.
Unfortunately, her creator has other plans.
PERFECTION is a young-adult dystopian complete at 99,000 words.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
***
Ellyssa, a.k.a. Subject 62, sprinted through the dark alley after escaping from her long-term captors who she’d thought of as family for eighteen years. Not a family in the traditional sense, but family nevertheless.
The sirens piercing the night an hour earlier had finally faded, but she still didn’t stop. Pumping her legs harder, she carried onward with the messenger bag thumping against her right thigh. Her mind raced as it flipped through the map she’d memorized. Turn right here, left there. She had to reach the train that would take her away from Chicago. There she might find safety…or her death.
She slipped behind a metal dumpster and blended within the shadows. Heart slamming inside her chest, she waited for it to quiet. Against her expectations, it didn’t.
She knew, and knew well, the physiological responses from physical exertion--she and the others were in top physical condition and trained to fight--but the ongoing racing of her heart was caused from something different. Another new sensation she hadn’t felt before.
Anxiety?
Her body was capable of feeling such useless emotions, but unlike ordinary citizens, she was taught to control and suppress them. Emotions served as a hindrance to their goal as soldiers. But since her encounter with the dark-haired prisoner at The Center, all that had changed.
Interesting, but she didn’t like it. It made her feel…unsure and…paranoid. She edged to the corner and peered into the alley. Dark shadows wavered slightly, but nothing solid moved.
