Chapter 1
////// CryoSphere Unit –A-32 --- Critical Malfunction //////
////// Generator A – Offline //////
////// Generator B – Offline //////
////// Generator C – Critical Condition //////
////// Engage Emergency Release //////
////// Subject – Jarrod Williams – Reanimation Process Beginning //////
Ughhhh, what’s that blaring sound? I woke up to this thought, my eyes refusing to open at the time being. My thought was quickly followed by a loud hiss, which then proceeded to follow a small tumble onto the cold metallic floor, my vision faded for a moment and as it faded back in I noticed four people in the same position as myself, all coughing profusely at the sudden awakening.
Pushing myself to my feet I shakily stood and made my way towards the four other figures, as I approached they did their best to stand and raise a hand to salute. Why are we being woken now? Are we under attack? these thoughts echoed through my newly thawed brain as a small green dot started flashing in front of my vision. At least the BDS is still online focusing my vision on the flashing dot it opened into a Heads up Display, I’d taken minor injuries from falling the meter drop but that would fix itself in time.
Right now I was trying to remember who I was, a minor side effect to long term cryogenic freezing happened to be temporary amnesia. While focusing on remembering, the HUD in my vision had diagnosed the problem and had already began fixing it. The BDS was a marvel of technology, by combining human DNA with another set of DNA the body became able to distribute energy and strengthen any part of the body by using the different DNA as padding. Doing so allowed the ability to provide more attention to certain areas when needed. It had many other features but most were offline or restarting. My memory soon returned due to a series of short shocks to stimulate my brain.
“Captain!” A voice snapped me from examining my condition, looking towards the source I found one of the figures was in spasm on the ground, the culprit to the voice was tearing at the helmet of said figure, a small hiss followed the success as long red locks fell from the helmet before revealing a wide eyed soldier. “Christophe’s going into cardiac arrest; his sphere must have been damaged, requesting permission to begin emergency operations.”
“Granted” I ran over before sliding to a stop on my knees and lifting Christophe’s head, holding his head still I looked into his eyes, there was a small red flash from the corner. “His BDS is shutting down.”
“Captain we lack the materials to adequately restart the BDS” the first soldier shouted while yanking their helmet from their head, revealing a feminine face and another set of long red locks spilled forth. She brought her fist down onto Christophe’s chest with succession “Starting manual attempts. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…” she continued her attempts as I turned towards the remaining two soldiers. Each one stood at attention in front of their spheres.
“Helmets off boys” I spoke while standing up, they nodded quickly and with a set of synchronized hisses removed their helmets. A set of black and brown locks spilled forth, Cray and Max stood respectively in front of me, their hair covering their faces. “First and foremost,” I pulled my knife out; still as sharp as the day I was frozen. “Hair cut” I held the knife out for the two of them and Max took it before starting to slice through his hair. “Any luck on Christophe?” I asked spinning around to find the two red locked soldiers in a tight embrace.
“We- We lost him captain” Carly sobbed, she held the dead man in her arms, she held her brother in her arms. “I tried as hard as I could. But he just-“
I cut her off with a tap on the shoulder, “Permission to grieve granted.” Before I even finished she’d turned around and gripped the body tightly to her own, her cries echoing through the empty halls. Turning my attention to the HUD I spoke “Puck, scan the area for life forms” a small white wolf appeared in my vision and projected itself into the real world.
“Sir Jarrod there appears to be no life forms within the immediate area, however vibrations indicate there is a monotony of activity on the surface, and as such caution is advised.” The wolf wandered around the room, never straying from my gaze before dematerializing and disappearing back into my BDS. The Avatar system was amazing for general scanning of areas, warning systems and a general all round good buddy to have when in need of a talk. Looking over at Carly it was obvious her Avatar was trying to calm her down.
Ten minutes passed without much problem, Cray and Max finished their hair cut and gave the blade to Carly who followed by example and gave herself the trademark buzz cut, Christophe was given a little touch up as well. Finally the blade found its way back to my hands and I reached up towards the release hatch of my helmet. Removing the helmet I allowed my snow white hair to cover my vision, my blade following as copious amounts of hair fell to the ground.
Once finished I sheathed the blade and had the remaining three soldiers stand at attention “Since it’s obvious that something’s wrong I’ll keep this short and simple.” I paced down the small line, “We make our way to the armory, taking extreme caution on the way, and we’ve already lost more men than I ever want to lose so I won’t let anyone else die. Understood?”
A chorus of “Yes Captain” echoed through the room. Immediately afterwards we began our journey down the empty halls. The only sound present being our breathing and footsteps, a small beeping brought my attention to the BDS “Sir Jarrod, the next left will bring you to the armory; 15 meters ahead of you.”
“Thanks Puck” I smiled behind my helmet and began a crouched dash, from behind me I heard whispering and murmuring. Rounding the corner I left the whispers behind and made my way to the armory door. “Carly I need a lock pick.” I whispered as she saddled up next to me and produced a thin piece of technology. Max and Cray stood back at the corner and kept lookout, their whispers reaching my ears.
“Come on Max, it’s obvious this is a training simulation” Cray whispered to his buddy, “There’s no way Christophe could die that easily. That son of a bitch survived an explosion at point black using only a metal table as cover.” I placed the small pad of technology on the lock and with a press of the button it lit up and a loud sizzling noise filled the immediate area.
“That was when he had a functioning BDS system and not a failing one while going into Cardiac Arrest, now shut it, we don’t know what’s down here.” Max responded coldly, turning back and looking at Carly
“There’s no way he’s dead.” Cray responded before following his gaze as the lock finished frying.
“Come on boys” I pushed the door open and stepped inside, the racks were mostly barren, with very few weapons remaining. “Something must have happened for them to take most of the weapons.” I moved down the aisles before stopping at an assault rifle equipped with a suppressor and laser sight I picked the weapon up and immediately the ammo count popped up on my HUD. “Full mag M416 suppressed here” I called, strapping the weapon on my back I continued down the aisle towards the side arms, from beside me I heard similar call outs.
“Half Mag M416 Unsuppressed here” Max called from the next aisle. “Full Mag G-17 next to it.”
“Three Bullets in a L96 Suppressed over here,” Carly called out from the far aisle.
“I got one bullet in a M416” Cray called before a loud bang run through our ears. “Never mind empty M416, discarding due to lack of spare ammo.”
“Cray now is not the time to fuck around,” I growled before picking up my own Glock-17, its ammo counter displayed 3 bullets and so I did the appropriate call out. We continued down the aisles and soon had quite the stockpile of weapons and ammo, we even found a mag for the discarded M416 that Cray had shot off.
Next we made our way to the elevator, we were all doubtful that it still operated but it was our only way out of the underground base. The base was split up into five sections, North, South, East, West and Centre. We were asleep in the East wing and the elevator was in the West, we made our way to the center section without any problems whatsoever. The moment we stepped into the center was when everything went wrong.
“What the fuck is that smell?” Cray groaned while pretending to grip his nose through his helmet.
“That’s the scent of death,” Carly responded in time with Max and my own weapons cocking as we gathered around the doorway to the center section. Pushing the door open Max and I checked both sides while Carly and Cray slide ahead of us to check the center of the room. I made my way around the left side of the room while the others searched the rest of the large center room.
“Distribute 40% more points into leg muscles, take the needed points from anything you aren’t using” I commanded as I neared the door leading to the South wing I began to take points from my lesser used body parts and put them into my leg muscles. The best part about BDS was that it allowed soldiers the ability to strengthen any part of their body, however so at the cost of weakening another part.
Rounding the corner I peeked through the South Wing’s doors, a flashing light in the distance showed the remains of what used to be a soldier. Opening the door I activated my helmet’s flashlight and from the body I saw three more bodies, closer to the door but invisible previously due to lack of lighting. Moving into the hall I made my way to the closest soldier, the body was in horrible shape, large gashes trailed down the back of the dead soldier and upon turning it over I found the entire mid-section had been torn open and emptied. Looking down the hallway I found the contents of his mid-section, strewn about the entire hallway; the remains looked fresh.
While examining the remains I heard a small smash in the distance of the darkened hallway, a pair of red eyes appeared in the distance and I dropped the body. “Cray, Max, and Carly” I shouted without taking my eyes off the hidden creature.
“Bit preoccupied,” they all responded at once as the eyes lowered themselves to the floor. I unslung the M416 from my back and began backing up, the eyes never moved from their location near the floor. As I kept my gaze on the creature Puck appeared in front of me.
“Sir Jarrod I am advising you to run, Sir Max has encountered another one of these creatures, Carly and Cray have moved to back up Max as the creature is rapidly advancing.”
“Got it Puck” I responded as the wolf disappeared, holstering my assault rifle I backed up to the door, halfway to the door a gunshot rang through my hall and the eyes at the end leapt forward, revealing the creature in the flashing light.
It walked on all fours, hair covered the majority of its body and one of its eyes was flashing green. Bones were protruding from gashes in the body, it was scarred all over the back and blood dripped from its maw. It reminded me of a dog or a wolf, but with its size and its ability to still operate with this many sever injuries was worrying.
I turned and kicked off from the ground, launching myself the rest of the way and landing at the door, slamming it shut I heard the lock engage as the creature hit the doors, shaking the hinges alarmingly. “Captain, Cray’s wounded.” Max shouted as Carly and he carried Cray towards the West Wing exit. Snarls and scream echoed from behind us, the three other entrances emanating the hellish noises.
“Get him out of here!” I shouted, “To the elevator.” The three of them hobbled off towards the West exit and I followed behind them, my rifle raised high as a creature leapt through the East doors, the place we came from. Once my three crew members were through the door I took the shot at the creature, the bullet flew straight for its head but just before it collided the creature fell flat to the floor. I lowered the gun in shock as the beast set its gaze on me before beginning to run towards the doorway. “Puck take anything unused and put it into Strengthening the muscles needed for keeping a door shut” I screamed while slamming the door and following suit by slamming myself into the door, I stumbled back as the shock of the beast hitting the door almost send me flying.
“Sir Jarrod this will not hold more than 4 seconds” Puck spoke.
“Put it all in leg muscles then!” I shouted before turning to run, the feel of my legs shifting and changing as more muscle was shoved into the area confirmed my possible escape.
“Done” Puck responded as I leapt down the hall, the door exploded behind me and a gaggle of beast flung themselves into the room, not staying to just floor; three of them choosing the roof was a better option. Ahead of me I saw Max waving me towards the elevator, my feet burned, from the extreme usage straight after waking and I felt the breath of the beasts behind me, my hand leapt towards my chest and I pulled a grenade free, dropping the pin I left the grenade at my feet before leaping into the elevator as its doors shut.
“To the surface” I shouted as Max mashed the buttons to the elevator and we lurched upwards, a loud explosion echoed beneath us and shook the elevator but luckily we held fast and continued our ascent. “How’s Cray?” I asked while sitting down and sighing in relief.
“Little bit hurt, nothing much captain” Cray responded as the injury on his leg began to mend itself. By the time the elevator had arrived at the top floor his wound had all but disappeared and he could stand and walk on his own with relative ease. “Any idea what they were Captain?” Cray asked while testing the strength of his leg.
“No idea but the one on my end had fresh blood in its maw; the other teams are more than likely dead.” I stepped out of the opening doors and into a small reception area.
“Same on my end, it looks like we’re the only ones left. Although they seemed to resemble wolves don’t you think captain?” Cray responded walking past me and slapping me on the shoulder. “However with that all aside I didn’t think I’d ever see lightning leg Jarrod again,” he laughed with glee, playfully hitting me as Carly and Max stepped out of the elevators.
“Lightning Leg?” Max asked with a tilted head.
“Do you want to tell him Captain?” Carly asked with a similar smile, kicking me gently in the legs. I debated the idea for a moment before sitting down on the ground, although sitting was an understatement; I more so collapsed due to overexertion.
“Well while my leg muscles reconstitute I’ll definitely entertain.” I began rubbing my legs, “First and foremost however, destroy the elevator; we are not allowing those creatures into the world.” Cray smiled and threw the last grenade we had into the lift and I heard the heavy carriage plummet down towards the bottom. Turning back to Max I began my explanation, “You obviously know that there used to be just four of us before you joined up?” Max nodded “Well we all went through training together at a young age and well I excelled greatly in leg based BSD distribution.”
“Excelled is an understatement,” Cray laughed “He could outrun any of the commanders at age 10 and beat most of them in a fight due to the fact they couldn’t even hit near him. Out of the best of the best Captain was certainly the absolute best.”
“Captain is that true?” Max asked in amazement, Carly and I nodded slowly as I massaged my legs.
“Yeah it’s true, and because of it I used to have to go out on solo missions just because of my speed,” I shakily got to my legs. “But solo isn’t the way to go, as I figured out ten years later. Anyway let’s ship out and look at our location.” I made my way to the door and gave it a push; I was met with extreme resistance. “I need a hand here.” I spoke and was assisted by Cray; together we pushed the door open, before being showered with excess dirt and foliage.
“I don’t remember being in a forest?” Carly spoke as we all emerged, weapons at the ready.
“Puck where was the surface disturbance” I asked as we surveyed the forest around us.
“Approximately 2 kilometers east from your current location” Puck responded before cuddling up next to my leg, the sensation of his touch simulated by his access to my brain and nervous system. “I have to warn you though; energy levels are extremely low in all crewmembers present.”
“Thanks Puck” I smiled and reached down, touching the nonexistent wolf I ran my hands through his coat, simulating the feeling of fur before beginning to march in the direction he spoke of. “Soldiers we have a two kilometer walk eastward to civilization.” They all groaned in reply, “Energy levels are low so we must conserve energy, let’s set out immediately.”
15 minutes later we reached the edge of the forest, Cray had collapsed 3 minutes prior due to his extreme lack of energy from having to reconstitute his body. He was being carried by Carly and Max as we broke through the forest and into a large field; far in front of us we saw a bridge and past the bridge were primitive buildings. “Not long left now soldiers” I called with as much force as I could muster as we stumbled towards the bridge.
“Those houses look small and primitive,” Max called from behind me, “Reckon midgets live there?”
“Max shut it” Carly growled “Just help me carry Crayyyy” she trailed off before falling to the ground, Max soon followed her example and without anyone to help him Cray followed suit.
As I reached the bridge I heard three loud thuds from behind me, obviously meaning that the three of them had collapsed from energy deprivation. “Extended cryosleep is a killer isn’t it Puck” I noted as I fell to the side of the bridge.
“Sir Jarrod while I hate to admit negative health aspects I must agree with you there.” Puck appeared beside me and nuzzled my helmet gently. “Six bipedal creatures are approaching with increased pace.”
“Thanks Puck” I ran my hand through the wolf’s fur and forced myself to my feet, raising my hands above my head I stared at the approaching creatures, which froze at my sight. “We need help” I shouted as the world swayed and turned.
“Is every pony okay?” one of the creatures asked, I looked at the creature in question, the voice was feminine and for some reason the woman looked to be covered in a light layer of lavender fur.
“No energy, need food.” I groaned as the strength in my legs disappeared and I began to fall towards the stone bridge. However I never reached it as I felt myself lifting up and into the air. My crew members joined me in the air as my vision faded I heard the lavender woman calling to me. Her words fell on deaf ears as consciousness faded.
The next thing I knew I’d woken up in a hospital bed, cracking my eyes open I immediately noticed that my helmet wasn’t on. With a groan I pushed my body from the bed, halfway through my rise I was pushed back down onto the bed by a familiar force. “Let me sit up Puck” I groaned as he appeared and sat down on top of my body.
“I’m sorry Jarrod but I can’t do that, your body is still recovering from energy deficiency. Moving at this point could endanger your health permanently” Puck pushed my head back down onto the pillow with a paw.
“So where am I?” I looked around the room as much as I could, beds lay on both my sides, I wasn’t able to see who lay on the beds but from the legwear I pieced together that they were my crewmembers.
“You appear to be inside a hospital, picked up by the six women and brought here after you lost consciousness. Two days have passed and you have been fed daily as to reconstitute your lost energy and body fat.”
“So when can I move?” I asked.
“Sir Jarrod you are fully able to move, but I do not want you moving too much at the moment, your body is truly not recovered but with the way you move I know you will damage yourself greatly.”
“You’re becoming quite the conniving little bastard aren’t you?” I grinned wildly and ran my hands through Pucks’ fur, afterwards I continued pushing myself up, settling in a seated position; Puck had relocated in the meantime and now lay next to me. During my move the door had opened and six figures had entered the room and were gathered around my bed. As I noticed that they had gathered it had already been a good few seconds and I had sat there petting my invisible Avatar wolf, probably looking like a complete idiot.
“Hello” One of the voices spoke up and this gave me a reason to look up; the voice belonged to a slightly familiar purple face. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, may I ask what you are doing?” she motioned towards my hand, still in motion.
Taking a closer look and stopping my hand I noticed the six women, the one speaking to me who had declared her name as Twilight was covered in a light layer of fur and her ears weren’t human ears, they were more so horse ears and I’m sure I heard a few clinks of feet hitting the ground which resembled hooves. “Wow!” I exclaimed without even realizing it.
“So you are indeed sentient,” Twilight beamed and brought a quill and pad out of nowhere, she then proceeded to start writing on the pad. “Why were you inside the everfree? No why don’t you have a coat of fur? Actually where are your Hooves? Tail? What was that piece of headgear we took off of your head?”
The questions flew at me a mile a minute and I had to raise a hand in front of the bipedal horse woman, effectively silencing her. “How about a little bit of back and forth?” she nodded eagerly, “Okay then. Where in the hell are my teammates and I?”
“You’re inside PonyVille Hospital in Equestria.” Twilight answered as if it was obvious, “Now what is your name and your friend’s names?”
“My name and rank is Captain Jarrod Williams” I began and brought my hand up in a quick salute, the six horse people present tried to replicate my gesture with the same speed but failed. “My men are named and ranked accordingly, Private Max Proth, Sergeant Cray Davids and Carly Sterges.” Twilight continued to write accordingly and shot her gaze to the beds behind herself and myself. “Okay what are your names and species?” I noted that two of them had horns, another two had wings and the last two lacked any of the extra appendages.
From the left to the right they began speaking in unison “The Charming Rarity at your service, Unicorn. Oh I’m Fluttershy, Pegasus. Twilight Sparkle, Unicorn and student to Princess Celestia. Ahm AppleJack, Earth Pony. Pinkie Pie, Earth Pony and super-duper party pony. And I’m Rainbow Dash, Fastest flier in all Equestria.”
Once the introductions were over, the five other ponies joined in on the questioning. I zoned out for most of the questions, only paying attention to Twilight’s questions and answers since they were the most scientific and explained the most. However as the day dragged on I began to bore from the constant questioning, I’d learnt what I needed to know about this world for now. No humans remained as far as these six knew and instead the world had four prominent sentient races. Griffons, Dragons, Diamond Dogs and Ponies; who I was currently engaged in conversation with.
Then with a loud set of groans I began to hear my other squad mates’ rise from their slumber, “Captain, permission to feel like shit.” Max complained.
“Granted, with extreme pleasure” I replied as I took to my feet, shaking slightly I moved past the ponies I had now grown to know even if only a small bit and towards Max’s bed. “How you holding up Private?” I asked once reaching the side.
“I feel like my entire body is numb and Arthur is telling me I’m not allowed to move.” Max responded with a weak smile.
“Don’t worry about Arthur’s recommendations, just take it slow. I want you back on your feet and training within the week.” I felt the six mares had all but disappeared as I cared for my squad mates. Since partnering up together we’d only ever known each other and we sort of became a complete family, I felt like the father and as such I needed to put the care of my squad first.
“Come off it Cap.” Cray responded from next to Max, he swung off his bed and got to his feet. “We all know the hell you are going to put us through for passing out in an unknown location, with unknown inhabitants.” He peeked past me at the six now stunned ponies, one of which had abandoned one pad and now held four in her magic, madly scribbling anything and everything we said and did. “Speaking on unknown inhabitants,” Cray reached for his nonexistent rifle only to pull back an empty hand.
“Don’t worry Cray,” I waved my hand, dismissing his thoughts of aggression. “These are all civilians, from my hours of recon I learnt that the only soldiers they have protect their monarchs.”
“I wonder when Regicide will occur.” Carly laughed from behind our group, shocking many of the ponies and sending one behind the bed to hide. She flung the screen away and stood before our group, “Thanks for checking on me captain, not like I was awake the entire time, waiting and pleading for you to come and check on me.”
“I don’t need to check on you because you’re my second in command, I knew you’d be fine, plus when you’re pleading in a whisper at that vicinity I will hear it.” I turned and smiled, happy to see her alright and able to make advances.
“Hang on please” Twilight cried, now holding no less than six pads and sporting a head of hair which was quickly devolving into a shamble of mess. “I can’t take notes on every pony at once.”
“Speaking of notes,” I murmured before bringing Puck into the world. “Puck, what is their DNA composition?” I asked and watched the wolf spin around and scan the girls in question.
“Sir Jarrod they appear to all contain exponential amounts of Equine DNA, the Pegasus and Unicorn contain unknown DNA. But something concerns me.” Puck turned towards me and took a moment before finishing, “They have BDS levels of Human DNA.”
“You mean they are animals with BDS chips in them?” I asked as the girls watched in shock, wondering who I was talking to.
“I’m not detecting any BDS chips from within their bodies; however I am certain with my results.” Puck then disappeared back into my head and I looked up at the girls.
“Sorry about that I just had to check something.” I rubbed the back of my head and tried to change the subject before the girls could even dare to ask the question. “Actually where are our helmets and gear?” I prayed my subject change would be effective.
“Oh those helmets and metal contraptions?” Twilight asked to which I nodded in reply. “They’re at my house; I was examining them while you recovered for the last two days.”
“Two Days!” Max, Carly and Cray cried in shock.
“Is there an echo in here?” I asked in agitation which shut them up. “Would we be able to retrieve those and then be on our way?”
“No you can’t leave!” Twilight leapt in front of the door none of us had made a move towards. “I won’t let you leave, I need to gather information. You are a completely new species and I need to discover everything about you.”
My smile disappeared immediately, replaced by a dark face that caused even my squad mates to shy away from. Puck put it all in legs; I need to make an example. “Are you telling me you aren’t going to let us leave, are you trying to imprison us?”
“No…” Twilight stumbled over her words for a moment. “I don’t want to imprison you at all but I need to find out if you are safe to walk around Ponyville and until I’m satisfied with my research I can’t let you roam free bec-“ Twilight stopped short as I bent my legs and disappeared from her vision for a moment, reappearing behind her and tapping her on the shoulder.
“Don’t try to imprison us for your research.” I growled like a predatory beast. “We’ve been imprisoned and researched before,” I motioned to my crew to emphasize my point. “And trust me Twilight, the feelings we hold for people who attempt to repeat what we’ve gone through are not pleasant.”
“But please I just need to do a little research, we could learn so much from each other.” She begged, turning to me and grabbing onto my arms, hugging me closely. “I don’t want to hurt anyone but I need to document this for Celestia.”
“I don’t believe we ever said we wouldn’t help you in your research,” Carly spoke up, her voice seemingly strained as she watched Twilight cling to me. “But don’t you ever try to imprison us,” she disappeared much like I had, however she was still visible to my eyes as she stopped and reappeared in front of Twilight and myself.
“First and foremost we need to get our gear back.” Cray got between Twilight and Carly, as to prevent a fight “You wolves, always so territorial.” He grumbled as he looked down at Twilight, “We just don’t trust that much high-tech gear in the hands of a race that still uses a quill and pad.”
“Oh Okay” Twilight answered, seemingly losing all previous anger and determination to keep us. “We’ll check you out of the hospital and then go to get your stuff.” She psyched herself back up by looking over her previous notes as everyone/pony filed out of the room past her and me.
As Rainbow Dash passed by she looked me over with a curious gaze, “You’re pretty fast for an earth pony or human as you claim.” She took a step out of the door, “When you’re done with egghead’s research come and find me, I want to race.”
Finally it was just Twilight and I in the room, “After you.” Twilight took my gesture with a small blush and quickly stepped past me before I followed her out the door, further down the hallway I could see and hear the other five mares questioning Cray and Max. Carly however was standing just outside the door.
“How come you never do that for me.” She complained, trying to leap at me and hug me. I quickly sidestepped and continued down the hallway.
“I thought you’d remember from when we’d been on our two man mission.” I looked back at her, “We don’t associate in that manner until discharged from the service.”
“But we’re in the service for life.” She groaned while continuing to try and grab me.
“Exactly. That means no more dead officials because we went off to knock boots.”
“But you’ve got to admit it was good,” Carly gave up and began nudging me gently with her elbow.
“Sure,” I groaned. “I will admit it wasn’t unpleasant,” from ahead of us I heard the frantic scribbling of a research mad unicorn as she walked backwards and watched our encounter. My face lit up bright red and I passed by Twilight in a hurry, “Last time I ever speak openly about private events” I groaned once I reached a suitable distance.
From behind I heard whispers between Twilight and Carly, a few gasps and “No Way” followed suit as I blocked my ears with my hands. “First day and I already wish I was back in cryosleep.”