When Frost told us that we were Changed I knew it had to be true. Ever since that meteorite crashed I had felt different and I know Tess did too.

As I listened to Frost talk about us saving the world and that our lives would be better, I had to admit, I did feel slightly tempted, for Tess's sake. I have always tried to protect her, no matter what but circumstances have made things difficult.

We lived in an orphanage in the slums of our town, which was basically everywhere but where we lived was the worst part. The Government poured all the money into the war, which of course we knew nothing about, leaving all the towns and cities fighting for every scrap of food, every piece of land. The schools were hardly schools anymore. But through all this I had always tried to protect Tess. It was the last thing I had promised our parents.

When the guards rushed in and dragged Tess away from me, something inside snapped. I tried to dive for her but the guards caught me and forced my flailing arms down to my sides. When I saw the blonde guard holding Tess pull out a gun; I felt panic rise up in me.

"Tess!" I screamed. She stood there wide eyed and frozen in terror. I struggled against the guards, trying desperately to free myself. They forced me down to my knees. "Please," I cried. "Don't hurt her, I'm begging you." Frost stood there looking at me.

"Why shouldn't I?" He said. "You refused to save people from dying so why should we save your sister if we're all going to die anyway?"

"Please, she means everything to me. Don't kill her," I begged. Frost nodded to the blonde guard. He loaded a bullet into the gun. Now it was loaded pointing directly at Tess's head. Oh god, oh god, oh god...

"Edward!" Tess whimpered, tears pouring out of her eyes. I was desperate to save her. She expected me to save her.

"I'll do whatever you want, just please let her go!"

"Will you help us then?" Frost asked. "Will you not resist no matter what we need to do, even to your sister?" I hesitated. How could I make a promise like that? I would be just getting Tess out of one trouble and into another. Frost noticed my hesitation and shook his head. The guard's finger moved towards the trigger and was about to pull it. "One," Frost said. I thrashed against the guards but one of them slapped me. "Two."

"I'll do it!" I yelled. "I'll do it. Whatever you wan to do to me, I'll do it. Just let her go!" But Frost shook his head.

"Much too late for that I'm afraid," he said with fake sympathy. "Three."

Then something happened.

Something I can't really explain. I felt a buzzing in my ears as a screamed and golden light exploded in my eyes. Time seemed to slow down as the guards and Frost were blown backwards as a golden sphere encased me and Tess, the only one who hadn't seemed affected. I was startled by what had just happened, as was everybody.

The guards recovered quickly and tried to shoot the sphere but the darts rebounded off, the only sign that they were hitting at all was the ripples spreading all over the dome. My arms were burning. I suddenly felt utterly exhausted. My strength failed and the golden shield faded, leaving me physically shaking. Frost was smiling cruelly as he struggled to his feet while Tess stared at me in shock.

"Excellent," Frost said. "That is just the result we wanted." I didn't have time to think what he meant by that as I felt completely drained. I collapsed on the floor.

"Ed!" I heard Tess screaming. I shook violently, not having the strength to do anything. What was going on?

 "Take him to the infirmary and run some strength tests," Frost said. "Take her back to the isolation room and set up a live feed to the infirmary. I want her to see everything. We might get some valuable results from that." I felt myself being lifted up and carried out of the room. The last thing I saw was Tess screaming and being dragged in the opposite direction.

***

I came round in a different room with men and woman dressed in white clothes rushing around me. I had tubes in my forearms giving me liquids. Wires were stuck to my chest and my forehead. Next to me, screens showed my heart beat, blood pressure, temperature, oxygen levels and a bunch of other things that I didn't know what they were monitoring. The oxygen levels looked dangerously low to me but a tube under my nose was forcing me to breathe.

The nightmares I had were still lingering in my mind. I couldn't wake up from them and they scared me to death, like they did everytime I closed my eyes. But this time they were much more enhanced, much more vivid and much more real. They were the same every night. Tess always asks about them but I never tell her. Better to shield her from them and act like I was fine for her...and plus, I couldn't bare to talk about them.

Whatever they done to me while I was out made them a lot scarier but the worst thing was I could actually feel the pain of being stabbed over and over again. I could feel the sea against my skin as I tried to stop Tess from drowning. These nightmares made me feel physical pain as well as mental.

I tried to move. I wanted to leap out of this bed, tear the wires and tubes off me and run and find Tess but I couldn't move. My body felt like lead and was aching badly. I felt light headed and the golden light of my shield kept dancing in my eyes, making it hard to see. One of the women saw that I was awake a hurried to tell what I guess was the head doctor who was watching the screens and writing stuff down on his clipboard.

He was a very thin man with yellowish skin and a dark black beard. "Hello Edward," he said as he walked over to my bed. "My name is Dr. Brand. I am in charge of your future operations, strength recovery and your medical team. We have run some tests that we call 'strength' tests while you were knocked out."

"What are strength tests?" I croaked. My throat felt like sand paper. "What do you mean 'future operations'?"

"The strength tests test how strong your ability is. How much the SRT affected you," the doctor said not even bothering to look at me. "And your future operations...well..."

"What were the results?" I whispered trying to get off topic. By the sound of it, future operations didn't look good for me or Tess.

"The results are none of your concern," Dr. Brand said. "All you need to know is that they were strong, very strong."

"What do you plan on doing with me and my sister?" My voice rattled. Finally the doctor looked up from his clipboard.

"Whatever it takes to stop this war with the Changed. The Government has protected us from them but we need better weapons. You are the key to that," he said gravely.

"Why us? Why did you pick two innocent kids to do your sick experiments on?"

"Because of your parents," Dr. Brand said simply.

"What?" I whispered.

"Take him to the recovery room!" Dr. Brand barked at a couple of nurses. They grabbed the ends of my bed and wheeled me out of the room, two men carrying all the monitors and equipment behind us.