Junebug

Prologue

I stood in front of the glass doors that let me see into the small reception area of the lab building on campus. In my hands was a piece of paper- more of a tear-off from a flier, inquiring about test subjects for a new VR technology some of the students were working on. The deal was that if I was accepted as a tester I would get $1,200 per week of testing and hey, as a broke college student, that sounded like a pretty solid deal.

I took a deep breath and opened the doors, immediately being greeted with the hum of the dim fluorescent lights. Looking to my left, I spotted a circle of chairs with a small stand-up sign that read 'Tester waiting area' with two more people sitting on opposite sides of the circle, minding their own business.

I hesitated for a moment, glancing back down at the flier before finding an empty seat and starting my wait. Interviews started at 6 and I watched the clock on the wall slowly tick on from 5:55...5:56...5:57.

3 minutes passed and already I was nervous, bouncing my leg silently as I scrolled on my phone. $1,200 was a lot for someone who's been struggling to afford eating all week, so the idea of somehow bombing the interview process wracked my nerves.

What even was the interview process? Did I need to have certain qualifications? Were the interviews just because they thought they were going to have more contenders?

I sighed as I pulled up Instagram, browsing through posts from various friends and celebrities I followed. A soft smile graced my face as familiar faces graced my feed. It wasn't family, it wasn't even friends, it was Task-force 141. Call of Duty was one of the few things getting me through college at this point, those silly little military men and their shenanigans worming their way into most of my waking thoughts throughout the day.

Was I obsessed? Maybe. But those men gave me more comfort than any real person ever has. The Instagram post was an announcement for another installment of Modern Warfare, a series that has held me captive for longer than is healthy. A soft smile graced my face as I contained my excitement- that's something my roommate would have to deal with when I got back from this place, whether I got the job or not.

My attention was quickly drawn from my phone to a door opening, revealing a tall blonde woman with her hair pinned up hastily into a ponytail. She wore a traditional lab coat, but I recognized her as Professor Jones who was just overseeing the tech majors while they worked on this mystery project. Her piercingly blue eyes scanned over everyones' faces before muttering something along the lines of 'I thought there'd be more...' and putting on an exaggerated smile, showing off the chip between her two front teeth.

"Welcome guys, gals, and other pals." She started, catching the attention of the other two who evidently hadn't noticed her.

"I'm professor Jones, I don't know if any of you have seen me around campus but I'm a biology professor, and I'm the lead administrator in charge of this project. Would y'all mind coming with me?" She motioned towards the door and the three of us stood, awkwardly shuffling before deciding the order in which we would all walk.

In the front was a boy with a black face mask covering the lower half of his face, so the only thing visible were his wide, chocolate-brown eyes that were half-covered by a fringe of lighter fluffy brown hair. Behind him was a girl with medium-length black hair tied back in a pink ribbon. Tendrils of hair hung on either side of her face, dyed pink in a raccoon tail style. And last was me. I held my gaze low as the boy led us through the door and down the hall. Professor Jones followed closely behind me, instructing the boy to stop at a door to the left.

"The two of you wait out here, and I'll be calling each of you in to interview momentarily." She stated, the girl and I both nodded in response as she led the boy into the room and shut the door with a soft click.