chapter 1

she was on her knees with her hands tied behind her back

in the middle of a graveyard. a man in a checkered suit

stood smoking a cigarette with about three guards. if she

remembered right, they were great khans. the man pulled

out his gun and pointed it at her head.

" from where you're kneeling, it must seem like an 18

karat run of bad luck. but the truth is, the game was

rigged from the start." he said. the last thing she saw was

him pulling the trigger.

I woke up with sweat running down my forehead. some

of it got into my eyes and stung like hell. The first thing i

saw when my eyes unblurred from the sweat was a celing

fan on it's last legs of life, swing side to side with every

move. the celing it was nailed on was a brown wood that

hadn't seen care for years on end, maybe. the same thing

could be said for the walls, which were the same type of

wood. there was medical equipment around with ivs and

tweezers and the like. i looked over and there was a old

man sitting in a chair. i moved to sit up on the bed i was

laying on, and every bone and muscle in my body ached

and cracked.

" woah, take it easy." the old man said.

"who are you?" i asked.

" my name is Doc mitchell. i'm the one who patched you

up." Doc said.

" how long have i been out?"

" going on a few days now."

" a few days? where am i?" i asked.

" you're in the town of good springs." doc told me. the

name of the town did not ring a bell.

" how did i get out of that grave?" i asked.

" one of them fancy securitrons found you and dug you

out of that grave." doc said.

" do you have a name?" he asked me.

" my name?"

" yes, your name."

" it's..." i had to think for a moment, because i truly could

not remeber my name. then, it came to me.

" it's hayden." i said.

" can't say that's what i would have picked for you, but if

that's you name, that's your name."

" doc, what exactly was wrong with me?"

" i found a bullett in your brain."

" a bullett?" then i remembered some one in a checkered

suit pointing a gun at my head.

" now i want you to get up and walk over to that vigor

tester machine there and give it a whirl." when i did, doc

sent me on my way.