Chapter 1: Silas Armstrong
Have you ever wondered just how alone you can be in the world? Constantly running, fearing for your life that anything can happen any moment? While you're asleep or awake? As far as people that have superpowers and their origin stories go, mine's a little bit different. I was asleep one night, and in my dream, I was walking through a lush, green field. I had eventually come across a man in a black dress suit, who had the most blinding light behind him and when he turned, I couldn't make out his face. The man uttered one word, " Run." I woke up with a hole in my ceiling, and part of my shirt burned off in the breast area. Dogs in my neighborhood barked like mad, and neighbors came to check on us. I later found out that multiple areas across the world had freak lightning storms like the one in my area that night. As shocked as I was, my parents were even more scared. My parents had taken me to a doctor to see if I was dying or if I had anything wrong, but all test results came back good and were perfectly fine. In fact, I had grown abs and felt so energetic, I felt like I could run thirteen marathons and not even be tired. Everything was fine until about two weeks after the incident.
I was sitting in Algebra class, taking a test. I was the first one finished and had to wait for everyone else to be done before could socialize. I felt like I had been waiting there for forty-five minutes before I noticed that the clock hadn't moved at all, and no one was blinking, or even breathing. I tried moving frantically about the room to see if anyone would look at me, but no one would budge, not even the guy who I had pushed out of his chair. Even then, he didn't move an inch. I ran out of the classroom and heard electric noises trail behind me, which, in fact, there WAS lightning behind me. It only happened when I ran, and when I ran my clothes and shoes caught ablaze. All of this was so bizarre, I had trouble believing that this wasn't a dream. I tried pinching myself because that's supposed to work when you want to wake yourself up, but no such luck was on my side. I was experiencing so much anxiety and stress all at once that I felt like I was going to pass out. While I still had consciousness, I decided to research this in the only thing sensible: comic books. Turns out, I had the exact same powers as DC's The Flash. You're probably thinking "oh so this is a story about how this kid becomes a superhero and saves the world." Well, as I said, my story is a little different. I was eventually found out by some classmates that hunt for "clout" too much on the internet, and word got to other classmates, parents, authorities, and finally the government. This was all back when I was fifteen years old, and I'm now seventeen, running from the governments of the world. People either hate me, want me captured and want to study me, or they support me and the occasional help that I give to anyone in need, say for fires or bank robberies.
Although people do support me, it scares me that eventually, the people after me will someday be able to catch me and see what makes me tick. I've been on the run for two years, trying to survive and seeing my family and friends whenever I can. Since that day, I've been doing what the man in my dream told me to do, run. I am Silas Armstrong; the fastest man alive.
Chapter 2: Emery Labs
I was somehow able to get a small job at a McDonald's down in Kentucky; the manager and staff all supported me and wanted me to live my life free from the government. Luckily, I was able to work in the back and didn't want to look too long at the windows or at the seats in the front of the restaurant in fear of anyone recognizing me.
This one guy at work named Josh, a broad-shouldered giant of an African-American man was particularly excited to be working with the fastest man alive.
"I know of a place you can go, for help, I mean," Josh said.
"What do you mean? Like, a place where I can get a handle on my powers?"
"Yeah, a place called Emery Labs. They specialize in stuff like biological abnormalities and stuff like that. They might be able to help you. They're stationed in Miami, Florida, but you should be able to get there by dusk."
A long silence of pondering the advice filled the air between Josh and me, until a loud thud landed outside, followed along with the noise of choppers and police sirens. A man's voice called out through a megaphone, telling everyone in the building to stand down and give me up. I had no idea how they knew I worked there, let alone me even being in the place. Maybe someone ratted me out to the police because they wanted me captured, or maybe they caught a glimpse of my face and called them for fear of their life. The civilians cleared out of the lunch room out of sheer panic and my boss, Tony, told me "Silas, run as far away from here as possible"
after giving me three hundred dollars in advance pay. With the money in hand, I ran out of the backdoor and only looked back once to see Josh and Tony being pinned down to the ground and cuffed. I made it all the way to the I-95 highway and booked it for Miami, Florida. My job there didn't last long, but I hope none of the authorities had badly hurt Josh, Tony, or anyone else working with me. Obviously, the law wasn't able to keep up with me for long, so it's easy to run from them. But being human, knowing that our race can adapt to anything in just a matter of time scared me.
"I hate having to run away for so long. I want to fight, but I can't make my situation any worse than it is already. If people weren't so afraid of the unknown then maybe I could live an actual life and not the reality I live in now."
I thought about visiting that Emery Labs that Josh told me about, but I had no idea if it was legitimate or not. Who knows if the government contracted them to tranquilize me and send me to the authorities while I was sleeping? I compared it to S.T.A.R Labs of the Flash comics because all of what was happening to me was too similar to his backstory, so I took a leap of faith and ran to Emery Labs, seeking some form of help.
As soon as I landed at Emery, I felt some vibe, the kind of vibe where you know stuff happens, but it's not for the wrong reasons. I entered the building, walked around for a bit and didn't see any signs of life anywhere. I turned a corner, and saw some sort of control panel, but was instantly apprehended and given a sedative.
When I woke up, it felt like dozens of machines were connected to my body, tracking my vitals and surveying me constantly. A man and a woman loomed over me, observing me and poking at my face. I later found out their names, Trish and Kyle. The woman, Trish, was a biochemical engineer. She was young, with dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, and a petite figure. The man, Kyle, was the lab's tech guy. He had a short haircut, black hair, a trimmed beard, and was somewhat stocky. This whole scenario was way too similar to Flash waking up at S.T.A.R Labs. Now that I think of it, everything happening to me was almost exactly like The Flash, except I wasn't struck by lightning in a CSI lab.
"Vitals seem normal, but the rate of his cell regeneration is off the charts, " Trish said.
"Yeah, I'd think that being struck by lightning would either kill you or make everything in your body operate faster, but what do I know, I'm just the tech guy, " said Kyle.
When I sat up, both Kyle and Trish hurried towards me with doctor tools and such instruments.
"He's awake. Call Dr. Cortez and get him to the lab NOW, " Kyle ordered.
Trish pushed me back down, "No, you have to stay down, we're not done analyzing you yet."
A complete stranger telling me to lay back down in a strange place didn't seem too inviting. I tried to run, but before I even registered it, there was a metal wall in the doorway and I ran into it.
"Oh god are you okay?!" asked Trish, worried to hell.
"Nah, I'm okay. Just a mild concussion is all, haha."
Kyle walked in with a tablet that had my vitals and test results on it, "Believe it or not, we're trying to help you, " Kyle said. "and see if we can get an understanding on how you can run so fast. We have figured out, though, that your cells are in a chronic state of cellular regeneration. You're like a real-life Flash, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I studied some comics of his and apparently, I have all of his powers, but I haven't tested them yet." I said.
A Spanish man with an American accent burst into the room with a black leather briefcase. He was wearing a black dress suit jacket, a dark blue T-shirt underneath, and jeans. He was a tall, bulky man with light-colored skin, and had a black mustache. It was hard to believe that this man was a doctor, let alone a man of science.
"Trish, Kyle, is he awake, " he said, out of breath. "Is he okay? What have you found?"
Trish answered, "Yes sir, he's fine. We have found out that his cells are in a chronic state of cellular regeneration, and need to do more tests now that he's awake."
"We should treat him though, a little before you walked in, he tried running and slammed his body into the metal doors. Might have a concussion, " Kyle added.
"Come, Silas, sit down over here with me, " said Dr. Cortez. He lead me over to his workbench and sat me down for a talk.
"Listen, Silas. As you may or may not know, what happened in your neighborhood happened all around the world. You were struck by lightning and it gave you super speed, but who knows how many other people were struck by the same lightning and gave them powers. You are one of a kind and I know that for the past two years, it's been hard running from the law. I know it's not much, but you can stay here. The authorities won't be able to find you here. And while you stay, we can figure out just how your powers work and how you can use them for good. We want to help you, Silas. Let us." I left a few hours after the offer to stay at Emery Labs after Trish ran a few more tests on me. I had no idea what to think at that point. I had been offered a chance to stay somewhere and not have to be a drifter after so long. To relieve stress, I ran between states for a few hours thinking. 'How could I trust them, ' I thought. 'It would be nice to sleep in a warm bed, and being able to see what I can do would be good. Even if they want to help me, how can I be so sure they weren't put up to this? And what Dr. Cortez said, about there being a possibility that there were more people like me. Would I have to track them down and stop them? Would I have to become my own version of The Flash in order to stop them? I had no idea. The next morning, I ran back to Emery Labs and I took the offer. As long as I stayed there, I would let them run tests on me. And this is my beginning; this is my origin story. I've had to run from the world government since I was only fifteen and today, I live in the secure walls of Emery Labs in Miami, Florida. My name is Silas Armstrong, and I am the fastest man alive.
TO BE CONTINUED