Chapter 3
I dreamt of darkness. After all that pain I felt, I thought I was finally dead. I thought I was finally free. Free from living with the guilt, the pain the anger, the fear... everything. I expected the light. I heard something soft and familiar calling to me. I opened my eyes and found that I was back in my room. The birds chirped outside in the morning light that filtered from my windows. Funny, I now liked my windows closed. I sat up and looked at my hands. They weren't burned.
"What the hell?" I asked aloud. I paused and touched my throat as I spoke again.
"I can talk?" I asked and smiled. I had a voice! I finally had a voice after twelve years of silence! I laughed as tears came to my eyes. It sounded so good to finally speak! I sounded like a typical teenage boy. I didn't sound hoarse or anything else that was wrong.
I looked around and saw that my room was pretty much the same. The US Army posters that hung on the walls, the model warships I kept on a bookshelf along with my military history and strategy books that Jordan and Dad would give me. Around my room were various model armies I kept in black suitcases. Jordan and I would, when he was on leave, would go out and play some table-top games along with whatever we did. Sometimes, we would help Janice with her song covers.
I stopped smiling. If this was the afterlife... where were Jord and Jan? Where were they? I stood on my own two feet, feeling my carpeted floor. I went outside to the hallway where our rooms were. I started hearing a soft melody: a man and a woman's. It came from a room down the hallway. I paused as I tried to place the voices and then I realized whom I was hearing as they sang in harmony. The lyrics I heard were familiar to me... too familiar.
I walked down the hallway towards the door, seeing a light from under the door. I cried as I laughed. This was one of Jordan's favorite songs. He and Jan did a cover for it the year before he left. This was 'Tears' by HEALTH. The developers for the game put this song in the third and final Max Payne game. Jordan loved Max Payne.
"I'm coming," I said, happily as I reached the door handle.
"I'm coming, guys!" I laughed. I opened the door to see that the light was a lie. There was only darkness that was black as midnight. My mouth dropped as the song ceased to live.
"WHAT?!" I shouted in shock and outrage. The world around me faded away, revealing darkness all around me.
"No," I whispered, shaking my head in shock. I couldn't believe this! After so much pain and loss: I was still alone in this hell.
XXX
I opened my eyes again. The sting of water hurt my eyes. I blinked, momentarily blushing it away. I heard my own breathing as I felt myself floating. I looked around as I extended my arms. I felt the cramped limits of some kind of glass container. I tried to speak, but I only felt air come out. I couldn't speak still. I cursed. I'd been fucked over by fate again.
Then, the panic started to set in. Why was I in a tank? I then looked at my hands. I then started mouthing the words 'Oh, Jesus'. What should've been my blood vessels now turned into some kind of energy conduits. I started to see what I swore started to look like seams on my skin. My veins were glowing a bright blue that illuminated the tank in a bluish haze underwater. Kind of like a lightshow. I looked at my palms to see that they had changed. They were starting to become metallic. I panted as I saw this. My palms looked like something out of a horror movie though the rest of my hands, barring the veins and the seams, were looking alright.
Immediately, words flashed across my mind's eye. I saw alien glyphs turn into English.
Heads Up Display Initializing
I saw my eye-sight turn from normal to strangely digital as lines appeared. Words appeared in my mind. I kept hearing that rapid beeping noise as my heart-rate skyrocketed into heart-attack territory. What the fuck happened to me?! I looked around for anything, anyone to explain what was going on.
I then saw a terminal below me, on the ground as more words flashed across my eyes.
::Unable to connect to local network::
::Location: N/A (Unable to connect)::
::Date: N/A (Unable to connect)::
::Vitals: Unstable::
::BP: 140/90::
::WARNING: HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE DETECTED!::An exclamation point in a downwards red triangle flashed in the upper-right hand corner of my new Heads-Up Display. What the fuck was going on?! Why did I have a HUD like I was in a video game or a robot?! WHY?! What was going on?! What happened to me?! Who did this?! Why did they do it?!
I then started punching the glass as hard as I could. I had to get out of here. The rapid beeping noise continued, something flashing red on the terminal below me. I didn't care what was going on. I wanted out of here, right now! I wanted to get out of the tank!
::WARNING: Injuries detected to both hands.::
::Damage: Lacerations to knuckles 3-10!:: An image showed my hands with my knuckles highlighted red.
The glass started to crack from my punches, but my fists hurt like I had been punching a wall. I started to see my new blue blood start to come out in a hazy mist. I punched harder and harder, focusing my strength on my will on getting out of this. I had to get home, had to get back to Mom and Dad, find the cops, the FBI- someone to tell them what was going on here. The glass kept cracking more and more as my blood started to seep out. Eventually, a hole was created and the tank's water started to seep out with a resounding crash from the broken glass. Water came out like Niagara Falls up north, flooding the floor. I descended to the ground-floor. I took off the mask as fast as I could, taking my first breathe of recycled air that wasn't through a mask.
I broke the glass with my bare hands, grunting in pain. More blood started to flow from my fingers, the blue ichor running down as I felt its warmth leave me. Glass broke under flesh or scraped against my now metallic palms. I made sure that there was enough for me to get through. I climbed over what broken glass remained in front of me. I grunted in pain as glass broke my feet, ignoring the warnings about damage to my flesh. My feet felt both wet and warm, due to the spilled water and my own blood coming out of the soles of my feet.
I looked down at myself. I was covered in some kind of body suit. Least they had the decency to clothe me. I looked at probably the most advanced terminal I had ever seen in my life. They had labeled me as 'John Doe' if what I was seeing was right. I panted heavily. This wasn't like anything I ever saw. I looked around for an exit out of this place. Then, I realized. I didn't have my stuff: my books, backpack, coat, shirt, jeans, and of course: my wallet and iPhone. Where'd they put it?!
I grunted. How was I going to find them now? I sighed and decided to look for something... well, I'd have to either interrogate someone or go search every room in this place, wherever it was! I grunted in anger. Wish I had a gun right now!
Words in red appeared across my eyesight.
Unable to transform. Reformat process is incomplete at this time I blinked. 'Reformat'?! What was that? The alarms by now had started blaring. The warning klaxons sounded and that was my cue to get to work. I grunted again and swore.
XXX
A warning flashed across Weller's terminal, interrupting his recent conversation with Colonel Marin, the base commander over at Anvil base.
"Doctor, what was that?" Colonel Marin's voice asked over the COM channel. Her Latin American accent crackled in his ears.
"It would seem our new guest is up. He's probably scared and confused by now." He said. He brought up footage from the security camera in there to see that the tank had been broken. The glass had been shattered from the inside and water had spilled everywhere. John Diego 'Mute' Daniels was definitely up and about. Mixed amongst the water was his now bright blue blood. He winced. He was definitely going to have to bandage the boy's feet himself. He also noticed the boy's hands were bleeding as well, particularly his knuckles.
John's black hair was wet and down like he had taken a shower or a bath. He looked angry and scared. He saw the terminal and it looked like he scoffed. He paused for several moments and wondered what to do.
"He's broken out of his tank. We're going to try to calm him down. For us, it's been fifty-three years. But for him it's only been maybe an hour or so." Weller said, thinking
"See if you can find anyone that John Daniels remembers from 2019, anyone that's still alive and kicking and preferably here in the Western United States. I'll try to calm him down as best as I can on my end.."
"Si, Doctor. But, I expect him to live, comprende? I don't want the blood of a missing teenager on our hands." Marin said.
"On that, I think we can both agree." Weller said.
"I'll keep him alive and sane as best as I can. He deserves that much." Weller told her.
"I will see you later, Colonel." Weller said, ending the call.
Julian appeared in front of him. His holo-image appeared tired as he wore his flight suit.
"Mind telling me why I'm up at , like, 0300?" Chase asked, groggily. Vanguard servicemen, or rather, most military personnel were up at 0430 or 0500 Hours military time.
"John Daniels woke up early. He's freaking out and he's on the loose." Weller explained. Julian's eyes widened and he got out of his tired state of mind quickly.
"What do you need me to do, Doc? Say the word." he said, ready to help out.
"I want you to do nothing, Chase."
"What?" Julian asked in disbelief.
"We can't afford to have John anymore confused than he could possibly be. He lost both his brother and his sister within two years and has had a year to deal with the grief." Weller told him, folding his hands.
"We need to get him back on the road to recovery, Chase. Your appearance would only hinder that, at the moment." Weller explained. Chase sighed.
"Fine," He said, nodding.
"Colonel Marin says 'Hello', by the way." The doctor told him. He cracked a smile.
"Tell her I said 'hey', too." He told the Englishman.
"Also, can you see if she can relay a message to Miranda Worth for me?" Chase asked with hope in his eyes. Weller sighed.
"I'm afraid you and I know how it is, Chase." Weller said, sadly. The former fighter pilot looked down sadly, muttering a curse. He had been trying for almost four years now.
"You know where I am," He said before disappearing.
XXX
Yazmina had been awoken as soon as the alarm sounded. For crying out loud, was it too much to ask for just one day without any trouble? She sighed angrily and got out of her bed right as she got an in-head text from Doctor Weller about what just happened. It turned out their new 'guest' had just woke up and wasn't happy about being put into a life support tank. He freaked out and literally punched his way out of his life support tank and was now on the loose, unsure of what was going on.
The former Union pilot sighed, putting her head on her pillow before sitting up. She had her suit on just in case there was an emergency. She looked at the message. She frowned. It turned out that the kid that they found on their front door had a name: John Diego Daniels (AKA 'Mute' on account of his lack of vocal chords). She personally felt naked without her gun, but the doctor told her not to take it with her. She was to restrain him, if necessary. Weller would try to talk some sense into him as 'John' was now trying to look for his lost stuff which Kaliban had taken to the Professor's office. But, the kid didn't know that.
She got out of her bed and went out, activating her suit's power. She felt and heard the whir of power from her suit's core, her legs running faster than a normal human being. Her short black hair rustled with the breeze of the wind as she sped towards the confused teenager's location.
XXX
I found myself in a hallway, looking around after a small bit of wandering from my former chamber where I had been held. I crouched and went up against a line of doors and listened close. The warning blare of the alarms rung in my ears. However, I was used to it. I sometimes went to a practice range with Jordan and Dad back when Jordan was still alive. That, and I listened to rock and rap music sometimes along with Jan's pop music.
My feet hurt like hell when I walked and my hands hurt too. I could feel the glass get deeper into my soles as I walked. I winced as I walked. Well, 'no pain, no gain' in my opinion.
If Jordan were with me, I'd follow his lead. He was the soldier, not me. He would know what to do, where to go.. me? I had no idea on where to go to find my stuff! If anything, I was lost. This place is a freaking rat's maze! I froze in fear as I heard a stampede of armored footsteps. Oh crap. Those were the guards! I stood upright. Who was I kidding, sneaking around! I bolted the other way. I knew self-defense, sure. I saw a few ways to disarm a guy on Youtube and on some documentaries, but I have no experience in doing that. I'm ex-AJROTC and a bunch of other former things, not a counter-terrorist! I bolted for the other way to see a squad of the strangest looking guards I ever saw. I froze and stepped back.
Crap!
I turned to see the other squad come around the corner I would've checked before I heard those footsteps. I froze with fear as two eight-man squads of men surrounded me on both sides of the hallway, armed with some kind of variation of assault rifle that I never saw before. Their armor though was strange. I had never seen anything like it. It wasn't Kevlar, I didn't think. My HUD zoomed in on several helmets, highlighting 'MP'. There were two meanings for it. The political, which was a British term, and the military which meant 'Military Police'. For me: those words terrified me.
They didn't look like Americans, but they sounded like it as they spoke English. These guys weren't Army or Marine Military Police! Who were these guys?! What nation was this?! I froze and stammered soundlessly. Why was a nation's military holding me captive?! What'd I do to them?!
They aimed their rifles at me as I raised my hands in surrender.
Just then, the strangest thing happened. I saw something start to form in front of me. It appeared from the floor up at first. Feet, followed by legs and then the rest of a body. I blinked. A man stood in front of me with a serene smile on his bearded and mustached face. His hair was graying, going from brown to a dark gray. His eyes were kind and compassionate as he looked at me through rectangular glasses. He was a white guy, definitely. But, his clothes were strange. Never seen an outfit like that before. It looked like some kind of jacket that had a flap on it, kind of like a Kevlar vest by appearance, save that it wasn't a pouch. He wore long pants and nice-looking shoes as well. His frame was that of wiry. My HUD scanned him before I knew it.
::Subject name: Unknown::
::Height: 5'9.5 feet/ 1.75 meters::
::Status: N/A::
::FOF: Unknown::
Huh, so my HUD has a 'Friend Or Foe' system. Cool! However, the other matter was this guy. I then noticed that he appeared to be translucent, like a ghost. I blinked and froze in fear. Was this place haunted?
::Unknown Subject was scanned as a holographic image:: My HUD corrected my line of thought. I gulped.
He looked around at the two squads of MPs with a frown.
"Will all of you please lower your weapons? He's just a young lad!" The man said in an accent that my HUD identified as Estuary English. Well, he did sound English, so there. He also sounded a bit old, like in his forties or fifties. The men immediately lowered their weapons. That, and his voice sounded digital.
"Sorry, sir. We were following procedure." An MP apologized, his voice yelling over the alarm. 'And what procedure, may I ask, warranted sending MPs after me and putting me in a tank along with kidnapping?!' I wanted to yell at him.
"I would suggest that all of you that-" He paused as the alarm blared and he turned to someone that wasn't there.
"Kaliban! Turn that alarm off!" Immediately, the alarm went silent. He smiled and then turned back to the MPs.
"I would suggest that all of you get back to your posts." He said it more as an order than a suggestion. The MPs looked at eachother, wondering what was happening. I'll take it from here. I'm sending someone to fetch him at this time." The man said, looking at them.
"Yes, Dr. Weller." One of them said and they all promptly turned around left, glancing at me.
"Look at him! Is that actually a kid?!" One of them muttered. My ears picked it up and the subtitles of the various responses were heard. Looks like I now have a whole bunch of new things with whatever was going on with my body. Part of me wanted to give them the finger but I restrained myself from doing so. Military Police was that: Military Police. I could be sent to jail for so much as inciting violence against an officer!
The Englishman looked at me, now identified by my HUD as 'Dr. Weller.'
"Hello, there." The man said, smiling. I blinked. First, they put me in a tank, then they send MPs after me. And now, this guy says 'hi' as if nothing was wrong?! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!
I waved, a bit weirded out.
"You would be 'John Diego Daniels' correct? Date of Birth (Approximate): January 15th, 2006?" He asked. I tilted my head and my jaw dropped. This guy's asking my name... after he kidnapped me? Are you serious right now? If this guy's British, then I'm going to use British terms around him. For instance: THIS FUCKING GIT! He doesn't know whom I am and he put me in a tank?! What's wrong with him?! If he was right in front of me, I'd punch him in the face! He noticed my expression when I was about to flip him off.
"I think you're getting the wrong impression of me, my young American friend." The man said, looking at me with worry. Oh, really?!
"I know what you're thinking (And no, I don't have telepathy, sadly. Though, that would be awesome to have!), and no: we didn't kidnap you from your home at 1350 Welker Lane in Martin, Virginia." Dr. Weller told me, flatly. I crossed my arms, showing my skeptical disbelief. You just said my home address like it was nothing! The Englishman sighed.
"Let me explain: my name is Dr. Rufus Weller. I'm the head of an organization called 'the Experimental Science Unit' or 'ESU'." He explained. Now, his rank had just been updated on my HUD as the list of text appeared next to him.
"As you can tell, by my accent, I am English, yes." He told me, pushing up his glasses.
"I'm sending someone now to come bring you to my office so we can have a chat about your condition here." He said.
"Also on the matter of your," he paused for the right words,"transportation to our facility here in Indiana," He added. My jaw dropped. 'Indiana'?! I was still in America?! Then, who were those guys?! This wasn't America! Since when do MPs wear black ACUs?! If this was Indiana, why was I hundreds of miles west of Virginia?! Why the frick was I in Indiana?! Whoever's bright idea was this, I was going to kill with my bare hands!
"You are indeed still in what's known as America, John." He told me as he looked at me. He had noticed my look of shock.
"However, much has changed since you were gone." He told me. I looked at him. What did he mean by 'gone'? Just then a yellow blur appeared. About ten paces in front of me was a woman that was a bit taller than me. She had the complexion of someone over in the Middle to Near East. Her hair, strangely, was cropped short, like a boy's. She looked at me as she walked over. She wore a skin-tight suit of some kind of armor. There were what looked like cables mixed in with her arms as well. What was she- a Power Ranger?
"Glad to see you drop by, Miss Madrani." Dr. Weller said, smiling. Madrani said, now identified.
"Came as fast as I could," She said in an accent my HUD recognized as Iranian. Huh... I remembered eavesdropping on Dad and Jordan talking about Middle East politics and about some of the experiences they had in Afghanistan and Iraq.
She looked at me, studying me. I bowed my head and she bowed hers back. She looked fit, like an Olympic athlete to me. But, the way she moved... it almost seemed like she was a soldier, herself. Wonder if she was a Marine? No, I corrected myself, there is never a 'former' Marine.
"Well, at-" She started to say and then swore in what my HUD identified as Farsi.
"Doctor, look behind you." She told him, horrified. His hologram turned around to see what was what. His eyes widened. I looked back to see a long trail of my bloody-blue footprints going all the way down the hall with various drips. I looked at my hands. The palms were somewhat metallic, now, but kind of looked human enough. I felt the sharp pain of glass in my fingers and I still felt some pieces in the soles of my feet. It hurt to step, but in all honesty, I didn't care. I shrugged.
They looked at me in horror.
"You walked all the way from your tank to here with literally bloody feet?" Weller asked in shock. I nodded. Madrani looked at me and shook her head.
"Miss Madrani, can you carry Mr. Daniels to my office please? We need to get his feet cleaned up and explain to him his condition." Weller told her.
"Yes, Doctor." Madrani nodded, going towards me. Weller nodded.
"I'll see you here, John." He told me, smiling. I sighed, angrily. My name was 'Mute'.
She was definitely taller than me. I couldn't help but feel jealous. Why was I so frigging short?! I drank my milk and ate my supplements! There are kids my age whom are five-feet-and-eleven- inches! Jord and Jan used to tease me about being little all the time. I sighed as I remembered Jan reaching above her as she held one of my favorite minifigures in the air while teasing me. Jordan would shake his head as I pleaded with Janice to give it back. That happened a bunch until Jordan went off to Afghanistan for the last time.
Madrani's shadow took me out of my thoughts. She looked down at me with sympathy as she looked at my veins and my eyes.
"I'm going to carry you, alright?" She told me as she signed. I hesitated. I was hundreds of miles away from home... in a facility that would make Dreamworks engineers jealous... led by an Englishman and his Iranian strong-woman. No, not alirght! But, I had to admit: what choice did I have?
'I can hear, but I can't speak, ma'am. And that's fine by me.' I told her. She made an 'Ah' and then carried me bridal-style, grunting.
"You're so heavy," She said as she carried me while walking. I glared at her. She looked at me.
"I'm not saying you're fat," She told me in her defense. I signed to her.
'First of all: you put me in a tank, then you're all being nice to me and stuff. What gives?' I asked. She looked at me.
"Want me to drop you?" She asked. I thought for a moment. Her arms felt strong and I hadn't been carried since Jordan left for Afghanistan. I didn't know what to think. I shrugged.
'Up to you,' I signed to her. She sighed, but didn't drop me.
"If you must know, you appeared right outside the entrance to our facility a few hours ago. You were in..." She paused as she spoke. She grimaced while speaking the next three words.
"Terrible, terrible pain." I felt its echoes then and there, remembering the feelings of my organs churn and turn as well as harden, my blood change into something it wasn't before, and my muscles start to change and harden. I looked at the faint outlines of seams on my skin. Those weren't surgical scars, I thought.
"We gave you a lot of sedatives, but it wasn't enough. Then, it stopped. Dr. Weller ordered that you be placed gently in the tank. We didn't expect you to wake up until tomorrow morning." She told me. I frowned.
"I must ask you: do you remember if anyone did this to you?" She asked. I looked at her, frowning.
'Well, it must've been the punks that sent that stupid soccer ball to my house!' I told her. She looked at me.
"What ball?" She asked, worried.
'A metal ball with a lot of seams and strange designs all over,' I told her.
'The package was addressed to me and I thought it was a gift,' I half-lied. She stopped, still carrying me. She looked into my eyes as she spoke.
"You opened a package that was addressed to you, then touched a ball and all this happened?" She asked for clarification. I thought for a moment.
'Well, yeah.' I answered, shrugging. She looked at me.
"How old are you?" She asked.
'Thirteen,' I answered.
"Do you have friends? Family?" She asked. I made a face as she said 'family'. Tears welled down my eyes.
'I had a brother and a sister. My brother was killed in Afghanistan. My sister died a year later.' I told her. She looked into my eyes. I saw something flash like remembrance or something. She must've had family too as she looked kind of sad.
"What about your parents? Your mother and father?" She asked, walking again.
'Dad's a drone pilot for the Air Force and my Mom's a businesswoman,' I told her. She looked at me.
"Air Force?"
'Yeah, my Dad's a Colonel in the Air Force. Why?'
"Which Air Force?" She asked. I looked at her. How didn't she know.
'The United States Air Force,' I answered. She looked at me with a stony expression as we walked and then stared straight ahead. I saw her eyes whir and she held me close to her chest as we walked. I remembered feeling scared. Wasn't she an American citizen now? Or..?
She carried me all the way to an office after an elevator ride. It must've been real late as I saw very few people around. Mostly it was just MPs that looked at us funny. Then, we came to the office.
Now, I have to admit: this guy's office was strange. There was a computer of some kind at the far end on a desk. There were three chairs. I saw Dr. Weller stand up and look at me with a smile. But, he didn't catch my attention. What actually did was a nine-foot-tall robot with blue eyes that looked straight out of an anime! It was long-limbed and had four optics. I didn't know if it could speak, but it looked kind of... scary.
"Kaliban, take over for her, will you?" He asked the robot. The robot nodded and walked over to Madrani, taking me in its arms. I looked at it, scared.
"It's quite alright. Kaliban hasn't hurt anyone. Three Laws of Robotics and all." Weller said as I felt the coldness of Kaliban's metal. Kaliban carried me over to a chair and set me down on a chair as Weller put the other chair under my feet. He had a medical kit on his desk along with a pan and some tweezers.
He looked at me, smiling. I now noticed his hair was long and around his neck. It kind of reminded me of the classic ABBA look. He shook my hand.
"It's good to meet you, John. Do you mind if I call you 'John'?" He asked. I looked at him.
'I go by "Mute", sir.' I told him.
"That's not a name, that's a medical condition! That's like naming Kaliban over there, 'Robot'." he said, gesturing to the robot 'Kaliban'.
"He's my assistant here. I'm kind of short-staffed on some projects right now. You see, I'm the lead and only scientist here." He told me, apologetically. I looked at him as he was talking to me like a little kid.
"My department is called 'Experimental Science Unit' or 'ESU'. We work on some of the most classified R&D programs here. Stuff that helps the good guys fight the baddies, y'know?" He said, smiling. I looked at him strangely.
'Well, I wanted to go by 'Snake Eyes' after a character from GI JOE, but it wasn't going to work, so I took 'Mute' instead.' I signed to him, remembering the good old days. I always did like Snake Eyes and how cool he looked with that black suit and that visor along with how he completely powned every opponent he came across.
"Couldn't you have chosen something a bit better?" Weller asked. I shrugged.
'Well, I have no vocal chords and a bunch of a-holes-' I started to say.
"Language!" Weller warned. I rolled my eyes at this. It was the honest truth.
'Well, a lot of kids called me 'Injun Mute' as a sort of insult. So, I took the insult as well.' Weller sighed at this.
"'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may never hurt me,'" Weller quoted that ancient rhyme.
'Whoever said that should've been called names in my position,' I answered back. He cracked a laugh.
"You seem like a good-boy." He told me as he brought out tweezers and a pan.
'Not good enough,' I told him in response as I had a sad look, remembering all the guilt and pain that I felt.
I extended my hands for him to take the glass out. He started taking it out piece-by-piece. I looked at his eyes as he did so, wincing as sharp tiny shards of glass were taken out. His eyes whirred just like Madrani.
"I see you're looking at my eyes. That's because, if you noticed Miss Madrani's eyes: I'm implanted." He told me.
"A lot of people have been doing that," He told me. I frowned at this.
"I'll explain after I'm done with this," He said, focusing. I looked at Madrani as she looked back at me with pity. It looked like she was thinking. After Doc Weller was done, he started to do my feet. I signed to Madrani.
'Do you have a first name?' I asked her. She nodded.
"Yazmina," She told me.
'Anyone ever call you 'Yaz'?' I asked. She shook her head.
"Not everyone calls me that," She told me. I winced as Weller took out the pieces of glass in my feet. It seemed odd that someone who put me in a tank would now be taking care of me like I was his own kid. Too weird.
"Yazmina, go back to bed. I'll talk with John." He told Yazmina. She nodded and then left.
After he was done, my HUD then informed me:
::Foreign objects now away from wounded areas. Commencing self-regeneration::
Weller's eyes widened as I looked my fingers. The blood that had been flowing had by now stopped, but the cuts on my hands started to heal by themselves. Weller looked from my feet to my face as I looked at my left and right feet to see that they had now started healing real quick. The cuts disappeared in a matter of seconds and now the faint outlines of scars was seen.
::Self-Repair Complete:: My HUD said. I looked at him with a questioning eyebrow. He looked at me.
"Very interesting," Weller said.
"It looks like you can now heal in a matter of seconds where it would normally take a day or several." He said.
"Obviously, we didn't do this to you, John." He told me.
"I know, I know," He said before I could sign.
"You prefer 'Mute', but I find that reprehensible. You have a name given to you by a family. And I would prefer to use it." He told me.
"If anything, you need a new nickname." He told me, smiling.
"Now, about what happened to you." He said, sighing.
"What is your last memory?" He asked. I told him what happened, minus me wanting to die and lying to him thinking it was something I ordered online. I also didn't tell him about the facetime between me and Dad.
He sighed and then turned, producing my iPhone and my Wallet. He unlocked my iPhone right in front of me and showed my last call with Dad. My mouth dropped and my face paled, though it may have been hard as my veins now glowed.
"I wouldn't lie to me, mate. I know about your brother and your sister." He told me, flatly.
"You were reported 'missing' by Martin Police Department the day of your last call with your father," He then gestured me to lean forward and see something. I did so and he showed me an image. It showed the last place I was: the kitchen counter where both the kitchen and living rooms were met. I looked at it in awe. Most of the counter top for about half a meter was gone as was the floor. It looked like someone scooped it, or rather me and the area around me, and sent me off.
He looked at me.
"The policemen that came were doing a welfare check on you when they saw this." He told me as he looked at me with sadness. He shook his head and sighed.
"You thought that package was an IED, didn't you?" He asked. I looked at him in shock. I looked down in shame.
"Mate, I know how your brother and sister died. And it wasn't pleasant for either of them. I can tell how much they meant to you... really." He told me like a father or an uncle.
"But, I can tell you now: they wouldn't have wanted you to do something so incredibly selfish and stupid." He scolded. I shrunk at this. He sighed and shook his head.
"Do you realize that after you left that there were a whole bunch of facebook pages and conspiracy theories about why you disappeared?" He asked me with a father's anger. I looked at him and blinked. What was he saying? I just woke up about half-an hour ago and it's been hours since I touched that stupid ball! What was he talking about?!
"John," He asked, sighing and then looked at me.
"How long do you think you've been out?" He asked.
I shrugged.
'Three or four hours, maybe? A day? Why?' I signed.
"Joh, you disappeared on February 19, 2019." Weller told me.
"Today's date is March 3, 2072." He said. I silently laughed. He was joking right? Please tell me he's joking.
"I regret to inform you this, John." He said, sadly.
" your parents: Brigadier General Javier and Mia Daniels are," He paused and his eyes closed and shook his head. I leaned forward. Mom and Dad were what?! And since when did Dad become a one-star general?!
"They passed away around twenty years after you disappeared. The rest of your family is, sadly, also dead." He told me, sadly. I shook my head. No, that's not possible! That couldn't be!
Dr. Weller then went to his computer and brought up obituaries... Mom and Dad's obituaries. I looked at them in shock. My mouth stammered as I saw the date of their deaths. Mom, in her obituary, looked like she was in her late fifties while Dad looked like he was in his sixties. Mom had died on March 15, 2027 and Dad had died on July 4, 2052. Mom had been killed in a robbery gone wrong and Dad had died of... I shook my head at this and clutched my head as I stood up. This wasn't happening! This couldn't be happening! Thsi was some nightmare! A dream! Tears welled from my eyes. Dr. Weller stood up.
"John, I'm sorry you lost your parents." Weller said, trying to calm down. I panted as I cried. I had no vocal chords, but I wanted to scream! I punched the wall behind me in anger and then I started to feel pain in my throat. I clutched it.
::Reformat Process Status level: 15 %::
::Missing Organ: Vocal Chords.::
::Generating...::
"John!" Weller roared, grabbing me as I clutched my throat. I felt something growing in my throat, coming up as fast as I could. The pain felt terrible as I felt it grow like a beanstalk. I started to sound raspy at first and then it started becoming less raspy as my chords grew to connect with my brain. I started to sound less raspy.
I screamed with my own voice for the first time, a loud birth scream of horror, pain, and anguish. A scream that was both human and robotic at once. A birth scream of a child that lost his parents.
