Only Hugh Mann

Chapter 3 - Resurrection

Someone was shouting, but he didn't know what they were saying. Everything was muffled. Why couldn't he hear them? Had a shell gone off too close to him? Why couldn't he feel the ground? He felt weightless, disconnected from reality, like he was floating.

He willed himself to move. He felt his fingers twitch. Why couldn't he move? He fought back panic, forcing himself to calm down, to assess the situation calmly.

Where was he? How had he got here? Where was here exactly?

What was his name? Why couldn't he remember his own name? Was this a dream?

By force of will, he opened his eyes. His confusion only increased. The world was shaded in red, like he was floating in a pool of blood. He was in some kind of glass tank. Figures outside his aquarium were moving too fast for him to figure out who they were or what they were doing. The looked worried, scared, alarmed.

How was he breathing? His hand reached up to his face, a feat he couldn't have accomplished a few seconds ago. Some kind of breathing tube was attached to his face. He touched the glass, trying to figure a way out. His movements set off a beehive of activity outside the tank. Through a haze of red fluid, he saw men with guns enter the room.

He reacted instantly against the threat.

The glass walls of his prison burst outward, showering the room in crimson. He ripped the re-breather off his face and various IV lines and sensors off his body as he surveyed the damage. He was in some sort of a laboratory, though he didn't recognize most of the equipment. At the moment, he was the only thing standing. He stared at his hands. How had he done that? Were they all dead?

The technician nearest the glass had died instantly. He stared into the dead man's eyes, recognizing the fact that — whoever he was — he'd seen plenty of death before. 

For the first time, he noticed he was naked. Why was he naked?

Before he could figure out a way to remedy this embarrassing situation, one of the gun-toting guards recovered and fired wildly in his direction. He held up his hand, tossing his attacker into a wall without even touching him. Seeing their buddy's fate, the other two guards opened fire without hesitation. He dove to the side, hiding behind a bank of equipment. A stray bullet tore into his shoulder anyway.

Howling in agony, he felt something inside him shift, like he was losing control. Arcs of electric energy burst from his body, mowing down his enemies and destroying much of the lab in the process.

Flashing lights and warning klaxons sounded. Equipment began sparking and smoking. Something exploded. Shrapnel tore into his thigh. He gritted his teeth against the pain and shouldered through a door.

He emerged into a short hallway. A scandalized young woman screamed and pointed. Spotting an elevator, he headed for it and punched the only button evident. He absently noted that it was an up button. The woman's screams attracted more guards.

The elevator doors opened. He stormed inside, grabbed its lone occupant and tossed him out of the car. A moment later, the elevator was rising.

An explosion rocked the building below.

When the elevator stopped, he didn't bother waiting for the doors to open. Flinging his arms wide, he caused the doors to burst open and fly into the corridor, clearing a path through an armed response team waiting for him to exit. Roaring a challenge, he charged down the corridor, sending a surge of kinetic energy funneling ahead of him to clear his path. The wave of force hit the doors at the other end of the hallway like a battering ram. Armed security and a stray chair shot out of the mountainside like cannonballs and came crashing down into the pine trees below.

He punched through the outer door and fell tumbling down the hill himself, borne along by his own momentum.

A few seconds later, two armed guards emerged from the entrance and fired in his direction. He gasped as a bullet tore through his bicep and another penetrated his side. Instinct told him to keep moving.

Suddenly, a fireball erupted from the entrance, incinerating the guards where they stood.

A moment later, he was the only living human in sight.

Grimacing against the pain from his wounds, he forced himself to keep moving.

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