The Facility(LCT)(Book 2 to The Light City Trilogy)

6.Pep Talk

I was hesitant to comply.Thoughts raced through my head almost in sync with my heart.

"What the hell's going on Pette?!What was that outside!?," i said with a shaky voice.

His response was almost instantaneous as if he knew what i was gonna say before i did.

"It's your mind man....or what's left of it."

"You're not making sense Peter."

He paused for a moment

"When was the last time you called me Peter,Erik?"

"I...I don't remember"

"Exactly man.They're brainwashing you as we speak."

"If I'm being brainwashed than why am i here?"

"Ever seen the show Lost?"

"What?"

"Never mind....anyways.Your mind always creates the most logical answer or reasoning for everything that happens to you.Every stimulus involving smell,touch,sound.It's called instinctive perceptions.You're mind creates a sort of photograph or mental image.Like when you are dreaming;things on the outside world can affect your dreams.If it's cold in the room,you're cold in your dreams.Because of your enhanced senses,and mental paralysis your mind created, what you could call a "mental lobby,"he said.

I paused,waiting for him to crack a smile and say, "just kidding dude.This is another one of those bull shit test.You know the usual."But that was false hope, he never cracked a smile or broke eye contact.He was serious,and I knew it,i just refused to believe it.

Night Watcher almost felt sorry for Erik.Almost.Watching him from the observation room was just as heart wrenching as being in the room.He could tell that the men in white cloaks,green masks,and thick reflect eye guards were nervous if not scared.You could see the beady sweat pour from their scalp.Even though the room was a cooling 58 degrees Fahrenheit.But the one man that was most consumed with fear was the main operational doctor.Even after countless surgery,autopsies,etc.He seemed to sway as if drunk with nervousness.

He was right to be scared.We really don't know how resistant Erik's body is to the sedatives.The Quicksilver that bounded with his blood cells is always evolving,adapting to its environment.To be honest, he could wake up at any moment in the surgery.It's why we used every sedatives we had in this division.Night Watcher couldn't wait much longer for the operation to begin.He continued to bounce his right leg in his seat almost uncontrollably. He could feel his right leg go numb just as the head doctor said with a hollow voice...

"Let's begin"

***

I would have taken him serious if he didn't almost knock over the silver trey full of surgical tools as he approached Winters.He pushed away the surrounding doctors that tried to help him get his bearings.After assuring the mass of wide-eyed doctors he was okay,he immediately went for the scalpel,announcing, "I will now make a small incision into the temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex ," he said with a shaky,but confident voice.

***

"how long do i have?," i said pretending to be calm.

"That's up to you,man."

"What does that mean?,"i asked.

He simply responded,"I don't know dude,I'm not real.Like i said this is all in your head.Your subconscience made me to make this seem real.Which I'm real surprised by.Of all people you chose me.I feel special,"he said with the usual smirk on his face.

That's the Pette I know.It took all my concentration not to return the smile.

"Don't flatter yourself,"I said as i quickly stood up and paced to the door while the corners of my mouth wrinkled.But soon dissipated when i remembered what Pette said about it being up to me.

I quickly turned a 180° to face Pette laying on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"What did you mean when you said it was up to me?," I said.

He continued to stare at the ceiling,the only change in his posture was his out stretched arm and pointer finger making small circles in the air.In that moment i pitted him.....and honesty missed him.But he was dead,even through all the crap he put me through.He was my best friend til the end.Since day one of training we always had each others back.He even chose me over money and his addiction.But i'd let him die right in front of me.I could have saved him,but i sat there and watched in fear.Even with all this power,i couldn't save the one person that understood me,felt my pain,my brother....

I felt the tears coming,and i stood there doing nothing to stop them.Why'd it matter,none of this is real.Pette's dead,Celeste's dead.No one should have to live with these memories.Maybe getting mind wiped was the best thing to happen to me.Everyone deserves a fresh start,right?

"Wrong"

I searched the room for the soft yet scratchy spoken voice.When i'd done a full 720°,i found a man dressed in my tech suit.But instead of it being fully white,it was all black with red nano-like veins running through it.And that wasn't the part that scared me the most.It was the fact that this man had a desert eagle point right between my eyes.I crossed my eyes to stare down the barrel of the gun.Then back to the man in the black suit.

"hi," was all i could manage.But one thing i knew for sure.Even though this was all in my head.I'm 90%    sure i just wetted myself.