SEED

Chapter 8

I was asked to back into the biotech lab testing room. There was an infected person tied up in front of me, and I got baffled. "Cole, can you hear me?" Miss Monroe's voice shot out of the speakers, and I noticed a massive mirror behind me. Even though I couldn't see her, I knew she was watching me. "Yeah, I can," I replied.

"We checked the security footage and saw what you did at the test site. You were able to cure the infected person who attacked you by contact. We need you to repeat that process right now". She exclaimed. "Cure," I said in my mind and turned towards the test subject as I remembered what happened. "Alright, here goes nothing," I proclaimed and began to move my hand slowly towards the guy. Of course, I was scared at that moment because I remembered the pain I felt from the flashback. I slowly touched the guy, and to my relief, nothing happened.

"Nothing's happened," I yelled out. Miss Monroe ignored my cries and turned towards the biotech engines and biophysicists. "What happened?" she inquired. "Seems like whatever he did before was triggered by a catalyst," A bio-physicists reported. "How do we fix this?" Miss Monroe asked impatiently. "I believe we have to create a path-way for him. When he was unconscious, the test we did on him showed that the cure fragment had been activated by what happened earlier. They have formed some magnetic pulse which will attract the Nate Virus, but here's the problem. The first time he did it, the cure fragments used his palm as a path-way, but now the cells have weakened". A biotech engineer relayed. "Then get on it; the more we delay, the more the virus spreads," Jackie concurred.

"What about the kid, what is he going to do till we make the path-way?" A biophysicist asked.

Miss Monroe smiled at them and turned to the microphone, "Okay, Cole, meet me outside."

I walked out of the room, depressed. I had failed the one person who believed in me again. I didn't want to face her, but I had no choice.

"I'm sorry," I said bluntly.

It's not your fault, Cole. I told you, you were going to be of help to us. Well, we are going to make you a field agent. She declared.

"Field agent?" I said, confused. "Yeah, and we are going to enroll you into our special school for agents" "No ma'am. Anything but schooling". I protested. "Okay, here is the deal. I will let Agent Nick Podolsk give you a trial test. If you pass, consider yourself an agent, but if you fail, it's off to school". She stated. I nodded at her and turned to leave. "Okay, I will meet with Agent Podolski and knock this out of the park," I declared stubbornly.

I ran towards the cafeteria with one person in mind, Anne Gray. I hadn't been able to see her after the incident and was utterly worried about her. I entered the cafeteria and ran towards the kitchen, ignoring the stares of the people. "Anne!" I shouted as I came through the door. The staff stopped working at once and turned their attention to me. Typically, anyone would feel weird from the stares, but I was not raised as a normal kid, so I kept yelling. I felt a gentle tap at my back and turned.

"Stop it, you will embarrass me," Anne said in her soft voice. "Anne," I called out one more time and hugged her. "Cole, can we talk somewhere else" She whispered in my ear, and I concurred.

"I'm sorry," I apologized as we walked out. "For what? I mean you saved me. If anything, I should be thanking you. How did you heal that man?". I hesitated, thinking about my options, and eventually told her my story. I could feel her disbelief as she listened to me in silence.

"So, that's my story," I said and drew her from her trance state. "I hope we can still be friends" I offered her a handshake. "Sure," She said, accepting my offer, but in her mind, she was hoping we could be more than that.