Jaxon

4059

     Ryan was happily sitting in the dark. It was something that he knew, something he was familiar with. He just wanted to be alone for a while and think. He wasn't alone for long though. He heard a sound and looked up. He gave a sigh and brought his knees back up to his chest

     "What do you want?" Ryan said in a cold voice.

     Jaxon was crawling towards him military style, dragging his useless legs behind him. He got to the back of the bed and pulled himself up against the wall that Ryan was already sitting against. Jaxon breathed a bit heavy for a moment and Ryan shot him a quick, almost pity look.

     "You know... not that long ago, I could do that without almost passing out." Jaxon joked a bit. He looked over at Ryan and sighed. Ryan had rested his head on his knees and his cheeks were wet from his tears. Jaxon changed the subject and tried to get Ryan's mind off the present. "How... how did you get the bruises? Did the aliens do it?" He was worried that Ryan would be scared of them if they had already injured him.

     Ryan sniffed and wiped his nose with his sleeve. "No... not all of them. Not even the worse ones..." His voice trailed off as he thought of his own past.

     "What about that one on your face?" Jaxon leaned a bit forward to get a better look. He quickly had to catch himself before he fell over.

     Ryan looked away. He didn't want to tell Jaxon. He didn't want to tell anyone about the basement and what his own family did to him down there. He slowly reached up his hand and rubbed the sore cheek. It had happened the night before he woke up in that cage.

     Jaxon could see from the way that Ryan was starting to shake that it was bad topic. "During training, one of my teammates broke my hand, just to prove that I was worthless." Jaxon gave a grin and laughed a bit... 'training' he thought. It seemed so long ago now since then. But it wasn't really. Time has a funny way of tricking you like that. "That day I did my full three sets of chin-ups and finished the obstacle course before the others did."

     Ryan quickly looked up at him in disbelief. "No one can do that." He said out loud by accident.

     Jaxon smiled and scrunched his nose. "If you get a chance to meet my friend Ash, he saw the whole thing. No one would give me medical attention for a day because they didn't believe it was broken either." Jaxon stopped smiling and sighed. "The reason I told you that, is because I know what it's like to take a beating. And I know that look in your eyes. A lot of good kids got cut from the program because they couldn't take the beatings. From the others and from our trainers."

     "Was it like, a military school or something?" Ryan rubbed his eyes and sniffed.

     Jaxon looked at Ryan and could see the confusion in his eyes. "You told me you were from 2018?" Ryan nodded his head. "It's not... 2018 anymore."

     Ryan sniffed a little more, trying to recompose himself. "What... what year is it?"

     "I'm not good at... being... I don't know how to tell you this. But I'm so sorry. Everyone you know... knew... is long gone. When I left Earth, it was 4059. Now I know it isn't the idea situation to be living in, but..."

     Ryan's eyes doubled in size as he cut off Jaxon. "They're really... gone?" He almost sounded happy. "They're gone." This time he said it more to himself then to Jaxon. The side of his mouth seemed to turn up in what looked like a grin as he gave a short burst laugh.

     "I'm sorry. It must be a lot..."

     Ryan's smile spread and he started to laugh. It was quiet at first, but slowly broke out into full blow mad laughing.

     "Are you ok?" Jaxon thought Ryan might have been losing it from the information he just gave him. He sighed and pulled himself a little closer to Ryan.

     "OK?!" Ryan said still laughing. "You have no idea how 'ok' I am!"

     Jap's movements had been quick and made Ryan question if Jaxon had been telling him the truth. "You're positive he's not going to hurt me?" Ryan quietly cried as Jap carried him back into the living room. "You wouldn't lie to me, right? He just wants to give me food."

     "They said food. I heard them clear as day. And they won't hurt us. I've been with Hace a week and he's never hurt me. And I've even been alone with Jap a few times."

     "Maybe it's because you're already hurt. He's just being nice." Ryan couldn't stop shaking and crying. He closed his eyes and refused to look at Jap. He also didn't want to see how high up he was now. He just sighed and started to give into his fate. Anything had to be better than the life he had before, right?

     'I hope I can trust this Jaxon guy.' Ryan was thinking. 'I'm really hungry. That's the only reason I came out from under that bed. Once I get my food, I can just run back under when they're not looking.'

     They sat back down on the couch and Hace had started to give Jaxon some strange food. Jaxon looked at it and sniffed it a few times before hesitantly opening his mouth and letting Hace feed him. There was no highchair so Hace kept Jaxon on his lap so he could sit upright and eat easier.

     Ryan was looking at the food and could help but drool a little when he saw Jaxon take a bite. He looked up at Jap and wondered if he was going to have to eat that way too, or if he could get away with stealing the food and running.

     "What the actual fu...?!" Ryan yelled when he saw Jap pick up the baby bottle and try to lean him on his back. "NO! What are you doing?!" Ryan started to fight again. He swung his head around and kicked at the bottle in Jap's hands. Jap seemed unfazed. He was shooshing him and kept trying to get the bottle up to his lips.

     Jaxon looked over at the noise and his eyes got wide. 'Why are they feeding him that way? What's going on?' He stopped eating and looked up at Hace. He pointed and furrowed his eyebrows. "Hace?"

     Hace looked down at him and smiled. "Jap ~~~ food~~~medicine."

     "Ryan. It's just medicine. It must be the only way they know how to give it to you."

     "I don't need medicine! I'm not hungry anymore either! Put me down!" Ryan continued to fight and scream, but Jap easily overpowered him and got the bottle into his mouth.