I looked up in response to the cool voice of a young man who entered the room.
He paused, waiting as if expecting me to respond and say "hello" back, but I was determined to keep quiet. They could do whatever they wanted to me, but I wasn't going to give these people ANY information, not that I had any anyway.
"I'm Dr. Kaplan. I assume you know why you're here."
He seemed slightly amused, his green eyes sparkling. Had I met him on the street I would have thought him extremely attractive, inviting, but I knew better. I knew what he represented. I knew that there was nothing inviting about this man.
I glared angrily at him, wondering if he himself had been one to inflict pain on Mitch. But no, he seemed more of a doctor than a scientist. But he did say they cut open his head.
I wondered if he'd stood by while Mitch jumped through hoops and underwent test after test. He was probably the one to keep him alive no matter what they did to him. My hands clenched into tight fists.
"You're a heartless bastard."
"I'm not the bad guy."
"Like hell."
"Scott-"
"You want to use him as a guinea pig!"
"We could save millions of people with the research we could do. Just hear me out."
"He's a FUCKING HUMAN BEING!"
"He's more than that. He's beyond special, Scott. You know that. You can't keep him all to yourself."
"Like you want to do?!"
He pulled a wallet sized photo from the pocket of his coat and held it in front of my face. It was of a little girl, i guessed about 6 years of age, lying in a hospital bed. She'd lost all of her hair and she was hugging a stuffed dragon tightly to her side.
"This is Esther. She was diagnosed with cancer when she was 4. We gave her a bone marrow transplant with X23's marrow."
He pulled out another picture of the same girl, this time she looked older, much healthier, swinging on a swing set while laughing and looking happy.
"It took less than 2 days for her to be completely cured. COMPLETELY. She'd undergone surgery after surgery, years of pain and in two days we cured her. HE cured her. We just need to find out what it is exactly and how we can recreate it. What is in his DNA that cures cancer? Not even just cancer, X23's blood reverses the effects of Auto Immune Deficiency Syndrome. We can't replicate it yet."
At first I'd been confused. I didn't know what X23 was, but it only took me a few moments to figure out that it was Mitch. They didn't even call him by his name. I guess that helped them sleep at night, making him seem less human.
"It's no excuse"
"Think of the greater good Scott. Think of what we could do for the world."
"Didn't you take enough from him already?"
"He destroyed almost everything we had."
"I don't know where he is."
"You're lying." He didn't raise his voice, or get angry at all, he just stated it.
"I'm not. I'm glad I don't know where he is, because no matter what you do to me, I can't give you information I don't have."
"He'll come regardless. Your disappearance made headlines courtesy of us. He'll know where you are, he'll come for you."
"He's not stupid. You forget you created a super genius."
"Yes, but he's weak when it comes to you. He always has been."
"He won't come."
"Well, this is where we hope you'll tell us where he is."
"I told you I.DON'T.KNOW!"
"That's too bad for you then." He walked over to a table and turned his back to me. I strained my neck to see what he was doing, but it didn't take him long to turn back around and reveal an evil looking hypodermic needle. The syringe was filled with a clear liquid I knew wasn't anything friendly.
"I swear I don't know ANYTHING." I started to panic. I didn't even know what was in there but I assumed the worst.
"I'll give you one last chance. Where is X23?"
"HIS NAME IS MITCH!" I raged at him. He wasn't a number, he wasn't a fu¢king code, he was a human. He was my boyfriend. He was my everything.
"Here's how this is going to work. This is a virus that isn't naturally born, it was created in one of our labs. You'll have about a month, month and a half tops. I won't go into specifics, but it'll be painful, excruciating. The trouble is there's only one known cure."
My heart raced and I tried to move away from him as he approached me and cleaned a spot on my arm. My anger and sudden rebellion quickly faded to fear. I was immediately consumed by it.
"Please, I don't know!"
I whimpered pitifully, my eyes reflecting my terror.
He leaned close and I saw the first thread of humanity I'd seen from the man who couldn't have been that much older than I was.
"Just tell us where he is. I don't want to do this, but you're not giving me much of a choice." He whispered and looked into my eyes.
"He didn't tell me where he was going. He just left me, no explanation. He just said he had to go." Tears cascaded down my cheeks as I pleaded with the stranger.
"You have a month to either tell us where he is, or hope he loves you enough to show up willingly."
"no no no no, please LET ME GO!!!" I struggled against my bonds, but it didn't stop the needle from piercing my skin and the burning contents to enter my body.
"Forgive me " he whispered low enough that only I could hear, but I didn't care.
It was too late.
I was going to die. I was going to die for him.
Another needle followed the first and I lost every shred of hope.
"This should give you at least a few hours of peace. It's all I can do." He looked at me, the edge still on his hardened face, but I could see the guilt in his eyes.
"I don't know where he is " I whispered, knowing it wouldn't help, knowing he didn't believe me, but needing to say it one last time.
He turned and left me alone with my despair. Thankfully, the sedative kicked in barely a minute later and the darkness overtook me.
~~
YOU ARE READING
Good Enough (Scomiche)
FanfictionMy name is Scott Hoying. My life has been anything but boring, so I thought I'd share it. Because it's worth remembering.
Ch 10. XTwoThree
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