Soldier In Me

Ten: The Great Big Set Up

The next morning a van drove up to the house, with a military insignia. I went downstairs and waited for them to knock on the door.
Hadley was in the kitchen, bags under her beautiful eyes.
Instead of a knock, the door was busted open and two men came in, each in military uniforms, their faces covered completely.
I didn't have any time to say I told you so as they approached the basement door. I dashed to block them when my joint popped out.
I stuck it back in and got up just in time to get a blow to the head and fall back down again.
I fell unconscious just after seeing the soldiers swing their gun like a bat hitting Hadley. She fell, her head hitting the counter.

I flashed into consciousness during midday, when the soldiers had cleared out.
They had removed my prosthetics so I dragged myself to the couch where a phone sat.
The carpet chafed my stomach but I made it. I sat there, inert, feeling a pang in my head. I managed to press the first contact that came on the screen, Sgt. Davids, before I fell back to sleep.

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Two people spoke softly in the room. Someone shifted in their chair. The so familiar soft beeping continued relentlessly but to a different pattern. Four squeaking wheels came into the room as did the aroma of sweetened coffee.
The soft-speaking continued, but it hurt my head to try and pick out what they were saying.
I opened my eyes halfway, the outline of two people, one grabbed a drink from the cart and the third person, who drove it, left.
I pulled myself up, opening my eyes all the way. The same pale light and plaster walls, the same crystallized floor, but a slightly darker shade.
The doctor walked up to me. She had a ponytail and she wore her coat like it was meant to be there, I think it was.
"How are you feeling?" She asked me.
I looked around the room. To my right Sgt. Davids sat in the chair, to my left a woman stood by Hadley, who wasn't yet awake. The woman wasn't a doctor, just a visitor.
I didn't answer the doctor's question, instead, I turned to Sgt. Davids. "Why are you here?" I asked.
"A while ago I requested to become a stationary officer-"
That meant he would stay at a base instead of moving around with his team of soldiers-for-hire.
I couldn't help but feel a little angry that he abandoned the team, but I hid it.
"-which was lucky because when I received your call I was able to come see what was going on."
I looked down at my lack of a hand, more somber this time than scared.
I turned to Hadley, her head was bandaged.
The woman beside her looked a lot like Hadley, the freckled skin and sappy hair. She wore a red sweater and her hair was pulled back.
I asked her "Who are you?"
She sighed. "I'm her mother."
"But- she told me she didn't have any family."
"Well, she doesn't in her mind." The woman held out her hand, "My name is Zoey Ryan."
I took it, for the sake of respect. "What happened?"
"A long time ago I kicked her out when she told me she was gay."
I squinted at her as she started to tear up.
"By the time I realized the error of my ways it was too late."
Zoey slung her purse over her shoulder. "I should probably leave. She doesn't wanna see me anyway."
I didn't say anything as Zoey left. I couldn't think of anything to say.
There was a time in our world's history where it was illegal to be gay or transgender. But we lived in the future now.
Transgender people could be who they were inside and out and fully. And gay people could be who they were without any danger to them.
But a bloodline of prejudice isn't gotten over in an afternoon, there were still people adamant in their hatred. The hateful people taught their children to be hateful until one generation stopped the chain.
I was left with a sick feeling in my stomach, conflicted on whether to hate Zoey or not.

I couldn't keep my eyes off Hadley. Every so often she winced in her sleep, from pain, or maybe her dreams.
I hated seeing her in pain. I didn't even care about mine. I just wanted her to be ok.
This was my fault, I realized. The button, it contacted them or something. I brought them here and they might come back.
I wasn't gonna let her get hurt again.

Sgt. Davids drove me home for the second time. I thanked him as Hadley got out too.
Both of us were going to be fine, modern technology sent us home the same day. But I was afraid that those men were going to come back.
They had destroyed the whole lab and stolen the plague vials. All the screens were smashed in, the servers too. They burnt up the books, even my mother's journals. The only thing they hadn't broken was the weapons, but they weren't the important thing.
All the data was destroyed, all my parents' work.
They were trying to cover something up, but I was left with a question: Why were we still here?
Galif was not above killing someone to keep them quiet. So why didn't they kill us? They had guns, they could have shot us if they wanted to.
There was a small note taped to the destroyed screen: stop digging
But the insignia of the Dituri Military base on the corner of the paper said something different.
I wasn't an idiot, they were setting me up. For what I don't know. Maybe when I finally figured it out they would shoot me in the back of the head.
I thought about it for a moment. The chance that this would end in my death was pretty high. That wouldn't stop me, though.
Was finding the truth worth my life? Yes. Was it worth Hadley's? No.