Genesis | Book One, The Genesis Series

FIVE

It was becoming abundantly clear to him that this was no ordinary hospital, if it was even a hospital at all.

His hands trembling in fear, the man pulled out a walkie talkie from his back pocket.

"Woah, woah." Kai began, extending his arms out in innocence, attempting to look as non-threatening as possible. "I'm not gonna hurt you, man. There's no need to alert anyone. I just want to know where my friends are."

Pressing the red button, the man then frantically called for backup. "Requesting backup in hallway 610, subject KB-1 has awoken and is freely roaming the facility!"

Shit.

"Subject" wasn't a word the young man was particularly fond of.

Hearing footsteps from the hallway on his right, he looked around corner to see about eight or nine armed men running in his direction.

Definitely not a hospital.

Without hesitation, he pushed the man aside and began to run down the hallway, intending to find his friends. The doors and rooms begin to blur as he sprinted down the area, which was bathed in dim, yellow light.

Swerving frantically to avoid his captors, Kai's tactical skills had finally come into play. He turned corners, dodging agents from all sides.

Why the hell are they chasing me? Am I some kind of fugitive?

He had to stick that thought into his back pocket. At the moment, his main objective was to find a way to evade capture at the hands of these scary men with guns, then he'd worry about finding his friends. And Troy.

Upon finally reaching a dead end, Kai urgently turned around only to be met with a 9mm Glock being pointed directly at him.

"Hey, I don't want any trouble, sir-" Kai began to explain, trying anything to stop himself from getting shot. The impact wasn't the issue-the sound was. His ears were still hurting from the barrage of gunshots last night.

"Hands up, kid!" The man with the Glock commanded ferociously, interrupting him. He knew better than to speak again.

The muscular young man slowly put his hands up in the air, wondering if this was the way he was meant to go out. Getting stabbed to death by a bunch of armed guards without an inkling of why he was there in first place. Although his skin was now impervious to blunt forces, he didn't know how it would fare against piercing attacks or edged weapons.

And he certainly wasn't looking to find out.

Emerging from behind the crowd of men, a voice quietly, but sternly, commanded the squad to stand down. As the guns were lowered, Kai was still commanded to keep his hands in the air. He had no problem complying, as he was not very fond of dying.

A gap was then parted between the dense squad of men. Another man sporting a white lab coat walked through the gap, ceasing motion only a few feet away from Kai.

"It's okay, Mr. Brandson. You're safe now." The man said with a warm smile, that Kai figured concealed a lifetime of pain.

Funny. Nothing about this situation felt safe to him.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dr. Elliott Matthews. Molecular Biologist. I'm sure your father told you a lot about me."

"I hadn't even known this place existed until today." Kai answered, bewildered. "Are my friends okay?"

"Some of them are, others haven't woken up yet." Dr. Matthews answered, appearing as if he were insulted that Kai's father hadn't mentioned him. "Come with me, son. I'll take you to them. I'm sure you have a ton of questions. But first, we need to run some tests to make sure you're really okay."