Chapter 3: an unexpected life story.
I'm not sure what time it was that I woke up but it was the noise from the lock that convinced me to sit up and throw my legs off the bed. My first thought in my half-asleep mind was *When did I get a lock on my door?* then I remembered where I was and what happened to me. When the door opened it took all my will power to not start hyperventilating from thinking about this whole freaky situation. I barely had control of myself before the doctor stood in the doorway and said "Get up, the trainer will be arriving any minute now." And with that, he walked out the door. I sighed, got off the bed, and thought *I really need to get out of this crazy place* and then followed the doctor out the door.
Then he walked over to Sasha's cell and opened it and said the same thing he said to me. What I heard next surprised me, what I think was that little boy say in a small voice "Can I come too?" I looked at the doctor and he seemed to think about it for a second and then nodded and said. "Follow me." And then he walked over to what I'm going to call the gym. As the three of us I jog to catch up to Sasha and take a peek at her but she has that indifferent look on again, I assume that she not going to say anything even if I ask so I just sigh and keep walking next to her right side with the boy on her left.
Just as I face forward she says in a monotone. "Do you have to sigh all the time."
I turn to her and find her with that blank face again and I say with the goofiest grin I can make "You bet!"
She looked a bit startled by my strange response and just smiled a bit and shook her head. I can't help but smile at her reaction. I normally enjoy making other people smile and laugh but I'm finding that the challenge of getting her to laugh is strangely addicting. A second or two after that we reached the gym and then the doctor opened the door, turned around and said. "You are to wait in here until the trainer arrives, I will bring him when he does." And with that said he walked away to the laboratory section of the hanger. I turn around to look at Sasha but don't find next to me like I thought so I walk into the gym and find her sitting on one of the lower ropes of the boxing ring talking to the boy at eye level.
I walked over to them and asked "Who's he?"
The little boy jumped a bit, spun around, and quickly put his face into an emotionless mask. "Why should I tell you?"
Sasha looked up at me and said. "It's ok, he may be an experiment but he's mostly a harmless goofball. And Seth, this is my brother Martin."
I reach my hand out for him to shake and he looks at it for a second before shaking it. I smile and couldn't help adding. "There, that wasn't so hard now was it?"
The mask he had shattered at my words and he smiled. With the introductions out of the way I wondered what we were supposed to do for now. I looked down at my crossed arms and then up at him and ask. "Hey do you want to see something cool?"
He looks at me suspiciously for a second before he nods. So I sit down next to Sasha and try to raise my scales again. After a second or two I manage to do it without flexing my whole arm. I was ridiculously close to jumping up and doing a victory dance but figured that would just make me look crazy. So I just grinned, looked up and said. "Hey, check out the skin on my arm!"
He leaned in close and I lowered and raised the scales again and his face went from blank to an ear-to-ear grin, looks up at me and all but shouts. "That's so awesome!!!" I look up at Sasha and can't help the triumphant grin on my face. "See, it IS cool."
She just shrugs and says. "You're still an overgrown pinecone."
Her brother stops smiling, looks at Sasha, then at my arm, then at me and almost falls to the floor from laughing so hard. I look at her and raise my eyebrow. She shrugs and says. "Of course he's going to laugh. He hasn't had much entertainment till you came around and your pretty much a walking circus clown act." I frown at that but notice the twinkle in her eye despite the blank face that tells me she's joking. I shake my head and chuckle a bit and turn to Martin to see him on the floor, red faced from laughing so hard, trying to keep from laughing again. I chuckle and reach down and pull him up off the floor.
"Are you feeling better now that you have that out of your system?" I ask him.
He nods and his face slowly turns less red each second. He opened his mouth to say something else but the door opened and he scurried behind his sister when the doctor walked in followed by a short stocky man with camouflage colored cargo pants and a white t-shirt on. I couldn't tell much more than that since he was across the room and facing away from us talking to the doctor but when he turned towards us I noticed he had really short hair that I think is blonde, and a shallow scar across his left cheek. He seemed to stop short a bit and frowned when he looked at us, then he walked over to us. When he got a few feet away he scowled when he looked at me and Sasha but when he looked at Martin he visibly paled. At this point I was really confused at his reaction and asked. "Is something wrong?" He just shook his head and walked over to the doctor and said something to him for a minute or two then the doctor nodded and walked out the door. He walked back over to us, scowling the whole time, looked at me and asked "How old are you?"
I was a bit taken back by the strange question but replied anyways. "I'm eighteen."
He looked at Sasha and she said. "I turn eighteen next month."
"And the boy?" he asked.
She pushed him further behind her and said. "He's ten. Why do you want to know?"
I didn't know it was possible to scowl any more than he was earlier but he proved me wrong when he said. "The reason why is because last time these experiments were being run they were using willing volunteers that were at least thirty, not kids. Now tell me how you all got here."
I wanted to object to being called a kid but from the look on his face I decided against it and just answered him. "I was kidnapped from in front of my house."
Sasha just shrugs and says. "I'm not sure how but my father sold me and my brother to your organization."
I jerk my head to look at her *she wasn't kidding yesterday*
"S**T!!" The trainer swore vehemently. At his swearing Martin flinched and Sasha glared at him. "Do not swear in front of my brother." She said in a voice that sounded like an iced steel blade. It had me flinching back from her and very thankful it wasn't directed at me.
He looked slightly taken back by her words but nodded and said. "I'm sorry for that. It's just that all of this does not sit well with me. I'm not sure how I'm going to do it yet but I'm going to get you three out of here."
Sasha's eyes narrowed at his words and she still had that glare from earlier. "And why on earth should we trust you of all people?" She said in a calm but hard voice. "You are from the same organization that hired that quack to do this to us. Give us one good reason why we should even listen to you?"
"Because I have a son of my own that should be sixteen now and you remind me of him. And to explain why I'm working for a mercenary organization I have to start from the beginning so I suggest you get comfy."
Sasha and I looked at each other, myself with an eyebrow raised in a silent question, her with a blank face. After a second she nodded and sat down, pulled her brother onto her lap, and crossed her legs with her back against the ropes of the boxing ring. I shrugged and sat down next to her.
He looked at us both sitting down for a moment before walking behind the boxing ring to grab a stool I didn't know was there. He sat it down in front of us, looked at his hands for a second, and then started talking.
"First of all my name is Colin Moss...I've never told anyone my life story before now so bear with me..." He took a deep breath in and out. "Okay, where my life went down the toilet is during my military time in Afghanistan in 2001. I had recently been transferred from the states to serve under the command of a man by the name of Captain Johnson Edwards the third. He was a decent officer that knew how to earn the respect of his men but everyone knew that the only reason he had the position he had was because his father was a general and would do anything to have his son follow in his footsteps. For a few weeks everything was fine. But one evening, I had gotten permission to head into town to have a drink and on my way back to the base I had heard muffled shrieking from an alleyway. I ran into the alley to find a man, half hidden in the shadows with his upper half covered in darkness, holding a struggling local woman from behind and dragging her further into the alley with his hand over her mouth. I had rushed at him, since I couldn't risk shooting him while he had someone in his arms, and punched him as hard as I could in the face but since he still had the hold of the woman she went down with him. As soon as he hit the ground he involuntarily let go of her to clutch his face. As he did that I pulled the woman away from him and put her behind me against the wall to protect her. The man shakily got to his feet with one hand clutching his jaw and said in English to my surprise. "I will make you regret disturbing my fun." And as he said the last word he launched himself at me, aiming a fast left punch to my jaw. I batted the inside of his arm with my forearm to avoid it. He faltered for a second since that had knocked him slightly off balance. I could smell some alcohol on his breath and decided then and there to make him regret doing this. I took his left elbow, since his arm was still outstretched, and twisted it behind his back. With him like that I had him immobilized so I pushed him face first into the wall, shoving him a bit and said. "You will pay for what you were about to do. Did you know that around here that rapists used to be castrated and then tied to a horse and dragged through town by their feet in nothing but their undergarments?" When I said this I could hear his breathing getting shallow and fast. "But I'm going to be lenient with you since you haven't actually done it yet, what I'm going to do is make it so you'll think twice before attacking another woman. Grit your teeth because you're in for a world of pain." I waited a second before rearranging my grip so I had my left hand just in front of the elbow and my right on his wrist and I twisted until I felt it a sharp snap that cause him to moan and go weak at the knees from the pain. I pulled him off the wall and tossed him to the ground like a rag-doll. He landed in a sprawled heap on his right side, unmoving. I waited a few seconds before nudging him with my foot to make sure he was unconscious then went over to the woman cowering in the corner, shivering with wide eyes. I bent down to her level, cupped her chin in my hand and whispered. "It's over. You don't need to worry about him anymore. Now are you okay?" She took a few deep breathes and looked me in the eye and nodded. I smiled but as I did that her eyes looked up and widened. I felt a cold, dull pain in my head before I blacked out. When I woke up I found myself handcuffed to a bed in the sickbay. I found out from one of the guards that I was accused of attempted rape and for assaulting an officer. I had no idea what was happening till Johnson Edwards walked into the room with a cast on his left arm and a wide scrape on his right cheek." ..."Could you hold on a moment? I haven't talked that much at one sitting in a long time." Colin got up off the stool and walked around the boxing ring to the water fountain. Once he was there I looked back at Sasha and Martin to find both of them wide eyed and leaning forward. I thought about commenting on how they looked like they were hanging on Colin's every word but decided against that because I thought that would ruin the moment.
Sasha finally spoke up and breathed out. "Whoa, I really didn't see that coming."
I nodded and added. "Me either. And I don't think he's lying about it earlier. You can't fake the pain I saw in his eyes for a story made up on the spot. But do you think we should trust him? So far I think he's a decent guy."
She tilted her head back and to the side and got a thoughtful look in her eye. "I believe he's telling the truth about this but I'm not sure if I can trust him yet either."
I shrugged as Colin came back and sat down. "Now that that's out of the way, where was I?"
"You were handcuffed to the bed and Johnson had just walked in with his arm in a cast." I reminded him.
He nodded and started his story again. "Ok, I'm sorry but if I keep at the rate I'm going we'll be here till the day after tomorrow. So if you don't mind I'm going to summarize a bit... Somehow Johnson had managed to convince everyone to believe I was the guilty party despite all I said against it. My only hope of being set free of the charges was if the woman Johnson was trying to rape came forward and gave her testimony. But when the trial happened and she came forward to give her testimony she gave me a guilty look and started to give her testimony... against me. I think that she had been heavily bribed by Johnson's father to do this...... Anyways, long story short, I was dishonorably discharged from the military and sentenced to seven years in prison with two years of psychiatric counseling but with good behavior I was released after four years of prison in 2005. When I got out I had been set on revenge for the humiliation and pain I suffered because of Johnson. Within a month of being free my wife filed for divorce and won custody of my son Anthony without any chance of me visiting him. With the grief from that to fuel me as well I sought to hunt done Johnson and kill him. What I found was that he had died a year before my release in a drunken car accident. So since that wasn't possible I turned to finding work since my savings were running dry but found that despite serving my time nobody would hire me because of those false charges. After five weeks of searching I was approached by a man from the mercenary group Gae Bolg to work for them as a trainer since I had been very skilled in hand-to-hand combat and urban combat. I have been working for them for the past five years only because there were no other choices available." Colin took a deep breath in and out then looked at each of us and said. "Now that I've shared my sob story do you believe that I would help you?"
I was shocked at all the pain he has had to deal with. I was hesitant to put my trust him completely but I figured that if he wasn't being honest there wasn't much that would change. So I turned to look at Sasha and she looked like she didn't know what to think about this whole revelation. Martin was just looking between the three of us, waiting for an answer. I decided to speak up and say. "Why not trust him for now? I mean it's not like we lose much if we're wrong and he turns on us. We would just be back where we started."
She looked at me for a few moments before nodding and looking at Colin to say. "We will put our trust in you for now..." and here her gaze went so cold it made her earlier one look like an ice cube compared to a glacier. "But if you betray us I will personally skin you alive with a rusty spoon."
Colin's eyes widened a bit and he paled somewhat but shook his head and said. "Fine, I accept your terms. Now what do I need to know about your situations?"
I spoke up and said. "Well first off, we need these collars off. They have tracking devices in them and the doctor said that as long as we have them on we will not be able to leave the building without being electrocuted and I have found from personal experience that it will also shock you if you get within around three feet of the control button that the doctor wears around his neck. Plus when you're shocked, you're knocked out for several hours."
Colin looked surprised at this and looked to Sasha and she nodded and added. "When I came in he told me that he made the collars Martin and I wear will activate at the same time. So if I do something stupid he will pay for it and I absolutely refuse to do anything that will put him in danger."
He nodded at her words. "I wouldn't expect you to put him in harm's way and I won't do that either. When this session is over I'm going to ask Dr. Dietrich to give me the details on all the security here, information about the collars, and any information on what he has done to you two. I can ask for the control buttons but I highly doubt he will give them over. For now," And here he stood up." We need some food in us before I can begin training you." With that he turned and began walking towards the door.
"Wait, why do we need to train anyways if you're going to get us out of here?" I asked.
He stopped mid-walk and turned around to give me a serious look. "When you get out of here what do you think is going to happen? I'll tell you, Gae Bolg spent a lot of money to make you what you are and they will do all they can to bring you back to work for them. And most likely, you will either be brain washed into following any order they give. Or they will use even more extreme security measures than what you're currently wearing. And that's why you need to be trained to be ready for any kind of attack. Once you get your freedom you will need to work hard to remain free." After a second to make sure we got his point, his frown melted into a smile. "Now that the serious stuff is out of the way, follow me and let's find the kitchen in this madhouse." And with that he went to the door, opened it and walked out.
I turned to look at Sasha and she just shrugged at me and said. "I'm hungry anyways so let's go." Then she walked out the door with me following close behind her and her bother.
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Please tell me what you think of my new chapter.