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*present time, sickbay tent.*
"Unngh..."
"Huh? Hey, you finally woke up." Devon said happily.
"..I was awake the whole time.. but i feel a bit paralyzed.." Marlene said with a small voice.
"Hmm.. you should rest. We'll take care of you until you heal."
"..We..? Where are we? I remember fainted inside the Fortress border, but then.."
"You're in the Fortress border. The sickbay to be exact."
"Ah.."
"Hm? What is it? You seem confused."
"..actually, i already woke up a few minutes ago. But i feel so weak, so i can't talk to you."
"What do you want to talk about?" Devon moves closer to Marlene.
"When i woke up, i saw you sleeping over there.. you seemed scared about something.
Did you have a nightmare? A deep trauma perhaps?" Marlene asked.
"Hmmm..." Devon closes his eyes.
"Its okay If you don't want to tel--"
"No, I'll tell you." Devon opens his eyes, then takes a deep breath.
"Okay." Marlene said.
"To tell you the truth, I'm bored, sick and tired of my life. So much death.
150 years ago, i was in the army, the president needs, no, wants, a new kind of weapon to help his country, or to him, win the war. Or so i was told."
"150 years ago? You mean around 186X?" She asked.
"...yes... impossible right? But its true. The scientist team came up with and idea to make a humanoid weapon. The project was called 'the Ancients' project."
"The "Ancients?" You don't mean-- (gasps)" Marlene was surprised upon hearing Devon mentioned the "Ancients" project.
"Yes, it. The "Ancients" legend, people with the ability to use telepathy or telekinesis.
Psychic, basically. The idea to transform and modify the human DNA to do telekinesis was proven to be far too difficult for the scientist to realize, but modifying it to do telepathy was possible.
I was among the first 10 subjects, the first and the last, to participate in the program."
"..What happened to you?"
"They put me inside a large tube, then injected me with a liquid. They said it was just "military grade protein," i knew they lied.
But i didn't realized it until they put me inside that tube. From what i know before they put ne inside, that liquid was blood. A sample of blood of the first subject, his DNA was successfully modified but his body can't support the modified DNA.
After his DNA was modified, his body starts to rot, his skin was melting. The scientist team the dubbed this phenomenon "Degradation." He knew he was going to die. The scientist thought, although his body failed to contain the DNA, but the DNA itself was a successful medical breakthrough.
He can read minds and move objects without touching. The scientist team felt that the DNA have to be kept for further analysis, so they sampled the blood and made several hundred copies of it. Knowing that the DNA will slowly Degrade the body, they also came up with an idea to modify the DNA to make an everlasting human body.
The second, third and fourth died from the experiment, the first died soon after they died."
"What happened to the rest of the subjects?"
"The remaining, including me, was running a series of extreme physical exercise to verify our endurance before given the sample.
However, the fifth subject was called earlier, he was used as a medium for the 2 DNAs to collide and make a perfect bond, Fusing the blood sample. It was a success, they made a new, stronger human DNA, But the subject died in the process.
All the remaining subject died, except for me and the 10th subject. I was the 9th. It was... a miracle. After they injected the perfect blood sample to me and him, i felt extreme pain inside my whole body, i started screaming. I can't hear anything but my own voice. And then i fainted.
I don't remember all of it until a missile landed on top of the lab. I woke up, the glass tube was shattered so i came out. I looked around and realized, the lab was empty, it was abandoned, the 10th subject was never found, the upper levels of the underground lab turned into a factory and nobody ever came down.
Locals started to come as i emerged from the ruins. I was brought to a hospital, then they said that I'm fine. After regaining my memories, i realized i was asleep for more than 9 decades."
"You woke up in 194X?"
"Yes, everyone i knew is already dead. I started from zero and became a new man. Several years passed and i didn't grow old. The experiment i went through yields better results than what i expected. I spent 50 years traveling the globe and came across the desert. But then i ran out of supplies and went unconsciouss."
"I found you.."
"Yeah.." he said with a small voice.
"Can i ask another question?"
"Of course."
"Why did you save me? I was just a burden. I have no one left in my family. Just me. M-my family.. they.." Marlene's eyes started to shed tears.
"Don't cry. Why i saved you.. I felt... responsible.. if you die, it will only burden me more. Seeing someone that saved your life, killed in front your eyes, that's just terrible. Y'know?"
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hey guys, this is it. the ninth chapter of the story. its the longest story so far i guess. the next chapter (10th, 11th and so on) are in progress but i have to tell you that its not going to be posted (its still in progress) because i had a writer's block. so i cant produce new work, or chapters in this case because i used all my ideas on this part of the story. so, maybe we'll meet again after a month or two. but i'll be back so don't worry.
please pardon my misspell.
