The Visionaries

27

Four weeks later..............

They spend as much time as they could sneak in together. Sometimes it was just talking. Sometimes they cried in each other's arms. Sometimes it would just be sex and cuddling afterwards. Or just cuddling. He understood Alma's fear. Maybe in another life, in another world, they would have been a real couple instead of friends with slightly increased benefits. He wanted to be there for her. She felt the same but everything was complicated now.

"Six?" a voice called out from the hall. Duane was trying to get some water.

"I'm Duane, not Six." he said, turning to see him. It was Lana's boyfriend or whatever he was.

"I apologize, Duane. There's something I wanted to discuss with you. That and I have some knowledge you might be interested in." he said. "My name is Dr. Miller, by the way."

"Okay, Dr. Miller." he said. "What do you want to discuss?" he crossed his arms.

"Michael is very interested in you passing on your white genes as well as his daughter," he said.

"No shit." Duane said. "Tell me something I don't know."

"Follow me." he said. Duane tensed up and followed him to the conference room. He grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, writing something down. He pushed it to Duane.

"I am in cahoots with the American government that survived the attacks. They're currently in Alaska and Hawaii." it read. "Michael isn't super interested in them at the moment. But anyway, you are the sole survivor of the Experiment Six batch. Michael is planning on making more of you."

Duane wrote back, "More of me?"

Miller wrote, "Yes, he wants to use Aryan soldiers and the techniques that he used on your body on them. We can't allow that. If he uses it on his entire military, we will be screwed beyond belief."

Duane wrote, "Well, what does that have to do with me?"

"We need you to survive and you need to know everything that was done to you, of course. So you can testify against Michael and Jennifer when they are brought on trial for their crimes." he said.

"Then what?" Duane wrote back. "I could be seen as a war criminal as well."

"Alma and her friends have agreed to testify on your behalf," he said. "I have documents if you want to see them."

"What kind?" he asked.

Dr. Miller pulled a file out of his lab jacket. How? He put them in front of Six. He opened it. It was a file based on him. His birth certificate, "death" certificate, his medical records, and a detailed account of his death. He had died due to a LED bomb. Shrapnel had buried itself in his chest and caused him to bleed to death when it pierced his heart. There was a detailed account of everything they did to his body.

Replaced certain organs, forced his body to produce more stem cells, fortified his bones with metal elements, and used said stem cells to create new, stronger and faster healing skin. They had intentionally caused lesions in his brain to cause memory loss. He was in awe. And then at the end was a paper. He read all of it. It was consent to be part of an elite squad that was meant to capture terrorists and end the war. Under all of that was a line with "Duane Kilcher" signed on the bottom. He had signed it.

"So what happened to everyone else?" he wrote down, after setting the files down.

"Your fellow squad members were killed or severely damaged." Miller wrote down. "Anyway, I must get going. I have a meeting in ten minutes. Thank you for your time, Duane."

Duane nodded and Dr. Miller got up and left. He walked to the Glass Hall and saw Charlie cleaning tables.

"Charlie?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Duane." she said. "We were moved here. It's prisoner day. Basically they let us out to clean the Crystal Manor."

Chills ran out his spine. Michael was sending him a message. Charlie and his father were really close to him.

"That's...." he said.

"What's wrong, Duane?" she asked.

"Nothing, I was just thinking of something. Charlie, is it bad that I still don't fully remember everything?" he asked.

"I wouldn't think so. You haven't fully had time to think, I would say." Charlie said. "And they probably did something to block out your memory."

"They did. But you didn't hear that from me." he said. "What do you remember about me?"

"You used to be sort of chubby as a kid. You have really curly hair but it's just started to curl back. You used to eat ramen noodles right out of the packet with ketchup." Charlie winked her face.

"That sounds vile." Duane had a big smile on his face.

"It was." Charlie chuckled. "Also frozen pop-tarts. That was......yeesh."

"Frozen pop-tarts?" he chuckled. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"We didn't either. Those were good days." Charlie kept wiping tables. She walked closer to her brother and leaned into his ear.

"They're planning on having a revolt." she said. "In a few days. The plan is for Alma and her friends to kill the leaders and blow up the Manor. But you didn't hear that from me."

Duane pulled away.

"I hope it works." he said.

Charlie nods. "Me too. Anyway, I have to get going. It was nice talking to you, Duane."

"I agree. See ya." he hugged her. She hugged him back.

He walked away, tired. He passed by various prisoners in the same gray scrubs as he once wore. They stared at him. He kept walking, not wanting to have eye contact with them. He passed by various scientists, gawking at him. He wondered what would happen to them if their plan succeeded. He also thought of Dr. Miller's plan. He wanted to take them to court. Duane didn't want that. He wanted them all dead for everything they had done.