Broken Soldier [#Wattys2015]

Chapter One

Location Unknown, Year Unknown

Maria

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The sound of raging wind all around me, loud and piercing. It's cold. It's lonely. Slowly, it drains into a loud and slow but constant tapping noise. It sounds like someone tapping on a wooden table. It fades away. There's sudden flashing in my vision, like lightning it a wild storm. Then there's darkness. It's pure black, nothing to be seen. I hear a cry; the cry of a baby. A mothers happy moan, then whimpers of sadness as her baby is taken from her. Then nothing again. A sudden strike of excruciating pain and it's all over.

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1960

My eyes fling open in a flash, allowing me to see a pure white room. I look around and find I'm bound to a cold, metal table. There's a needle in my arm with a clear fluid flowing through it and into me. I'm dressed in a simple white gown.

Don't move. Don't talk.

I heard the click of a door handle open then a person dressed fully in white clothing steps in the room. They walk up to me causally, avoiding looking at me. They then check the drip that is in me and a machine that I had not noticed previously. They look back up, and walk over to me with a cotton bud and needle in their hands. A small pain stings my arm as the person injects the needle in my arm then wiped away the small blood spot. As suddenly as they came here they're gone again, and I'm alone.

My heart began to beat faster at the uncertainty that I was faced with. Questions rambled through my head. How did I get here? Why am I here? What's going on? And who am I? A sudden voice startled me.

"Brown, Maria. Born 1918. Was a female soldier for the United States Army. Was captured and experimented on by myself. You died and came back, now you have been presumed dead for eight years. It's nice to see you awake."

I couldn't figure out where the voice was or who it belonged to. Eventually I saw a small speaker mounted on the wall in front of me. I didn't speak.

"So the cats' got her tongue, that's new. You had plenty to say to us before this moment." He said.

The voice sounded so familiar, but I couldn't put a face to it. I needed to know their name.

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice cracked and raspy.

"Why, I'm disheartened that you forgot me. Then again it's to be expected if you can't even remember who you are." I cringed. "Maybe a bell will ring at the name that is Dr Arnim Zola."

Zola?

The name suddenly sounded very familiar and I could put a horrid face to it. The door opened as if on cue and a small man stepped in the room, confirming my thoughts.

"Zola." I said coldly.

"That's no way to greet an old friend," he snickered.

"Old fried my ass," I retorted.

He gave me an evil grin before continuing. "It's good to see that you still have your attitude, that will come in handy."

I knew who he was and what he did to me. But I couldn't figure out why he did it. And when he did it. He walked over to me slowly.

"Do you remember how to use your gifts?" He asked me.

That rang another bell. I glanced down at my arms just as they had swirling patterns of gold on them. Oh how I wished I had of used them at my advantage when I had the chance.

Zola came right up to me and fastened a metal cuff around my neck. The patterns on my arms suddenly disappeared and I couldn't make them come back, no matter how hard I tried.

"You can try to use your gifts but unless we give you permission, you are just a normal human being," he said quietly.

I put my head back on the table. My eyes were beginning to water and there was a lump forming in my throat. I was scared. I had no idea what was going to happen to me. Then again, I didn't know who I was. For all I knew, Zola could have been helping me. Which I what I decided to believe.