The Healer

Chapter 2 : Humanity

Lights.

Bright lights.

Lights piercing my eyelids.

Lights burning my flesh.

Voices.

Loud voices.

Voices beckoning my name.

Voices yelling across the room.

I gasped for air.  Ripping my eyes open, they were met with a blinding light.  I tried to shade my eyes from the light, but I couldn't.  My hands were bound by large steel restraints.  The cuffs covered my hands completely, preventing the use of my powers.  Aside from that, no dirt was near, so powers were completely out of the question.  I could sense the suffering of life in this area.  I quickly came to the realization of where I was.  I was in the heart of the city, the Heart of The Breach. 

The Breach, is a touchy subject for me.  With one of my new powers, I can sense the condition and past of anything, living or not.  The Breach is where the head of operations are.  A huge mining facility extracts ores, like titanium and steel, the precious materials of this century.  When this place was founded, people got greedy.  After mining every piece of stone, most of the minerals were depleted.  So, they decided to dig deeper, past any depth ever reached before.  Then one day, the miners broke one last rock, causing everything to fall apart.

The crust ripped open, exposing the liquid interior.  A ravine opened, with a length of more than a third of the Earth's circumference. Wild life was devastated as habitats were split in half. Millions of casualties scattered the split mine as innocent workers fell into the liquid outer core.  Everyday, pain surges through every crevice of this broken planet, and I can feel every ounce of it.

My senses disappeared when something else came into focus. 

"Let me go!"  I could hear struggling.

A cry for help came from behind a large door at the front of the room I was in.  I stared at the door, as it made a loud click.  Multiple gigantic steel bolts tethered the door to the wall.  A gear on the door spun as the bolts spiraled out of their sockets.  When all of the bolts unlocked, the door slowly opened.  Behind the thick vault door, were two people.  A girl, probably my age, stood with her hands behind her back.  Next to her, was a heavily armored guard.

The guard had a strong grasp on her bound hands.  Pure terror shaped her face.  She struggled, trying to get away from him.  With one last attempt, she ripped her hands away from him.  She staggered but quickly found her balance.  She jumped back, quickly turning around to face the guard.  All I could do was watch as this scene unraveled.  She clenched her hand into a fist.  Her hand began to glow, but quickly dimmed to normal, when a purple grid-like net engulfed her hands.  A whimper escaped her quivering lips.  She tried to pull her hands apart, but they quickly rubber-banded back together.  The spaces between the grid lines glowed a bright light.  The glow was so intense, that I had to look away.  I glanced at her horrid expression, noticing that she shut her eyes in pain.

That's strange. Why would her eyes be pained? Robotic Retinas can't feel pain.

My attention focused elsewhere, when a clang echoed through the room. Looking down, the strange girl had fallen to the ground in a seemingly painful position. Two white metal-like plate formed from the glow surrounding each of her hands, like the restraints on mine. A chain materialized, linking the two cuffs together.

The guard picked her up effortlessly. He turned her towards me as she continued to struggle violently. When her long, black hair situated at the sides of her head, something strange came across my mind.

She seemed so.... Familiar.

The familiarity of, not just her face, but her whole body rang through my mind. No matter how clear it seemed to be, I couldn't figure out why. I brushed away the thought when the guard pushed her forward. He motioned her to move, with him standing closely behind her. She stumbled forward, swaying after every step. When she looked at me, regret flooded her face. I don't know how or why'd , but I think she has seen me before too.

She hid her face and continued to walk past me. The guard forced her onto a metal table, on a 100 degree angle. She winced when her skin touched the cold table. She gasped when chains attached to her cuffs, attaching her to the table. She frantically scoured the room, wiggling her hands simultaneously. When her eyes landed on mine, she relaxed slightly.

We both looked over when the vault door reopened. A medium-height man in his 60's stood. With a clipboard in hand, and a long, white lab coat covering him, he paced into the room. His bushy eyebrows furrowed as he scanned through his clipboard full of papers. He flipped through a few papers, then glanced at the girl next to me. He hobbled over to her.

"Jessica Shie, let's see here..." His mouth opened wide in bewilderment.

"You're a human, that's unheard of! We only know of one other." He glanced over to me.

Jessica glanced at me as well. I think she caught on to what he was saying.

"Surgery for you." He moved over to me.

"And look who we have here, Kory Johns. I already know your story." He let out a chuckle.

"Surgery for you as well." He slashed his pen across an unchecked box on the paper.

He turned around and left the room.

"I thought that I was the only one."  I spoke, after sorting through the chaos of my thoughts.

She laughed, "I thought the same.".

A strange silence filled the room.  I looked over to her.  From her lack of movement,  I noticed that she was sleeping.  Before I could say anything, my eyes felt heavy.  Suddenly, I fall into a deep sleep.

My eyes fluttered open.  Taking in my surroundings, I noticed the same scientist, accompanied by an assistant.  I was on a metal table with the same cuffs binding me to it.  I couldn't hear anything, I must've been heavily sedated.  They seemed to be conversing, like they didn't know I was awake.  When they finished talking, the assistant pulled an enormous piece of equipment from the ceiling.  The scientist was pressing buttons on a console beside me.

With one last button press, the piece of equipment lit up.  Two arms stretched out of the machine, one had a circular saw, and the other had a long needle.  The arm with the needle bent down to my arm, inserting the syringe.  I didn't feel any pain, but I knew that it would hurt.  When the needle retracted, immense pressure covered my arm.  Suddenly, my arm lost all of it's color.  I sensed the vibrations of the saw.

What are they doing to me?

Looking up, the saw was spinning fast.  The arm attached to the saw bent down, making the saw almost touch my arm.  Then, the saw dug into my Antecubital Fossa.  With one swift move, the thin sharp blade sliced through my arm.  The bone, and my entire arm instantly separated.   I felt sick, until I passed out.

I jumped up, noticing the soft bed underneath me. 

"Thank god, it was just a dream."  Relief flooded my body.

I ran my hand through my hair, noticing something strange.  My hand didn't feel normal.  I inspected my hand, gasping afterwards.  My whole forearm was replaced with a white-robotic replica.  I opened my palm, and a flame formed in it.  Then it hit me.  I am no longer human.

I have to get rid of it.

--Author's Note--

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