Re-Starting

Malcolm

"Did he take them all out?"

"Yes sir."

"Are the tents up?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Send him a truck of my men."

"Yes sir."
The man left the room and ran off to do his duties.

"Now where was I? Yes that's right, you."
The man looked at someone sitting in the left corner of the room. The room was simple, a small concrete room with one light and one chair.

The man got up and walked over to the slumped body and kicked it hard in the ribs. He heard the body groan. "Not dead, good start." He looked down at the body. "You my friend are one tough being. Do you want to know why I'm not going to put a bullet in your skull?"
The man took the body's silence as a yes. "It's because I can't comprehend how you, my cunning friend, managed to not get eliminated my one of my most feared men, escaped even though he had a vehicle and you didn't. And this is my favorite part, once you were free your very next decision was to get to me?" The body twitched. The man smiled "I just don't know if your brave or stupid. Either way it doesn't matter, brave or stupid, you proved yourself. I won't kill you."

The man bent over and took off the sack tied over the person's head. "I didn't expect you to be so young." The man said, mostly talking to himself. "So your number 3." He looked at the persons shirt. Most of it was bloody and ripped apart but you can tell that there was a number 3 written on it with a marker. The person was in very bad shape, road rash almost everywhere, snapped left arm and both legs basically shattered. "All of these injuries and you still managed to get to me." His smile grew wider. "It's only the beginning and your already proving that you can survive this world." The body slowly moved and came back to consciousness. "Hey there! Do you know where you are?" The person just stared. "I think you do know where you are but for entertainments sake I'll tell you anyways!" He fixed the person's hair and looked into his eyes. "Your in sub level D. Do you know what that means?"

The person responded with more silence.

"It means your dangerous! Like that? You made it to my dangerous section!"

More silence followed.

"This building is very very organized with who and where. And you are here. Do you want to know where the person who did this to you came from?"

For the first time the man heard the body grunt without force. "I knew that would catch your fancy! As a gift for you returning to me I'll tell you." The man went to the person's ear. "The man who did this to you came from sub level K."

The person's eyes shot open and stared with intense rage.

"You never stop entertaining me! You know what that is don't you? So many questions I have for you."

"Let's start things with a simple greeting, you can call me Malcolm, what's your name?"

Silence followed.

"Oh come on don't be rude. If it wasn't for me you would be dead right now!"

More silence followed.

"How about this, you tell me your name and I'll tell you the maniac's name."

The person rose his head and looked at Malcolm. "Jake."

Malcolm smiled, "His name is Versailles, Mr.V for short."

"Where can I find him?"
Malcolm laughed "Find him? You can't even stand!"

This Jake guy can be very useful to us. In the state he's in, he shouldn't even be alive right now and all he can think about is getting revenge. Now that's a truly determined, strong soul.

I need him.

Malcolm sat down on the chair and looked at Jake.

"Want to kill Mr.V?"

"Yes."

"Then you have to listen to what I'm about to say and listen carefully." Malcolm's face turned serious, "Let's talk about current events. Do you know what the most recent global crisis is?"

"Global Warming?"

Malcolm busted out in laughter. "Global Warming! Your a funny one! But sadly, wrong." Malcolm looked Jake in the eyes and said, "The most recent global crisis as of now is the Impact."

"The impact?"

"You know so much but at the same time know nothing! How ironic! Allow me to explain and before you say anything let me tell you that what I'm about to say is in fact 100% true."

"Why should I trust you?" Jake said wincing.

"Isn't me allowing you to live and giving you my best man's info enough of a why?"

"I guess."

"Alrighty then, the Impact is a meteorite that struck Earth about 12 hours ago. The reason it's named the Impact is because at the moment of impact, one third of our own population got wiped out."

"Bullshit."

"I know it sounds crazy but just bear with me, I'm not done. After the initial impact, a fog has started to spread, originating from the meteorite and the vapors are known to kill anything living."

"I'm not saying I believe you but if what you say is true we are all screwed then."

"Wrong, there are three reasons why I say that. One reason is that we didn't get wiped out from this impact, thus giving us a chance to move on. The two other reasons are ways to get past the vapors. Either you wear one of our gas masks or be born a hybrid."

"Hybrid?"

"I usually don't give out information like this but given our little relationship and the fact that you and I are part of our endangered species I'll tell you. One third of our race has unstable DNA due to reasons the best scientists couldn't figure out. It makes the individual extremely... adaptable. Most people don't even know that the term Hybrid exists. But what I do know is that if there were to be someone who didn't get wiped out by the impact that was in fact a hybrid, they would be alive in the fog as we speak. And since one third of our race is gone, I doubt there are many of them out there."

"How do I know if I'm a hybrid?"

"Walk into the fog and find out."

"Hell no."

"Well besides doing that nobody has found a way to track hybrids down."

"Is that all?"

Malcolm put his hand on his chin and looked at Jake. "Well now that your all talky talky let me ask you something. I don't want to know why Mr.V chose you to die first or how exactly you got here. I want to know why you came back to me."

"I want to work for the Company."

Malcolm was surprised. He rose his eyebrows with interest and smirked. "I thought you didn't trust me but I'll let that all go behind us. I think I can arrange that."

"Only under two conditions."

"It depends on what you mean by conditions."

"I want to work in the building away from the fog and I want to kill Mr.V."

Malcolm smiled, "Done. Let's get you patched up Jake."