H.O.P.E (A Super Hero Story)

Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Forcibly Drafted

"—lex-kun. Alex-kun, wake up! Can you move?!"

Groggily, Alex woke up finding that he could not. He looked around, seeing he was in some sort of lab or doctor's room. It was too dim to see clearly. He looked down and saw that he was strapped to a surgery table, set standing up vertically. His hands and feet were in leather binds, while across his chest, hips and legs were giant Velcro straps. Still able to move his head, he saw Kumiko on his right, with Abby, Theo and Val down the row, strapped the same way. Val was still knocked out, his head lolling to one side.

"Where the hell are we?" he said.

Looking more closely, he saw the roomed contained computer screens at the opposite end of the room, the monitors providing a little light. In the middle were two long tables stretching horizontally, stacked with medical and science equipment. There were bigger machines lining the other two walls. There was enough space between the closer table and them that one of them could be set to lay down.

"Don't know, mate," Abby answered him. "One moment we're camping, the next, we're in Frankenstein's lab."

Alex looked down the row. "What's wrong with Val?"

"We can't wake him. Theo, try again."

Theo kept shouting Val's name, but after several attempts, he started to trail off from exhaustion. Val stayed asleep; his body completely limp.

Oh, God, please. Don't let him be... They couldn't even finish the thought. Alex looked around again, and the most important question to him right now sprung from him.

"Where's Coal?!"

Before anyone could answer, the main room lights came on. The added light made them realize that they were behind a clear barrier, made of some kind of glass, with a hatch carved in the glass. A door they didn't notice before opened at the opposite end of the room. Through the door came a thin, blond man in a white lab coat holding a tablet screen, and an older man, wearing a military uniform.

The scientist tapped his tablet, and in response a pale purple light filled their containment cell, casting an eerie glow through the rest of the room.

"Suppression field in place, sir," The scientist said to the military man. "No unexpected surprises for them to throw at us."

"Thank you, Doctor."

The military man walked closer to the glass, looking at his new recruits. He paced, looking each one in the eyes with cold indifference. He walked back to the middle and addressed them.

"I am the General. This is my associate, Dr. Gene. You are our new experimental subjects. Before I explain any further about where you are and why you're here, are there any questions?"

Alex had only one. "Where's my dog, asshole?!"

A slight scowl appeared over the General's face, then quickly vanished. He turned and nodded to Dr. Gene. The doctor tapped his tablet several times, activating the generator behind Alex's table. A surge of electricity poured through, traveling all over Alex's body. He began to scream loud, pain shooting everywhere. It lasted only a few seconds, but it felt like the pain would never stop. It was this guttural scream that woke Val. He held up his head, looked at his friends, then ahead to look at the General and Dr. Gene. He shouted,

"What the hell is this? Who the fuck are you, cabron?!"

Val got his own jolt of electricity, sending him screaming. All the others could do was watch helplessly as their friends were tortured. The General spoke again,