I used to welcome sleep.
But no longer. Now all sleep offers is a chance for more dreams. No, not dreams. Memories. Memories of the time before this hell hole. So I fight sleep as much as I can. But eventually sleep always wins. And right now, it feels like sleep is about to take me again.
Perhaps I should start at the beginning. My name is Matt. Until about three months ago, I lived like any normal guy my age. Nothing special to speak of. But, one day, something happened that wasn’t normal at all.
I arrived at my house from school. As usual, I was the only one home. I threw my overly-stuffed backpack to the floor and sat down on the couch. As I reached for the TV remote, I happened to glance at the window and saw a black van drive up to my house and stop.
Puzzled, I got up from the couch and went to the door. When I stepped out of my house, the back doors of the van burst open and several men in military uniforms jumped out. One of them was carrying a gun.
“Shit...” I muttered. For a second I thought about running back inside my house for my shotgun, but quickly decided against it.
I stood there, motionless. The man with the gun aimed it at me and fired. There was no blast, but I felt a sudden, sharp pain in my neck.
“Tranquilizer..” I realized, then I blacked out.
When I awoke, the first thing I noticed was a rhythmic humming noise. When my vision cleared, I saw several people in medical-like tunics kneeling over me.
“Wh...Where am I?” I asked. My voice was raspy.
One of them to my right, and older-looking balding man, spoke. “A helicopter. Don’t worry.” He nodded to a woman on my right, and she injected me with something. I winced at the pain, then fell into unconsciousness again.
I regained consciousness for the second time. I tried to move, but I realized quickly that my arms and legs were strapped to a bed. The room looked like some kind of operating room.
“What the hell...?” I whispered to myself.
“Hello to you, too,” a voice said. I turned to my left and saw the same man from the helicopter. “Congratulations,” he said with a slight smile.
“For what?” I asked.
“Your genetic makeup is exactly what we were looking for,” was his cryptic response. “In case you were wondering, you’re in the United States Genetic Weapons Research Facility.”
Oh. Government abduction. So that’s what was going on.
“What, you gonna test some biological weapon on me?” I spat.
“No, no, nothing that barbaric,” the man replied. “When we’re done...you will be the weapon.”
A set of doors opened, and several people came into the room.
“Ready doc?” one of them asked the man.
“Yes. Let’s begin.”
After several minutes of preparation, one of the scientists reached into a nearby cabinet and retrieved a large syringe filled with a dark purple liquid.
As I was injected with the substance, the doctor looked at me. “This will hurt. Try to remain still.”
For a few seconds after the injection, I though that maybe it wouldn’t hurt. I didn’t feel anything unusual. But then...
A sharp, searing pain burned its way up my spine. The pain spread to my limbs and head. I spasmed, unable to bear the pain. The doctors were all checking readouts. One of them said something about temporal alignment, then I fell into darkness, unable to take the pain.
I awoke in the same room I’m in now. It’s bare, except for a bed. I get to leave once a day for “training sessions.” This is where I hone the powers bestowed to me: the ability to manipulate time. It is an awesome power. I can slow time for everyone except myself, bend time in a small area to trap opponents, and a few other skills. The doctors told me today that I would be ready for field tests. But I don’t plan to stick around for that. Tonight, I escape.
I walked up to the large steel door of my cell. There was always a guard posted outside. I hoped the plan would work. If not, I would probably be put in a higher security cell.
“AAAH!” I gasped, and fell to my knees. “Guard...help me!”
“What?” I heard a voice say as the door opened. I grinned. Here we go.
I concentrated, and felt the familiar wave of sleepiness pass over me for a second as my body adjusted to the temporal shift. The guards movements slowed, and I jumped to my feet, hitting the guard with an uppercut as I rose. He fell backwards, but I was out of the cell and out the door before he even hit the ground.
I was surprised that I made it out so easily. The building I had been kept in was very large, and surrounded by open fields. The people around me moved too slowly to pose any threat. I ran, knowing that my hold on the flow of time wouldn’t last forever.
After about 15 minutes (as it seemed to me), I released time to its normal flow. I was dead tired, but I couldn’t stop now. There was a city nearby, I could see the lights near the horizon. If I made it there, perhaps I could hide. Fortunately, the researchers allowed me to choose my own clothing, and I had picked all black, including a black trenchcoat that I always wanted to have, but my parents would never let me because they said it looked “evil.”
My parents! No...I couldn’t go back. Who knows what would happen. I would definately be captured again. My only chance is to run. I have to keep traveling.
As I ran toward that city on the horizon, an old saying floated through my thoughts: “Time is on my side.”