“What are the subjects?” I asked.
“It can be a mix of topics. It covers pretty much everything,” Mr. Hiller said.
“We’ve still got some time though,” Kristen said.
“Yeah, so we need to double down,” Matthew said.
We continued to have our meeting with the teacher asking us more questions. We managed to answer most of the questions correctly, but we had some trouble with others.
“Max, how many megabytes are in one gigabyte?” Matthew asked.
“One thousand megabytes,” Max said.
“Correct. Kristen, what’s the difference between power and energy?” Matthew asked.
“Energy can be stored, and power cannot be stored,” she said.
“Anything else?” Matthew replied.
“Not that I can think of,” she replied.
“The quantity of power is instantaneous, while a timed component is included with energy. Nice try,” he said.
“Alex, true or false: the human bone contains blood veins?” Matthew asked.
“True,” I said.
“Correct,” he said as he put the card back slowly. He then looked at me enviously before he picked out another card and he continued to quiz us.
After the meeting, I met up with Max outside. We stood in the parking lot waiting for our parents to pick us up.
“What is it with Matthew?” I asked.
“He is just another asshole like Derek.”
“How annoying. Did you find anything else?” I asked.
“No. Just the same stuff. Did you guys find anything?” Max replied.
“Other than what we learned nothing much else,” I said.
“Do you guys have any plans?” he asked.
“Not at the moment. I’m thinking that we might put a team together to go after him. I’m hoping that if we find him, it will lead us to Jackson.”
“Not to mention when you take him down, the Taliban will be pissed,” he said as we laughed.
“Yeah. What about anything about Type-2 serum?” I asked.
“Nothing there either. I’ll do some more research later,” he said before getting into his parents’ car.
After Max left, I drifted off again. I stood there deep in thought until my mom picked me up.
Chapter Nineteen
I went over to Melissa’s house the following evening. Her house had a freshly mowed lawn and was complete with trimmed bushes and a bed of plants all blooming. I walked up to her red front door and knocked.
“Hey, Alex. Just in time,” she said.
She opened the door. She had a beautiful red dress on, and her hair was done up. She also had red lipstick on, and her eye brows and eye lashes were also done as well. The house was spotless. The furniture was real leather, and all the pillows were neatly placed on the couch. The place was dimly lit with candles, and the sound of cheesy romance music played in the background. The candles made the room smell like vanilla, and I was suddenly in the mood for vanilla ice cream. She invited me in, and we sat down on the couch.
She opened a bottle of wine and poured me a glass.
“Thanks,” I replied.
“No problem. My dad keeps a stash of wine around,” she replied.
I took a drink of the wine. It tasted thick and bitter. Not to mention the fact that I couldn’t get drunk no matter how many glasses I had, due to the fact that my metabolism was five times faster than normal. We talked for a bit as we drank the wine. Melissa started to act funny after about two drinks.
“You have a really nice house,” I said.
“Thanks. My parents bought it three years ago after Dad got a raise,” she said.
“What does your dad do?”
“He’s a lawyer. A good one.”
“That’s cool,” I said.
“When I become a fashion designer, I want a house like this. Except bigger, you know.”
Melissa started to move closer to me.
“Do you like me?” she asked.
“As a friend, I guess. Why?” I asked.
“Because when I first saw you, I thought you were kind of interesting, you know?” she replied.
“I guess,” I replied.
She moved closer to me. I started to feel warm. I was shaking a little bit, and I liked it. She placed her hand on my arm.
“You’re shaking really bad,” she asked.
“Uh, must be the wine,” I said.
“Just relax. Do you trust me?” she asked.
“Sure,” I replied as she took my hand and slid the strap of her dress off. She slowly moved her head toward my face. She closed her eyes and placed her lips on mine. Her kiss felt smooth and kind of wet. Her kiss tasted like cherries and wine, which made sense. For a second, I imagined Sarah kissing me before Melissa pulled back.
“It feels nice, doesn’t it?” she asked.
“Yeah, sure,” I replied as she leaned her head on my shoulder. We mostly spent the rest of the night sitting on the couch talking, and making out a little. I didn’t mind. I thought she was cute.
The next morning, she greeted me when I got to school. She immediately grabbed my hand, and we went to class together. Later, I was in the library working on my report. I had a flash drive, so I could store my report on there and work on it when-ever.
As I was in the library, I secretly did some research on Mikhail. I learned that he was responsible for a number of bio-weapon attacks in the world, according to the news sites I found. Also, the FBI had a five-million-dollar reward for any information that could lead to his capture or death.
After class, Melissa caught up to me.
“Hey, Alex,” she said as she kissed my cheek.
“Hey,” I said as she grabbed my arm.
I didn’t know we had to hold hands to every class she had and that we had to kiss each other when we got there. When I got home, she called me and would talk almost nonstop. We went out on a date, and she picked the movie. She picked Twilight: New Moon, and it was so boring for me. However, she did insist that the book was better.
One day, we went to the mall to get some clothes for the makeover she planned for me. We started by going to some kind of men’s fashion store, where she got me some weird clothes. She started with a pink shirt and red scarf that felt like it was made of knives. Then, I tried out another outfit; this time it was a black blazer with shorts, a white shirt, and black tie. Thankfully, she did not choose that one.
Then, I tried on a black trench coat with black pants and a white shirt underneath. I tried on some other clothes that she gave me, like shirts and pants with vests. With every new outfit, I felt like a jackass.
While we were in line to get lunch, I wanted to ask Mark to see if he knew anything about relationships.
“Can I ask you something?” I asked.
“Sure, what’s up?” he replied.
“Do you know anything about relationships?” I asked.
“I know a few things. Why?” he said.
“Well, as you know, Melissa and I are dating, and I was wondering if you have any good advice?” I asked.
“Well, first, I suggest that you do the basic stuff, like compliment her, be nice to her. Girls like that. It also helps if you listen to her when she has a problem. Women like it when you listen to them,” he said.
“You seem to know a lot about this stuff,” I said.
“I know enough. After all, I have been in a relationship before. Not to mention that I have seen hundreds of romantic movies in my life,” he said.
On our third date, we went to a restaurant. She forced me to wear the pink shirt with the red scarf to the date. During the date, she talked way too much. She mostly talked about some fashion ideas she had and some ideas for a makeover.
“So, how do you like your makeover?” she asked.
“It will do, I guess,” I replied.
“I hoped you would. So, what will you get?” she asked.
I was going to get a burger, but she stopped me and made m
e get a salad because she’s a vegan and she does not like to eat other animals. Now she was making me one, I guess.
That night, I couldn’t help but think about Mikhail and how he may have all the answers I was looking for regarding Jackson’s location and what happened to the Omega Project. As I was stuck thinking, Melissa interrupted my train of thought.
“Hey! Are you listening?” she asked.
“Umm…yes, continue,” I replied as she talked about the importance of recognizing animal cruelty.
Chapter Twenty
When I came home from my date, I went up to my room and dressed in my sleepwear. When I was getting ready for bed, I got a call.
“Mathis here. We need you to get your ass over here. We may have tracked down Mikhail, and we’re putting together a task force to get him,” he said.
I again went downstairs, told my parents I was spending the night at a friend’s house as I walked out the door. I called Max on my way out.
“Hey Max, I got a new assignment. I need you to cover me for a bit,” I said.
“On it,” Max said.
I arrived at the base where the briefing was being held.
“Intel reports that Mikhail was spotted in Quetta. A unit of US Marines will be sent in to find and apprehend Mikhail. Once we retrieve him, we can find out where Jackson is and either bring him in or kill him,” John said.
After I accepted the assignment, I was driven to a nearby airbase to fly to the next destination.
I arrived on the base. It was hot and dry. The base was fully loaded to go in with Humvees, choppers, and everything else. I noticed some of the marines were highly skeptical of my talents.
“Wow, I didn’t know the STR was sending a kid who played too much Call of Duty to be the liaison,” one of the marines said as I walked by.
I went to the barracks, which was just a big tent with ten beds, five on each side. It was humid and smelled like sweat. The bed was thin, and the top sheet felt like sandpaper. As I unpacked my stuff, I met some of the marines I was going to be working with.
“I’m Thompson, and that’s Wright,” Thompson said.
They both had crew haircuts. Thompson was pretty tall and pale. Wright was shorter than Thompson.
“I’m Alex Connors,” I said.
“I’m Marcus. You’re pretty young to be in combat,” he said.
“Yeah, well, I’m an expert. Being a genetically engineered super soldier does that,” I replied.
“What’s that like?” Thompson asked.
“Different,” I replied.
“How?” he asked.
“It’s just that there are no others like me,” I replied.
We talked for a bit about life in the military, and they told me about themselves. Thompson was a corporal, and he had planned to go back to school to get a degree in engineering. Wright was a private first class who was hoping to make it up to an officer rank someday. They were actually pretty nice. Shortly thereafter, a group of five other marines walked toward me, all of them pretty big and muscular.
“Well, a fifteen-year-old kid going to war. You do know this is nothing like the games you play, right?” he asked.
“I know. I’m well trained for these kinds of situations,” I replied as some of the marines laughed.
“Do you think you’ve got what it takes to be out here?” another marine asked.
I got up from my bed and walked up to him.
“I think I do,” I replied.
“Come on, guys. Chill out,” Wright said.
“Shut up!” the marine who addressed me replied.
“I’m in charge here, and you do as I say. Got it?”
“You know, if you’re trying to intimidate me, you’re wasting your time. Okay? Now I don’t have a problem with you so just leave me alone,” I said.
“Or what?” one of the marines said as he stood right in front of me with his chest out.
“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” I replied.
“Show me what you got then,” the marine said as he grabbed me.
In self-defense, I grabbed his hand, pulled it off my chest, and pushed him away.
“I’m not going to ask you again. Leave me alone!” I said.
“So, now you want to play rough, huh?” yelled the marine. He then got up and walked up to me.
“That’s enough!” one marine said. “Now spread out and stand at attention!” It seemed that he was the sergeant leading the mission. He had short black hair and was African-American.
The group of marines stood with their hands to their sides, chins up, shoulders back, and feet together. He stood in front of the other marine that had grabbed me.
“Are you having fun here, marine? Just helping break the liaison in?” he said.
“No sir,” he replied.
“Didn’t think so. So why don’t you all cut the crap! Fallout,” the sergeant said as the other marines returned to what they were doing.
“Sorry about them. Are you okay?” the sergeant asked.
“I’m fine. Thanks. Do they always act like that?” I asked.
“More or less. They’re just trying to get a rise out of you. I’m Sergeant Hayes. I will be leading the mission,” Hayes said.
“Alex Connors,” I replied as I shook his hand.
“The briefing is starting now. I was sent to get you,” he said.
“Right. Let’s go,” I replied as we walked out.
We arrived at the briefing with the colonel, and a general and two other officers. At the briefing, we discussed the plan of attack; our objective was to secure four key buildings that the Taliban were using as check points for their troops just a click, or 1.6 kilometers, from the main target building where we believed that Mikhail was.
“So, that’s the plan. Secure the four key buildings and proceed to the main target location,” the lieutenant said.
“Can we expect any bio-weapons in the area?” I asked.
“Recon has picked up some minor bio-weapon activity so far, but nothing in this area lately. We should be safe, but keep your guard up just in case,” he said.
“What’s our plan of extraction?” Hayes asked.
“Once your team acquires Mikhail, we will dispatch a convoy to pick you guys up and get you out of there,” the lieutenant said.
After the briefing, I went back to the barracks, pulled out my laptop, and got to work on my book report. My body could go much longer without sleep so I kind of stayed up past my bedtime, which was ten, working on my report. I couldn’t seem to take my mind of the mission. I couldn’t wait to conduct the mission. So much so, that I sped through my report so I could think about some ways to complete the mission easier. Sometimes, I would look over my laptop monitor to see what the other marines were doing.
They weren’t doing much other than just sitting around talking, playing card games, and so on.
Some of them were looking through cards from boy scouts, or other organizations that were thanking our troops for their service. As the marines read the cards, some of them flat out scolded the cards, and made fun of them, apparently out of respect.
I managed to get the book report done, so I could focus on the mission.
We were being sent into Quetta first thing in the morning. After breakfast, the other marines and I were getting prepped to begin.
“Getting nervous, Connors?” Thompson asked.
“No, not really,” I replied as I packed up my gear. It was nice to get out of the clothes Melissa made me wear and back into some good, old tactical gear.
Once we were packed up, Sergeant Hayes had us fall in a single line.
“All right, marines. Remember we go in, get Mikhail, and get out. Plain and simple. Remember our call sign: Delta. All of you should have your numbers memorized. Understood?” he said.
The marines then shouted, “Oorah!”
My call sign was Delta Two, the sergeant’s was Delta One, and the base was Alpha. Afterward, we ran toward the choppers and boarded. Once
the choppers were loaded up, we moved out.
We flew in to Quetta. As I sat in the chopper, I looked down at the city while feeling the breeze hitting my face. I saw civilians fleeing indoors to seek shelter; they looked like insects from the chopper. We arrived at the first target building to secure the area while the other teams secured the other three buildings.
I dropped in via rope, and the four other marines followed me down. The chopper blew sand all over the place, and it got into my eyes. The city was hot and humid. Even the smallest breeze felt refreshing. However, wearing all black gear did not help. The shops were blocked by metal covers, and the streets were practically deserted. Immediately when we got down, we were met with a small squad of ten Taliban soldiers.
They opened fire with assault rifles. Rocket launchers tore up cars, shops, and other objects in the way, leaving rubble behind. We took cover behind some destroyed cars and shot back. I managed to shoot two of them, the marines got at least five more. One enemy soldier pulled out a rocket launcher and shot the car I was hiding behind. I jumped out of the way, but the explosion knocked me down, leaving me lying in the middle of the streets and open to gunfire. My ears were ringing, and I felt as if I got hit by a small car. Another marine killed the guy with the rocket launcher, and as he went down, he shot the rocket at a building. The rubble from the explosion knocked more of the soldiers out.
Once the marines killed the rest of the Taliban soldiers, I quickly got up. We pushed toward the target building. It was loud and chaotic. There was gunfire and soldiers screaming everywhere. We had to stick as close to the walls as we could just to have cover from all of the gunfire as we fought our way to the building.
The other four marines and I arrived at the target building and quickly secured the area by clearing the area out, room by room, and eliminating any Taliban forces we encountered. When we got to the last room, there were five guys pointing their weapons at the door. I was the first in with my enhanced speed and reflexes. I killed all five of the Taliban soldiers by quickly shooting at all of them in the room. One marine was blown away with how fast I was.
The Omega Archives Page 12