by Harper Doyle
“What have you done, Nadia? You have just hurt a man so badly that he may die.” James was pleading with himself and trying to tell himself that what he had just seen was not true, that Nadia had not just nearly killed a man.
The medics came in and put Daniel on his back. They examined the wound and were about to put an IV when the lead medic holds his arm down. The second medic looks puzzled but the lead medic just shakes his head.
“I am sorry but there is nothing we can do for this man, he was dead nearly instantly. The blow to his head caused a bleed that filled his skull quickly and the brain then ceased to function. Would you like for me to dispose of the body?” Jack was speechless, Daniel, his body guard and friend had just been killed by a child. This was not the sort of training exercise that he had had in mind when starting the day. Jack had been sure that Nadia would get a beating and that it would teach her a lesson. How sorely wrong he had been, never again would he underestimate her. Jack got up slowly from on the ground and turned to face Nadia.
“What have you done? What have you done? Is this what you wanted, to kill Daniel. Was this your plan? You need to be able to control yourself; this was only a training exercise, not a fight to the death. Take her back to the infirmary and restrain her tightly. I want a guard to watch her at all times.” A guard came in the door and surrounded her and James. Together they were taken back to the infirmary where they restrained her with chains instead of leather restraints. Rebecca and Michael had already gotten back from there training session so they were utterly confused by the sudden amount of guards filling the room. Also the chains on Nadia let them know that it was her that the guards were for. James came in and lied down on his bed and let them restrain him and he merely looked at the ceiling. Nadia refused to look at anyone in the room and so also looked directly at the ceiling above her. She did not move from that position for what seemed like hours.
“What the hell happened?” Rebecca and Michael cried out in unison. James and Nadia said nothing and so that only fueled the curiosity and concern that Rebecca and Michael had.
“You guys better tell me what the fuck happened right now or I am going to personally throttle you next chance I get. I mean it!” Rebecca was shouting at the two of them, but mostly at Nadia. Rebecca thought that Nadia would tell her anything and now she remained as silent as a stone and as emotionless as one too. Jack did not come by the next day and neither did Elizabeth. Rebecca was fuming by this time, the night had not lessened her concern and she was demanding to know what had happened, but again Nadia and James were silent. Finally after three days without speaking James leaned up in his bed and faced Rebecca and Michael. Both of them sat up straight waiting to hear the news.
“I will tell you what happened if you promise to not freak out.” Since seeing what Nadia had done he had come to forgive her. The time he had spent silent let his mind wander to the event and the more he thought about it the more he believed that Nadia had not done it to kill Daniel. She had done what she was taught and nothing more. Rebecca and Michael eyed each other but quickly agreed to keep calm and to listen with a rational mind.
“We were training, and Jack brought Daniel in for a sparring session. Nadia went first because Jack was still mad at her for hurting his knee. At first Nadia was just dodging and trying to fit in an attack or two but he always got to her first. Then it was if something switched in Nadia, as she told me, the voices in her head told her what to do. At first I didn’t know to make of that, but now I believe that it was the implants they put in her. The purpose of the implants is to help in combat situations and languages. Apparently the voices had a more vicious attack in mind and told Nadia where to hit him. She was only listening to the combat aspects of the implants and she landed a fierce kick to the right temple of Daniel’s head.” James paused for a moment and Rebecca and Michael thought that the story was over.
“Well, that’s not too bad. What is a little roughing up if you were asked to do so?”
“That is not the end of what I have to say, nor did the event end there.”
“Oh,” Rebecca stopped talking and now a look of concern filled her face.
“The kick was fierce, so fierce that it cracked his skull and he died…” James ended there and Rebecca and Michael quickly glanced at Nadia whom had not moved since she had been placed there a few days ago. She was in a state of shock and was refusing to socialize with anyone. Rebecca and Michael moved their gaze back to James and practically demanded that he explain more, but there was no more to say.
Rebecca lied back down on her bed and let the information she had just heard to sink in. How the hell had that happened, she kept asking herself. Nadia would never do that, would she? A seed of doubt was planted in Rebecca’s mind at that moment and nothing Nadia could say or do would change how she felt at that exact moment. Michael had not said anything and he looked over to Rebecca as if to find an answer to the madness that had surely been a joke. After finding that Rebecca was in thinking mode he too followed her example and lay down on the bed to further his thoughts.
“I told you so that you would understand. Do you not see that it is because of the way we were trained that such a thing would have surely occurred at some point down the road? At least now she has us to help her get through this tough time. Please, you promised to keep yourself at peace.” James was pleading with Rebecca and Michael for an unknown reason. Why was he begging so hardly for there understanding? The next few days passed in near silence and still neither Jack nor Elizabeth came around. The only way to tell the passing of the time was by the meals that were brought. The silence cut deeply into Nadia’s mind, she was waiting to speak, waiting for the understanding that James had. Mostly she wanted Rebecca to understand, they had been through so much together, why was she shying away now, when Nadia needed her the most?
Chapter 9
It was an additional week before Elizabeth finally showed her face to the four of them. She came in and sat down silently on the chair located at the front of the room. At first nobody noticed her sitting there. Then Nadia moved her head, the first time since coming back, and looked at Elizabeth. Her gaze pierced Elizabeth and she had to look away. It was not that Nadia had killed someone that had Elizabeth on edge; it was the coldness in her eyes. Usually that did not happen until after the brainwashing procedure, when there was no morals left in the cyborgs and they had become tools.
Nadia had changed so much from a few days ago, now she had let go of the remorse she had for killing Daniel, believing in what James had said, that is was due to the way she was trained, not her personality. In part Nadia blamed the voices in her head for telling her to hit Daniel in the first place. Elizabeth cleared her throat and the other three in the room took notice of her. They face the front of the room and waited for what she was going to say.
“As I am sure you all know by now, Nadia has killed one of our staff. While this is frowned upon this is the ultimate goal of the company: to bring all of you to an assassin level. Though we had wished that it had not been one of ours. It is of no use to dwell on it any further and I am here to let you know that we are moving on to the next limb replacement. For Michael and Rebecca we will be replacing your leg. For Nadia and James we will be doing your arm. We feel that continuing on in the process is the best choice for you at this moment. If there are no questions we are going to wheel you into the surgery room and begin right away.” Elizabeth stood and opened the door to let in the staff that would escort them to the surgery room. Nadia was taken out first, then James, then Rebecca, ending with Michael.
The procedure went nearly the same as the first one save that they expected the pain and the gagging and so it was a bit of a lesser shock to their system. The surgery for Nadia and James went smoothly, nearly mirroring the first procedure in many ways, expect the limb replaced. They were put into the infirmary where they had been for the past
several weeks. Their shoulders were covered by the bandaging and they strapped down to avoid having them wake up in a panic and damaging either themselves or the shoulder joint.
This time Nadia and James were kept on the drugs for a shorter time, adapting the machine shoulder joint to their body a lot faster then before. As they say practice make perfect, in this case, if you do it enough times the body will learn to react faster each time, as was the case with Nadia and James. The staff kept a close watch over them from morning till night to ensure that the moment they woke up they would be check out and if need be placed under again.
After two weeks of unconsciousness Nadia and James opened their eyes. The drugs still had their senses confused but their minds were slowly clearing up. They looked across the bed at each other and in their own way smiled with their eyes, since their facial muscles were still learning how to function once more. This time the pain was understandable, and though it hurt neither of them started to move around or thrash and thus did not need be put back under. It took a few hours before the anesthesia wore off and their minds finally cleared. They were not permitted to sit up, only to move their heads, which James and Nadia did so that they could talk to each other.
“Hey, James, I know I didn’t get a chance to say this before, but thank you for believing in me. I know that it sounds corny but I thank you nonetheless. You know that I like you, right?” Nadia had limited her emotions long ago, but she had never stopped liking James. For James he just looked at Nadia for a moment before responding.
“Yeah, I like you to. We are partners till the end, no matter what. That I promise you, Nadia.” The two of them smiled at each other, and their bond grew even stronger than before. Then a thought entered Nadia’s mind and she eyed James.
“I wonder when Rebecca and Michael will wake up. I would have thought that they would have been as quick as us. Oh, well, I guess we will just have to wait a few days before we can find out. I hope that they get adapt to their legs as fast as we did. Maybe we can train together, that would be awesome.” James nodded and moved his head to look at the ceiling.
“I hate having to wait around and do nothing. I would rather train, that’s how bored I am.”
“Wow, you must be really bored if you would rather train. My gosh, at least in recovery we don’t have to see Jack or hear his smug retorts or listen to him talk to himself. I tell you he is weird and I would not be upset if I never saw him again.”
“I agree.” James was nodding, but continued to look at the ceiling. Nadia turned her head and the two of them lay there in silence thinking about different things.
Another few days went by and James and Nadia’s joint was healing nicely and the limb connection process were off without a hitch. The staff told them that they would be able to sit up in a few more days, after the arm replacement had settled into the socket and the healing was a little further along. The nanites were certainly doing their work. By experiencing the same event again the nanites already knew what to heal and went to work.
“I still haven’t heard any noise at all from either Rebecca or Michael. I guess there are healing a lot slower than we are. I would have thought that by now they would have at least woken up for a little while. But perhaps it is because their bodies were not used to the new surgery and need more time to adapt and heal.” Nadia was facing James and he was trying to move so that he could try to see Michael or Rebecca, but he was not at a good angle to see much of anything.
“Yeah, you are right; but I am starting to get an uncomfortable feeling, a sort of gut feeling that something is not right.” James gave up trying to see either of the other two and went back to facing Nadia instead.
“The more time goes on that I don’t hear anything from them the more nervous I get.” Nadia had been feeling the same way, but there was no way to see what was happening without sitting up. They would have to wait a few more days.
When the doctors finally cleared them to sit up they waited from them to leave the room and together they sat up at the same time. As soon as they were in viewing range of the other beds they were shocked at what they saw. The beds were empty and it looked like had been for a while. This was confusing to Nadia and James, for they were sure that Rebecca and Michael had gone into the surgery, yet here were their beds, empty.
“Where are they?” Nadia asked, though she knew that James did not know the answer. Sometimes it was better just to ask the question even though there was no immediate answer.
“I have no idea. Maybe we could ask one of the staff members.”
“Like they would tell us, they are just paid to make sure we don’t die or damage the machines they attached to us.” Nadia was acting very pessimistic and James could tell that she was feeling nervous about the meaning of the empty beds.
“Well it never hurts to try, right?”
“I guess not, but you are the one asking.”
“Fine, fine, I will ask.” James waited until another staff member walked into the room and when they went to check on his stats he looked at him.
“So, kind sir, would you happen to know where the other two patients are that are supposed to be in this room?” The man eyed him suspiciously and continued to check the stats before making any reply.
“How should I know? You should ask your handlers, I believe Elizabeth was planning on dropping by tomorrow, ask her then instead of me now.” And with that he left the room and proceeded down the hall.
“Well, at least we only have to wait a little way longer. I am pretty sure that Elizabeth will tell us what happened to Rebecca and Michael.” James seemed to trust what the staff member had said but Nadia was still skeptical.
“Maybe, maybe not, the only way to find out is to ask Elizabeth tomorrow, I guess.” For the rest of the day Nadia and James thought about all the possibilities of why Rebecca and Michael were not in the room with them, but avoided the one reason they didn’t want to even consider to be true. The next day Elizabeth did pay them a visit and the moment that she entered the room Nadia and James sat up.
“Calm down you two, don’t want to damage anything now do we?” James and Nadia slowed down and propped themselves up with care. Elizabeth sat down on the chair at the front of the room, but now only two pairs of eyes stared back at her.
“There are a few orders of business that I need to go over with you.” Nadia was holding her breath without even realizing it, hoping to hear news about Rebecca.
“First things first, Jack will no longer be a part of this group, from here on forward I am the sole handler for you.” Nadia did a silent shout for joy and she was sure that James was doing to same thing. Elizabeth was not smiling and Nadia and James turned back to face her. They had unknowingly glanced at each other in sheer joy. Little did they know that the joy was soon melt to despair from the following news that Elizabeth was about to reveal.
“That is not all, there is still a more important piece of information that I should tell you two about. It concerns your partner team, Rebecca and Michael.” That statement quickly sobered Nadia and James right up, the gleam in their eyes dulled and they eyed Elizabeth with a spark of fear in their eyes.
“During the surgery Rebecca encountered some problems. We had known that she had a slight bleeding problem, but up until then it had not been a problem. The uterus removing surgery resulted in little blood loss. In the arm replacement surgery she had shown signs of the problem but we figured that it was not quite a big deal since we had stopped the bleed easily. This time however when the bleed started it would not stop. She bleed out on the surgical table, and subsequently died.” That was a blow to Nadia; she gasped for air and felt the tears forming in the back of her eyes. It was such a shock, never had Nadia thought that Rebecca could or would die. She had thought that they were going to escape together, and be friends for the rest of their lives
. As if that was not enough of a shock Elizabeth continued.
“Due to the fact that Rebecca died Michael had no one else to be his partner. We try to stagger the surgery rounds so with no partner Michael was required to be terminated in order to keep the numbers equal. He was injected with a poison and he died quickly. We tossed both Rebecca and Michael’s bodies into the crematory. As of right now you two are the only ones in the special ops program, the farthest along out of the entire company and community housing developments. We need you two to continue on, and make it all the way. Please, for me, or if not me than the company, and it not for the company, for yourselves.” Nadia had gone into denial mode and James could see it on her face. She was freaking out within which caused her to look completely calm on the outside. Elizabeth had not noticed it and after she had finished informing them of the incidents her reason to be there was completed. She got up to leave and closed the door behind her.
“James, James, oh my god! I can’t believe. I refuse to believe it. How could that happen, she was here with us just a little while ago? I never got to ask her, does she think I am a horrible person, for killing Daniel. I wanted to know. I needed to know. Now she’s dead, what am I going to do?” Nadia had held in her emotions until Elizabeth had left the room and now the tears flowed freely down her cheeks. James was in shock himself and was of little help to Nadia, though he tried to respond to her pleas.
“It happened, Nadia, there is nothing we could have done to prevent it. We need to let…it…go…” The tears were choking James and he was unable to continue talking. James knew that he needed to believe what he was saying as the truth, but he couldn’t. James could not finish his thought because he himself did not believe it to be true. Nadia was holding her head in her hands and was sobbing.