 
VETERANS DAY

By

Dante D. Ross

Enjoy these other great works by Dante D. Ross

 The Enabler

 Morbid Curiosity

 Lady Bug

Copyright © 2014 by Dante D. Ross

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1

There was no pension plan. There was no retirement. No goodbye party was thrown. I didn't get a plaque for my excellent work. No pat on the back. I was left for dead four hundred and fifty miles from home in the middle of the Nevada desert. My name was Kendra Hecksford. I was a daughter. I was a sister. I was an aunt. I was a granddaughter.

Now, I am just Hex.

On my 18th birthday I made the decision to become a Marine. It wasn't a hard choice to make. My three older brothers and my dad were Marines. I grew up in this. This wasn't something I needed to do to afford college. I didn't join because I had nothing better to do. I joined because this was all I knew. And I knew it well.

I spent the first 15 years of my life training to kill. Dad taught me everything he knew. My brothers taught me everything he didn't. By the time I was 17 I was a machine. I could take down a man twice my size in 3.4 seconds. When it came time to enlist I ran into the usual critiques that go along with being a woman. I was too small. Too weak. Too emotional. None of these were true.

Growing up I was never known for outburst. If my brothers beat me up I just tried to give as good as I got. If I got into a fight at school I made sure that it was worth the suspension that followed. If my father came home drunk and ready for a battle I was there to make sure he didn't go near my mother.

Any accusation of me being emotional was quickly blown out of the water once I entered boot camp. The guys tried their best to make sure I failed. Attacks during the night. Cat calls. Anything their adolescent minds could think of. They obviously had no idea who I was. I was Kendra. Daughter of Lemont Hecksford. Granddaughter of Bill "Pecos" Hecksford. They couldn't stop me anymore than the Lord himself could. I was going to become a Marine no matter who tried to stop me. Oorah.

Once during basic training a group of guys figured that it would be funny to attack me while I showered. How they sneaked into the female quarters I don't know. But what I do know was that eight men left covered in water, soap, and blood. I decided not to press any charges. Why should I? The ass kicking they got did more to them than any court marshal could. Another time one of the guys felt that the only way he could express his admiration for me was to climb into my bed during the night. They told me that after three operations his penis was once again functional.

Sort of.

After graduation a general called "The Corps" approached me. He looked like a general. Big, White, broad, and stern. He never smiled. He never laughed. He never made a joke. Whatever he said you believed and when he spoke you listened to every word he said as if it were the gospel truth. Ten years later and I still fear the man. He shook hands with my father after they saluted one another. My brothers stood away from him as if they knew to fear him. Mom could not attend my graduation on account of her brain tumor. I saluted "The Corps," and put my hands to my side.

"I hear you graduated at the top of your class, Pvt. Hecksford," he said. "Sir, yes, sir!" I replied. "Come with me, Hecksford," he said as he motioned towards a nearby jeep. I saluted my father

and brothers as we began to walk. "I want you to join me for a drink," he said. Surely he knew that I was not of legal age to drink. But fear and respect kept me from bringing this fact up. "I have a proposition for you. I will explain my plan to you. If you choose to reject my offer I will act as if we have never met. If you speak to anyone of this conversation and offer I will have you killed. Am I understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" I replied."Good," he said while lighting a short black cigarette of some sort. "We are gathering the best graduates of military schools from all over the world. They represent every state in the US and every militarized country throughout the world. Only the top five will be chosen for this career. The rest will go through a four-month program erasing any knowledge of the programs existence. Your drill instructor informed me of your proficiency with firearms. Have you ever killed a man, Hecksford?"

"Sir, no, sir!" I replied.

"Don't worry about that," he said. "If you complete the program you will have hundreds, if not thousands, of the dead haunting you until the day you die." He took a long drag from his cigarette and exhaled through his nose. "And maybe even afterward. Will you accept my offer?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" I replied. "Good," he said. "I'd hate to have to kill you."

2

My family wasn't allowed to see me off. I was picked up near L.A.X at 3am and placed aboard a black airplane with no writing on the side. I was quickly blind folded and injected with something that knocked me out immediately. I woke up God knows how many hours (or days) later in the middle of a field surrounded by hundreds of people. I guess "The Corps" was telling the truth. Everyone looked around my age. One by one we all rose to our feet. Everyone tried to find someone from their own country to be near or at least someone that spoke their language.

I tried to find a perimeter of wherever we were. A few guys tried to talk to me but I just ignored them. I wasn't here to make friends. I was asked to be a part of something big. After walking for almost half an hour I realized that I had yet to reach a fence. I looked back and saw everyone being rounded up by large vans and jeeps. I heard shouting and a few shots fired before gas was used to disperse the crowd. I ran towards the group to find out exactly what was going on when a spotlight blinded me. I shielded my eyes and squinted in an attempt to see who this was.

"What made you leave the group?" a deep voice shouted over a loud speaker. I stopped squinting and made my way towards the light. When I heard the sound of a gun being cocked I stopped for a moment before continuing. "Halt!" I did not. I took a deep breath and let it out of my nose causing a whistle. "Halt or we will fire!" My father always said that when confronted by an enemy to never talk. When you stay silent they tend to give away more information than they intended. Like now. I know that there is more than one person because they said, "We will fire!" Also, they asked why I left the group, which means that they were watching me, and are in some way associated with this program. "One more step and you're dead, bitch!" I turned my back and began walking away from the light. "Christ, Hecksford. You really are a hard ass." I turned and saluted the light. "At ease, soldier."

A large Black man jumped from the vehicle and made his way towards me. He had a soldier's uniform on but it was unlike any I had ever seen. It was completely black. Understand me when I say "completely black," I mean that in every sense of the word. Later I found out that this was a new material made specifically for this group and graduates of the program. It reflected no light and made no sound when the soldier walked towards me. He wore a skullcap with a silver logo of an eagle with a hammer and sword crossed behind it. This was either a perversion of the American or a pirate's flag. I wasn't sure which.

"I've heard a lot about you, Hex," the soldier said. "Name's Ronald Jones. Everyone calls me 'L.T.'"

"Sir, pleased to meet your acquaintance, sir!" I say while saluting.

"That 'sir' shit ends here, Hex," he replied while laughing at me. He removed one of those short black cigarettes that "The Corps" had earlier and inhales sharply. He doesn't exhale. "And call me, L.T."

"Why 'L.T'?" I ask.

"They gave it to me years back," he says. "It stands for 'Long Term.' I have seen folks come and go through this program. I am one of the first to graduate and not only stay, but also not die. I'm pretty damned hard to shoot let alone kill," he says while chuckling.

"Why were those people back there gassed?" I ask. "They didn't do anything."

"How do you know?" L.T asked. "You are off wandering all fucking Lorne Greene's Wild Wilderness style while that shit was going on. You don't know why they were sprayed so you don't know whether or not they did anything. So stop assuming shit."

"They were sprayed?" I asked. I felt like an idiot asking so many questions. "Yeah," L.T said. "We gotta spray all y'all before you get to camp. Shit, if yo ass got cancer thatstuff will kill it." "You have a cure for cancer?" I ask. "I don't believe that." "Wait till you see the cure for A.I.D.S," L.T says. "You won't believe how simple it is. Now get

your ass in the jeep. We gotta get you sprayed, spayed, and paid." The ride back to the group is spent listening to L.T sing to himself. He is like no soldier I have

ever seen. The way he speaks, walks, and thinks is like some kind of cartoon character. When he get to the group most of them have been rounded up and sent away on various jeeps. L.T motions for me to jump out and get in line. I am about to salute him when he raises his eyebrow and smiles. I nod and leave him.

I join the longest line in the hope of getting more time to think. I see two masked soldiers looking at me then nodding to each other before making their way over to me. I pretend to not notice them when one of them grabs my ass. I don't move. The other laughs as he reaches for my breast. Out of the corner of my eye I see L.T watching all of this.

Whether or not he put them up to this to test me I don't know, but there was no way I came all this way to get drugged, groped, and harassed. If that were what I wanted I would have gone to USC. Just as he is about to grab my right breast I bring my right hand up sharply, breaking his small and ring fingers. He pulls back, his screams muffled by his mask. The other soldier rears back for a punch and I sweep his forward facing leg, right at his ankle. I don't hear it snap but he falls down grabbing it. A gunshot stops me from kicking him while he is down.

"Goddamn, Hex!" L.T shouts from his jeep while holding a rifle I have never seen before. "Where the fuck you learn that shit?" He leaps from the jeep and walks over to the two guards who try to compose themselves. "You two pussies just got took down by an 18 year old chick from South Central L.A that graduated from basic training just six days ago. What do you have to say for yourselves?" The two guards looked down at their feet. The one with the hurt ankle shifted his weight while the other held his broken fingers. "Hex, what you want me to do to these dumb fucks?"

"Nothing," I reply.

"Bullshit," L.T says. "We gotta do something. Can't just have motherfuckers running 'round grabbing ladies titties and shit. Again, what should I do with these fools?"

"Fine, kill them," I say. A moment later their heads disappear.

"Now get on that jeep and let's get you in the program," L.T says as the bodies are dragged away before I can turn back and see who took them.

This feels like some sort of dream. Did I really just cause two men to get murdered because they tried to touch me? I feel as if I should do something. Cry, scream, or shout. But I can't. Not because I don't want to. But because I don't need to. I have dealt with men like these since I was 8 years old. I never wanted them punished by anyone's hands other than mine and eventually the Lord's. It seems that things don't always work out the way you want.

"What's going to happen to their bodies?" I ask no one in particular. "What bodies?" L.T asks.

3

The first week is spent being broken down physically, spiritually, and mentally. Religious? Your God is dead. In great shape? You're sucking for air after one minute. Think you're a happy person? Turns out you have an Oedipus Complex. All day crying is heard throughout the camp. No one is given a gun with live ammunition and I wonder why until a guy from China tries to blow his brains out after realizing he had been molested when he was 3 years old. When he heard the rifle clicking instead of booming he collapsed to the ground and was immediately dragged away and sent somewhere for reprogramming.

Later that night word is spreading that within the first week seventy guys have failed the program. I don't see L.T during this entire time. It's not that I miss him or anything. But I could get information from him and he hadn't tried to fondle me mentally or physically. A lot of the guys here would stare and scoff wondering why, me, a girl, was even here. I ignored them for the most part. As long as they didn't try anything we were cool. On what I assume is Sunday we are awoken by the sound of explosions. Everyone runs out to see what is going on. I stay put. Suddenly someone throws a sheet or something over my face and I black out.

When I wake up I am tied to a chair with tape over my nose, forcing me to breath through my mouth. I stare straight forward and look at a man with a gray uniform. His uniform looks exactly like L.T but he has no shoes on. His feet are black with filth and when he smiles I can see he has only two of his front bottom teeth left. He bites at his nails and clears his throat before speaking.

"Are you scared, sweet heart?" he asks. I stare at him while he spits his fingernail onto my lap. "Stop staring at me, whore." I continue to stare. "Is there something on my face? Are you looking at my teeth?"

"What teeth?" someone in the room asks while many others laugh. I gather at least five other men in the room.

"Shut the fuck up!" the toothless wonder shouts. "I think this chick has a staring problem." "What do we usually do with people that have staring problems?" someone asks. "I forget," he says while rubbing his chin. He reaches behind his back and pulls out a small knife

with a black blade. He rushes towards me and slices at my face, cutting me just below my right eye. I don't flinch and this seems to upset him even more. "Fuck you!" he shouts. "You ain't tough. Where you from? L.A? Fuck L.A. All you running around acting all tough and shit. Fuck you. I'm from Alabama."

"That explains the teeth," I say which causes everyone in the room to laugh. Everyone except Teeth here. He slaps me hard across the face. Someone must have taken a step forwards because Teeth looks past me and gives a stare that could freeze water.

"What is this world coming to when a Black bitch like you can outlast 300 other fine soldiers?" Teeth asks. He said 300. I heard there were only seventy sent home. "Do you want to hit me?" he asks. "Go ahead and try." He leans forward, just inches from my face. "Come on, darkie," he says. He starts making kissing noises and then grabs me by the throat, squeezing hard. I just look him in the eye. "What? You don't like me?"

"This isn't working," I tell him. "There is nothing scary or intimidating about you." "Fuck you," he says. "Very original," I say, angering him further. He screams then throws a wild right hook I tilt my

head back as he misses by less than an inch. He swings too close to me and I sink my teeth into his ribs. I feel something crunching as he shouts and tries to free himself from my mouth. Men are laughing while he continues to push my head away only causing me to bite harder."Stop it, bitch!" he shouts while I begin to bite so hard I can taste his blood in my mouth.

"Let him go," I hear L.T say from behind me. I release him and he crashes to the ground lifting his shirt. He has blood coming from his side on his ribs. L.T steps between the two of us and smiles before punching me hard in the nose. "What the fuck were you thinking?" he asks. I swallow my blood and sigh. He holds his hand out and someone tosses him a gun. I have never in my life seen a gun that look like this. It has the trigger near the bottom causing you to fire using your small or pinky finger instead of your index. He puts the gun to my head and presses so hard that I feel blood running down my brow. "Have you ever been shot?" he asks.

"No," I reply. "Well, today is your lucky day," L.T says before I hear a click and the room goes black.

4

"I like you, Hex," L.T says as he sits next to me in the middle of a large room full of cots. The lights are extremely bright and shine down on each bed. I count twenty of them. All empty except for mine. "I suggest you not move around too much. Might die." I sit up and look for a mirror. L.T hands me one and I check my head. The entire right side of my head is completely shaved. About one weeks worth of growth is there. "And before you ask, yeah, I shot you in the head." I sigh and lay back down onto my pillow.

"I'm hungry," I say aloud to no one in particular. L.T laughs and slaps his knee.

"I'll be damned, Hex!" he shouts, his voice echoing throughout the empty room. "I tell you that I shot you in the fucking head and all you want to do is eat!"

"Well, I'm hungry," I repeat. "What am I supposed to do? Shoot you back?" L.T smiles and reaches behind his back pulling out that same strange gun. He hands it to me handle first. I take it and place it on my stomach. "Maybe later."

"Keep it," L.T says while fishing for another one of those odd cigarettes.

"I thought we weren't supposed to have weapons," I say. L.T just nods and hands me a cigarette that I turn down. He places it on my stomach next to the gun.

"Hex, you've been out for about three months," L.T says. I hide my shock. "Yeah, I shot you in the head. But while we had you open we figured that we'd just root around in there a bit. Gave you some improvements."

"What do you mean 'improvements'?" I ask. Here we go again with me asking questions and getting answers I didn't understand.

"Enhanced certain features," L.T says "and dulled others. You'll notice once you're out there in the field." L.T inhales deeply and holds it in. He continues talking and I notice once again that he doesn't exhale. "Wait to you see this shit. You'll run, fight, and think faster and better than your Black ass ever thought possible."

"Really?" I ask sarcastically. L.T nods and throws a fast kick at my face. Before I realize it I have his leg in my right hand and the gun aimed at his throat with my left. "Oh."

"See?" L.T says while pushing the gun away with his index finger. "Shit usually doesn't kick in this fast but I was sure that you'd take a shining to it faster than the others."

"What others?" I ask.

"There's only ten of y'all left at this point," L.T says with a tinge of disappointment in his voice. "By the way, there was one other chick here besides you." Before I can ask about her he finishes. "She shot herself in the head a few weeks back. Apparently Tony was too rough on her."

"Who is Tony?" I ask.

"Well you called him Teeth," L.T says. "She couldn't take the threat of rape. Somehow found a live gun and, boom, blew her brains out all over her breakfast. Damn shame, too. She was cute."

"And I'm not?" I ask. What am I doing? "You all right," L.T says. "A little too thick for my taste." "You like those skinny model bitches?" I ask. L.T laughs and stands. "Yeah," L.T says. "If your legs touch you weigh too much." "I'll work on that," I say while rubbing my head. "Don't," L.T says. "You're damned near perfect." "Except for my thighs touching," I say. "Yeah, except for that." Two weeks after my talk with L.T I am running laps when suddenly my brain is on fire. I fall to the ground and watch as the other nine finalists run past me. None of them stop to check on me, which I totally understand. I wouldn't stop to help any of them either. This is a competition. Any sign of weakness is a sign of failure. L.T pulls up next to me in a small golf cart with a large gun mounted on top.

"Get the fuck up, Hex," he says. "And stop fighting it." "I'm not fighting anything," I say, annoyed with him faster than usual. "Did it feel like your brain was sizzling?" he asks. I nod. "That's the program, baby. Don't fight

that burn. That's all kind of synapses and scientific shit rewiring your brain, making you better. Now try it again. This time just go with the fucking flow." L.T pulls off to catch up with the other runners.

I stand and begin running. After a few hundred feet my brain begins to burn again. I don't stop running and it gets worst. I keep on pushing. Just when I start to think that I am about to collapse something happens. The world begins to change. I attempt to blink it away but nothing happens. Everything looks brighter. I look down at my legs and they are moving impossibly fast. My arms are at my side like I'm a diving eagle. I am leaning forward with my chin just a couple of feet from the ground.

Already I am catching up with the rest of the group. A few of them turn and look over their shoulders. I can't imagine what sounds are coming from my mouth. I can feel my lungs but I can't hear my breath. I run past L.T and his cart and he waves. Three laps around he starts racing me. He is flooring it but can't keep up with me.

After thirty times around the track L.T blares an alarm that tells us to all stop. I hadn't noticed the others had long since stopped and were resting on the sidelines. I can't stop running. I am trying to stop but my legs aren't listening to me. As I pass L.T I hear him laughing.

"Run, Forrest!" he shouts. "Come on, Hex! We got lunch to eat!" I shoot him a glance that says, "What the fuck you think I'm doing?" as I pass him again. "Just run into something!" he shouts. I look for something to cushion me as I plan my crash landing. I see a padded wall and head towards it. I lift my head as much as I can and hit the wall with a loud smack. I collapse to the ground and my legs feel like rubber.

"What...the...fuck?" I whisper. "120," L.T says while standing over me. "120 what?" I ask him while trying to catch my breath. "You were running 120mph," L.T says. "The fastest anyone has ever run was 110mph." "Yeah?" I ask. "What's he doing now?' "You're looking at him," L.T says while walking away.

5

The program had a funny way of sending us on vacation. After dropping six of us, the last of us, off in China, we were given an envelope. The envelope contained information about a target. If we were killed in action our existence would be disavowed and any involvement with the US government would be denied. We all looked at one another and went our separate ways.

The other five finalists were very odd to me. One was from India. Everyone called him Habib. The other two were from Africa. Don't ask me what parts of it. They were called "The Kenyans," even though they declared to be from Nigeria and Mozambique. Another was from Florida and was as right wing as you could get. During strength training one day he called me a "pinko, liberal Negro." The last was a quiet one. Too quiet if you know what I mean. Everyone called him "Zero." He never spoke, never shouted, and never hung around anyone unless he was ordered to. I have no idea where he is from and whenever someone asked L.T would respond with "The fuck's it's any of your business?"

I followed a map that was enclosed in the envelope and found my target rather quickly. He was called "The Chef." I was foolish enough to hope that he was called such because he was an actual chef. It turns out that he had a thing for killing people in the kitchen of a restaurant he owned. I wandered around the building a few times pretending to be lost.

I walked up to two guards stationed at the entrance and pointed to a sheet of paper I had found. As the two looked at it I stuck a small needle like knife I carried into one of their necks right under his chin. He gagged and fell to the ground. The other immediately threw a kick at me that I caught and brought my elbow down hard on his knee forcing it to bend backwards. He collapsed and started to shout. I kneed him in the nose killing him instantly. A few people noticed what was happening and pulled out their cell phones. The time for stealth was over and done for so I burst into the restaurant and ran to the kitchen. There he is.

"The Chef" was the largest Chinese man I had ever seen. He stood about 6'5" and weighed over 300lbs. he smiled at me and threw a butchers knife at me, just missing my head. He nodded to me, picked up another knife, and turned his back to me. Either he was baiting me or he didn't believe that I was a threat to him. I grabbed a tray and threw it at the back of his knee. He spun around grinning. That blow should have at least made him collapse.

Damn you, L.T. I bet everyone else got tiny ass regular folks or old people. I get the damned Yeti that feels no pain. He moved towards me slow and purposely. He kept smiling as he drew a large blade from the inside of his coat and swung at my waist. As his hand passed I jumped up, almost too high, and used an ax kick to shatter his wrist. He continued smiling as he used his other hand to grab me around the throat.

So this is how it ends. In some kitchen thousands of miles away from home. No funeral. No family. Nothing. The room started to go black as I landed blow after blow upon his thick neck. His grip tightened and the world faded away. I woke up surrounded by blood. "The Chef," lay headless at my side. I stood and almost fell on account of all the blood. I used a small camera that was given to all of us before boarding the plane and took a few pictures before running out of the back door. When I turn the corner after bolting down the alley L.T was standing there drinking a beer and eating a fish on a stick.

"Want one?" he asks. "We need to leave!" I shouted while looking around for police. "I'm finished." "Slow down, turbo Negro," L.T said before taking a long swig from his beer. He motioned to a

waitress and said something to her in Cantonese. She nodded and walked away. After staring at her ass until she was out of sight he continued. "Have a seat." I sat down. "The rest of the kids aren't finished so we gotta wait for 'em."

"I just killed a man around the corner and you sit here eating like nothing is wrong?" I accuse more than ask. "What is wrong with you?" "Did you black out?" he asked. "What are you talking about?" I asked. "At any point did you black out?" L.T asked again. "Like, while you was killin' this fool did you

faint or anything?" "Yes," I said. "How did you know?" "It's a flaw in the program," L.T said. "We're still trying to fix that shit. Just when your brain

accepts that it's gonna die something happens and y'all shut down. But somehow you manage to get the job done."

"I cut his head off," I said.

"Lemme see the picture," L.T said while holding his hand out as if I owed him money. I gave it to him and he plugged it into a small device. The machine made a small beeping sound and L.T smiled as he looked at the photos. "Damn, Hex," he said.

"Is something wrong?" I asked. "No. Something is right," L.T said. "No one else made it back," L.T told me on the flight back from China a days ago. I didn't know

how to feel about the entire situation. I mean, I'm not a heartless bastard or anything. I didn't know any of the other recruits well enough to shed a tear. I just nodded to L.T and leaned back in my chair a moment before I was gassed.

When I woke up we were back on base and L.T was sitting next to me eating an orange. He nodded to me and squeezed my hand. I tried not to squeeze back but did it before I could stop myself. I had never been in a relationship that lasted more than a week. Guys were put off by my determination towards my goals. Some of them accused me of being a dyke because I didn't want to sleep with them. In actuality I just wasn't all that interested in having sex. But there was something about L.T that was different. Maybe it was his sense of humor. Maybe it was his laid back attitude towards everything. He was the complete opposite of me in almost every way. I could only imagine what he was like when he went through training.

"Why you looking at me like that?" he asked. Before I could answer he held up his hand. "I ain't old enough to be your daddy but I am old. Plus we could never work."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because I actually like you," he replied. "I usually fuck some chick on missions and never see them again. I don't wanna be tied down or some shit. I get in, get out, and keep it movin'. I don't wanna hurt you like that, Hex. You're a good person."

"No I'm not," I said. "I've broken many hearts in my 18 years."

"Shit," L.T said. "I know you've broken bones, but you and both know that you lyin'. You don't have to be in a rush to grow up and experience shit. It'll all happen in due time. And one day you'll remember how you feel about me and laugh at how silly it was."

"It's not silly," I said. "For someone who isn't as old as my father you sure act like it." He smiled a little at that, kissed my hand and then left the room. The sound of gunfire erupted in the hallway where he had just left. I jumped up to help when I saw that my hand was tied to the bed by a very thin, but extremely strong, line of thread. L.T must have put it on me when I was asleep. Did he know that something was about to go down? I pulled at the string and it began to burn. I shouted in frustration. Just as I began to chew on the thread someone entered the room. The Corps.

"Young love," he said as he pulled a chair across the room and sat it down hard next to my bed. "Don't say a word. Just let me say what I have to say and then I will be on my way." He lit one of those strange cigarettes and inhaled deeply. No smoke. "We noticed that L.T had a very unprofessional interest in you a few months ago. He raved about your strength, speed, and agility."

"I'm going to kill you," I said. The Corps slapped me hard across the face. "I asked you politely to not talk," he said. "If you speak again I will shoot you in the face. Then I

will kill your brothers and their families. Then I will find your fathers' grave and dig him up, re- animate his corpse, then kill him again but not before showing him photos of what I did to you." He never changed his tone of voice. He never looked away. He was as dead serious as anyone could be without slipping into the dark abyss of madness. "Yes, your father died in an automobile accident last month. We sent him flowers in your honor. He didn't suffer. Driving drunk was not the best idea he ever had, I'd say. I see by your expression that you know I speak the truth." I work at the thread feeling it burn as it dug into my skin. "Don't waste your time. That thread is unbreakable. If you fire a bullet at it the bullet would slice itself in two. Some call it 'Angel Hair.' I call it the best use of taxpayer dollars since the cure for cancer. Shortly you will be re-programmed. Any memories of L.T will be erased. The last few months will seem like a dream in which you acquired a vast amount of knowledge. Normally you would be removed from the program. But I won't allow it. You're far too valuable to us. By the time you are done you will be a killing machine. Now smile." I looked down at my legs and considered kicking him with all the force in my body. "I'd kill you dead before even finished bending your knee to connect with that planned kick. Now rest. You have a long week ahead of you."

The next month was spent breaking me down in every sense of the word. They had removed most of L.T from my brain but not all of it. Before he was killed he gave me a code word to use in case anything ever happened to him. I thought he was being silly. No one would ever kill him.

"Seriously, Hex," L.T said. "If anything ever happens to me they will fuck with you. They know how special I know you are. They will erase every trace of me from your head."

"That's impossible," I said.

"After all the shit you've seen you still think shit is impossible?' L.T asked. "The cure for every known disease known to fuckin' mankind. Speed that is inhuman. Strength of six men squeezed into your tiny ass frame. Reflexes that would make the fastest squirrel jealous. Weapons that should never have been made. Trust me, they can erase me. But I want to give you something to remember me by. When you hear this word you will remember everything, for better or for worse." I nodded, letting him know I understood the gravity of this situation. "It'll be a word that isn't used often. But it is used. 'Apex.'"

I smiled and slapped L.T on the shoulder that day. Now I am glad that he realized what kind of monsters we were working for. One day while sparring someone in the gym two guards were talking. They were laughing and clowning around when one of them said:

"And that was what he called his dog: Apex. Like its the best damned predator ever!"

I collapsed and held my head in my gloved hands. Three guards jumped into the ring to see what was happening when everything went black. I woke up in a bed, tied down from the neck down. My head was held in place by a strong band that wrapped around the bed. I didn't even try and waste energy trying to free myself. I heard a click and a whir and The Corps entered the room.

"Quite a show you put on yesterday," he said. "You killed two guards and permanently crippled another." He pulled a remote from his pocket and aimed it at the wall. A large screen came down from the ceiling and there was an image of me in the ring. "We tape every session. Now pay attention. This is my favorite part." After I was helped up I began to scream an unnatural scream. I sounded like an animal. I peeled my gloves off with my teeth and was tackled by two guards. They threw me down hard and I continued to scream. I kicked one of them in the chest so hard that he flew out of the ring, dead before he hit the ground. The other threw a wild right hook and I ducked and shot him a hard left uppercut that broke his neck. The third guard attempted to run and as he jumped from the ring I leaped onto his back, knees first, shattering his spine. "Amazing," The Corps said.

"I don't remember any of that," I said.

"Of course you don't," he said. "That kind of power and speed isn't natural. That was pure programming. I've never seen anything like that before. Well, there was that one time. A recruit named Hollister. Crazy as a fruit bat. He almost completed the program. Silly kid from Mississippi

that for some reason was just... great. One week before 'graduation' he snapped. Killed eight guards and then himself. The entire time screaming 'Uncontrollable!' He broke his own neck. Just grabbed it, and twisted it." He snapped his fingers to emphasize the sound.

"I don't want to kill myself," I said.

"What do you want, Hecksford?" he asked. I couldn't tell him the truth. I wanted to see my father's grave. I wanted to speak with my brothers. I wanted a cheeseburger. I wanted L.T to walk through the doorway and say something funny.

I wanted to kill The Corps. "I want to fight," I said.

"Good," The Corps said. "Glad to hear that."

6

I was one week away from graduation when a bombshell was dropped. The Corps informed me that the kid we had called "Zero," was alive. L.T told me that I was the only one to make it back alive, so when I heard this I began to wonder if anyone else had made it out without L.T's knowledge.

"He was seriously injured," The Corps told me and a group of armed soldiers. "Burns to over 98% of his body. Broken arms, a broken leg, both lungs punctured, three cracked ribs, and half his jaw had to be removed. Hecksford here only had to take down a chef!" Everyone in the room laughed but me. "His name will remain 'Zero' at his request. Seeing as how he is a new person he wanted a new identity as well. He even pleaded with us to kill all of his family, so deep is his dedication to the program. He wants and needs no ties to his former life. All he wants is to kill for his country. Hecksford, I will take you to him shortly. You two can have a little catching up session. Afterward the last of the program will be completed. Dismissed."

I was escorted to a large hospital ward that I had never seen before. There was almost no light. The room was the size of half a football field. There was one light with one bed near the center. A small table with a mirror lay next to it. I walked closer and saw that the mirror was shattered. Zero lay in the bed grinning. I wanted to look away but he spoke to me before I could.

"Isn't this glorious?" he asked. "What are you talking about?" I asked. "You shouldn't be alive." "But I am," he said. "I still live despite what happened to me. I hear you had quite a simple

mission. The simplest out of all of us that were sent. I guess L.T wanted to go easy on you." He winced as he spoke L.T's name. "The Kenyans were killed quickly. The racist and 'Habib' were found tied together with their throats slit. Me, on the other hand, I was dipped into oil. Hot oil. I was set on fire, doused with water, and then dried off near a heater. Then they beat me with clubs. Then set on fire again. They laughed the entire time. But so did I. I could not help but laugh. The lunacy of the situation was not lost on me. I laughed as I was pulled from a river by a fisherman. There is no reason I should be alive. Now I don't see a reason why anyone should be."

"That's a horrible thing to think, man," I said. He smelled like burnt meat. He smelled like he looked. The bottom half of his mouth was covered by a mesh of some sort. Obviously more of our tax dollars at work. Millions were spent to keep this monster alive. "Why did you want to come back to the program anyway? We're just puppets to them!"

"We're all puppets," Zero said. "But sometimes we cut the strings and do not fall." He sat up and rubbed his face, which was beading with sweat. The smell of him became stronger as he leaned closer to me. I fought back bile. "I will be the best there ever was. I know it in my soul. If I have to kill you to prove that I will. Nothing can stop me."

"Is that what you think your destiny is?" I asked. "To be the best?" "Yes," he replied. "No offense, extra crispy," I said. "But I'm the best. See you when I see you." I began to walk

away. "Apex," Zero said. I froze mid-step. "What did you say?" I asked. "L.T said I was the apex of the program," he said. "He was right." "What else did he tell you?" I asked. I was enjoying hearing about L.T instead of just thinking

about him. But I wish his name wasn't coming from this beast's mouth. "He said that his pet-name for you wasn't just an abbreviation of your last name," Zero

whispered. "Have you ever looked up the definition of the word 'hex'? It says 'to bring bad luck.' That's what you do. You got the others killed because L.T wanted to fuck you."

"Goodbye, Zero," I said as I walked about. "Goodbye, dead one," Zero laughed. If snakes could laugh, this is what it would sound like.

7

They say "give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day; teach him to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime." I have a new one. "Give a man a gun, he'll kill for his protection; teach a man to kill, he'll kill because he can."

After graduation Zero and I were placed on a jet and gassed. I woke up in a hotel with belongings from my home. Not much. Just various medals from sports in school and awards. I assumed that since my father had passed that the house was now occupied by another family. I no longer had a need to go home. But I did want to at least see his grave and pay my respects. I looked on a nearby dresser and saw a small black purse. I opened it and there was a note attached to a set of keys. The note read:

"Inside you will find a set of keys for a 2022 Ford Explorer, three credit cards that contain a total of $765,000, and a set of keys for a home with an attached address. Good job, Kendra Hecksford. We will contact you when needed.

\- The Corps."

I looked at the amount of money at least five times before it began to sink in. I looked at the calendar and blinked twice when I saw it. Had six years really gone by that quickly? I was now 24. Fuck. I grabbed the car keys and headed outside. I was in Downtown L.A and it was a beautiful day. I spotted the Explorer immediately. I walked near the car and it started up before I even lifted the keys. I placed all of my belongings into the trunk and went to the driver's side door. I stepped inside and a small screen appeared. The Corps appeared in all his glory.

"This is a prerecorded message, Hecksford. Hopefully you enjoy the new life you have been given. You earned it. You have the highest number of kills any student has ever received. In three days you will be sent on a mission at 0700. The vehicle will take you there. Your target will be a former graduate of the program named Tucker "Red Eye," Raves. Do I need to even remind you to use extreme caution? After this video a photo will be printed. Remember it then quickly toss it from the vehicle and drive away. Raves is a danger not only to the program, but to himself. Make it fast. The longer you fight him the stronger he gets. He was a part of the program that had some...glitches. Don't report to us when the mission is completed. We'll know."

The video beeped and the image went black before the screen disappeared and a photo was printed. I checked it, memorized it, then sped away as I tossed it from the window. I looked into the rear view mirror and saw the photo begin to sizzle before smoke billowed from it. A small fire began around it and then, boom, it exploded. This was crazy comic book shit.

I dreaded this mission. This Raves guy seemed nice. He looked almost like that guy from those funny home video shows. That morning I climbed into the Explorer and it started and sped off before I closed the door. I guess The Corps wasn't joking around. The car stopped a block away from Raves house.

The street was nice and quiet. A few kids walked down the street on their way to school. I grabbed an assault rifle from the backseat and wrapped it in a yoga mat before heading to Raves home. It was very clean looking. I think I had this image of graduates of the program living like insane Vietnam vets. Just as I sneak around the side of the house Raves exploded from a side window, landing on top of me like a ton of bricks. I slam hard against the picket fence, snapping two of its boards.

"I shoulda known you'd guys come after me sooner or later!" Raves shouted in my face, spit landing on my lips. "Why now, huh?!" He punched me in the face. He went for another and I moved, making him strike the ground less than an inch from my ear. He reared back his bloody hand and I felt that old burn in my head again. It was go-time.

I punched Raves in the chest sending him high into the air. He hit the side of the house hard and snarled like an animal. He threw another punch that hit the picket fence, his hand going through it. I punched the stuck arm and elbowed him in the nose. He smiled and head butted me while simultaneously pulling his arm free. He grabbed me around my collar and threw me into the window he had dove through. I landed on a dining room table and quickly jumped up. Raves came in without touching the windowsill.

"You're a tough one, lady," Raves said. "So are you, Red Eye," I replied. "Now let me get this over with. I need to be somewhere." "Cemetery?" he asked. I was caught off guard by the question and he knew it. "They killed your

father a few years back. Shame. Wish I had done it. Taught me almost everything I know about deceit."

"You did not know my father!" I shouted as I charged stupidly at Raves. He sidestepped me and brought his knee hard into my back. I recovered and kicked him in the neck. His head flopped sickeningly to the side, neck broken. He smiled and jerked his shoulders. His neck made a pop and he stretched his jaws. "Impossible," I whispered.

"Nothing is impossible," he replied. "That's what L.T used to say." I dropped my guard. "Yeah, I knew him. How is that crazy fucker anyway?"

"Dead," I said. "Tell him I said hello," I said as I swung a chair at him. He blocked it with one hand, the wooden legs splintering.

"Bullshit," Raves said, ignoring the blood pouring from his arm. "L.T isn't dead." Raves walked away from me completely exposing his back. I considered kicking him in the spine or grabbing my gun and finishing the mission. "Fuck, man," Raves muttered. He seemed to shrink in size. "Fuck."

"Did you know him well?" I asked.

"He was like a brother to me," Raves said. "We grew up together. Went to school together. The program together. Hell, we even fucked the same chicks." He blushed a little after that statement. "Sorry."

"I've heard worse," I assured him. "Have a seat, miss," he said. "We have a lot to discuss." Raves sat down across me from in his living room. He was still upset about hearing about L.T's

death. He had a cup of coffee and brought me a glass of orange juice. I thanked him and he sat there just sighing heavily.

"I can't believe he died before me," he said. "We made a damned deal. I was gonna go first and then he would be so overcome with grief that he would kill himself."

"Sounds like something he would do," I said. "Is it safe to talk here?"

"It's not safe to talk anywhere," Raves said. "They're probably listening to the two of us right now. Hell, you may be bugged and not even know it. They figured that I should be dead by now and you'd be heading back to report in."

"They actually said that they'd know when I was done," I said. Raves lifted his brows and gave me the universal "be silent," gesture. He motioned for a small dog that I hadn't noticed over and it jumped into his lap. He took a sheet of paper and wrote on it.

"Give me your arm. Don't make a sound. Please trust me."

I stood and walked over to him. Before I knew it he plunged a small black blade into my arm and began digging. He pulled out a small dark green chip and stuck it under his dog's collar. He clapped twice and the dog began running around like it lost its mind before heading outside into the backyard.

"Now we can really talk," Raves said. "I trained that damned mutt to run around like crazy a few years back before I took my chip out. L.T was the one that tipped me to it. They use it to either track you down or kill you slowly. That's how they got your father. He just happened to be driving when the chip dissolved killing him instantly."

"Why did they kill my father?" I asked. I felt a heat boiling inside of me that had nothing to do with the program. "And what did he have to do with the program?"

"Your father was one of its founders," Raves said. I must have been visibly shocked because he smiled. "He had tried to get your brothers into the program since they were in high school. They even met The Corps, that asshole, a few times. Your father finally got you into it and here we are. He's

dead, L.T's dead, and they sent you to kill me. How good are you?" "Very," I replied. "Apparently I killed more people before graduation than anyone else. I also

hold the record for the fastest speed." "Faster than L.T?" Raves asked. "I clocked in at 120mph," said humbly. "Jesus," he said while scratching his chin. "That's fucking fast. Let's get out of here. I gotta blow

this place up." "Wait," I said as he rose to his feet. "Don't you have a family? Things to pack?" "Not really," he said. "I got a dead body in the garage with my same height, weight, and blood

type. Close enough to have the cops believe I died in the explosion. Rebel, rebel, party, party." "What was that?" I asked. "Sequence to blow this place to bits in about thirty seconds," he said as he walked to the door. I

thought he was joking until I heard a high-pitched whine. I ran past Raves and he followed. The house exploded and sent Raves soaring past me. He landed on his back and rolled to his feet without missing a beat. Raves whipped his pants off and dusted his shoulders. "Now let's go grab something to eat. I always get hungry after blowing shit up."

Raves climbed into the car with me and buckled up. The car started and then stopped. Raves laughed as I tried starting the engine again. The small screen rolled down again and The Corps appeared. Raves snarled like an animal once again.

"Hello, 'Red Eye'," The Corps said. "Haven't seen you in a dog's year. Blow up another house?" Raves was about to strike the screen when I grabbed his fist an inch before he shattered it. "Temper, temper, Red. Hecksford, has Red Eye here told you about how he once killed 300 civilians because they were 'in his way'? I bet he hasn't. I haven't given the two of you much time to catch up. I assume that you removed your chip seeing as how you're still alive. I am so disappointed in you, Hecksford. I had high hopes for you. Zero should be arriving any moment. Take care." The screen vanished. Raves was breathing shallowly.

"What the fuck is a 'Zero'?" he asked.

"Him," I said as I saw Zero heading towards me at a speed that appeared much faster than my 120mph. Raves stuck his hand underneath my steering wheel and something cracked. The car's engine turned over and I immediately speed backwards. Zero closed in on us and I slammed on the brakes. Zero hit the back and rolled onto the top of the car. I sped off and Zero rolled to the ground behind us as I peeled down the street.

"How did that not kill him?" Raves asked.

"That guy is going to be damned near impossible to kill," I said. "When I kill him I am going to kill him a few more times. Make sure there isn't enough of him left for the program to put back together."

"You sound like your father," Raves said. "That man was nuts." I tried to ignore him but my curiosity got the best of me.

"Was he a part of the program?" I asked.

"No, no, no," Raves replied. "He was one of its founders but he never went through it. He and The Corps brought in all kinds of psychos and lunatics that wanted to earn fast buck and were semi- patriotic. L.T and I were just bored. Bored with school, bored with sex, bored with life. Your father was one of the first people we met. They put us through the hardest training ever. I mean, they beat the shit out of us! They pumped us full of so many drugs and potions, trying to find the right mixture. We were nothing but guinea pigs to them."

"That sounds horrible," I said. "How did you deal with it?"

"L.T," he said with a sadness in his eyes. "That crazy son of a bitch got me through the program. He would constantly be attacked by the guards for cracking jokes." I smiled as I remembered L.T's laugh. "Once he was jumped by four guards and he beat them all." I giggled. "He beat all of them and

stripped them naked. After that he was never attacked again. But I was." "What would they do?" This conversation was keeping me from thinking about the lunatic that

was chasing us. "Ever wonder how I got the name 'Red Eye'?" Raves asked. "One day I...snapped. Killed eleven

guards. One of them caught me in the eye with a knife. It went all the way into the back of my skull. Blood shot out about five feet."

"So how can you see out of that eye?" I asked. "I can't see a difference in the two."

"Thank the program," Raves said. "The new one is better than the old one. The only problem is that when I use it..." Raves said before he stopped. He was looking in his rear view. I checked mine as well and saw Zero running towards the car. He leaped into the air and vanished. Suddenly he was on top of the car and pounding it. "Cover your eyes," Raves said.

"Why?" I asked as I tried to keep the vehicle on the road. "Because I am about to show you the other reason I am called 'Red Eye.'"

8

I tried to shield my eyes as best I could while keeping control of the wheel while a psychopath pounded on the roof of the vehicle. Raves began to growl a bit as he looked at the roof where Zero dented it, visible fist marks showing. I heard a low whine come from somewhere inside of Raves as a blast issued from his eye.

"What the fuck, man?!" I shouted as the roof exploded. In the rear view I saw Zero land hard on the ground. Raves kept looking upwards, thank God, as the beam slowly faded away. "Where the hell can I get one of those?"

"Get stabbed," Raves said as the beam died down. Raves held his eye and when he removed it a large scar was on his face from his brow to his cheek. The scar began to heal itself moments later. "Fuck, I hate using that thing."

"I wouldn't," I said. "That was fantastic."

"It hurts like a motherfucker," Raves said. "Feels like I am dying every time I use it." Suddenly my rear view mirror exploded. I turned around and saw Zero, on fire from the waist up, running about 100 yards behind us. "Are you fucking serious?" Raves asked aloud.

"I told you this guy was crazy," I said. "We're gonna have to kill him a few times before he stays down."

"I think this is the end of road for me," Raves said. "What?" I asked. "I have a ton of questions to ask you." "I can only tell you so much," Raves said. "I can send you to a guy that can actually tell you

everything you need to know." "Who?" I asked.

"Hollister," Raves said. "Heard of him?" "Only in the past tense," I said. "The Corps said he killed himself." "He did," Raves said. "Then he came back. Crazy bastard was legit dead for three days. Then he

just... woke up." "Damn," I said. How can someone just bring themselves to life? "Do you think Zero has the

ability to come back like Hollister did?" "I doubt it," Raves said. "Hollister is an anomaly. He said that while he was dead he went to

Heaven. Said he met Jesus. Then he was sent to Hell. Shown what awaited him when he was done. So he decided 'I don't ever wanna die' and then, poof, he was alive."

"Crazy," I said. "Hold the wheel for a second." I grabbed my modified Heckler & Koch 5.56mm and leaned out of my window. I fired thirty rounds into Zero's chest. His body jerked like a marionette and he fell. He immediately jumped back up and began chasing us again. "Shit."

"May I?" Raves asked while rubbing his eye. I braked immediately, hooking the car so that Raves was facing Zero on the road. Cars began swerving in the lanes.

"Please," I said.

Raves jumped out of the car and aimed straight at Zero. A blast larger than the first hit cars, street lights, shops, and any unfortunate fool in the street, turning everything to ash and molting metal. Zero ran, dodging the beam before getting caught in the leg. Zero went down but kept rolling away.

"Go!!!" Raves shouted at me. "Look for the Apex Theater! You'll find Hollister!"

"Thank you!" I shouted above Raves' screams as the beam began to burn his face. He was catching fire and I could do nothing to help him. I drove off as Raves hit Zero once again. Now I had to find Hollister. The guy's as crazy as a fruit bat. He had answers and I had a thousand questions.

I had to ditch the Explorer. How did I look driving around L.A with my roof missing? I drive a few miles and dump it, but not before setting off a few grenades inside. I easily find another car, a small green Jeep, before hunting for this Apex Theater. My mind kept drifting to Raves as I drove around in circles.

I woke up on a mission to kill the man and now I needed him. He knew L.T in and out. He toldme about my father being a founder of the program. The only guy I had left was this Hollister. I wasn't nervous about meeting Hollister, just apprehensive. From what I know of him he is a crazed zombie of some sort. Spoke to Jesus? I swear I feel like I'll wake up and it'll be high school and all this was some sort of insane dream.

Near the New Union Station I see the Apex Theater. It looks abandoned. I park in a red zone, not caring if the car gets ticketed or towed. I go around back and kick a door open. The sound of rats scurrying and pigeons flapping is all I hear. Though I don't want to I use the program to scan the building for Hollister. My head starts to feel afire and I hear a faint heartbeat about three floors up. It's either the man I'm looking for or a very large cat. I head upstairs and find a hallway with eight doors. One of them is shiny and semi-new. It appears thick. I charge up for a flying kick when the door flies open and Hollister is standing there smiling.

He looks like The Unabomber. This is what I expected Raves to look like. Hollister motions for me to come inside. I was hesitant but decided that if need be I could kill him. Hopefully I wouldn't have to.

"How did you know I was here?" I asked.

"You're loud," he replied. His voice sounded as if he ate barbed wire for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

"How did you know I wouldn't kill you?" I asked as I stepped into his "home." "Because I can't die," he says matter-of-factly. "How is Raves doing?" "I think he is dead," I said. "I am sure L.T must be very shaken by that," he said.

"L.T is dead," I told him. He looked at me and then thrust his hand into the air as if something huge was pressing down on him and the room rattled. "The Corps had him killed a while back."

"How sad," he said as he sat down on a dusty couch. "Truly, truly sad. Both L.T and Raves were good men. In their own ways."

"I need to know all about the program before you get killed." I blurted. I had no time to reminisce about his old buddies. I had to find out how my father got involved in this mess and how to put an end to it.

"I don't worry about death, darling," Hollister said. "Right, right," I said mockingly. "You can't die." "True," he said. "I can't. Who are you running from besides yourself?" "A soldier and graduate of the program named Zero," I said. "He is a freak of nature. Like you,

he won't stay dead. He died as well and came back to life. Now is he damned near unstoppable." "Interesting," he said as he scratched his filthy beard. "Do you know what I learned from dying?"

I shrugged. No matter what I refused to believe that he died and came back three days later. "Jesus loves all of us. No matter what happens he still loves us."

"Even Zero?" I asked sarcastically. "Yes," Hollister said. "Whoever that is." "Why did you go crazy screaming 'uncontrollable' anyway?" I asked. "Let's not get into that," he said with a mixture of anger and regret in his voice. "I pray daily that

it never happens again." An explosion was heard from downstairs. Hollister grabs a small remote and presses a green button. A screen that was about ten feet high and wide with at least one hundred small screens on it dropped from the ceiling silently. "Is that him?" On the screen Zero was walking upstairs to this very room. "What is that in his hand?"

"It appears to be...Raves head," I said. My brain began to sizzle as I prepared to fight for my life. "Raves was a good man," Hollister said. "He didn't deserve this. No one deserves...this." "What's wrong with you?" I asked. He began to shake violently. Shit. I needed to get out of here

as soon as possible. This guy was about to lose it. He stood and made his way to the door. Zero threw Raves' head at him. It smacked Hollister in the chest and landed at his feet. Raves' eyes stared at him

unblinking. "Un...con...troll...able!!!" I back away from Hollister, not sure as to what would happen next. I once again charged up a bit

more to take on Zero if need be. As Hollister continued to shake Zero laughed to himself as he stepped forward. Hollister growled. It didn't sound human at all. It didn't sound animal neither. This was a new sound. My re-programmed ears and mind tried to find an answer as to what I was hearing. Lion, bear, dog, madman. Any were applicable and not at the same time. Zero stopped three feet from Hollister and began clapping.

"Good show," Zero said. "Can you do anything other than vibrate?" Hollister vanished. Zero looked just as confused as I must have because he raised the part of his face where his eyebrows would be. Then Zero was pitched down the long hallway. He landed on his feet in a crouching position before he was thrown once again. He was grabbed by his left leg and hammered against the walls, left to right, before being pitched again. "How in the...?"

"What the fuck is going on?" I asked. Zero was getting his ass handed to him by something invisible. Hollister landed next to me breathing hard.

"Not invisible," he said. "That's impossible. I can move through moments." Then he was gone again and Zero was grabbed by his throat and thrown through the ceiling, landing two floors up. Hollister showed himself and leaped two floors up. I ran to the hole in the ceiling and joined him. Everything in my body was telling me to run. But the program was somehow forbidding it. Any sign of weakness was being counteracted by my adrenal glands, forcing me to fight. There was no flight option. I was in this until the end.

"Your speed is impossible," Zero said as blood seeped through his mesh mask.

"Uncontrollable," Hollister responded. Zero laughed and was then knocked through a wall, flying outside and landing on the sidewalk outside. As he rose to his feet Hollister was already on top of his chest, punching him from every angle. Hollister grabbed Zero in a full nelson as I jumped through the hole and landed, knee first, onto Zero's head. My knee whined and his skull cracked.

"Silly whore," Zero said as blood flowed freely from his scalp. "Abomination," he then said to Hollister before kicking me hard in the stomach, sending me crashing into the wall in front of the building. I never saw the kick. He then jumped straight up about ten feet before freeing himself from Hollister. He then threw a wild right punch that found Hollister's jaw. Hollister appeared near me holding his mouth. He spit out a tooth and smiled. As Zero landed I was on him.

I threw a left hook that caught him in the ribs. He grabbed my arm before I could pull it back and flipped me. I landed on my knees and spun, sweeping his feet. He jumped and as he did I continued the spin, punching him in the right thigh, throwing his balance off. As his face neared mine I swear I heard him laugh. He brought his elbow down hard on the bridge of my nose, blood gushed from it, temporarily blinding me. I felt his foot hit my arm as I blocked his kicks. Where was Hollister?

"The Corps was wrong about you," Zero said as he continued to attempt to break my guard. My arms throbbed with pain. Immediately the pain was turned to rage. "L.T was wrong about you," he said. I knew that punching wildly would leave me open for all kinds of devastation. I squinted, barely able to see his next blow. I caught his leg at the knee and brought my arm up. His knee snapped like a twig. "Fuck!"

"Did that hurt?" I asked. I stood and wiped the blood from my face. Zero tried to stand and collapsed immediately. Good thing he didn't have the healing factors of Hollister. "I want you to feel every moment of this."

With Zero on the ground I ran over and kicked him hard in the face. He was sent spiraling into the air. As soon as he landed I punched his abdomen. He hit a parked van setting off its alarm. He lidless eyes looked around in confusion.

"I am the best," he gasped. "This can't be happening." He tried once again to stand and fell back down, clutching his chest with one hand and the door handle of the van with his other. I began

kicking him repeatedly in the face. He let go of the handle and crumpled to the ground. I tried to stop kicking him but could not. Apparently the program wanted to be thorough about this. Or was it me? Was I using the program as an excuse for all this rage? All these emotions I was letting get out of control? A hole appeared next to Zero's head. Then another. Suddenly bullets rained down from all directions.

"Hollister!" I shouted. Before I could scream his name again I was blocks away and out of breath. "What the hell just happened?"

"I had to...run," he said. "They all came out of nowhere. Dozens of them." "Who?" I asked knowing the answer already. "Them," he said while pointing down the street. He pulled a small remote from his back pocket

just as Raves did and pressed the green button. "They either came to kill Zero for failing, you, or me. I am sorry I could not help you."

"Please," I said. "You kicked Zero's ass and saved my life."

"I know that Raves believed that I could give you more answers but he was wrong," Hollister said. He looked like he was about to go berserk again and I took a step back. "Don't be afraid. I want you to find someone. She will give you all the answers you need. I have to go and face my demons."

"Who is she?" I asked. "Diane Hecksford," he spat. "My mother?!" This was too much for me to take in. My brain began to burn as the program

geared up for an attack on someone, anyone. "She was a huge part of the program," he said. "Surely your father told her something." "But she died from a tumor years ago," I said. She passed while I was in training. I was not

allowed to attend her funeral. "No, she lives," he said with a tinge of disappointment. "Find her. She will help you. She owes

you." "How do I even begin to find her?" I asked aloud more to myself than to Hollister. Gunshots

littered the air as we both lay low. "Where the fuck can I get a gun?!" "Here," Hollister said as he handed me a small automatic. It was one of the odd ones with the

trigger and the bottom of the handle, fired by your small finger. "Please return it later. I am quite fond of it." I took the gun and began firing back. I hit four of the guards with five shots.

"I must be rusty," I said. Hollister grabbed me and we landed behind a small car.

"You need to run," he said. "I will take care of these idiots. Just find the answers. Please." A second later I was another three blocks away and gunfire was heard from everywhere.

Using the program to get a better look I saw guards dropping left and right. This was amazing. Hollister was next to a guard, slit his throat, and on to the next in less than a second. And then he went down. Zero stood over him on one leg. The broken one bent at an awkward angle. He spit on Hollister and pointed in my direction before giving the thumbs down. I ran.

9

Six months passed since I last saw Hollister and found out about my mother being a part of the program. I searched everywhere I could for her. Then one day while visiting my father's grave she appeared. She looked beautiful. There was no sign of illness in her. I ran over to her and stopped four feet short. She had a gun aimed straight at my face.

"Not another step," she said. She spoke with the cool, calculated tone of a professional killer. Gone was any form of love I had ever heard. "Now turn around." I did. She must not have posed a serious threat because the program had not set my brain on fire.

"Mama, what are you doing?" I asked. I heard her take a step forward. Fire. I spun and caught the gun as it was coming down towards the back of my head. She kicked at my ribs and I grabbed her leg and brought my elbow down hard on her knee. It was like steel. She winced a bit and pulled herself free. "What's going on?"

"You're supposed to be dead," she said. She stood there staring at me as if I were a ghost. "Did you come to kill me? Did they brain wash you that much?"

"You were the one about to kill me!" I shouted. "You are the one supposed to be dead! Not me!" "They said you died during training," she said. "That L.T killed you." "L.T didn't try and kill me," I said. "They killed him. And dad." She took a step back and

covered her eyes. When she removed them they were deep red. Shit. I pulled the gun Hollister gave me a while back and opened fire, hitting her three times in the chest. She stumbled back and began to shake. I took off. When I got behind a large tombstone I heard her explode. I saw movement in the trees a hundred yards away and began firing. The figure went down. I waited a few moments for reinforcements but none came. I walked past what was my mother and went to the figure. It was a young guy, no more than 20. He was holding his arm, chest, and neck. Blood was gushing from his neck and he looked terrified.

"Who was that?" I asked. "Who are you?" I kicked him in his wounded arm.

"That was your mother!" he gasped at me. Blood and spit shot from his mouth, landing on my shoe. I leaned in close and snatched his hand away from his throat. He tried to scream but couldn't. "It was a 'Rubber Maid,'" he said. His skin was turning gray as I watched him begin to fade away. I slapped him away from death's grip.

"Explain!" I shouted as I pressed the gun to his head.

"We can't clone men," he said. "Only women. We don't know why. We have been watching you for a while now. Was supposed to kill you if the Rubber Maid failed. Bomb inside of her. A few memories. Something wrong. Something went wrong. Wrong memories downloaded. When she mentioned your "death" I knew something was off. Fuck. Am I dying?"

"Not yet," I said as I grabbed him by the collar. "Where is The Corps?" He tried to smile. I slapped him hard across the face with my gun. His front teeth spilled down his chin.

"I'll die before I turn on my team," he said. "Of course you will," I replied before shooting him in the face and walking away.

10

Eight months after I met my "mother" at the cemetery I was no closer to finding The Corps. In all that time I hadn't felt the burn caused by the program. No doubt they were trying to lull me into a false sense of security. Fools. This wasn't gonna stop until I took them all down. Then one day while shopping at a local Ralph's I felt a slight burn. I turned down the canned food aisle and saw a slender black female looking over some canned spinach. She looked at me and smiled.

"You look much cuter in person," she said to me. The burn was slowly building to a sizzle. "My name is Tina, by the way. Actually, it's Tanika, but that sounds way too damned ghetto." She stuck her hand out for me to shake but I dared not take my eyes off of hers. "Damn, You're rude."

"Who are you?" I asked. For the moment the burn was staying at a leveled pace.

"I just told you, Hex," she said with a smirk on her face. One of those "I know more than you do!" smirks that assholes are so quick to flash. "I graduated last year. Top of my class." No need for her to come out and say where she graduated from. "So how do you wanna play this?" she asked. "Fast and easy or fast and painful?" Immediately the burn charged up. I could hear her heart beat as well as mine. She smiled and was at my throat in less than a moment. "Fast and painful it is!" She launched me over the food rack. I landed on one knee in the next aisle before she came crashing through it. "This is gonna be so fucking fun!" she shouted before throwing an ax kick. I caught her leg and chopped her under the knee.

"You talk way too much," I said. "Is that what they're teaching now?" I grabbed her hard by the scruff of her neck and slammed her hard to the ground. She swept my legs but I didn't fall. Instead I brought my knee down hard into her stomach. The wind flew from her in a whistle. A moment later she was at the end of the aisle holding her neck and stomach.

"Goddamn!" she shouted. "You're good! But not as good as me!" She vanished again but I heard her behind me a moment before she struck. I backhanded her across the face so hard I hurt my knuckles. She spun and with her back to me I kicked her in the base of her spine. Again she was gone. I heard shouting a few aisles down and made my way there. I rounded the corner and she had a hostage. One of those people that hand out free samples. Tina/Tanika had already stuck three toothpicks into the lady's neck. She had a handful more. "Get down on the ground, Hex, or this hotdog selling bitch gets it!"

"What makes you think I give a damn about her?" I asked. Tina/Tanika jammed the handful of toothpicks into the back of the lady's neck making her howl in pain. She'll live. At each end of the aisles we raced. I grabbed a bottle of water and chucked it at her. It burst and she slipped, landing on her back. She tried to get up quickly and slipped again. I ran towards her being careful not to fall myself and kicked her in the face. She flew into the frozen food section headfirst. The glass shattered on impact. Security rounded the corner and pulled a gun on the two of us.

"145mph," Tina/Tanika said before vanishing. I saw her heading out of the door towards the parking lot. As I headed after her I snatched a bottle of Tabasco sauce and chased after her. She really was fast, I'll give her credit for that. She ran into traffic causing three small cars to rear end one another. I jumped over them and landed a few feet behind her.

She spun with a gun drawn. I smashed her in the face with the Tabasco sauce. She landed hard on her back, the momentum of the speed we were traveling at sending her tumbling head over heels until she cracked the back of her head on a rain gutter. I could hear the snap of her vertebrae upon contact. "I can't move," she said.

"That's what happens when you break your neck," I said as I bent down over her. "Now we can do this the fast and easy way or fast and painful."

"Fuck you," she said. "Fast and painful it is." Tina/Tanika sang like a bird. All it took was a threat to cut her pretty face to make her talk. Aftershe broke her neck I slung her over my shoulder and ran a few blocks away from all of the damage we caused during the pursuit. I found an empty alley and dropped her near a dumpster. She grunted when she hit the ground even though she could feel no pain. I kicked her leg and leaned down over her.

"You're gonna tell me everything I need to know about the program," I hissed at her. She grinned and her arm twitched. Already the program was repairing her damaged vertebrae. So I quickly stood and hit her in the neck with a well placed knee. She slumped even further and sighed. "Speak."

And, oh, did she speak! Turns out a small squad was built to take me down specifically. Tina/Tanika said that there were eight of them and that she was the best. Given her current situation that was a fact that she would have been better off not sharing. She then gave me a twisted version of my departure from the program. They have been taught that I killed L.T and the others during our training mission to China. Zero, in all his glory, sacrificed his body to protect The Corps and the program. She didn't appreciate my laughter at that. She explained the Rubber Maids and how flawed they still were. The one sent for me as my mother was known to be flawed but the sense of urgency was far too great for The Corps to wait for perfection to capture me.

Zero was now second in command, the only person above him being The Corps. That idea should have sent an icy chill down my spine but it only made my brain sizzle. Zero had only gotten stronger since the last time I saw him, even going so far as to request "Red Eyes." The idea of that freak of nature having the power of Raves angered me. She also told me about Hollister and what happened to him. Zero slit his throat as I suspected but later that day, much to Zero and The Corps chagrin, he came back to life. Each time he did he was tortured and grilled for information about me and what he told me. He was strong until the very end. It took 99 deaths until, smiling, he passed away. Then his head was removed and his body burned. There is a rumor at the program that every night his re- animated head comes alive and screams in pain.

"Just give me facts," I said. "Save the speculation for your little girlfriends." "How did you kill L.T?" Tina asked. "From the sounds of it he was one of the best." "I didn't kill him," I sighed. "They killed him while I was bedridden. I have a question for you,

'Tina'." "Anything," she said. "As long as you let me live." "I can't promise that," I said. "Fair enough," she replied. "Ask away."

"Will you tell L.T I said hello?" I asked before putting three bullets in her head. Then my shoulder exploded. I hadn't noticed that she had regained feeling back in her arm and placed a small bomb on me. How could I have been so sloppy? I can rack that up to being rusty. Blood shot from my arm and suddenly as the program started sealing the wound shut. Tina/Tanika's body started to hum and I ran. As I turned the corner leaving the alley an explosion so large that it ripped the entire side of the building loose erupted.

I reached into my pocket and pulled a small phone out. I had removed it from Tina/Tanika as I carried her to the alley. I opened it and a grid flashed on the screen. Then it jumped from the screen and was a hologram. On the grid were two bright flashing yellow lights and seven smaller red ones. I immediately knew who each light belonged to. The seven other squad members, The Corps and Zero. I closed the phone and allowed myself to smile.

One week of training was needed before I started this mission. I kept tags on the flashing dots the entire time. The Corps and Zero were flying all around the country. The seven other dots belonging to the squad pretty much stayed in or around Los Angeles. I needed to take them out first. No point in destroying the queen bee when a hundred fucking drones are gonna be up your ass.

I worked on my speed the most. If I was gonna go for seven fighters at once I would have to be faster than I have ever been. Fuck 120mph. I needed to be at 200mph. During the training I used the 10 freeway as a track. Being fairly clear enough after 3am was convenient. I reached a speed of

189mph before my shoes fell apart and my lungs began to burn not unlike my brain whenever the program was being used. But I had to keep going. I wanted to take these assholes out before they even knew what hit them. I learned to hit targets 8 out of 9 times with my eyes closed and my back turned. I began to discover that the program found weaknesses and ravaged them into submission. I learned how to use the rage that overwhelmed me during training before graduation where I killed those guards. It hurt like hell but I could do it. I knew that when it came down to me and Zero that I would need to be past ruthless. Past aggressive. Past perfect. I had to be faster than God. I had to be dirtier than Satan.

I had to be Hex.

11

I found three of the squad members sitting together at McDonald's. Three White males that oozed testosterone. Two were blonds with short crew cuts and the third looked like he stepped out of an audition for G.I Joe. They were all solidly built. As soon as I entered all three of them began to look around as if they were dogs that could feel an oncoming earthquake. I had the advantage and used it immediately. Moving like a blur I broke one of the blonds necks. It snapped loud enough for everyone eating to look in their direction. Since I was moving so quickly all they saw was his eyes cross and his body slump out of his chair.

The other two sprang to their feet and began firing wildly hitting men, women, and children who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. I stepped around a pillar and pulled a knife. I threw it at the other blond hitting him in the eye. He opened his mouth and a high pitched scream came out. Not a scream of pain exactly. A weapon of a scream. He aimed it at the pillar and it exploded as I rolled away. I wanted to take these guys out with no damage but I could already feel blood building in my ears muffling the sounds of the shouts from the civilians.

I grabbed a pot of coffee and pitched it at the screamer. Like I'd hoped he aimed at it and it blew up in his face. Now he was using screams of pain. The G.I Joe reject pulled another gun out and began shooting at the direction the coffee pot came from. I appeared behind him and punched him in the small of his back. He grunted and swung just barely missing my jaw. I jumped up and kicked him in the neck. It snapped but he didn't fall. He grabbed me before I hit the ground and threw me through the window. I landed in the playground and he charged at me like a bull on meth.

I grabbed a handful of sand and pitched it in his eyes. While he stumbled around blindly swinging but hitting nothing but air or playground equipment I cracked him on the brow with my gun. He fell to one knee and grabbed me by the throat. He squeezed with all his might. As fast as the program was healing me he was causing damage. I hit him again but that only made him squeeze harder. Suddenly it got really hot. Nothing but an arm was left. A pile of ash lay where the giant had stood. I looked around and there he was in all his glory.

Zero. "Miss me?" he asked Zero stood on top of the swings. He leaped down and landed in front of me. He eyed me and

laughed that creepy snake laugh of his before grabbing the stumped arm and sniffing it. He threw it to the side and took a step back. I punched at him and he grabbed my hand and broke all of my fingers. Just as the program was healing them he broke them again and twisted my arm. I fell to one knee and he kicked me in the face. Blood poured from my mouth and nose. He kicked me again and threw me into the street. I landed hard on top of a passing truck. The truck screeched to a halt and I rolled from the hood and crumpled to the ground. I felt the program click on then off.

The other four members of the squad arrived moments later. They began stomping me and there was nothing I could do but cover my head. I tried to stand and a foot cracked my shin in half. I threw a wild right hook and my arm was snapped in two. Hot. Cold. Hot. Cold. Something was messing with the program. I could catch a glimpse of Zero watching with his arms folded. I was beginning to float in and out of consciousness. The beating stopped.

"Another one of the enhancements I was blessed with," Zero said as he approached. He bent down over me. I spat in his face. He chuckled. "This little...team is completely unnecessary. I just needed something to draw you out. It was far easier than I thought. You are so blind with vengeance that you don't think. You let the program control you. It should be the other way around. I could kill you right now," he said as he grabbed me by the hair and pulled a handful out. "But that would be no fun. I want to beat you at your best." He slammed me face first to the ground three times and swung me back onto the playground. I tried to spit the sand out but succeeded in only breathing it in. Zero walked over and whispered in my ear. "I want you to train, Kendra. I want you to focus on yourmission. Revenge for the death of L.T. Oh, yes, I learned the truth about that. The Corps shot him point blank right between the eyes. The explosion was his implanted bomb going off faster than it should have. Cost the Corps his right arm. I want you to focus on your father. Your mother. And your brothers."

"What about my brothers?" I asked already knowing the answer.

"Oh, I killed them and their children a while ago," Zero said. "Use that hate I see in your eyes. Use it and find me." Zero raised his foot and everything went black.

12

Now here I am sitting in the Nevada desert with a tank top, boots, and black jeans on. I have no idea how long I have been out or how they brought me here. But I remember the smile in Zero's eyes. It's time to head back home.

They could have at least left me some cash. I had no form of ID on me. I dust myself off and walk to the nearest town. I see an army surplus and walked right in. The guy behind the counter eyed me the entire time I was in. I noticed the Confederate flag hanging above his register and sighed to myself. I grabbed some black fatigues and a few holsters. I put the holsters back after realizing that I had grown far too accustomed to the special guns used by the program and that using my index finger would be way too annoying. I needed comfort for this fight. I grabbed some blades and brought it all to the counter. The cashier, whose tag said his name was Bear, reached for the items.

"Not finished," I said as I continued shopping. I had enough stuff to start a small riot. I grabbed a large duffel bag and began stuffing everything inside.

"You plan on buying that stuff 'sista'?" Bear asked. He slowly reached under the counter no doubt looking for a gun.

"Don't waste your time," I said as I made my way out of the door. Before he could bring the gun up I chucked a small blade in between his eyes. Not hard enough to kill him but painful enough to ruin his month. I walked out and made my way back to Los Angeles.

Running at top speed I could make it back in an hour or two. Judging from how quickly I handled Bear I could tell that the program was back on. Zero hinted at it but I could tell now that he had some kind of dampening system in him. That would explain why he beat me so easily. At least I hope so. I strap the duffel bag on and started running.

Damn, this feels good! I follow Zero's advice and control the program. I don't let it overwhelm me. When it starts to burn I don't squint and wait for it to pass. I absorb it. I revel in it. I taste it. I pass cars so fast that I must look more like a phantom than a real person. My face inches above the ground as I practically fly to L.A. It is silly of me to assume that they are still in L.A but knowing the obsession Zero has with me and The Corps need to kill me as soon as possible it was likely they were still there. I reached Downtown and stopped near the New Union Station. It was time to make my presence known.

I started knocking people over left and right. I wanted as many cops and security guards here as possible. Ever since the bombing I read about during training security was upped 300%. Five of them appeared instantly and I began whipping their asses. More arrived. Soon I heard sirens. Good. That meant the news would be here. After that it would be moments before the program freaks arrived and I could end this.

The roof exploded sending glass and debris flying everywhere. Zero and his goon squad arrived before the news did. Zero looked like some sort of Hitler youth from Hell. He wore an all black program styled uniform that reflected none of the daylight that poured in with a red scarf wrapped around the bottom half of his face. Purely for dramatic purposes. His squad wore the all black uniforms with guns at the ready. They began opening fire on everyone but me.

"Glad you're back, Kendra," Zero said over the gunfire and screams.

Zero practically floated to the ground near me. The squad stood to his back with their guns trained around the station shooting at anyone that left cover. I could still feel the program churning but held it at bay. I did not want to make the first move. Zero took a step forward and bowed to me.

"I did not think you would be so foolish as to return this quickly," he said. "I told you...,"

"You don't tell me anything, chicken strip," I said, cutting him off. "All of this bullshit ends now. Everything I ever had is lost. My family is dead."

"So is mine," Zero said. "You had yours killed," I said. "Big difference. Well, at least I have something you don't."And what is that, Kendra?" Zero asked.

"My skin." He didn't like that. With all of the outlandish things he has had done to his body, all of the modifications, you'd think he would at least say "Hey, how about some skin?" He was forcing himself to live outside of society yet damning those who occupied it. He could not have it both ways.

"You're actually semi-attractive when you're upset," he said trying to hide the anger in his eyes about the skin comment.

"Then I'm about to be downright fuckable in a moment!" I shouted as I appeared near two of the squad members. Zero was at my back immediately. He kicked and I ducked. He knocked one of the guys' head clean off, a fountain of blood spurting out. Those who had not screamed because of the shooting now chose to scream about this. I grabbed the other guy and threw him at Zero. Zero blasted him with his false "Red Eye," power. The guy turned to ash. I burst through the flaming remains and nailed Zero with a vicious right hook to his jaw. Apparently using the beams from his eyes caused a form of temporary blindness. He landed hard on his back and I brought my knee down into his chest.

"My turn," Zero said as he shot a beam that barely missed my face. I slammed the tip of my elbow down on his nose. Dark blood spewed out. He grabbed me by the neck and head butt me on the brow. I was slightly dazed but recovered fast enough to dodge his next punch. He then punched me in the stomach sending me up about nine feet. I landed on one knee and smiled at him.

"Another thing you can't do," I said. His brow furrowed as he charged at me. He disappeared and I took the opportunity to take out the other two team members. Zero and I had only been fighting for less than a minute. They saw me coming and began firing at me. I drew knives from my pockets and hurled them at them. They were hit but continued firing as they fell. Zero appeared next to me and kicked me in the side. I landed against a kiosk sending magazines flying.

"This is so disappointing," Zero said. "I needed this fight. I needed you at your absolute best. Beating you now will do nothing for me." He actually looked like he was going to cry. Something wasn't right. He seemed different. Wait a second.

"Oh, what's wrong, Southern fried?" I asked. "Gonna cry?" Anger flashed in his eyes. That's it! Damn it! Why didn't I think of this sooner? L.T did it all the time. Talking shit, even when you were getting your ass beat, threw people off. I wasn't one to trash talk until joining the program and being around L.T. Even in school I let my actions speak louder than my words. Could this bionic jackass be defeated with a combination of the two? That was one of the reason Tina/Tanika bothered me so much. It wasn't the fact that she was faster than me: it was her constant babbling. "Poor Zero," I whined. "I joined the program and all I got was this lousy permanent tan!" Zero charged at me with his head low, gathering power for an uppercut, dragging his fist on the ground leaving a trail of blood and flesh. I stepped to his side and kneed him in the small of his back, followed through, and kicked the back of his heel. He tumbled to the ground. He started using his beam before he even stood up, burning his foot in the process. He screamed but continued firing.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with!" Zero shouted. "I'm..."

"Nothing but a crying bitch with bad aim!" I shouted as I rolled away from his repeated blasts. I threw two knives, hitting his knees. He buckled and stopping firing for a moment to pull them out. I appeared to his right, a look of shock on his face, and grabbed two of the program style guns from his holsters.

"Is that supposed to impress me?" Zero asked obviously in pain.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that," I said. "I was too busy wondering how far I could shove these up your ass." Then I was shot in the back.

I saw a chunk of my flesh land on Zero. Then another. Then another. I turned and saw the trigger man. Impossible. Some things in life, or people, are so evil that you just believe that if they were in your presence that you would just feel it. Like someone turning a TV on in another room. You couldn't hear it, see it, or smell it. But you knew it was there. Apparently things don't always work out the way you think. Zero looked just as shocked as I did. Well, in his own non-eye browed, non-

mouthed kind of way. I fell to my knees and coughed up blood. I hoped it got on his shoes. "Now," The Corps said. "That wasn't so hard, now was it?" He walked over to me and fired three

more shots into my back as I fell to the ground. I could see him standing less than a foot away from me. But I couldn't move. He knew exactly where to shoot me.

"What are you doing here?" Zero asked. "This was mine!"

"Oh, stop being so dramatic," The Corps replied. "Do you know how much it'll cost the program to cover up your little game? Do you?!" I wanted so badly to just rise up and cut The Corps head off. "Well, I do. $254,243,977.00."

"I don't care how much it cost!" Zero screamed. "You cannot put a price on honor!"

"And what do you know of honor?" The Corps asked. "You take eight graduates and dragged them along on your little game of cat and mouse!" I saw The Corps take a step towards Zero and heard Zero take a step back. "Tanika was one of the most promising graduates!"

"She talked too much," Zero scoffed. I heard a smack. "Do not ever talk back to me!" The Corps shouted. Someone please kill me. I was going to die of boredom before loss of blood. Control the

program. Already I could feel it healing me. My brain was burning like never before. It hurt. This was the worst pain I had ever felt before. Was I dying? Then something happened. I can't quite explain it. My body got to a point where it couldn't understand the pain anymore.

"Un..." I muttered. "What?" The Corps asked irritably. "She's still alive," Zero said with a combination of shock, excitement, and fear. "Impossible," The Corps gasped.

"No..." I said as I slowly rose to my feet. "Uncontrollable!" So this is what Hollister must have felt like. No wonder he went insane. This is what it must feel

like to lose your mind and be totally aware of it. I was on top of Zero before I even finished the thought. I cut him off mid-scream with a punch in the stomach. The air flew out of him so quickly that his scarf fell off revealing the sick creature he had become. His top row of teeth was all that was left. Where his lower teeth and jaw should be was just charred flesh. His breath smelt of death. I grabbed him by the nape of his neck and pulled him backwards in an arch. The Corps shot at me but succeeded in hitting Zero.

"Hold still, damn you!" The Corps shouted. I didn't know if he meant me or Zero the way he was aiming. I vanished and appeared somewhere near Persian Square. My sudden appearance scared a group of nearby tourists. Zero twisted free of me and kicked me hard in the ribs. I heard myself laugh as I grabbed his thigh and squeezed until I heard a snap. Zero screamed and collapsed to the ground.

Uncontrollable. You hear the word so often but never truly appreciate it until you experience it. I had no choice over where we appeared. One second I am beating Zero's ass Downtown, the next we are in the Nevada desert. Zero grabbed a handful of sand and threw it in my eyes. Even blind I could still "see," him. I grabbed him by the throat and slammed him face first into the hot sand.

"Still think I can't beat you?!" I shouted at him as I rubbed his face in the sand. Now we were back at the New Union Station. We had to have been gone for less than a minute because The Corps was still standing there looking shocked. I tossed Zero at The Corps. He landed in a heap.

"Are you through?" The Corps asked. "Not yet," I said. "I was not addressing you, Hecksford," he said as he fired five shots into Zero's head. "Jesus

Christ, what a massive failure you turned out to be. Millions spent to make you perfect and you get beat by some girl from the slums of Los Angeles. What would your father think of you?" He kicked Zero in the face. Zero shifted slightly, barely alive.

"I want answers from you," I said to The Corps. "But I am now willing to forget all of them for a price." The Corps chuckled slightly.

"Just to humor you," he said. "What is the price?"

"Your head," I said as I landed a hard kick to his face. He literally flew. He landed against a glass door shattering it. He landed outside coughing up blood. He began laughing as he tried to stand.

"If I knew how strong you would become I would have had your father recruit you out of junior high," he said. "He wanted your brothers but they were too afraid. Especially after seeing what the program did to your mother. Yes, Hecksford, she was very essential to the growth of the program. She literally gave gallons of blood to ensure its success. Gallons." He was obviously trying to goad me. It wasn't going to work. Even though the program was pleading with me to kill him dead I wanted to know more. I still planned on taking his head. "You were going to be groomed to replace L.T. He had long since worn out his welcome. I knew that he was plotting to start his own group eventually. You were to be his third recruit. Hollister and Raves being the first two. I nipped it in the bud by killing him," he said while squeezing his small finger. "Ever wonder why the weapons are fired with this finger? Your father. He had an elongated small finger. Took years for soldiers to get used to these damned things. But not you I'm sure." I looked at my finger and sure enough it was longer than most. Kids made fun of it when I was younger but stopped around high school. I felt sad for never holding my father's hand often enough to recall anything odd about his fingers. "You don't want to kill me, Kendra. I can answer so many of your questions. Let us lea-," he said as he fell to the floor, blood gushing from his neck.

"No," Zero said as The Corps clutched his bleeding neck. "We are not done, Hex." "Son of a bitch..." I muttered. "Aren't you dead yet?" I was this close to losing my fucking mind. I was finally getting the answers that I needed when

this reject from Hell killed the one person still living that could give them. Zero looked even worse with blood pouring from him and his scarf missing. He stumbled towards me and collapsed forgetting that I shattered his thigh. His bone had to look like shattered glass right now and the program could not heal it fast enough. Suddenly Zero made a "face" and ran. A moment later I did the same. The Corps exploded. Almost forgot about the damned bombs that seem to be in all members of the program. Speaking of which. The other members of the squad starting vibrating as I ran past their bodies as if they were timed with The Corps. I dove through a glass door and landed with my guns drawn as Zero ambled my way.

"I need...to finish this," Zero muttered at me as screams could be heard everywhere. "I must be the best. I have no other option. I must beat you."

"Beating me won't make you the best," I told him. I felt the program healing every wound on my body. I was feeling recharged. Zero looked like he was having trouble breathing let alone trying to fight me. "I want you to train, Zero," I told him with a smile on my face. He stopped dead in his tracks. "What You're feeling now is hurt pride. When you told me that I wasn't good enough to beat you it did more damage than pride. It hurt my mind. I am not used to being second. I have lived my entire life being number one. The program has ruined that for me." Tears streamed down Zero's face as I spoke. "You choose to lose everything. I let it slip away. Now I am left with nothing. Not even the need to be a better fighter than you. All I had left was the need for answers and you took that away from me. The last thing left for me now is to remove you from the face of the earth. You're the abomination."

"How is the view from your high horse?" Zero asked me. "If you were to step foot before God he would not recognize you. You have nothing left of what he gave you."

"I still have my skin," I said trying to lessen the sting of his comment.

"I am not ashamed of what I have become," Zero spat. He began ripping pieces of his uniform off. His chest smelled bad from a distance. He tore his clothes off to the waist. His body was a Thomas Guide of scars. "I chose to spit in the face of God. You allowed others to do it for you." I stood silent. "What?" Zero asked. "No witty comebacks? No L.T like smart ass comments?"

"I think I am done talking," I said as I appeared behind Zero. As I expected he thought that was

where I'd be so I ducked and cut him short behind the knees with a forearm. As he buckled I fired six shots into his back. He shouted in pain. It sounded more animal than man. He began to fall and vibrating. The bomb. Zero panicked and tore his arm off at the elbow. He threw it across the street where it thumped against a van. It exploded sending fuel and burning metal into the air. He spun on his knees and began firing "Red Eye," at me. I dodged it with a slow back flip and landed on one knee. Uncontrollable. My fist was buried in Zero's chest before I finished the thought of doing it. My face was over his shoulder and I could see my hand coming out of his back. Zero convulsed and began to slump against me.

"No..." Zero muttered. "Yeah," I replied. "Not like this..." he whispered. "Exactly like this," I said into his ear. "This is exactly how you die. With my hand buried in your

chest in the middle of Downtown L.A. You lost." "But..." he slurred. "...I'm the best." "No," I told him as he slid down and landed on his back, eyes staring to the sky. "No one is the

best. We were disqualified as soon as we sold our souls to The Corps." I fired a shot into each of his eyes.

13

Matthew chapter twelve verse thirty three says, "Either make the tree food and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit." What does that make me? Kendra Hecksford died years ago leaving Hex. My parents were part of something so dangerous that it could not be controlled. Why did the program exist?

I began to discover more after The Corps death. After outrunning the police Downtown I made myself scarce for a few weeks. I cut my hair and dyed it. Eventually I was drawn to the cemetery. I visited my father's grave. Near his tombstone a guy dressed in a gray suit stood near it and waved me over. I felt no burn in my brain and walked up to him.

"Ms. Hecksford?" he asked. "Yeah," I said. "You look very different," he said checking a photo taken of me during training. "I am so low

down on the totem pole so killing me would do nothing. I was told to give this to you upon the deaths of three key members. I have been waiting here for you a few weeks." He handed me the note, put his hands up, and walked away. I opened the letter and took it back to a car I "borrowed."

"Hey, Hex,

If you are reading this that means I am dead and probably fucking pissed off. I can only hope your fine ass is doing well and not too mad that I am dead and can't fuck with you. Not like THAT! Inside this letter should be a disc. On this disc is the entire history of the program. Fuck, I hate calling it that. The real name for it is 'Project: Killswitch.' You'll find out why some of us could do shit others couldn't. What part your mama and daddy had in it and why you were chosen and not your brothers. And why I fell in love with you. Don't believe everything Raves tells you! He fucked way more bitches than I did. Did that offend you? Too bad. Write Raves 'Kilo Sierra Echo.' He'll know what it means. Do some good with what you got, Hex. Fight crime or some shit. I don't know. Just don't die. Even though right now You're lying in a bed because I put a bullet in your head You're still fine as fuck. Damn. I can't believe I'm dead. See you sometime."

L.T.

I placed the letter on my lap and flipped the disc over in my hand. I headed to a small hotel room and placed the disc into my player. Before it started I stopped it. Maybe this was shit I didn't want to know? Maybe it was time for me to just fucking move on.

"Kilo Sierra Echo?" I said and my brain burst into flames. Blood spewed from my mouth and nose. I fell to my knees and watched the blood gather into the carpet. What the fuck was happening to me? I felt the blood in my ears as everything became muffled. The disc began even though I had stopped it. On the screen was L.T smiling.

"Are you sure you wanna watch this?" he asked. "Just one warning: Think it all you want, but don't ever say it aloud. You don't wanna know what'll happen." As he talked I saw things that I never wanted to see. I heard things that I never wanted to hear. I could not move. I was in too much pain to even reach for the remote and stop the disc. After six hours of agonizing pain I was finally able to move. I crawled over and tried to stop the disc but it would not. I unplugged it but it continued to play. I had enough strength to climb to bed and try and use pillows to muffle the sounds of my mother being tortured. My father beating the table because more recruits were dying faster than he expected. Footage of my brothers being watched at sporting events by The Corps and my parents. Just when I thought I had enough L.T appeared on the screen again.

"'Project: Killswitch' was supposed to be the ultimate security for this goddamned country. So don't think your pops was this horrible Dr. Frankenstein or some shit. A pussy, yes. But not evil. He had good intentions. So did your mama. The Corps, or as he was known back then, General Watson, was the one that fucked it all up. Then along came Kilo Sierra Echo. K.S.E. It means 'Kill Switch Engaged.' The ultimate weapon for one of us if shit got heavy. Properly trained a graduate could takeon a small fucking army by himself by muttering those words. That's why I told you not to say that shit aloud and to write it to Raves. I can say it all I want because I know shit you don't. That's to let him know that I am dead and shit is getting really real, real fast. If you say that shit and live then you're the shit. But use it only when you are sure you can't win. I gotta bounce. You should be awake and I can't wait to see you. Later, Hex."

How can something be too much and not enough at the same time?

The End Of Veterans Day

Kilo Sierra Echo

By

Dante D. Ross

1

"Are you sure you wanna do this, baby?" "Of course! I have never been so sure of anything in my life!" "You really feel this way?" "Of course, I do!" "I now pronounce you husband and wife!" "What the fuck?!" Raves screamed at me. I had been banging this broad for the past few weeks before graduation. I was only 18 and didn't

know my ass from a hole in the wall. But what I did know was that I liked fucking this chick. She was hot. Looked like Pam Grier in "Foxy Brown," but with a bigger ass. She never got tired of having sex and I never got tired of getting it. But my boy Tucker hated her.

"She is not a part of our plan, man!" he would say. "She isn't anything but a distraction from our true goal: As many women as possible!"

"But I love her!" I would say.

"No, you love fucking her," Tucker said. Tucker Raves and I had been friends since we were little kids. We always had each other's backs. We even fucked some of the same chicks. But not this one. Her name was Ronda Smithes and she was all mine. I had a small inkling that Raves was half racist anyway. He never wanted any brown sugar when we hung out.

"Now you just sound jealous," I said. "Jealous of what?" he asked. "I have had my share of women." "But none that looked like this!" I said pointing to Ronda. Yes, we were having this conversation

right in front of Ronda. But she was too drunk and/or high to even care. All she knew was that I was on my way to big things and wanted to hitch a ride.

"Okay, Ronald," Raves said. "I'll ride this out until you get bored or she gets tired of seeing your Black ass."

"How can any woman get tired of this?" I said while pulling my pants down. The priest left the small Vegas chapel at this point. "It's like two Milk Duds and a Snickers!"

"Let's get out of here, baby," Ronda said. "Sure thing," I replied. "Already she's making orders," Raves said as I rolled my eyes. "Man, I gotta get you laid!" I shouted as we made our way towards the Strip. "Before we leave I

am gonna change your life!" "That's what I'm afraid of," Raves said as I slapped him on the back. As we walked we past a couple of Marines. They had them silly uniforms on that never seemed

to match. They were handling out booklets trying to find recruits. How the fuck did you plan on getting anyone to join the Army or any of that shit in Vegas? Raves and I snickered as we walked by.

"Something funny?" one of them asked. He was a skinny White boy with a head too big for his body. I stopped and let go of Ronda's hand and put my face an inch within his.

"Yeah," I said. "You." Raves took a step forward and I held my hand up. I didn't need help beating this crackers ass. His friend stepped behind him and smiled in my face.

"We are proud to represent our country," the one in back said. "What about you?"

"Fuck you," I said. "Y'all ain't trying no Tuskegee shit on my Black ass!" The two of them did some kinda Children of the Corn shit and threw punches at the same time. Ronda screamed and I gave the one in front a left uppercut and dropped down and grabbed the other by the balls and squeezed. He screamed like a girl. I spoke to him from between his slumped over friends legs. "Isn't this funny?" "No...," he squealed. "Yes, it is," I said. "You two thought that you were gonna just come and beat my ass and now

look at you. I got you by the balls and your boy is out cold. I think it's funny." I released his balls and let his friend drop to the ground. A couple of security guards walked towards us and Raves cleared his throat. Suddenly a car pulled up and an old guy in a uniform pulled up. The door was thrown open and he looked at Raves and I.

"Get in," he said.

"Fuck you," I said as Raves nodded. The old guy pulled a strange looking gun out and pointed it at us.

"Get in," he repeated.

"What kinda Star Trek ass gun is that?" I asked. Raves shoved me in and followed as the security guards ran towards us with their weapons drawn. The car sped off before we could close the door. Ronda was left standing on the strip. Raves and I were laughing until we remembered that there was a gun pointed at us.

"You should have gotten that ring back," Raves said.

"Who said I didn't?" I asked as I held it up for him to see. We both laughed and then turned our attention to the old man. "So who the fuck is you?"

"Call me The Corps."

This old guy calling himself The Corps just stared at Tucker and I like a wolf that just found something fucking delicious to eat. Every time one of us moved that weird ass gun would move with us. I had no idea where the hell we were headed. All I know is that eventually all the buildings stopped and the car bumped over sand. I looked out the window and saw a small building surrounded by fences. Not just a fence. Five of the sons of bitches. Each one had barbed wire. Tucker nudged me and nodded towards a guard tower. Three guys with big ass guns were stationed on it.

"Is this Area 51?" I asked The Corps. "Better," he replied. "So there is an Area 51?" Tucker asked. The Corps just sighed and rubbed his temples. "What are y'all doing?" I asked. "Some experiments and shit?" "Something like that," The Corps said. "Now just sit quietly and all of your questions will be

answered shortly." We pulled up to a warehouse and a giant door flew open and the car glided in. All of a sudden the

old guy put a mask on and gas started to fill the car up. Before I could even do anything I was out like a light. I woke up tied to a bed. I tried to turn my head but couldn't. They had my ass tied down.

"What kind of bullshit is this?" I asked. "Y'all ain't gonna do no gay shit, are you?" I heard Tucker laughing nearby.

"About time you woke up," he said. "Did you know you talk in your sleep?" "No, I don't," I said. "Yeah, you do," he replied. "And you re nastier, too. Talking about all kind of strange shit." "Do you know where we are?" I asked. "I need to scratch my balls something fierce." "No," he said. "The last thing I remember was you trying to grab my dick and then I started

screaming." "Fuck you," I said. "Maybe later," Tucker chuckled. "Right now I am hungry and ready to fight something." "That's what I like to hear," The Corps said. "How long have you been standing there?" I asked. "Long enough to know that if either of you plan on graduating that you'll have to be as far from

each other as possible," he replied. "I swear you talk far too much. Even in your sleep you can't stop babbling."

"Told you," Tucker said.

"You're worse than he is," The Corps said to Tucker. "You'll be released soon. Then I will let you know where you are and what you'll be doing. You should be excited. If you succeed here you'll never have to work again."

"I didn't plan on working anyway," I said. "Get some rest," The Corps said as we heard him stand from his chair. "By the time you're done you will be a killing machine." Then the room went black.

2

I woke up to the sound of dozens of motherfuckers screaming their heads off. I was no longer tied down so I sprang from the bed. I fell down and couldn't get back up. My legs felt like they were made of rubber or some shit. I slapped them while a hand landed on my shoulder from a nearby bed. I thought it was Raves but it was some other White fool I didn't know.

"Help me..." he whispered.

"Sorry, man," I said as I dragged myself across the floor. Fuck me. I dragged myself back to his bed and lifted myself up. He looked in a bad way. His eyes were sunk into his head and his skin was damned near gray. "What the hell's your name, man?" I asked.

"Hollister," he said. "Peter David Hollister..."

I was about to shake this Hollister guys hand when I heard a siren going off. How the hell they know I got out of my bed so fast? I dropped to the floor and rolled back to my bed, slowly making my way underneath. I heard guards shouting and someone flew into the room panting. I knew that pant anywhere.

"Where the fuck are you?!" Raves shouted.

"I was hiding until your loud ass came in," I said as I lifted myself up. I had most of the feeling back in my legs.

"We gotta get the hell out of here," he said. "This place is eight kinds of fucked up." "Eight?" I asked. "Yeah, eight," Raves said between breaths. He looked like he had seen a ghost. Half of his hair

was shaved. "We can deal with eight kinds of fucked up," I said. "If it were nine then..." Suddenly five armed

guards threw themselves into the room. Men began to shout in pain everywhere. I hadn't noticed how many were in here until now. There were dozens of them in all kinds of stages of mangled. Some had no arms, some, no legs. Some didn't even look fucking human anymore.

"Nine," Raves said.

"Shit," I muttered as I tensed up for a fight. The guards had those damned guns that looked strange. Now I saw what it was. They had the damned trigger where your pinky finger would go.

"Both of you on the ground now!" the one up front shouted. "Do it!" I looked at Raves and he smiled.

"You get on the ground," he said as he leaned on the bed next to Hollister. This Hollister guy looked like deep fried shit. "We aren't doing anything. Just a friendly conversation between friends." One of the guards charged forward and I leaped over Hollister's bed and nailed him with a right hook. He spun and landed hard on his face. I heard their guns clicking.

"All of you just stop," Hollister mumbled as he tried to sit up unsuccessfully. "Just...stop." "Jesus, You're alive?" Raves asked. "Barely," The Corps said as he entered the room. "Lower your guns," he said as he moved past

the guards and stepped over the unconscious one. "Leave me with them." All of the guards backed away without saluting. "Now, I would like to make a proposal to you two."

"There's three of us," Raves said including this Hollister zombie.

"Oh," The Corps said. "Him." He walked over to Hollister's bed and slapped him hard across the face. "He'll be lucky to survive the night let alone the program."

"Only project I care about has my furniture in it," I said as I flopped back down onto my bed. Raves walked over and sat at the edge rubbing his half shaved scalp. "We're fucking hungry," I said speaking for the three of us."You'll eat soon enough," The Corps said. "Now if you'll let me..." "I could kill for some Chinese," Raves said while rubbing his stomach. "Let's hope not," The Corps said while smirking. "So what the fuck you gonna do with us?" I asked. "And why aren't y'all trying to save my man

here?" I asked while motioning to Hollister. "He is a lost cause," The Corps said. "Weak in mind, body, and spirit." "Who the fuck are you to make that decision?" Raves said. He began to rub at his eye, annoyed. "I am in charge, that's who," The Corps said. "Now unless you want to be gassed once again I

will ask you to sit calmly and listen to what I have to propose." "I'll sit and listen," I said. "But I won't be calm." "Very well," The Corps said. "Ronald Ezekiel Jones. Born in Jackson, Mississippi to Shirley

Robertson. Ran away from home at the age of 12. Arrested for armed robbery. Sympathetic judge gave you only 6 months probation. Clean ever since. Except for that armed robbery last year."

"Shit," I said. "Asshole!" Raves said. "We were going to do that together!" "Hey, chill the fuck out," I said ashamed of leaving my main man out of the action. "It was a

dangerous trip and I didn't want you getting fucked up." "Did you use the money you got to pay for that damned ring?" Raves asked. "No," I replied. "I used it to pay rent. I used your money for the ring." "Oh," Raves said. Then he punched me in the leg. When I bent forward he slapped me in the

nose. "Who the fuck slaps someone in the nose?" I shouted as I covered my face. "I should leave you here with this zombie," Raves said, looking at Hollister. "Like two children," Hollister said. "Allow me to explain what's happening." "This should be funny," The Corps said as he pulled up a chair. "What you're going to be asked to do," Hollister said between gasps, "is something that only

God should ask of you. Give your soul." As Hollister spoke The Corps said nothing. He just nodded or shook his head depending on what

Hollister said. Raves and I would exchange glances every once in a while and speak without speaking. We had been around each other for so long that we had a bond stronger than blood. You had no choice who you were related to. God chose that shit for you. But a friend, man, you did that shit. If you had a shitty friend then you were either too stupid to bounce or you were equally shitty. Raves was one of those niggas that had your back even when he knew he'd get his ass kicked. Listening to Hollister made us want him to be one of our brothers. If he lived. There was just something special about this guy.

"So let me get this straight," I said. "Go ahead," The Corps said. "Free room and board. Free trips around the world. Free training. More money than I'll ever

need..." I said. "Yes," The Corps replied. "So what's the catch?" Raves asked. "I mean, why aren't there hundreds of guys lined up to the

fences if this is such a good deal?" "Because we only choose the best of the very best," The Corps said while standing. "But you got my Black ass after knocking out a recruiter on the Strip," I said. "So far we have only been allowed to infiltrate a dozen or so academies in the U.S," he said.

"Soon we will expand worldwide. Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe, and Canada will be chomping at the bit to join. I have been traveling the country tailing recruiters. In Las Vegas alone we had over 200 potentials. You, Mr. Jones, were the only one to get into a physical altercation and win."

"I know how to throw some weight," I said proudly.

"That explains your last girlfriend," Raves said. "Jealous ass," I muttered. "There is a great deal of potential in the two of you," The Corps said. "If you would learn to take

something serious in your lives." "Hey," Raves protested. "We take plenty of things seriously!" "Like pussy," I said as Hollister laughed lightly in his bed. "You still with us, Vincent Price?" "Yes..." Hollister whispered. "Hey, let's make a deal," I said to The Corps. "What kind of deal?" The Corps asked nervously. He didn't look like the kind of guy that made

deals. And even if he did he looked more like the kind of guy that would find lawyers and loopholes out of those deals.

"Let my half-dead friend here join and you got yourself a deal," I said. Raves nodded in agreement. My man.

"He won't survive the night," The Corps laughed. "Stop being so negative," Raves said. "Do we have a deal or not?"

"Fine," The Corps sighed. "One week. If his condition doesn't improve he will be left in the desert for the buzzards."

"You hear that, 'Holly'?" I asked him as I stood and took his hand. "You got one week to get better or this fool gon' feed you to the birds."

"No pressure," Raves said. "Can you do it?"

"Of course I can," Hollister said as a weak smile fell across his face. "Anything is possible when you believe in the Lord."

"Oh, testify!" I shouted. And with that one of the craziest weeks of my life began.

That night Raves and I sat together trying to figure out what the fuck we had gotten ourselves into. As we listened to Hollister fight for each breath I started to regret making his progress throughout the week depend on whether or not he lived or not. I do believe I am fucking myself.

"He looks like shit," Raves said. "What are we going to do?"

"Be specific, nigga," I said. "What are we gonna do about this project, Hollister here, or trying to escape?"

"You want to escape?" said Raves more to himself than me. I could see a bit of doubt in his eyes. "I don't really want to. I mean, what do we have out there?" he asked pointing to the wall but meaning the world. "We don't have family really. We don't have kids. We don't have steady girlfriends."

"Fuck you, I just got married," I said with a smile on my face.

"Seriously, man," Raves said while looking me in the eyes. "What have we got to lose by doing this shit?"

"'Holly' says we'll lose our souls," I replied with my finger in the air as if I just made some great discovery. "But I get what you saying. You really wanna go through with this shit?"

"I think so, yeah," Raves said. He looked as surprised at his statement as I felt. "But we just have to make sure our new brother makes it."

"About him," I said. "Do you feel something special about this guy?" "Yeah," Raves said. "I can't explain it either. There's just something about him." "Like a fucking magnet, this guy," I said. "Let's get some sleep. We don't know what the fuck is

planned for us."

3

I should have gotten the award for Understatement of the Year. The next morning guards stormed into the room and grabbed Raves and dragged him out of the room. I jumped up to stop them and was gassed. I tried to fight it off but saw the ground rushing to introduce itself to my face. Head, meet floor. Floor, head. Say "Hello!"

I woke up on a table. Immediately beeping came from all around. Some doctors grabbed me by the arms and put a mask on my face. I tried to kick but my legs were tied down. I wanted to shout but a tube was in my throat. I felt vomit rushing up and being suctioned as it rose. The Corps appeared over me and sighed.

"Calm down, Jones," he said. "This will all be over soon." The room went dark as I slipped into what can only be described as Hell-Lite.

I had a dream, or vision depending on what God you worshiped. I was in a room full of weapons. I walked up to each of them and knew how to take them apart and put them together in seconds. I was running on a treadmill with wires and shit all over me. I saw scientists writing shit down as I lifted weights. The entire time I saw flames coming out of my skull. I even saw Raves. He keep picking at his eyes and complaining. He looked at me and smiled while giving me a thumbs up and mouthing "Having fun yet?" Then I woke up.

I was sore as hell. I was in a bed with cords attached to my arms. I pulled the sheet off and saw two big ass tubes in my chest. I was too tired to even freak out. I just leaned back and relaxed. I heard someone enter the room. A Black dude a little older than me leaned over my bed with a clipboard. He checked the tubes in my chest and nodded.

"Who you?" I asked. "Lemont Hecksford," he replied without making eye contact. "How do you feel?" "Are you a doctor?" I asked ignoring his question. "Something like that," he said with a smile on his face. "Is he okay?" a lady asked. She walked over and kissed this Hecksford on the cheek. You could

tell they were married by the way she did it. Eyes closed and quick. When you are fucking bitches you never let them kiss you on the cheek. Nothing but lips and tits. She looked okay. Just tired. She had bags under her eyes and her voice was raspy, but other than that...I'd fuck her.

"He's doing marvelous," Hecksford said. "Better than most of them," he said with disappointment in his voice.

"What about my boy, Raves?" I asked. "He is doing fine," Hecksford said. "Stable," the lady said. "Sorry, my name is Deidra." "I'd shake your hand but I don't wanna piss your husband off," I joked. "How'd you know we were married?" Deidra asked. "Just a hunch," I lied. "Raves is doing okay," Hecksford said attempting to ignore the flirting that was happening in

front of him. "Just a minor eye infection." "That funny," I said. "I had a dream that he kept scratching his eye." The lovely couple gave each

other a look. "What?" "What else did you see in this dream?" Deidra asked. Her husband had a bad poker face. He

looked worried. "I was using guns, lifting weights, running. Shit like that," I said. "Fuck. That wasn't a dream,

was it?" "Please allow me to apologize," Hecksford said. "You were supposed to be...unaware of the

programming." "What 'programming'?" I asked. I could feel my pulse quickening and the machines began tobeep louder and faster. "What the fuck y'all do to me?" Hecksford backed away and pulled his wife close to him. "Answer me, goddamn it!" Guards entered the room and switched their safeties off.

"I see our Pinocchio has discovered that he is a real boy," The Corps said.

After about a week in bed being changed like I was a damned baby they wheeled Raves in one day. They got tired of me asking about him, I guess. Raves looked like road kill. But he was still smiling when he saw me. We smacked hands and laughed.

"Nice haircut," I said to him. The right side of his face was bandaged and half of his head was shaved. "I hope you got ya money back."

"You know I never pay your mother with cash," he said. "What's up with the bandage?" I asked. "Did the herpes work its way up to your face finally?" "No," he said rubbing the gauze. "Me and your mother were giving each other butterfly kisses

and the next thing you know..." We both laughed. We had a way to make each other laugh no matter how fucked up a situation was. "Have you heard anything about Hollister?" As if on cue he was wheeled into the room as well.

"It's alive!!!" I shouted as Raves spun around to look at Hollister. He did look better. He had color in his cheeks and a smile on his face.

"Very funny," Hollister said. "How are you doing?" Raves asked him as they shook hands. "I feel great," he said. The guard that brought him in looked afraid. "What's his problem?" I asked. "Apparently I died a few times this week," Hollister said. "They stopped counting at nine." "How the fuck you die nine times and come back?" I asked. "Did you go into the light?" "Yeah," he said while frowning. "So how hot was it down there?" Raves asked. "Not as hot as your father's mouth," Hollister muttered. I damn near fell out of my bed laughing.

Raves had no comeback. "A week and he's already talking shit," Raves said. "A week?" Hollister asked. The guard looked nervous. "It's been a few months." Raves and I

gawked at each other. "I have been here for four. You two have been here for three." "Damn," I said.

"Did they master time travel?" Raves asked sarcastically. "My eye is bugging the crap out of me..."

"Next time take it in the mouth," I said. Even the guard had to laugh at that one.

"Glad to see you all doing well," The Corps said as he appeared next to the guard. "You may leave," he told him. He then removed a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He wore a black uniform of a high-ranking officer but it had no pins or medals. He removed a small black cigarette and lit it.

"Can a brother get one?" I asked.

"Not yet," he said. "Soon." He lit one and inhaled deeply. I stared at him enviously waiting for him to exhale and smile, dancing as he got to light up while I couldn't. No smoke came out.

"What kind of Houdini shit you pulling?" I asked.

"These are special," he said. "Like I said, soon." He inhaled again and seemed to glow with joy. The dick.

"What's this about us being here for months?" Raves asked. "And what the fuck is wrong with my eye?"

"An unfortunate side effect of the program," The Corps said. "It will get better, I assure you." "Why doesn't that make me feel better?" Raves said as he continued scratching his eye. "In a few days we will begin training," The Corps said as he dropped the mystery cigarette to the

ground and crushed it with his heel. "I won't lie to you. It will be difficult. And maybe none of you will survive it." He looked at Raves specifically. They held each other's stare for half a minute until

Hollister raised his hand. "Not to be a negative Nancy, but what happens if we don't die, but fail?" he asked. "Let's cross that bridge when we get to it," The Corps said as he left the room smiling to himself. "I have a feel that that nigga will burn the bridge when You're halfway across it," I said. "I don't

trust him for shit." "Neither do I," Raves said. He removed his bandage and looked for a mirror. "You look like shit," I told him. "Let's see what's going on," Raves said as he held the mirror to his face. "Fuck me." "Like Hamburger Helper," Hollister said. "I say damn!" I shouted. "Is that shit gonna happen to me too? It likes like Satan came on your

face," I said. "Twice," Raves said. "This blows."

4

The following week after The Corps deemed that we had recovered we were sent out on a field for some exhibitions. They wanted to see what the hell we could do or more importantly what we couldn't do. They gave us some sweatpants and tank tops to jog around in. Raves was showing off and running backwards around me while Hollister tried to keep up. I know I am faster than this!

"You have to be the slowest black man on Earth!" Raves said as he lapped me.

"Keep it up," I said while gasping for breath. All that smoking I had done since I was 12 had caught up with me. The Corps and the Hecksford's were in the stands taking notes of us and talking quietly to one another.

"Don't feel bad," Hollister said to me as he passed.

"I don't need your sympathy, zombie!" I shouted at his back as he passed. A few other recruits were jogging together and laughed when they shot past me.

"I thought you guys were supposed to be fast!" one of them named Tip "The Hammer," O'Reilly said. He was this white ass White boy with hair so red that it looked fake. He was a former boxer from Florida that had fallen on hard times. They say that The Corps found him in an alley drowning his sorrows in booze.

"I'm only running slow because of my large cock!" I shouted. They all laughed and then I fell to the ground. My head felt like someone shot the top of it off. I started slapping it thinking it was on fire. The Corps and the Hecksford's ran over to me. A few medics came as well.

"Another one down," The Corps said.

"What's goin' on with my brain?!" I shouted. "What's goin' on?!" I rolled to my side and kept slapping my head. Raves and Hollister saw what was going on and ran across the field. Raves knelt down beside me.

"What the hell is going on with him?" he asked Hecksford. "What did you do?" "Nothing," Hecksford replied. "Sometimes there are side effects." "Like coming back to life?" Hollister asked. "Or having an infected ass eye?" Raves asked.

"Everyone just calm down," The Corps said. "Let's get him out of here." They pulled me up by my arms and suddenly I felt okay. I took a step and my brain caught fire again. I was about to fall when I just started running. For no fucking reason I started running. I could hear everyone telling me to stop but I couldn't. I wanted to but couldn't. I ran past "Hammer," and heard him gasp.

"That extra bone in the foot you guys have must really be working!" he shouted.

I picked up more speed and looked down at my legs. My shoes felt like they were melting but I still couldn't stop. I felt good. Yeah, my brain kept threatening to set me on fire but I didn't care. I was always the slowest fucking kid on the playground. Now look at me! Shit, man. If I could run like this all the time I woulda been robbing folks blind! Then someone ruined my day. I crashed to the ground banging all my shit up. The Corps stood over me holding a tranquilizer gun.

"Interesting," he said as he stood over me and Raves and Tucker peeked over his shoulder. "Banks," Raves said with a smile on his face. "That's what I was thinkin'!" I said as I wiped my pants off while still sitting. "How fast was I

goin'?" "Too fast," Hollister said. "How did that feel?" "Good," I replied. "110mph," The Corps said to no one in particular. "Very good, Jones." "Ain't nobody ever gonna beat that shit!" I shouted. "Nobody!" "Do you hear that?" Hollister asked. Everyone just looked at him. "Hear what?" Raves asked. "Like, someone screaming or something," he said as he looked off in the distance."No, it's just you," I said. He looked worried. Raves started scratching his eye. "Seriously, can I get something for this shit?" he asked. "My eye is killing me." We had no idea that Raves and Hollister were about to do things that made my fast running look

like Double Dutch in comparison. A few days after I broke all kinds of world records running Raves and I were witness to one of

the craziest fucking things we had ever seen in our lives. Well, at least up to that point. In the gym we were punching at each other as I kept hitting the right side of his face.

"Stop doing that!" he shouted. "It's not healed yet!" The Corps had some folks work on Raves eye after the infection got worse. He says that used some space aged shit. You couldn't even tell that one of his eyes was fake. The only thing was the slightly red tinting. You could only see it if you got really close to him and nobody was trying to be all up in his face.

"I can't help it if I sting like a bee!" I said as I peppered his face with left jabs.

"Yeah, That's what she said!" he replied as he caught me with a cheap shot to the balls followed by an overhand right hook. I fell to my knees and my brain began to sizzle.

"Bitch..." I moaned as Raves laughed and bounced around the ring.

"Enough clowning around," The Corps said as he motioned for us to leave the ring and Hollister and a guard entered the ring. The guard removed his gear and placed some gloves on. Hollister looked nervous so I walked over to him in his corner.

"What you thinking about?" I asked him.

"I don't like fighting," Hollister said as he slowly pulled his gloves on and smacked his hands together.

"Just pretend he is someone you don't like," I told him. "I like everyone," Hollister said. I smiled and then slapped him in the back of the head. "How about now?" I asked as I jumped from the ring. Hollister's eyes began to water as the bell

rang. Raves and I removed our gloves and watched from ringside. The guard was a big guy. Hollister

was about 5'9". The guard was at least 6'4". Hollister threw a few lazy jabs that were countered with hard body shots. Hollister winced with each shot. The guard popped Hollister with a right jab to the eye and a low blow. Hollister collapsed and the guard kicked him square in the chest. Hollister landed flat on his back holding his groin.

"Cheatin' bitch!" I shouted as I jumped up. I heard the guards clicking their safeties off. Raves looked over my shoulder and saw The Corps smiling. The guard in the ring then sat on Hollister's chest and rained blows down on his face. "Get up, Holly!" I shouted. Hollister tried to cover his face but the guard easily moved his hands away and hammered down on him.

"This is fucked," Raves said. He put his hand to his eye and grimaced.

In the ring all you could hear was the sound of wet smacking. The guards in the gym actually started laughing. A few other recruits refused to even look in the ring. Maybe they were afraid that they were next. The guard in the ring started vibrating and laughing.

"I think he's ready to go!" he shouted as the rest of the guards clapped and cheered. Each recruit had guns trained on them in case they were feeling froggy. Then the guard was thrown high enough for his back to smack the ceiling. As he came crashing down into the ring Hollister slammed him down face first. We all heard the sound of his neck snap. The room got dead quiet.

"Uncontrollable," Hollister said. He was standing with his arms to his side and shaking. Three guards jumped into the ring and swung their guns at him. "Uncontrollable!!!" Hollister appeared in front of the guards a moment after they got in the ring. Now when I say "appeared" I don't mean that he ran really fast and then all of a sudden was in their faces. No. He fucking vanished from one side of the ring and then was in front of them! You could tell by the looks of their faces that they knew they were dead. Hollister hit one guard so hard that his head was nearly torn off. Imagine a Pez dispenser. The other guard swung his gun an inch from Hollister's face but hit nothing but air.

Hollister was behind him and twisting his neck around. The way the guards' eyes bulged and his head spun he looked like an owl. The third guard jumped over the top rope and was met mid-leap by Hollister. "Uncontrollable!!!" was the last thing that guard heard before his chest met Hollister's fist. The poor son of a bitch's torso disappeared in a cloud of pinks and browns.

The Corps motioned for the other guards to intervene. They hesitated for a moment and then entered the ring. Hollister appeared near the exit. Then near the bleachers. Then behind me and Raves. The looks on his face for that one moment was terrifying. Later Raves said he heard screaming but not from Hollister. Then he was back in the ring surrounded by guards. He appeared in the corner and disappeared. Then he was in the next corner. And the next. He was moving too fast to shoot. The guards exited the ring and began filling it with bullets. They could not hit Hollister because one moment he was on one side of the ring and the next he was near the opposite. Then he was hit.

"Uncontrollable!!!" Another hit, this one in his chest. "Uncontrollable!!!" His face. "Uncontrollable!!!" His legs and arms. "Uncontrollable!!!" His head. Hollister lay in the corner unmoving. The guards would not lower their guns. The Corps walked

towards the ring and Hollister vanished from the ring and appeared in front of me. I looked into his eyes and there was no fear. The Corps marched over and emptied his clip into Hollister's chest.

"Remove him," The Corps said. The guards stared nervously at each other. "Now!"

As the dragged Hollister away Raves looked at me and nodded. That link again. I knew what he was thinking and I agreed with him. Fuck this project. We were gonna break out.

5

There was Tip "The Hammer" O'Reilly, Raves, The Twins, and me. We were all there when they put Hollister down like a dog and we all knew that they would do the same damned thing to us. Well, we weren't waiting until we went crazy and ended up with a hundred shots in our asses. Raves didn't like the idea of bringing in more guys but I knew that with what I was planning that we would need all the help we could get.

Tip would be useful because of his skills with his hands, particularly his right. He got the power to fucking level shit with one punch. They measured it at 211 tons of pressure. Now take into account that they use fucking 500 tons of energy to simulate atomic bombs and you can see what we're working with.

The Twins were these two homeless fools The Corps found fighting each other in an alley in Utah. We had no idea if they were really twins or if their dirty asses just looked alike. Either way they were fucking insane but loyal to one another. When they were close enough to each other and started heading towards something, be it a building or moving vehicles, they could run right through that shit! It looked cool.

Raves had the ability to annoy you with an itchy eye and I was pretty much all around. I was fast, strong, and had the reflexes of, uh, something that had quick reflexes.

If you shot at me I had a 97% chance of dodging the bullet and beating your ass.

"How do you plan on doing this?" Tip asked me as he sipped on a beer he had conjured up from ingredients he found in the kitchen (and bathroom if you believe what The Twins tell you). "Are we going to fight our way out or sneak away?"

"We are going to have to wait a little while," I told them. The Twins sighed.

"We don't know what will happen when we get back out in the real world," Raves explained. "Let's use Hollister as an example. He went from nearly dead, to perfectly healthy, to having the ability to disappear."

"That was nifty," one of the Twins said as the other nodded. "But let's look at the downside," I added. "We could walk out of here thinking we're good because we can run fast, lift cars, or fly..."

Raves said. "Someone can fly?" Tip asked excitedly. "That's just a fucking rumor," I said trying to hide my envy. If there was some Peter Pan fool

here I ain't seen him. "Either way," Raves continued. "We don't want to leave and then discover that all of a sudden we

have the power to die in a week. Imagine if Hollister disappeared and never came back?" We all looked at each and nodded. "I am sad to say this but we have to stay here for a bit longer."

"Damn it," a Twin said. "At least until we know more about what is going to happen to us in the long term," Raves said. "Yeah," I agreed. "I don't wanna be in this fucking project for the long term." The following morning during breakfast The Corps made a special announcement. He kept his

eyes on Raves and I the entire time which made me think that there was a rat in the group. "I know some of you may be experiencing doubt in this project. Some of you may plan to leave. Some of you may plan to kill yourselves. But I can guarantee you that if you see this until the end that it will be one of the most fulfilling times of your life."

Someone in that back of the room shouted "We wanna get laid!" which got applause from everyone. The Corps just sighed and took a step back. Hecksford nodded as they passed one another.

"We have been excited with the progress made recently," he said while averting his eyes from me. His wife Deidra sat near him. She looked like shit. She had huge bags under her eyes and looked like she'd lost a ton of weight. "There have been a few minor setbacks...""Like death," Tip muttered.

"...But we are sure that once the bugs have been worked out," Hecksford continued, shaken by Tips comment, "everything will be fine."

"Just be patient," The Corps interjected. "Any pain or discomfort will be well worth it."

They all left the room together. Hecksford had to help his wife stand. He held her by the elbow. I noticed a small bump in her stomach. I nudged Raves in the side and he nodded. Tip walked over and stood next to us. He was no replacement for Hollister but he was cool people.

"A damned shame," I said.

"Yeah," Tip replied. "Like the world needs any more colored people in it." I turned to face him and he was already running away laughing.

"Dick," I said.

The next few weeks were spent training. Waking up at 4am and stopping at 6pm. Raves thought that they were trying to break us. And it did. By the end of the week 152 guys had dropped out leaving only 8 of us. Five of them were our small group and three other guys that I hadn't really paid attention to until one of them shot Tip in the back.

"Live rounds means you're dead if you stand!" The Corps shouted above the rounds being fired feet above our heads. We were crawling through mud and God knows what else. Raves was to my right with Tip a feet few to my left. The Twins were damned near the finish line.

"This isn't fair," Raves complained. "Putting them in dirt is like putting me in a whorehouse. Of course they breeze right through!"

"Quit your bitching," Tip said as he spit mud from his mouth. "At least you don't have to stare at this guys Black balls the whole time."

"Take it all in, Hammer!" I replied. Two of those other guys were also with us both neither of them spoke to one another. They just trudged along as we were. The third was the man next to The Corps firing the shots above us. "We almost done anyway."

"I don't like that guy shooting," Raves said to me. Mud covered his face giving him the look of a brother. He should thank the lord he wasn't born black. He woulda been ugly.

"Neither do I but what can we do?" I asked. Raves finished with me shortly behind. The Twins were already washing themselves off as Tip stood and stretched. Then we heard a crack and he went down.

"Sorry!" the guy with the rifle shouted. "What the fuck?!" I shouted to him as I ran over to Tip. "I can't feel my fucking legs," Tip said. "What happened?" "What the fuck, man?" Raves asked. "Get some help!" The Corps just stood there and the

gunman had a smirk on his face. Shit. We were being set up. "Get some fucking help!!!" The other two recruits just watched. I saw the muscles in their necks twitch with anticipation of a battle.

I sped towards The Corps and the gunman and was almost there when all of a sudden my ass was 100 feet off the ground. One of the recruits had me by my collar. I looked down and saw the ground caving in over where we flew. He released me and I plummeted to the Earth. I knew that with all the new shit I had going on that I wouldn't die from this. But it would hurt and if there's one thing I hate its being hurt. 50 feet, 40 feet, 15 feet, I started running. I hit the ground and was on the other guy before he could blink. I knocked him back a few feet. He landed like a damned cat and smiled. That Peter Pan asshole flew down and the ground buckled under him. He tried to fly over me and I dodged him, but just barely. Then he turned to dust. I looked at where a red beam had come from and saw Raves on his back holding his eye. He tried to scream but nothing came out but a long gasp.

Tip slammed the ground with his hand and sent a shock wave that made the stand that The Corps and that asshole stood on explode. The Corps tumbled to the mud with a loud smack. The asshole landed on his feet and charged towards Tip. Tip tried to slam the ground again but was kicked in the face by this guy. He slid across the mud for about 20 yards before stopping unconscious. I ran over

but was tackled halfway there by the one that moved like a cat. He got down on all four in front of me and smiled. He slowly pulled up his sleeves and I could see track marks up and down his arms.

"Your move, 'bro'," he hissed at me.

"Flashlight!" Raves shouted as I dropped low. A red beam lashed out over my entire backside. I could feel my skin boiling as I watched the cat scream as he died. "Flashlight," was our codeword for "Get down!" If there was a fine bitch it meant that one of us had just called dibs on her. If shit was getting hairy it meant that one of us was about to do something crazy and it might fuck the other up in the process. The beam finally stopped and I stood. Smoke radiated off my back, as I smelled my skin. I could feel the shit already healing me. Cool. "Are you okay?" Raves asked.

"Better than him," I said while pointing at the pair of boots left standing.

"Enough," The Corps growled. Medics ran to the field and quickly placed Tip on a gurney. "This was supposed to be an exercise to showcase your strengths. But you..." he motioned towards the gunman. "...You got carried away, didn't you?"

"Sorry, sir," he muttered.

"'Sorry' doesn't bring back two dead recruits, Donner!" The Corps shouted. "'Sorry' doesn't cover the loses we shall have to recoup! 'Sorry' doesn't cut it here!" he said as he pulled a gun from his holster and emptied the clip into his face. The Corps looked over at Raves who was holding his eye while sitting down in the mud. "Stand," he said.

"Fuck you," I said. "Excuse me?" The Corps replied. "I said fuck you," I repeated. "You kill one of our friends and cripple another. And where the

fuck are The Twins?!" I looked around and Raves stood and ran over to them while still holding his eye. I joined him as The Corps slowly made his way there. They were pressed down at least three feet into the ground. Alive, but barely. I pulled them out by the seat of their pants. They coughed and gasped as they spit mud out of their mouths and blew it out of their noses.

"Did we miss anything?" one of them asked. "Just a lot of bullshit," I said as I threw Raves' arm over my shoulder and we walked away.

6

One week later and Tip still couldn't feel his legs. They had him strapped down to his bed after an incident his first night. He tried to drag himself from the bed and ended up injuring four guards when he slammed his fist down bringing a wall on them. The Twins were doing fine and were released from the urgent care center. The last thing they remember was seeing a man fly and they wouldn't shut up about it.

"It was crazy," one of them said. Even clean I couldn't tell them apart. "He just fucking...zoom!" the other said as he slapped his hands together. "It was amazing," the other said. "Wasn't that great," I replied. "You should have seen the look on your face, Ron," Raves said. "You came down flapping like

the world's biggest, ugliest Black bird, I swear!" They all got a good laugh out of that. I had to admit, being able to fly would be cool.

"Why do I need flight when I look this damned good?" I asked. "Hey, Tip. Do you think flying is all that great?"

"Fuck flight," Tip muttered. "I just want to walk again." We all looked at one another and then dropped our heads.

"You'll be fine soon," The Corps said as he entered the room with the Hecksford's in tow. "With a little bit more time we will have you up and about in no time." From the look on Mr. Hecksford's face I knew this was a lie.

"What about my eye?" Raves asked. "Beams aren't normal. Beams aren't a side effect." "Beams?" one of the Twins asked. "Tucker shot a fucking laser beam out of his eye," I told him while looking at Mr. Hecksford.

There was something about this guy that I just couldn't stand. I knew he had more to do with this project than he was letting on. But he chose to let The Corps here do all the talking. I was getting tired of it. I already had one friend die and another crippled. Who knew what would happen when Tucker used that damned beam again?

"Look at it as a gift," Mrs. Hecksford said as she stepped in front of her husband and The Corps. "We know that some of you have been experiencing dramatic effects from these...experiments. But please believe us when we say that they are for your own good."

"Bullshit," Raves said as I looked at him and smiled.

"Jones," The Corps said to me. "Where would you be if I had not retrieved you from Las Vegas? Dead. And Raves. You would either be dead along with him or in prison. Potts and Grates," he said to The Twins. Apparently he could tell them apart. At least I knew their names now. "You two would be in an alley drunk and filthy."

"And?" Potts asked. "Is that bad?"

"And O'Reilly," The Corps said to Tip. "You would be drowning your sorrow at the bottom of a bottle wondering where your life went wrong."

"But I'd still be able to walk," Tip replied.

"Ungrateful piss-ants!" the Corps shouted. "The whole lot of you!" He stormed from the room. Mr. Hecksford looked at his clipboard and then slowly backed out of the room. His wife stood there and held her gaze on me.

"Please be patient," she said as she rested her hand on her stomach, slowly stroking her baby inside. "We will do everything in our power to help your friend here," she said as she nodded towards Tip.

"Thank you, ma'am," Tip said. She walked over to his bed and held his hand. She let go and patted me on the shoulder as she left the room.

"Bitch," Tucker said as he rubbed his eye. "Everything in my brain tells me to fry that bitch. Idon't even know why. There's something about her that I don't like." "How you gon' be mad at a pregnant chick?' I asked. "She ain't done shit to make us hate her." "There you go again," Tucker said. "'Go again' what?" I asked. "Anytime pussy is involved you act different," Tucker replied. "Different how?" I asked. "She is a part of this goddamned project, Ronald!" Tucker shouted. "For some reason if a woman

is involved you lose all sense of logic. She's married. She's pregnant. She is a part of this secret government program that is giving us powers like Superman. We haven't left this place in God knows how many months. Fuck, have any of us been allowed to contact anyone on the outside? It's like jail. The Corps talks about me being in prison if he hadn't 'saved' us? Fuck him, too. This is prison."

"No, it's not," Tip said. "Food's better in prison." "Fuck you, Red Eye," I said to Tucker. "I still plan on leaving this place." "No, you aren't," Tucker replied. "You're in this shit for the long haul. What, do you expect

long-term employment from this place? As soon as you start acting up they'll bring you down like Old Yeller."

"Whatever," I said. "I'll be out of here in a few months. All of us will be."

7

"Now just focus on the target, nothing else. Block out the pain. Block out the wind. Pay attention! Ignore the guns that may be aimed at you. Just get from here to there alive. The target wants you dead. You need them dead. Understand?"

The Corps was in my ear by way of some sort of short wave radio. I was in China looking at some short ass lady in the kitchen of a palace. She was some sort of royalty. Even if I didn't hear it from The Corps I would have guessed it. Tiny, delicate. Apparently she and her husband have had over 1000 people executed for crimes against their organization. In a deal with the Chinese military the project agreed to assassinate the woman for five of their best graduates. I just needed to get from this rooftop that was above a 20 story building and land in her kitchen and kill her without being shot or captured by the fifty or so guards surrounding her place. Oh, did I mention that I have no weapons?

The previous day's mission was filled with lots of damage and shit-loads of blood being spilled. Not ours of course. The Twins finally got to let loose their power and level an entire city block. Holding hands the entire time and giggling like little kids, they ran through five buildings bringing them down in moments. Separated they both had strength but together they were like a wrecking ball. Tucker, now known as "Red Eye" by me, the Twins, and Tip, got to bring down two planes with his beam. From the parking lot of a hotel he hit a plane just as it took off. I slapped him on the back in congratulations and he accidentally brought another one down. The Corps chewed us out good and long for that. Don't feel too bad. The first plane had some really bad people on it. At least that's what The Corps told us.

As I sat on the rooftop I wondered what I would think if I went back in time about two years and told myself that I would be able to run 110mph and lift 800lbs. without breaking a sweat. I would like to think I would believe me. But I doubt I would. I tightened the laces on my boots and tucked my shirt in. We all wore the strange black suits that the guards at the program wore. Some kind of weird material that absorbed all light and reflected it at the same time. You'd think it would make us invisible but it didn't. It just made us... dark. I slid my goggles down and pulled a wool cap over my head. Cinching my gloves together as I walked over to the other side of the roof to get a running start. What the hell have I gotten myself into?

"Why haven't you begun, Jones?" The Corps screeched into my earpiece. "I fixin' to," I replied. "Over." "Remember," he said. "Be discreet." "Sure," I replied as I removed the earpiece and placed it into my hip pocket. Discreet my ass. The

only 6'0" Black man in China that was about to jump from a roof and kill somebody with their bare hands and he wants me to be discreet. I crossed myself and began running. My body knew that what I was about to do was stupid but the program made me keep going. I felt my brain start to sizzle as I neared the ledge. I blocked it out and kept moving.

"Let's do it to it!" I shouted as I threw myself from the roof. Everything moved in slow motion. For some reason I thought everything would happen fast. Jump, land, kill, run. But I was still in the air moving towards the open window... that suddenly slammed shut. Son of a bitch. I couldn't do anything to change my direction. I was gonna hit that window and let everyone in that place know I was there. I fished the earpiece from my pocket and started talking real fast. "Need some help! Windows closed! Gonna hit it! Now! Over!"

"Cannot help you," The Corps replied. "Team is busy on other missions. Improvise."

Was he fucking joking? How do you improvise a crash? Fuck it. Discreet wasn't gonna work. Loud and nasty was the only way to do this now. My brain felt like it was gonna explode. I wouldn't be surprised if someone saw me flying through the air with smoke coming out of my ears. Before I could decide whether or not to land head or feet first I crashed through the window back first destroying a table that had to cost more than I have ever paid for a date. If I had landed two feet to the left I would've crushed that damned lady. She screamed and three guards rushed into the room immediately. No time to recover. Glass in my ass. I gotta kill four people in a few seconds before I get some nice bullet friends to join the glass. I snatched a large shard from the floor and throw it at one of the guards. It sliced his throat open and blood shoots out of him and lands all over the floor. Damn, even the floor looks expensive.

The other two guards run towards me with their guns drawn and slip on the blood. They actually shoot each other as they fall. Lucky me. The lady steps forward and makes a low catlike sound. She is in my face and throwing kicks that the project is blocking. It feels like I am just watching myself fight. She looks just as shocked as I must. She jumps up and tries to kick me in the side of my neck. I grab her leg and slam her back down like she was nothing but a pillow. I jerk her leg and I hear it pop as her hip gets dislocated. She screams and I dangle her upside down by her leg and pitch her through the shattered window. She lands in the bushes and I follow her outside.

"Just let me kill you so I can go home," I say to her. "逗留遠離我你大黑人妖怪!" "I don't know what you just said but I bet it was racist," I replied as I advanced on her. She tried

to stand and collapsed. She held her hip and spit on my shoes. I lifted her from the ground by her hair and a bullet ripped through my shoulder. I dropped her and turned to see about twenty guards with rifles aimed at me. Then I heard laughter. I thought it was her until the ground began to shake. The palace rippled as it started to fall to the ground. A beam hit the guards and started sweeping across the entire yard burning everything in sight. This lady looked at me and then closed her eyes. I bent down and covered her face with my hand. I squeezed as hard as I could but couldn't bring myself to look at what I did. I just remember the sound. Like a watermelon full of sloshed snow. I felt the blood land on my face as I let her go. Tucker stood about ten feet from me and just stared at me. The Twins kept running after destroying the palace.

"What?" I asked. "Nothing," Tucker said. "L.T." "What the fuck does that mean?" I asked. "'Long Term," he said. "You can't do what you just did and not be in this for the long haul." This was the day that I Ronald Jones died and L.T was born.

8

I could feel myself changing. Not that I was all that upset about it. What Tucker said a few months ago about me being here long term was right. I knew that after what I did to that lady in China I couldn't go back to a normal life. The Corps said that they were working on a program to erase things from our minds. Like all them fools that failed the project that disappeared. Tip says that they were killed. I asked The Corps and he just shrugged and walked away. I asked Mr. Hecksford and he stammered. Which means that Tip was absolutely... right.

I barely slept anymore. It was like my fucking body rebelled against rest. I usually fell asleep at midnight and woke up ready to fight at 3am. One morning I woke up running on a treadmill. Don't know how I got there. I decided to visit Tip in physical therapy one day. He now had feeling in his legs but for some reason that seemed to upset him even more. He still couldn't walk.

"It's like my legs are teasing me!" he would shout.

As I watched him sweat like a slave the two of us heard someone scream nearby. I ran to the next room and there he was: Hollister. The scream had come from a guard. From the look of terror on his face he had to have been one of the ones to take Hollister down in the ring that day. The guard was crouching in a corner as Hollister slowly walked towards him grinning. Not a playful grin, but a "I got you now motherfucker!" grin.

"Holly!" I shouted. He stopped and looked at me. Like, right in my fucking eyes. And the look was so sad that it broke my heart. He stumbled and grabbed his hair. He now had a long beard and his nails were two inches long. He reached for me and then drew his hand back.

"Uncontrollable!" he cried before vanishing. As he disappeared I heard the sound of screams that Tucker had mentioned the day Hollister was "killed." The guard was still on the floor whimpering. I chuckled at him and began to leave the room when I saw a note. I bent down and picked it up. The bottom of it had been burnt. It was from Hollister.

Later that night I brought the Twins, Tucker, and Tip together to read it. They were all excited that Hollister was still amongst the living... sorta.

"I knew he was a zombie," Tucker said as we all sat around Tip in his wheelchair. I started reading the letter.

"I don't know where I am. I keep coming and going. Woke up in Nebraska today. Never been here before. Need new pencil. This one is horrible. In water. Don't know why. Why is God doing this to me? Back at the project. Grab more paper. The screaming is the worst. They sound like they're being tortured. God, make it stop! Please, Lord! Hawaii is nice. Never thought I'd come here. If only I could die. But then I think of the screams. I want to die. I don't want to die. Saw Raves for a few seconds. What have they done to him? Need a shave and a haircut. I miss my friends. I miss my family. Rome, Italy. Not as beautiful as I thought it would be. Jesus is great. Talked to Him for a few minutes before I woke up in Australia. The Devil is real. Saw Ronald and Tip O'Reilly together. I cried when I saw Tip in a wheelchair. Back home. I saw my brother for a moment before waking up in a cave. Don't know where I am. Starting to not care. Maybe rest of life will be spent this way. Stop the screaming!!! Saw Devil again. He laughed at me. Spoke to Jesus again. He told me that I was special. I told Him that the Devil smiled at me. Jesus frowned. I woke up in the air. Vanished just before I hit the ground. Please stop the screaming!!! God, help me! Please!!! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable! Uncontrollable!Uncon..." I dropped the letter and broke down. I didn't want to. I hadn't cried since I was a kid. The idea of

Holly going through that shit made me want to die. Tucker just sat down on a nearby bed and covered his face. The Twins just rubbed their chins and shook their heads. Tip looked mad.

"This is fucked," Tucker said as he wiped a tear from his cheek with the heel of his hand. "I mean, what can we do to help him? Anything? How do you train for this kind of shit?" None of us had an answer.

"All we can do is look out for him," Tip said. "Crying like little bitches won't help." Then he broke down. His entire body shook as he sobbed. Then the door flew open and The Corps and twenty guards followed him with their weapons drawn.

"I want all of them separated," he commanded. "Watch out for that one," he said while pointing at Tucker.

"What about me?" I asked. "Am I not dangerous enough?"

"Jones," The Corps said. "Those two can run through buildings. That one could knock over trains with his fists. Your friend there has lasers in his eyes. You run fast." The guards began to laugh as The Corps reached for his weapon. I felt the burn.

"That's right," I said. "I do run fast." I was near the door before they could blink. I grabbed one of the guards' guns and fired three shots before I felt a sharp prick in my neck. I dropped the gun and felt the world closing in on me. "What the fuck...?"

The last thing I saw before I passed out was Mrs. Hecksford holding a big ass needle.

9

"Sometimes when you have a pet that is out of control you have to put them down. Now, the pet may be useful, lovable even. But still, for the betterment of your family the pet must be brought down. Now some may find my methods a bit... harsh. But not me. I believe that what I do is for the greater good. The success that we have today, tomorrow, next week or month shall reverberate throughout history. Do you not understand that? You are special. You have been chosen from thousands. Yet you squander it. You think that what you did today would save your friends. It did not. It got two of them killed. Do not bother struggling. I assure you that the thread that holds you is indeed unbreakable. Now allow me to show you something. I can tell by the look in your eyes that you understand what is about to happen. Dr. Hecksford would prefer not to go on with this stage of research but I beg to differ. Not only is it essential to the project but, it is its next stage. Project: Killswitch Engage. This is considered by some, especially me, to be the next stage of evolution in regards to war. Imagine sending two soldiers into battle instead hundreds. Think of it. And you, Jones, will be the first live, human candidate. Now rest. You have a rough week ahead of you." Then The Corps smiled.

What separates us from animals? I'm not talking about monkeys and shit. That's too easy. People look them in the eye and get all warm and fuzzy. No, I'm talking about rats, lizards, and spiders. The things we don't want to think about. We like to associate ourselves with the cute, furry shit. We never wanna fucking think about the part of ourselves that are reptilian an' shit. This project made me kill a woman with my bare hands. I never told Tucker this but one morning I woke up squeezing my fist so damned tight that I dug holes into my own hands. I accept what I was, what I am, and what I'm turning into. I accept it but I don't like it.

The first day was spent with me screaming until I couldn't scream anymore. There is nothing like being wide awake and hearing the sound of your skull being drilled into. The smell is even worse. The feeling of brain fluid running into your eyes. Gritting your teeth so hard that they crack. I wanted to faint but the project wouldn't let me.

"This will be worth it," Mrs. Hecksford said to me as she wiped away blood from my mouth. I spit blood and teeth at her.

"I hope your baby dies!" I shouted. She just smiled and rubbed my cheek. "That's not necessary," Mr. Hecksford said. "She did nothing..." "She stuck a fucking needle in my neck!" I spat. I felt my brain catch fire and then douse itself

immediately. Whatever they were doing in my head was fucking with it. "You were going to..." Mrs. Hecksford began. "Going to what?" I asked. "Fight for my freedom? Get away before you killed anymore of my

friends?" "You have no friends," The Corps said as he pressed his face so close to mine that I could smell

his breakfast. Ask me how many nose hairs he forgot to clip. I could tell you. "You only have people that you exhaust like a natural resource. You suck them dry."

"Fuck you," I said.

"No, Jones," The Corps whispered. He leaned in close, his lips almost touching my ear. "Fuck you." Just as I was about to spit in his face the drill began again.

"I don't know what they're doing to you, brother, but I swear to God that I will make them fucking pay!" Tucker was sitting next to me in a chair pulled close. I tried to speak but couldn't even make my lips move. "Just rest, man. We'll get through this. Just you see."

"L.T," Tip said. "I can walk again. They fixed me up good. But...fuck. They killed The Twins. They fucking dragged them out kicking and screaming like dogs!"

"Not now, O'Reilly!" Tucker shouted. "But you shoulda seen 'em go!" Tip said. "Ya woulda been proud of 'em. Took out almost ahundred of the bastards before they were..." "We're going to fuck this place up, L.T," Tucker said. He leaned over my bed and grabbed my

hand. "You just need to hurry up and get better." "Red Eye," I said. "That's right, man," Tucker said. "You look like shit," I said before I passed out. "I have never seen the human body take so much punishment and still survive," Mr. Hecksford

said to his wife. I was in a tank full of some dark brown liquid. "Look at his vitals! This is amazing!" I tried to move but could not. Hell, I was afraid to. Might fuck around and yank my oxygen tank

out or something. Mrs. Hecksford was really showing now. Any second she was gonna drop a kid out. The Corps entered the room and placed his hand on Mr. Hecksford's shoulder. I saw him wince at the touch. The turned around and began speaking. Mrs. Hecksford strolled over to the tank and placed her hand on it.

"It's a girl," she mouthed to me. I wanted to give her the finger so bad but couldn't.

"Honey, please..." Mr. Hecksford said to his wife. She smiled and turned away from me. The liquid started to get really hot and I blacked out to the sounds of beeping and alarms blaring. Over The Corps walkie-talkie I heard sweet music.

"There has been an escape! Dozens dead! (static) Beams everywh-- (static) Smashing everythin-- (static) O'Reilly! (static) Request backup! I repeat! Request backu-- (static)!"

10

"Project: Killswitch Engage is one of the most groundbreaking experiment created," Mr. Hecksford said from the front of the room. Tucker and I sat together with The Corps to my right and Mrs. Hecksford to his. Tucker had more gauze around his eye that he kept picking at. Me, I was sore as fuck. "With this project governments will no longer need to worry about problems such as drafts or low enrollments in the military. One soldier will be able to do the work of hundreds." I raised my hand. "Yes, Mr. Jones."

"How does this work?" I asked. "Well," Mr. Hecksford continued. "With a series of secret code words the program is activated." "What's the codeword?" Tucker asked. "Well, seeing as how the two of you have the Killswitch programmed inside of you it would not

be wise to give it to you at this time," Mrs. Hecksford said. "That's cool," Tucker said. "So what's the codeword?" I asked. "Jones," The Corps said. "Silence."

"Well, what's the point of giving us this Bionic Man shit if we won't know how to use it?" I asked. "Do you think we gon' use it on y'all?"

"You can trust us," Tucker said with the most untrustworthy smile ever. "We've forgiving you for killing our friends and totally ruining our lives."

"Such a blasé attitude," The Corps said. "We have been through this. Your escape and the damage done by O'Reilly set the project back nine months. We cannot risk the two of you attempting to cause even more losses to the project."

"We won't try and leave," I said. "I promise." "We have thought of that," The Corps said. "We?" Mr. Hecksford asked. "Here," The Corps said as he handed Tucker and I some photos. Tucker dropped his. I didn't. I

looked at each one for half a minute before moving on. "They've all died. Natural causes. Mostly." "Did you dig up their fucking graves?!" Tucker asked as he kicked the photos away. Every shot

was of someone we knew...dead. My mother was in two pictures. One of her head, the other of her body.

"Train accident," The Corps said.

"And this one?" I asked. It was of Ronda Smithes, my fiancé/wife. She was covered in blood with her clothes torn.

"Train accident," Tucker said. He was oozing sarcasm. And when Tucker was being sarcastic he was just one floor from snapping. And on the next floor "Irrational Rage."

"What's this shit supposed to do?" I asked.

"I think it's supposed to say 'There is no point in you leaving because we have killed everyone you know so there's nothing left out there for you'" Tucker said. "Subtle, don't you think?"

"Fuck it," I said. "I ain't leaving anyway." "We've been here for how long?" Tucker asked. "Uh, thirty eight months, I believe," Mr. Hecksford said. "Have we ever asked y'all for anything?" I asked. "This is fucking crazy," Tucker said. "You shoot lasers from your eye," I said. "Good point," Tucker said. Later that night Tucker and I sat alone in a cafeteria that could seat hundreds all by ourselves.

Tucker barely touched his food and shook his head whenever he looked at me. I had no problem waiting. I had a plan."So what the fuck was with that show?" Tucker asked. "I think I have finally realized that I don't give a fuck," I replied. "Meaning?" he asked. "We're all we got, right?" I asked. "Yeah," Tucker replied questionably. "I say we use this fucking project to our advantage," I said. "Let's fuck with them as much as

they have fucked with us." "How about more?" Tucker asked. "I have a perfect plan," I said as I leaned in close to him. "They think they know L.T, they don't

know shit. I have plans for the Hecksford's kid." "Their sons?" Tucker asked. "We haven't been away from chicks for that long, man." "No, the girl," I said. "They say her name is Kendra. In about 18 years I am gonna be all over her

like white on rice." "That's fucked up," Tucker said. "And perfect." "I knew you'd like it." I said as I swiped a fry from his plate.

11

New recruits arrive today. For the past nine months there has been just me and Tucker. Now don't get me wrong. I love my boy like a brother. But being around only him for so long without any chicks around can drive a brother crazy.

These fresh fish came from China, Canada, and England. There were approximately 15 of them. The only chick was from England and she was a giant! She stood around 6'4," and looked like someone dressed a bull in drag. But we had been cooped up here so long that she looked more like Emma Peel. As soon as she arrived I made plans to get at her. I walked on over to her and then my brain caught fire. Tucker was trying to trip me and embarrass me in front of her! But since I'm a brother I just turned it into a smooth ass stroll. I heard him sigh behind me as I welcomed her to the project.

"Hey, baby," I said using my smoothest voice. "The name's L.T."

"What's 'L.T' stand for?" she asked with a sexy ass English accent. I've had White chicks before but none this damned...big.

"Loose Testicles," Tucker said behind me. "My name is Raves. Tucker Raves." "We call him Red Eye," I said. "Why Red Eye?" she asked. "You don't wanna know," I replied. "So what's your name, honey?"

"Emily Roughtiron," she said. "Pleased to make your acquaintance." She shook each of our hands. She had a grip like steel.

"'Roughtiron?" I asked. "Like a fence?"

"Something like that," she said as she tensed up suddenly. I looked behind me and The Corps was making his way near. Emily was about to salute him when I slapped her hand back down. She looked at me confused.

"That shit don't fly here," I told her. "I see you have met our two best students," The Corps said to Emily as they shook hands. "We're your only students," Tucker said which made Emily smile. Jesus, she had horrible teeth. "Allow Mrs. Hecksford to show you in, Miss Roughtiron," The Corps said as Mrs. Hecksford

appeared out of thin air. Not actually. I just didn't hear her arrive. She had her child and it was not a girl as she suspected but a boy. Damn it. Appears my plan would have to wait. I know she'll have another kid. I don't get how that fool, her husband, could keep her satisfied. I have seen the way she looks at me. I also see the way her husband looks at me.

"Pleased to meet you," Mrs. Hecksford said as she and Emily walked away. "So what do you think?" The Corps asked.

"She's a fucking mammoth," I said. "I give her one week," Tucker said. "What?" I asked. "Aren't you White folks supposed to stick together?" "Not anymore," Tucker replied. "We had a meeting. There was fighting. Words were crossed.

Now it's every man for himself." "Sorry to hear that," I said. The Corps just looked at each of us as if we were silly kids. Fuck

him. Can't help it if he ain't got no sense of humor. Emily Roughiron was killed during a physical three days later. Now, she wasn't killed doing

anything crazy. The way the project is set up there is almost no way for women to survive the weird shit they pump into you. I can't explain it. But there is something about the genetics and shit that women have that totally fucks with them. I am sure that if The Corps could he would have turned Mrs. Hecksford into a killing machine. Now, I say Emily was "killed" as opposed to "died" during a physical because going into it The Corps knew the amount of risks she was taking. She didn't. Mr. Hecksford didn't exactly give her any warning."You may feel some, uh, slight discomfort."

Ain't that a bitch? That's like saying to somebody right before you drop a hot ass iron on their back "You may feel a slight tingle." Can you tell that I don't like him? I knew that he was a closeted alcoholic. With these crazy ass new senses my ability to smell had almost tripled. Yeah, that may not sound like much but nothing smells better than bacon time three! There were fourteen other recruits for Mr. Hecksford to play with and they all survived their physicals. Some better than others.

The next week 13 of the 14 surviving recruits died. At this rate it would be just me and Tucker again by next Saturday. The Corps was growing anxious. The other military academies that we had done "favors" for were slow on the get-back. They wanted to see some results before they sent their best fighters to some Mickey Mouse ass project that produced more deaths that success.

If they only knew what was about to happen. Kilo Sierra Echo.

You never appreciate terms and quotes until you actually see examples of them. Tucker and I, well, we were now living, breathing examples of such sayings like "The thing that should not be,", "abomination,", "freaks of nature,", and "walking death." The Corps, unsatisfied with Australia's slowness in sending recruits sent us there to show them what they had missed out on. I had no problem fucking that country up. Did you know that they used to use it as a prison? Seriously. And don't get me started on the freaky ass animals they have there. A kangaroo ain't nothing but a giant fucking rat that can fight back.

The plan, if you can call it that was simple: Fuck up as much as possible as fast as possible. The Corps let us know that we would be under heavy fire. He also let us know that this mission was paid for with "black money" given by both the US government and Asia. I took offense to the term "black money." I guess the only thing you could get with "white money" was candy, bunnies, and motherly hugs. "Black money" can get folks killed.

"Before I give you two the secret code words I want you to realize the danger that you are in," Mr. Hecksford shouted above the blades of the helicopter. "Once you say the code words you may or may not remember lose control of motor functions."

"Meaning?" I asked. "We may shit ourselves," Tucker answered. "Not exactly," Mr. Hecksford said. "But you may not be the same person you are now. I can't

explain it." He rubbed his temples and licked his lips. This guy was dying for a drink. "Stop with all this suspenseful shit," I said. "Tell us the code word." "Uh, Kilo, Sierra and Echo," Mr. Hecksford said. "That's it?" Tucker asked. "Kilo Sierra..."

"No!" Mr. Hecksford shouted. "Not here! Not now! Jesus, do you have any idea what you almost did?!"

"What?" I asked. "All he did was say 'Kilo Sierra...'" "Sweet Lord," Mr. Hecksford moaned. "What was Watson thinking using the two of you?" "I don't know, Sherlock, but we're ready to do the damned thing." I was getting tired of looking

at this mealy mouthed fool and wanted to break some shit. Mr. Hecksford handed us a yellow pill. Tucker was about to pop it into his mouth when Mr. Hecksford shook his head furiously.

"Those are for killing yourself!" he shouted. "If you are in trouble and would rather die than be captured use those. If You're, uh, mentally capable of it." Tucker and I looked at one another and pitched the pills from the helicopter. Mr. Hecksford's mouth dropped. I strapped on my parachute and stretched my arms. Tucker tapped me on the shoulder and smiled. We both dropped our parachutes to the floor and leaped out of the helicopter. "Insane!" Mr. Hecksford screamed as we rocketed down towards the earth.

Tucker looked over at me, his hair flapping on his head as he posed like Superman. I tried to laugh and air shot into my mouth making me cough. I was headed down feet first. It was bright and hot in the middle of the day. An army base surrounded by jeeps and a few planes grow larger below

us. Tucker saluted me and I him. Then he let loose a beam, striking a row of jeeps. They exploded and we could hear alarms blaring even at this height. Damn, I wish I had some kinda weapon! Armed with only colorful language I was gonna have to do a lot of bad shit in a short amount of time to scare these backwoods motherfuckers. Tucker continued hitting more and more jeeps and we could see soldiers pouring out of their barracks. This should be interesting.

Tucker reached for my hand and I took it. He began spinning, making me half dizzy. We started spiraling and then he released me. I shot at a 45 degree angle towards a tower. Cool. As I aimed at a large window I adjusted myself to enter feet first. So of course my body kept moving so that I was now aimed at it back first. What the fuck, man? Then it dawned on me that this may be some special government issued glass, thicker than normal. Then I remembered that I was in the planet's equivalent to Watt's and felt safer. I crashed through the glass as if it were made of paper and hit a control board. Two generals and six grunts looked stunned as I rose from the ground. One of the grunts wet himself.

"Has anyone seen my dog?" I asked. They just stared at me. Outside I could hear gunfire and explosions. Tucker had landed safely and was making his presence felt. I saw the semi-automatic weapons they all carried and moved fast. I practically slid across the floor and shouldered one of the soldiers. He flew hard against a door, stopping more of them from entering.

"Who are you?" one of the generals asked. He looked like Col. Sanders, which made me feel bad about killing him soon.

"My name?" I asked. "My name is Black Belt Jones!" I snatched his rifle and began firing wildly. Their bodies jerked like puppets on a string. They were all too shocked by a big Black dude landing from the sky to even react. This was too easy. Then a wall exploded. Shielding my eyes from the concrete and glass that flew at me, I could make out the shape of a man. He stepped through looking like Crocodile Dundee on PCP.

"G'day," he said. "Name's Nigel. Sorry about this." Then he punched at the air. Just before I was about to laugh at this fool I was thrown from the window and headed outside towards the blazing battle outside. What the fuck was going on?

This motherfucker "Thunderpunched" me! I went tumbling out the window feeling like the biggest jackass this side of the Atlantic. As I flipped upside down I saw nothing but fire and heard screaming coming from every direction. I had to start pulling my weight. Tucker was out here taking on an army while I was having trouble with this koala on steroids.

As I landed hard on my back I saw this Nigel bastard flying out of the shattered glass. I rolled to my stomach and launched myself up to greet him. We collided like two fucking buildings crumbling over each other. I wrapped my arm around Nigel's neck and he rabbit punched me in the ribs. As he beat a rhythm out on me I squeezed as hard as I could. He just smiled. We crumpled to the ground and released each other.

"Nice moves," Nigel said. "Reports weren't lying about you, mate." "Reports?" I asked. "What fucking reports?" I had to shout above the explosions behind us. "Maybe later," Nigel said. "Right now I'm itching to get in a scrap, right?" He slapped his hands

together and smiled at me. All of his front teeth were missing and he stuck his tongue between the gaps.

"You are ugly as fuck," I said. "Anyone ever tell you that?"

"Ay," he said. "Me mother." He kicked at the air and I jumped to the side. A few feet behind me a burning jeep flipped over. "Fast one, you!"

"How the fuck you get 'suped up?" I asked. As far as I knew there weren't any other projects going on around the world. Maybe The Corps didn't know as much as he thought or maybe he didn't tell as much as he knew. Either way, I now had to deal with this drizzling shit of a mess. Nigel, instead of answering, threw a dozen punches in the air. I could hear them pounding the wreckage around me. One finally caught me in the shoulder. I spun around and smacked the ground. Nigel

began to run as a beam hit where he just stood. Tucker came running up to me. "Where the hell he come fro––," Tucker began as he was sent flying back. "Welcome!" Nigel shouted from behind an undamaged car. I ran towards him and shoved the car.

It grinded against the cement, making the tires explode. I pushed against the car until it started flipping over. With an extra little blast from Tucker it slammed the car against the wall. Nigel threw a punch and Tucker blasted it out of the air. Nigel screamed.

"Hey, Red!" I shouted. "This shit works both ways!" It seems that hitting the invisible punch hurt Nigel. Tucker started wielding the car to the wall as Nigel fought to free himself. I heard a commotion behind us and left Tucker to Nigel. I ran towards some advancing soldiers and amplified the project up. My brain sizzled as I smashed into the group. They tried to hold me back but that shit wasn't gonna work. I kept on pushing until they started screaming. I didn't know why until the ones towards the back caught fire. Seems I shoved them right into the burning shit Tucker had started.

"Jones," I heard someone whisper in my ear. I spun around and there was Hollister. I damned near screamed. He had a beard down to his chest. He grabbed me by the hand. The next moment we were next to Tucker who was admiring his handiwork with Nigel, who still was alive but trapped between the car and wall. Hollister tapped Tucker on the back and we all disappeared.

One moment we were on a beach. The next we were in the air above what appeared to be New York. Then there was screaming. I wanted to close my eyes but couldn't. Hell. This was Hell. Tucker started blasting at what looked like beasts and creatures. They almost laughed as he hit them. The next moment we were back at the project in The Corps office. Hollister disappeared leaving me and Tucker standing there looking like idiots.

"What...?" The Corps asked. Behind us Mrs. Hecksford stood nude with a blank expression on her face.

12

"Out of here NOW!!" The Corps shouted at the top of his punk ass lungs. We had caught him with his hand in the cookie jar and he didn't know what to do except shout. I began laughing. Not a "Man, you are so busted!" kinda way but a "You are so fucked!" kinda way. Mrs. Hecksford had no reaction to us being there. Maybe she was too shocked. I hadn't noticed until now but she had lost all of the weight she gained while she was pregnant. "Out!!!" Tucker and I stayed put. We had questions and this son of a bitch was gonna answer them.

"Who the fuck is Nigel?" I asked. The Corps face conveyed a look of both anger and confusion.

"I have no earthly idea who Nigel is and I do not care!" The Corps shouted. "Just go!" Mrs. Hecksford just stood still. No emotion on her face.

"Oh, hell no!" I shouted. "I just got my ass kicked by a nigga that had no business existing let alone beating my ass! You got some serious explaining to do!"

"I owe you nothing but an early termination," The Corps barked.

"I think he's scared," Tucker said behind me. I looked over and he had walked over to Mrs. Hecksford. He looked at the Corps and smiled as he ran his hand over her breast. She did not move. Hell, she didn't even blink.

"What the fuck's going on here?" I asked followed by "Flashlight," as Tucker jumped out of the way. I flew across the room before the Corps could react and put my fist through Mrs. Hecksford. The Corps gasped, but then so did I. She didn't even mutter a word. I had a feeling something was up. I pulled my fist from her and it dripped a bright orange liquid onto the carpet. "The fuck...?" The Corps looked like a cat caught with the family parrot in his mouth. "Talk," I said.

"Rubber Maid," he whispered. "She don't look like any Rubber Maid I've ever seen," I said. "Who was that who brought you here?" The Corps asked. "Our answers first," Tucker said as I watched the fake Mrs. Hecksford shimmy and then fall face

first to the carpet. I looked at the hole that exited her back and could see what looked like human organs and shit, but just brighter.

"Rubber Maids were a part of the project before there was a project," The Corps began.

"Should I sit down?" I asked. "This seems like it'll be a long story." The Corps ignored me and continued.

"Long before the idea of one instead of hundreds of troops being used. Long before the idea of sending drones and robots to prowl the land instead of sending man we conceived of cloning. By taking one volunteer and multiplying them billions of dollars, if not trillions, could be saved. But there was one problem. Men cannot be cloned. For whatever reason something in a man's physiological structure rejects the means of cloning."

"Kinda like the same way a woman's bodies reject the project," Tucker said. The Corps nodded. "When you play God you become the Devil." As Tucker said that I had a brief glimpse of those demons or whatever we saw with Hollister. My asshole clamped shut tighter than a virgin on her wedding night.

"Mrs. Hecksford was the first candidate for the Rubber Maid project that was successful," The Corps continued. Every few moments he eyed the "dead" Mrs. Hecksford on the floor. Who knows what he was planning to do with that thing? Or what he already did. "Nine of them were created. This one," he said while motioning to the body, "was almost perfect. With a few more tests it would have been 100% functional." He let out a heavy sigh.

"So why was she naked?" Tucker asked. "How did you appear out of thin air?" The Corps asked. "No, you first," I said. "Tit for tat, gentlemen," The Corps replied. "I think you've had enough tit for one night," Tucker said. We high-fived each other withoutlooking at one another. "I was...testing her," The Corps muttered. Tucker stifled a laugh. "Silence, you fool. I am

dedicated to this project more than you could ever hope to be." "Ooh, someone's testy," I said. "Appears we ruined his date." "Now," The Corps said ignoring me. "Who brought you back?" "We have more questions," Tucker said.

"And some news for you," I added. "It appears our Aussie friends have a little project of their own," Tucker said. "Impossible," The Corps spat. "No one is..." "This bastard could hit us from a distance," I said. "So could a bullet," The Corps said as he stared me right in the eyes. "I don't think you understand," Tucker said. "He threw a punch from over ten feet away and it

connected." The Corps was about to speak but Tucker cut him off. "Say 'impossible' again and I swear to a God that I now know exists that I will fry you where you sit." The Corps sat silently.

"If backwater ass countries like Australia could make something like that imagine what places like Europe, Asia, and Russia are doing," I said aloud. "It appears that in this arms race the octopus are multiplying." The Corps tried to speak but couldn't. "And before you ask, the guy that brought us back was an old friend. He's kinda unpredictable."

"Yeah," Tucker said. "You could even say he's 'uncontrollable.'"

We left The Corps alone with his thoughts, his fears, and his blow up doll. We had better things to do.

13

Tucker woke me up jumping on my bed like some hyper ass kid on Christmas. He held a newspaper in his hand and shook it in my face so fast that I couldn't read the headline. I snatched it from him and knew why he was so excited. The front of the paper said "Desert Storm," and featured troops lining up for recruitment in the Army.

"Bro, we can get at least twenty new recruits in here within weeks!" Tucker shouted.

"I have an even better idea," I said. Tucker looked at me questioningly. "I bet you two million bucks that the two of us could end that war."

pits.

"Bullshit," Tucker scoffed. "No way." "Guess you don't have the confidence that I do," I said as I tucked my thumbs under my arms

"You don't have two million," Tucker said.

"Yeah, I do," I replied. "Actually more than that. You do, too." Tucker's mouth dropped so fast it made a sound.

"How much we got? Together." Tucker looked way too excited. "Around sixty two million," I said. It was hard to keep myself from smiling. "How?" Tucker asked. "This," I said while sweeping my hand across the room. "It may not seem like it but we do get

paid for this shit." "Damn," was all Tucker could say. "So how about the bet?" I asked. "Sure," Tucker said. "How fast do you think we could do it?" "Three weeks tops," I said. Tucker laughed and I swatted at him with the newspaper. "Bad boy!

Off the bed! No! No!" Tucker jumped off and ran out of the room yelping. Two weeks later and we were done. No new recruits. No medals or awards. Just a lot of new

interest from other countries in the project. And knowledge that "Kilo Sierra Echo," works. You should have seen us! Tucker and I were surrounded by almost one thousand Iraqi soldiers. Tucker took a shot in the leg and went down. I almost started looking around for Hollister like he was some kinda guardian angel. Yeah, one that looked like the Unabomber but a guardian angel nonetheless. Then Tucker looked at me and nodded. At that point I knew it was on and crackin'.

"Kilo Sierra Echo!"

Have you ever burned yourself? I don't mean like touching an iron for a second. I mean like having a father that was a little more authoritative than he needed to be. The only way he saw fit to punish you was by using a hot wire of his cigar. Or grabbing a hot pot and being to paralyzed with pain to let it go. Imagine that but all over your body. That's what this K.S.E shit did. Both of us dropped to our knees and held our heads. I looked at him and he looked away. I thought it was because he was scared. It was actually because he didn't wanna burn me. A beam unlike any I had ever fucking seen came from him. It cut through the guys surrounding us on the left. I saw red and got all kinds of happy thinking I was about to shoot a laser. But that wasn't it. I was headed towards hundreds of troops with no weapon. I don't care what Mr. Hecksford says, I remember every moment of this shit. The look on their faces as they watched their brothers frying under the ever searing eye of Tucker "Red Eye," Raves. I pitched them in the air so high that they would die from shock before they even hit the ground. I was like a Black tornado. This was taking too long. I sped towards Tucker and grabbed him by the collar. He was actually laughing.

I dragged him in the air. I was moving that fast. The troops were running but we tracked them down and killed all of them. Killed them all. Why? Money? Pleasure? As the K.S.E began to fade on the helicopter ride back to the project this was the shit I thought about. And the extra two millions I would get from Tucker.As we landed Tucker was taken to the emergency care center even though on the way back his wound had healed. Probably just running more tests on him to see how the K.S.E affected his body. Either way it was gravy. As I got off the 'copter The Corps and the Hecksford's were there to greet me. I could barely keep from grinning at Mrs. Hecksford seeing as how I knew what she looked like naked. I tried my best to control the raging hard on growing in my pants. The Corps looked happy, which I took as I bad sign.

"Congratulations, L.T," he said as he shook my hand. Mr. Hecksford nodded and reached out to hold my hands. "You've just earned the project five and a half trillion dollars."

"How much do I get?" I asked. The Corps just laughed. "No, seriously."

Alarms began blaring and Tucker ran out of the building wearing a hospital gown. We could only look on in astonishment as he bolted, his bare white ass showing as his gown flapped in the breeze. We all just looked at one another. Tucker came running back to us.

"Uh, yeah," he stammered. "Run." Explosions ripped through the project site.

14

It took three years to finally get the project up and running again. I never got the full story of what happened. The only witness left alive was Tucker and he wasn't talking. Whenever I pressed the issue he would get upset or scared depending on the mood he was in. Whatever. At least I was alive.

Almost all of the guards and scientists had been killed in the explosion. The Corps refused to say how much it cost to start from scratch. "A lot," was all he said. The new base was cooler than the first so I didn't care anymore. My room looked more like some shit from Caesar's Palace than a hospital now. The Corps and the Hecksford's still did not live on base like Tucker and I so that left of plenty of free time to make plans.

"You sure this place isn't bugged?" Tucker asked.

"If it were our brains would be sizzlin'" I replied. "How long have we been here? About ten years, right?" Tucker nodded. "And how much sex have we had?"

"With each other?" Tucker asked. "Sure," I said. "Not that much," he replied. "You don't even look me in the eye when we make love." "Afraid of you burning me," I said. "You set my heart on fire years ago," he said. "You a freak," I said. "Well, on every mission we got some," Tucker said while smiling. "Hell, even in Iraq. Why?" "I'm just thinkin' about what we are missing out on," I said. "There can't be too much more we

can learn here." "It's not like they're going to give us a going away party and a gold watch," Tucker said. "If we

try and leave they will kill us. I have no doubt about that." "Neither do I," I said. "I mean, we both know that we'll be here for either a long ass time or

forever. I think it's time to use this project to our own advantage." "How?" Tucker asked. "Kill the Hecksford's and The Corps?" "Better," I said. "We let them get comfortable with us. More so than they already are. But silently

get our own thing. When they bring new recruits we pick out the ones that are better than the best and recruit them for our team. You feel me?"

"I try but you're too fast," Tucker said solemnly. "Fucking pervert," I replied. "Did you hear about the Hecksford's kids?" "No, what?" Tucker asked. "The Corps been keeping tabs on them," I said. "Like, he wants them to be a part of this shit one

day. Isn't that crazy?" "Makes perfect sense to me," Tucker said. "I bet he tries to do with her daughter what you

planned." "I doubt it," I said while smiling. "She's already two years old. By the time she 18 I'll be an old

man. And I bet she acts more like mama than papa. She'll be sneaky and shit but delicate." "You really want to bang Mrs. Hecksford don't you?" Tucker asked. "Not as much anymore," I said. "I put my arm through her years ago. My dick would be like

throwing a hotdog down a hallway." "And that's different how...?" Tucker asked before jumping from his chair and running away. Years went by. Fast. Tucker and I rarely mentioned our plans for takeover. Recruits came and

went. Very few survived and even less made it past a year. Mr. Hecksford looked like he aged thirty years. His hair was graying and falling out. Mrs. Hecksford stayed beautiful. The Corps looked like he hadn't aged a day since I first met him, which led me to think that he had lied about the whole Rubber Maid's not being able to be dudes. But I was just overreacting. God wouldn't make two of him. That'd be blasphemous. One day I heard an argument a few doors down from my room. Nodoubt Tucker could hear it as well.

"Absolutely."

"We'll see what my wife has to say about that!"

"She has already agreed."

"I doubt it."

"Ask her."

(silence)

"Shall I call her for you?"

(silence)

"I'm aware that you have been training her."

"Not for this."

"Yes, for this."

"But females can't survive this! You know that! How many more need to die for you to

understand that? Are you that stubborn?"

"Possibly."

"I won't allow it."

"You cannot stop it."

"Yes, I can."

"Amuse me."

"What?"

"Amuse me. Tell me how you plan to stop me."

(silence)

"Then it's settled. After her graduation from school and then an academy that she has already

been recruited for she will report here."

(silence)

"Go have a drink, Lemont. You are already shaking."

(silence)

"Your daughter is special. We both know that. But only I appreciate it. Well, your wife and I."

"But..."

15

Seems that my plan was going to work after all. All I had to do was wait until their daughter got out of high school and graduated. I have talked to Mrs. Hecksford about their daughter, Kendra. I even saw a picture of her. She's cute. You know she'll be a sweet little woman someday. I can't imagine her killing a man though. Even though she is apparently athletic and is a skilled fighter she has her mother's eyes. A little bit on the baby fat side but I'm sure all the exercise she'll go through will get rid of that. Kendra Hecksford. You'll be my savior. With you I'll tear this shit down and leave nothing for it to be rebuilt with.

I woke up one day and Tucker was gone. He left me a note in his chicken scratch ass writing. I had to wipe my eyes every few seconds. I was losing my brother. Actually, two of them.

"Now before you put my face on a milk carton know that I am OK. Early this morning Hollister showed up. I woke up with Grizzly Adams standing over me looking like shit on a stick. He asked where you were and smiled when I told him that you were sleeping. I told him it wasn't a cute as it sounded because you snored like a bear with asthma and three lungs. He disappeared a few times while we were together but came back quickly. I told him about our plans and he nodded. Then he said that you didn't need me to finish it. That Jesus said that my part was done and that I had my own life to live. I didn't want to go, you know that. We've been brothers for years. Decades. Living without you is going to be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. But we can survive it. Hell, if we can survive K.S.E we can survive anything! Hollister got a place set up for me. I can't tell you where he is staying. He'll let you know when the time is right. I'll find a way to keep in contact with you. Maybe have Holly drop me off once in a while. This is hard, bro. I don't want to go but I have to. Just do what you do, man. I know you can bring this shit down. Just stick to the plan. Holly says that You're the pin and Kendra is the grenade. Just pull that shit and run. I love you, Ron. Not like that, though. You got nice legs and all but still. I'll see you when I see you. Until we have our Veteran's Day."

Red Eye.

About the Author:

Dante D. Ross was born in Los Angeles, CA. After being spat out onto Earth he decided to spend most of his free time reading, podcasting, blogging, drawing, and avoiding the pitfalls of boredom. He hopes to one day grow up to become Batman.

And he writes. He writes a lot. E-mail:

DanteDRoss@gmail.com

Blog:

www.dantania.blogspot.com
