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Respawn
Chapter 8 Freedom

Chapter 8 Freedom

A gunshot shattered the silence. It was Sonny who fired his gun and shot Johnny in the head, killing him.

“Why did you do that!?” Issac asked.

Sonny steadied himself, inhaling deeply before speaking. "Look, I’m not proud of my past. Can we please just focus on this mission?" They exited the room and began ascending a narrow pathway. As they reached the top, the distant sound of footsteps grew louder, signaling someone approaching.

"Oh, great. Who could this be?" Sonny muttered, his hand instinctively reaching for his weapon. The two agents swiftly trained their guns on the source of the noise, which turned out to be a young man sprinting towards them.

Coming to a sudden stop, the young man gasped out, "Wait! I'm not one of them!"

“What’s your name, kid?" Isaac barked, his eyes unwavering.

"Charlie!" the young man replied, his voice filled with urgency.

Isaac turned to Sonny, uncertainty clouding his expression. "What do we do, Sonny?"

Sonny paused for a moment before responding, "Leave him. He's not our mission."

"Sonny, he’s just a kid," Isaac pleaded, his tone tinged with concern.

An edge crept into Sonny’s voice. "Then what's your suggestion, Greyson? Should we bring him along with us?"

"Yes," Isaac replied firmly.

"Fine. But he’s your responsibility. Fall behind, and you're on your own," Sonny cautioned before putting his gun back in his holster.

Isaac refocused his attention on Charlie. "Come with us if you want to get out of here."

"How can I trust you?" Charlie asked, his eyes filled with doubt.

Isaac flashed his badge. "We’re detectives. My name is Isaac Greyson. This is my partner, Sonny Connors."

Charlie hesitated for a moment before nodding and falling into step behind Sonny and Isaac. The three began searching for an exit, and as they searched, a bright light came from the right. Aiming their guns at the light, a door opened and outstepped a familiar face.

It was Halrick who was still alive but was losing blood.

“Doctor Halrick? You're okay.” Charlie said he was happy to see Halrick in one piece.

Sonny interrupted the joyful reunion and kept his gun pointed at Halrick, “Doctor Axel Halrick! On the order of the IAC, you are wanted for questioning; that was my original order, but now I've been tasked to kill you!”

“You’re IAC? But you said you were detectives.” Charlie asked curiously why Sonny and Isaac lied to him.

“It’s a long story, kid. Now do you have any last words, Halrick?" Sonny explained.

“No.”

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Before Sonny could take the shot, the sound of creepy, loud laughter followed by the sound of a chainsaw being revved got everyone’s attention.

“He’s still alive?” Halrick said he was shocked that the psycho was still alive.

The psycho was visible in the area where his right eye once was now gushing out blood. He waved around the chainsaw and started laughing again. Seeing this guy as a threat, Sonny and Isaac pointed their guns away from Halrick and started firing at the chainsaw psycho. As they unloaded, the psycho continued to walk towards them.

The agents reloaded their guns and fired again only to get the same result. Sonny quickly reloaded again while Isaac was still firing the remaining bullets in his clip. With the gun reloaded, Sonny fired all six shots at the psycho’s head, finally killing him.

With the psycho dead, a familiar voice was heard in the distance: “Well done.”

The voice matched Halrick, but this could be possible as Halrick was still standing by Sonny and Isaac. The sounds of footsteps hitting the metallic floor revealed that the man who spoke was indeed Halrick but a clone of himself.

Sonny was shocked. “What the heck?" How are there two of you?" Sonny looked at Halrick. “You got a twin?”

Halrick was just as shocked as Sonny. “No! I never had a twin. Who exactly are you?”

Halrick’s clone explained, “I am you, and you are me. We are one of the same. Perfect clones of the original Halrick.”

“What do you mean Original Halrick?” Sonny asked.

Halrick’s clone gave a sinister smile. “The original Halrick died four years ago; heart failure was the cause. His death was a major blow for the IAC, as they needed someone with the brains and the ideas to handle the respawn machine. So, when Halrick died, they tried a normal respawn, but it didn't work; he lost all of his intelligence. They looked at Halrick’s notes, and in his notes was a method that could allow someone to remember everything that happened, including their respawn. The first few attempts had terrible results. Abnormal arms, different genders, wrong face, too tall, and even a different species at one point.”

“And then you happened?” Sonny said.

Halrick’s clone again smiled, “Correct. I was the perfect doctor. Just like you, Sonny Connors.”

“What the heck are you talking about? I’ve not been respawned.”

“Oh, but you have. You see, you were the perfect agent; you never questioned orders; you just did the job, and that’s that. But of course, you went and got killed by a Columbian, and so the IAC were left without their perfect agent, but we were given a stroke of luck. Your body wasn’t touched. So we took you back and respawned you. We made you better. More compliant to orders.”

Sonny was shocked; he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He raised his gun at the perfect Halrick and asked what would happen if he pulled the trigger.

“I would be respawned, speaking of pulling the trigger.” The perfect Halrick proceeded to pull out a small handgun and fired the gun twice at Halrick. The first shot hit his lower chest, and the second hit the right side of his neck.

Halrick fell to the floor and began bleeding out. Charlie quickly tried everything he could to stop the bleeding, but it wasn't working. Halrick died in Charlie's hands.

Following the death of Halrick, Halrick’s clone ordered Sonny to take care of both Isaac and Charlie, as they had seen too much. Sonny disobeyed his order and shot the perfect Halrick in the shoulder. The perfect Halrick brushed off the gunshot and started firing all remaining bullets into Sonny, causing him to fall on the floor, bleeding out.

Isaac fired his gun at Halrick’s clone, but the bullets didn’t affect him. Halrick’s clone took his time reloading his gun, but little did he know Sonny used all of the strength he had left in his body and shot one last bullet, hitting the perfect Halrick in the head, which killed him.

Checking on Sonny’s condition, it wasn't looking good. He was losing blood quickly.

“Come on, Sonny, we’ll get you out of here,” Isaac said, trying to reassure Sonny that things would be okay.

“No...get yourself...and the kid out of here.” Those would be the last words that Sonny could say before he bled out next to Isaac and Charlie.

As Charlie and Isaac leave the slaughterhouse, Isaac tells Charlie the bad news about his sister.

"Look, kid, about your sister... she... we...”

Charlie cut Isaac off, “I know. She sacrificed her life for mine. I'm just glad they gave her a quick death.”

The two got in Sonny’s black car and left the slaughterhouse. What they planned to do next is unknown.

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