Chapter 2 - Lucky
It was very dark inside the capsule until a monitor turned on in front of David. A video began to play that provided instructions on how to secure oneself inside the capsule. A harness of sorts descended from top of the capsule, extending in front of David. It then began to regress back towards him, securing him snugly into the seat of the capsule. There was a clicking noise indicating the harness had locked securely in place, and the monitor changed to an overhead map showing the transit route.
David swore he could hear what sounded like bubbling water followed by a faint hissing sound. Suddenly it felt as if gravity was pushing David back into his seat. The feeling was so heavy it literally felt as though it was somehow pushing through him. After a few seconds, the force released and David felt almost weightless, though still secured by the harness.
The extreme speeds of the capsule could cause intense discomfort and unpleasant nausea, so the transit system used centrifugal force to simulate motionless for the passengers in the capsule.
Sure enough, the blinking red circle indicating David’s capsule location slid across the designated transit route on the monitor. In less than a minute, David felt the force of gravity pushing into him again. Once again, lasting only for a few seconds, before it came to a stop.
“Welcome to Glenmont” a voice echoed through the monitor. “The local time is 3:55 PM. Thank you for traveling via capsule.”
The monitor flickered off as the harness extended outwards from David and then up into the top of the capsule. A door opened to his left, and David peered out at another elevator. Even though he couldn’t tell he had just been soaring underneath the landscape of eastern New York at 3,000 miles per hour, his body could. He was a bit dizzy and noticed as he stepped out of the capsule that he was stumbling to the left, for some reason. He stumbled into the elevator, the door closing behind him. As it closed, David noticed a black dot in the center of the wall in the elevator. A narration spoke in the elevator, “If you are finding yourself dizzy or nauseous, simply stare at the black dot located on the wall as the elevator takes you to the capsule station above.”
David slouched against the wall of the elevator and peered at the dot on the other side. His eyes seemed to adjust as he stared at this simple dot on the wall until the elevator came to a stop and the door opened. He stepped out of the elevator door and noticed that sure enough, the dizziness was completely gone. He pulled out his cell phone and checked the time: 3:56 PM.
He dashed through the capsule station as fast as he could, doing his best to dodge around others as they hurried throughout the capsule station themselves. He quickly ran outside of the station and was greeted by a large sign that read ‘Hydra Clinic - 2 Blocks This Way’, with an arrow pointing to the east. He continued to sprint down the street in the direction the sign was pointing.
David approached the steps that led up to the Hydra clinic and for the first time in two blocks slowed down as he climbed the steps and opened the door. He walked inside and noticed the clinic was unusually more crowded today. The lobby of the clinic was separated into two separate sections: an isolated area for those that were seeking an emergency visit based on escalated symptoms, and those that were there for their scheduled exam. David entered the area designated for scheduled exams and approached the check-in counter.
“Hello!” a middle-aged woman greeted him. “Are you here for a scheduled Hydra exam?”
David nodded. “Yes, I am. David Anderson. My Hydra exam is scheduled for four o’clock.”
The woman turned away and looked at a clock on the wall behind her. “Right on time!” she told him before standing up from the check-in counter and grabbing some paperwork off the table beside her. “Has any of your information changed in the last six months since your previous exam?”
David shook his head. “Nope. Been a pretty normal six months other than my head occasionally feeling like it’s being stepped on by an elephant.”
The woman looked at him and forced a smile. “Heh. Alright David, go ahead and have a seat. As you can see we’re a bit busy at the moment but it shouldn’t be too long before we can get you checked out.”
David nodded in agreement and walked towards and empty chair in the corner. David took note that a majority of those currently in the waiting room were in the emergency area. David pulled out his cell phone. No missed texts or calls. He opened up his texting application and started a text to Drex.
‘Just barely made it in time for my exam.
Sorry again about having to bounce unexpectedly...you know how it goes.
Anyone downed Kalyxius yet?’
A moment later his cell phone vibrated in his hand. He looked down at a new text from Drex.
‘All good bro...and not yet.
Doesn’t look like Hiro and Villen are online right now.
Hurry up and get back so we can world 1st this bitch lol j/k’
David grinned as he read the text from Drex. Even though they had never passed Hiro and Villen on the leaderboard, being the first duo to kill Kalyxius would have been huge for him and Drex. Not only would they get a boost on the leaderboard, but most of the community agreed that Kalyxius was without a doubt the hardest encounter yet. Many players begged that the encounter be nerfed or made easier, but the developers declined to do so until she had been defeated at least once in her current state. Moirai Technologies had also placed a 100,000 credit ‘bounty’ on the head of Kalyxius, to be split evenly between the duo that was the first to take her down. 50,000 credits would be a big deal to David in his current financial situation.
Twenty minutes or so passed by as David continued texting potential strategies for the Kalyxius encounter back and forth with Drex. Finally, a woman emerged from the door beside the check-in counter.
“David Anderson?” she asked, looking around the waiting room at everyone before making eye contact with David. He stood from the chair in the corner of the room. “Right this way,” she said.
David followed the woman back into a small room that was used to weigh and measure the height of the patients. After recording the information, she spoke. “Six feet and one inch, one hundred and sixty pounds. That’s down seven pounds since your last examination. Any lifestyle changes this could be attributed to?”
David pondered the question for a moment. He hadn’t necessarily noticed the weight loss before now, but thinking back it certainly seemed accurate. David used to have a bit of muscle but in the past couple of months noticed less tone throughout his body when getting in and out of the shower.
“Not particularly,” he said. “The headaches brought on by every Hydra attack seems to be a little stronger than usual, and as such I may not be eating as much on the days it hits me. Now that I think about it, I’ve probably been using my Hermes more often than usual in recent months as well.”
“Extended periods of no activity can certainly cause loss of muscle mass,” she said, still looking through his medical history. “We’ll take a look at everything though, just to make sure. Either way, you should certainly make an effort to take breaks from the Hermes and do some routine exercising. Let’s go on back to your examination room.”
David smirked. Exercise? Yeah right, he thought.
The woman walked out of the room and David followed. They walked down the hall and into a larger room labeled ‘Examination Room 3’. Once inside, she closed the door behind them.
“This is clearly nothing new to you, but do you have any questions regarding your examination today?” she asked.
“Do you still have to do the damn tap?” David asked her.
She let out a snicker, nodding her head. “Unfortunately so. It’s a crucial part of the examination, really. It’s the best way to determine with accurate precision the stage of Hydra throughout your body.”
David hated that part. Even though technology and pain relief medication had come a long way, having a large needle extract fluid from your spinal canal was still not pleasant.
David let out a small sigh and nodded in agreement. “Let’s get that over with then.”
The woman opened the door and walked out for a brief moment before returning with another nurse. “Anastasia here is going to do the lumbar puncture, also known as the spinal tap.”
“Hello David,” Anastasia said while putting on latex gloves and opening up a large kit she had brought in with her. “As usual I’ll be injecting a local anesthetic before the tap. We got a new form of anesthetic in the last three months so if you haven’t been in for any reason in that timeframe, you’ll be happy to know the response time and pain nullification is even better than your last visit.”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Sounds like Christmas came early,” David said.
Anastasia laughed as she walked over behind David and lifted his shirt revealing his lower back area.
“Just a pinch,” she said before injecting him with the anesthetic.
Sure enough, there was just a pinch, but a second later nothing at all.
“Wow,” David said. “That’s impressive.” He looked over at Anastasia has she retrieved the large needle from her kit. “There’s no way that’s just a pinch.”
She giggled and turned to him. “Without anesthetic, you’re exactly right. But with it, this will probably hurt less than that pinch.”
She procured a small tool from her pocket and used it to poke the area of David’s lower back.
“Do you feel that at all?” she asked.
“Feel what?” responded David.
“Perfect!” she said. A moment later she began inserting the large needle into David’s spinal canal. The vial on the needle quickly filled with a cloudy yellow liquid. Before Incursion Day, a normal spinal tap would be mostly clear in color. A cloudy yellow color often indicated a form of infection. Now, however, cloudy yellow was the unfortunate normalcy.
A few moments later Anastasia removed the needle from his back and began placing a large square bandage coated with healing gel on it. “All done!” she said. “That wasn’t too bad, huh?”
Actually, it wasn’t, David thought. “No, not at all,” he said. He remembered having a headache, an aching back, and feeling lightheaded after the tap from his last exam. That wasn’t the case, this time.
Anastasia thanked David for his cooperation and walked out of the room with his spinal fluid.
“Anastasia will run the quick tests on your fluids while we take the body scans,” the other nurse told him.
In the room was a large cylindrical machine with a glass window facing the exam room. As part of the exam, patients were required to step into the machine as it rotated around them as a series of non-invasive lasers and frequency rays bounced through the patient to create an image of their internal systems.
“Of course,” David said as he slowly walked towards the machine.
The woman walked over to a computer terminal next to the machine and began typing. A few seconds later a door opened on the side of the machine.
“Go ahead in whenever you’re ready, David.” she said.
David climbed into the large metal cylinder and looked out the window at the nurse. She began typing on the terminal again and then looked up at David.
“Just like last time,” she said. “We’ll take a scan, rotate the scanners a little, and take another scan. We usually take about a dozen scans to get every angle of your body as possible to build an accurate depiction of what’s going on inside.”
David peered out of the window and nodded. The nurse pressed a button on the side of the machine and an inner layer of the cylinder began to rotate turn before coming to a stop behind David. She pressed another button and a series of small lights lit up on the part that was just moving inside the cylinder. David heard what sounded like a series of high frequency buzzing sounds before the lights went off. The nurse pressed the first button again causing the inner layer to rotate again before stopping at a different angle behind David. This continued ten more times as the machine scanned every angle of David’s body.
When it was done, the nurse began typing on the terminal again, causing the door to the machine to open up. “All done, David!” the nurse said. “A Hydra Specialist Doctor is looking at that body scan already and should have the results in no time.”
David climbed out of the machine and walked towards the middle of the room before pulling himself up on the medical bed and sitting down on it. He couldn’t help but think just how routine this process was. It shouldn’t be routine, should it?
As David sat there, pondering the current state of the world in terms of its Hydra exams, a bright red phone on the wall began to ring, startling both David and the nurse. She walked over to the phone and picked it up off its receiver.
David sat awkwardly on the table as the nurse talked on the phone.
“Yes…”she said, looking at David. “I see. Alright. I understand...Okay, I’ll let him know.”
She hung up the phone and turned to David. “Err--that was the doctor. He’ll be here in just a moment to talk to you. About your results. Thanks, David. Just stay there,” she said before quickly dashing out the door.
David could have sworn he’d heard a locking sound, but why in the hell would she have locked the door? He pulled out his cell phone and looked at the time. 4:41 PM. “Damn,” he said aloud. “By the time I get home it will be six o’clock or so. Can’t really afford to waste credits on a capsule again. Drex is going to be pissed.”
He opened up the texting app and sent a text to Drex.
‘Hey dude, literally just finished the exam.
Waiting on the results.
Shouldn’t be too much longer.
If you’re still down to spank Kalyxius I’ll be online right after I eat some dinner.
Docs say I need to eat more or stop using the Hermes.’
A few seconds later his cell phone vibrated as he received a new message from Drex.
‘Lol yeah right, like that’s going to happen.
All good man, I’m down!
Shoot me a text if I’m not online when you get on, but I should be.
Doing Tairo runs with Kev atm lol.’
Kev, short for Kevin, was a friend of Drex’s who just recently got a Hermes as well as Lands of Kaulm. This text alone was proof that Drex was a good friend because doing Tairo runs were long, boring, and would have been non-beneficial for Drex as his character’s gear was far superior than anything Tairo would drop.
David had placed his cell phone back in his pocket when he heard another clicking sound come from the door. The nurse HAD locked it, he thought. The door flew open, but neither his nurse nor his doctor walked in. Instead, three men walked in. Two were wearing full military gear, assault rifles in hand, and the third was an old man with a full white beard wearing a long lab coat. That man spoke.
“Hello David,” he said.
“What the hell is going on?!” David asked.
“I have good news David,” the man said. “My name is Doctor Rufus Gailo. I’m a chief doctor on Moirai Technologies’ new stasis program. Are you familiar with it?”
David thought back to the poster he saw in the elevator at the capsule station and nodded his head slowly.
“I uhh--I’ve heard of it, yes. Well, kinda. Saw an advertisement for it, but that’s it,” David said. “Why?”
“Your lab results and body scans have proved promising, David,” Doctor Rufus began explaining. “Your body seems to entering a new stage in its battle with the Hydra disease. The public is not really aware of this, but in extremely rare cases the body seems to stop fighting the attacking Hydra disease, and, well, though this may sound strange...it seems to try and reason with it.”
What?! Reason with a disease?! Surely this old man was crazy.
“Why have I never heard of this before?” David asked.
“Well,” Doctor Rufus started, “there lies the problem. In most cases, the patient whose body is attempting to reason with the disease ends up overworking itself and causing a sort of ‘overheating’ of their central nervous system. The only cases in which this hasn’t happened are the patients who have entered our stasis program until we can further understand this new relationship our bodies can create with the Hydra disease.”
David was focused on listening intently to the doctor and did not realize the nurse from earlier had come back into the room, and just injected something into his arm.
“What the hell?” David asked angrily as he stood up from the medical bed and jumped backward.
“We have no way of knowing how far along the process is, David,” Doctor Rufus said. “The nurse just gave you a temporary neutralizing agent that will prevent your nervous system from overheating while we transfer you to the stasis center.”
“Wait, what?!” David argued. “When did--did I--when did I agree…”
David’s vision began to blur and his mind felt as though it was clouding. He struggled to form words before completely blacking out and collapsing to the floor.
.oOo.
When he awoke he was being rolled down a hallway on a medical bed on wheels. His head still felt cloudy and he couldn’t seem to move a muscle. Not only could he not lift his arm to pull himself up, when he went to speak his mouth just wouldn’t move.
After a moment or two of going through door after door that led to another hallway, he saw a set of large double doors with a sign above them that read ‘STASIS CHAMBERS’. He heard a buzzing noise followed by a click, and the double doors swung open and he continued rolling forward on the bed before coming to a complete stop.
Several men wearing lab coats and surgical masks lifted him up out of the bed and carried him across the room. They placed him down in a bath-like contraption that looked like a futuristic tanning bed without the top half. He instantly felt the feeling of cold water hit the entire backside of his body.
“Am I--naked?” David thought to himself. Not that he could say it out loud, even if he wanted to. A few seconds later a glass panel slid down from above David’s peripheral vision as if it was sealing him inside the contraption. A man walked in front of David’s view and leaned down, peering inside the glass panel. It was Doctor Rufus.
“I’m truly sorry, for this David,” he said. “We can’t afford to let you die. You may very well be the cure to saving us all, you know.”
There was a beeping sound and Doctor Rufus grabbed a pager that was clipped to his side.
“Who the hell still uses a pager?” David thought. “THIS guy is the real victim, here.”
Doctor Rufus checked the pager before turning his gaze back to David. “Looks like you’re not the only special one today,” he said. “I’ll see you when you wake up!”
As Doctor Rufus walked away David could feel the cold water under him began to bubble as a heavy frosty white mist began to fill the chamber he was in.
David knew that in that very moment he was supposed to feel pissed. And he certainly was. But more so, he couldn’t help but feel guilty. Guilty about the fact that because of him, Drex would be waiting up tonight with hopes of them killing Kalyxius and gaining the fame and small fortune that came with it. That would never happen now, he thought. Not with him at least.
David began to felt incredibly sleepy as the tremendous feeling of guilt washed over him. But then, the guilt was replaced with a different feeling; The feeling of pain as what felt like a large needle slammed into the back of his head.
And, once again, David blacked out.