AzLean Soldier

Chapter 3 - It begins

I wake up to nothing but noise, my mind absolutely screaming at me. I can feel and hear the voices filling my mind, almost driving me to the point of insanity. I look around the room for Peter, though he has already left. I get out of bed and get my water bottle from the backpack beside my bed and take a large sip from it, thinking I need water.Afterward, I take another look around. The noise and voices from my mind grow dimmer as I begin to take deep breaths. I try to think positively to remove the negative thoughts from my mind. I take a few more sips from my water bottle, then I place it down beside my backpack. I lie backward in my bed, looking up to the ceiling. What the hell is going on with me? Once I feel more relaxed and calm, I take a deep sigh. Then immediately sit upward in my bed, trying to refocus on myself. Then it hit me, remembering what yesterday was like. Today was going to possibly be worse than yesterday if I woke up with nothing but noise in my mind. I see the symbols scattered across the wall once again. Remembering what I did yesterday makes my heart sink. Sighing loudly, I get up and lazily look at the alarm clock, which reads 8:09 a.m. My heart skips a beat as it hits me like a ton of bricks."Shit! I am late for class!" I yank my backpack from beside the bed, clos all pouches, throw it over one shoulder, then make a mad dash out of the dorm room. In doing so, I begin to head to the first class, seeing that I am already late.When I get to the classroom, I open the door and walk in. The teacher is already writing notes on the board, so I quietly go over to my desk and sit down. I place the backpack beside me and look forward to the teacher.The teacher is still going about writing the notes until eventually he stops and looks back to the rest of the class. He soon attracts his attention to me, seeing that I am here finally. He sighs in exasperation."Ah, Floyd, I see you get to make an appearance finally," he says, batting an eye at me."I slept in a little, my bad," I say as a response.He stares at me for another few minutes, before picking up the attendance form and marking my name down. He then places it back down before remarking, "You're lucky that we keep our attendance forms 'till 8:15," then looking at the rest of the class.Knowing my embarrassment, I don't bother to look around or upward. I take out my textbook from the backpack, then look up to the teacher. Now he begins to walk to the left of me. Looking down at the floor, he begins to speak.~~~Georgia Military Fort"Have you done the calculations yet, Doctor?" an army soldier asks. "Yes, sir. It seems like the calculations of the object's molecular densities and radioactive concentrations are beyond the charts. We've sent a few test subjects to get in proximity to it; however, this object based on our findings is highly unstable," the doctor claims."How so?" the soldier asks."The object seems to be generating a field around it, making it so that people who come into contact aren't just getting symptoms of molecular decay. They are also experiencing cases of diseases, like, for example . . ." The doctor looks down at their pad, and swipes around. Bringing up to the TV that hangs off of the wall."Our last two subjects were in two different measurements away from the object. One being approximately five meters, and another approximately two meters. The five-meter subject was given amnesia and anxiety," the doctor says."What about the two-meter subject?" the soldier wonders."The subject that was two meters away lost all brain functionality and lost awareness of why they are here," the doctor claims. "Have there been any tests about anything closer to the object?" "No, sir," the doctor says. "If anybody gets closer to the object, they disintegrate so fast that only pulling the subject away from the object will save them.""Then how did two people touch the object?" the soldier asks."That is just the reason why I wanted to speak to you, sir. The object seems to have grown stronger within the last twelve hours. Apparently, the field is exponentially increasing like that of a black hole."The soldier looks through a window of the office, down to the object in the ground. "Is there a way to stop it?" he asks. "No, we don't believe so," says the doctor, with a worried tone in her voice. "However, we believe that we can attempt to move the object to an unpopulated location, and that we must try to do so as soon as possible with the rate at which the field is building.""Not yet, get more information on it. Then we'll move to the extraction plan," the soldier says."Are you absolutely sure? The rate of acceleration of field growth being measured is alarming and a cause for major concern. The strength of this field is deadly, and we may all be in serious danger.""Yes. I am absolutely, completely sure. We need just a little more data on it before we can move it. That's an order, Doctor Valmyre.""Yes, sir." The doctor supposedly named Valmyre replies, returning to her work. The soldier looks back to the object still sticking out of the ground. A private walks up beside the major, looking at the data secured on the clipboards on the wall of the tent.The private speaks up. "Have you tried . . . destroying the object?"Valmyre nods grimly, and the major speaks with exasperation in his voice. "Yes, though, so far it has been consistent failures. Almost as if it absorbs and re-emits whatever we throw at it. I'm fairly certain that even a nuclear bomb couldn't do anything to it. It has killed forty people so far, many of them being my men. If we can't destroy it with regular means, then we best get to know more about it so that we can possibly find a means to destroy it if necessary.""Well, I guess that's reasonable enough," the private says.The major, on the other hand, turns around and heads off, leaving the private to stare at the strange object sticking out of the earth.He takes a deep breath, and holds onto a picture of his wife in his hand. "For our country . . ." he says quietly.~ ~ ~The bell rings and I scramble to finish writing the long list of notes on the board. As everyone else packs their notebooks in their bags, I try to speed up my writing a bit and end up writing some of the worst chicken scratch imaginable, causing me to erase and rewrite the notes. Once I finally finish writing my notes, I quickly throw open my bag and toss the notebook in before rapidly zipping it shut and throwing it over my shoulder and making a dash for the door. Hopefully, I think to myself, I can keep this up no problem.Despite that thought, the voice in the back of my head tells me I am simply lying to myself to try and cope with it. As I step outside, the sun immediately hurts my eyes. I flinch, trying to use my hand to block out the sun the best I can, but it only feels like it's shining brighter as a wave of nausea hits me hard and causes me to double over. I quickly grab my water bottle and take a sip, thinking it may be dehydration, but still worried I may actually be sick.After a swig of water and a moment to let my body catch up, I begin to feel a bit better, though the voices and symbols are back in my head. Shaking them off, I continue walking across the campus center park to the next building, where my next class is. As soon as I reach the door to the next building, a girl waves at me and snaps me out of my autonomous daze as I reach for the door. It is my dream crush, Stephanie. I am absolutely shocked to see her, especially talking to me (considering she only really socializes with her friend group, which I clearly am not a part of).She looks at me, grinning. "The girls and I want to invite you to this special party of ours that Lois is doing. It's going to be happening around three blocks from here. We would like to see you there."The voices and noise all disappear. I feel much better. She hands me a flyer with all of the information on it about the party. I take it and look at it, reading that the party is starting around 6 p.m. tonight. I am not much of a party person, but after thinking about the mental torture I've recently endured, I decide it may help me drown out the voices and weird symbols. Smiling up at Samantha, I nod my head and take the flyer. "You know what, I could use a break. I'll be there!"She grins. "All right, see you there, Floyd!" She winks at me, then heads to the next student she sees. I smile a bit more, looking back at her. She looks so pretty and has an amazing personality. It's really no wonder why guys are constantly hitting on her.Peter snaps me out of it, quite literally, snapping his fingers in front of my face and impatiently calling my name. "C'mon, or else we'll be late for class, you horny idiot." I playfully punch his shoulder and point out that he was the one who tried to get laid last night. His face goes beet red and I laugh as he tells me to shut up.Peter notices the flyer in my hand as we begin walking to class. "Hold on, you got one too?""Well, yeah. Samantha gave it to me.""So that's why you were so starstruck, huh?""I mean . . ." I look back at Samantha."Dude, she's way out of your league." Peter laughs as he shakes his head."But she winked at me!""Wait, really?""Well, yeah," I say, frustrated at Peter for not taking me seriously. "I think she wants me to go to the party for a reason.""Dude, you don't even drink.""Doesn't mean I can't have fun, though," I say, smirking.Peter simply shakes his head at me. "Go to class, dork."I smirk and get one last look at Stephanie before I head towards my class.Literally moments after sitting down at my desk, a rush of dizziness and nausea overcomes me and I feel the whole room around me expanding and contracting, as if it were breathing. Without asking the teacher, I struggle to get up and double over as I fall to the ground beside the desk, my vision getting blurry. I pull myself up, the instructor's voice nothing but a mumble as, unbeknownst to me, he is telling me to sit down. I'm too busy trying not to puke my guts out to give a shit, so I get to my feet and begin stumbling toward the door. The instructor storms over to me and grabs the back of my shirt, but I say something that makes him back up away from me and stare at me with terror-filled eyes. I don't know what I'm saying. I'll probably figure it out later.I leave the class and quickly stumble my way to the bathroom. I run through the door, and as soon as I enter a stall my stomach begins to violently clench. I barely have enough time to fling up the toilet seat before I start to throw up my lunch.After what feels like hours of heaving, even after my stomach is emptied of its contents, I finally stop. Breathing like I just ran a marathon, and with tears streaming down my face, I raise an arm up to flush the mess I just made down the drain. My mouth tastes like pain and sour stomach acid, and I can barely move as I sit there, trying to compose myself.I hear the bathroom door open, and I sigh as I hear Peter run to my stall, the first one that was open. He sees me sitting beside the toilet, pale as a ghost, looking like I got put through the wringer."Holy shit, Floyd!" He walks into the stall and crouches in front of me, looking at me. "You okay?"I sit there for a couple moments as I try to compose my thoughts before eventually nodding weakly. "Yeah, I guess."Moments later, I feel another tightening of my stomach as I vomit nothing but stomach acid, spit, and air."Jesus fucking Christ, Floyd, you are very clearly not 'okay,'" Peter exclaims, "and frankly I think I'm going to call the nurse to make sure you're not sick with something serious!""What? I am fine," I say, before dry heaving into the toilet."Yeah, says the one who is puking in the toilet! You aren't well, Floyd. It's best for you to skip classes for the next few days," he says.I pant, looking up, and nodding eventually. "Okay, I think you may be right."He pats my back, then stands up. "Once you're ready to get back to the dorm room, let me know," he says.I nod. "Okay." Sitting next to the toilet still, I look up at the ceiling as I lay my head back. As soon as I tilt my head back, a lightheadedness overcomes me as my vision begins to tunnel and my ears slowly lose their ability to hear and was replaced by the sound of tinnitus. Then, the world went black.I wake up back in the dorm room, feeling the bed underneath me. I open my eyes and see a doctor beside me, checking my vitals. I glance past the doctor and see Peter standing there, an expression of concern written all over his face."Odd," I hear from the doctor, "Floyd is in perfect condition from the looks of it.""Wait, what?" Peter says. "But, he was puking in the bathroom and looked like his entire life force was drained. I am pretty sure there is something wrong," Peter says. "Yeah, there're no signs of allergies or any sort of viral or bacterial infection, so I will have to send a blood sample to the lab and test for anything like septicemia." The doctor pulls a plastic bag out of his medical bag and opens it, removing a set of small test tube-shaped containers and a rubber tube device with a syringe connected to it. The doctor screws the small test tube container onto one of the connectors of the rubber tube, puts a tourniquet on my arm, removes the cap from the needle, and sticks it into my arm before slowly filling the tube with my blood. Before I know what's happening, he draws four tubes of blood and removes the needle, cleaning the spot, and removing the tourniquet. He puts the samples into a plastic biohazard container with foam to hold the tubes and puts the container in his bag."Do you think you will find what's wrong with Floyd," Peter asks, "or if he's sick or whatever?""Give it time, the blood tests will take upward of four to seven days to complete. We will try our best to find anything we can. In the meantime, like any sickness, make sure he stays in bed and drinks plenty of fluids. He needs to try to eat regularly as well."Once the doctor walks out, Peter glances before going to sit down in front of the TV and turning it on.I look around before I close my eyes again, unsure if I can even speak or move. I try to say something, but no words come to my mind nor mouth. Defeated, I pull the covers over my head and try to sleep.I am greeted with a dark place. A room with no lights or anything. I look around for a minute, before a light appears in front of me. Shining down onto a table, with a man sitting in the chair on the other side.I look at him, confused. "Hello," I ask nervously. The guy has a brown hat and a long, tan-brown detective trench coat. He reaches a leather-gloved hand up to his face and removes a cigar from his mouth before exhaling the smoke, which swirls around him mysteriously in the light."Floyd . . . so nice to see you in person finally," he says."Who are you?" I ask. He takes a good look at me, blows smoke out of his mouth from the cigar. "I . . . am the one saving your life, good fellow," he says."I am . . . dying?" I ask, walking closer to him. He nods solemnly. "You need a life source. In this case, that would be energy.""I don't understand," I say, "are you saying I need, like, actual energy?" I ask."You can say that, or something that may or may not be generating since it arrived on the planet." He walks around the desk before sitting on top of it and looking at me."What?" I ask, confused."You have been chosen from the gods to serve a greater purpose. You have something that nobody else does," he says mysteriously, "in which case, it is something you need to go to." I sit there so confused that trying to come up with coherent thoughts to rationalize what's going on feels pointless.Soon, he looks to the left of me, causing me to follow his gaze. A square shape appears with an exact frame-by-frame reconstruction of the news. "That . . ." He points to the re-creation of the news, pausing for a moment. "That is what I am referring to," he says. I look at him again before looking back to it. The news shows the exact video that was shown on the news about this thing that fell from the sky. It's an exact copy of the footage recorded from that day."Wait . . . are you seriously telling me to enter a facility guarded by the US government?" He continues gazing at the screen, floating in midair without a word. I shake my head, dumbfounded at such a ridiculous request. "No! Why would I do something so stupid?"He shifts a sidelong stare at me for a long while."I am not doing that! You are crazy!""You can say that. I tend to say many crazy things. For example, I may have also told someone to . . . enter a particle accelerator while it was on.""Are you fucking insane?!" I yell, totally confused and terrified."None of that is the point of me coming here. My reasons for such actions are to not only help people, but to also save the rest of the world from its corruption.""Haven't you heard the news, you maniac?! That . . . thing . . . has killed two innocent lives. You are basically telling me to go pick up something that will kill me!""It only did that to those people because they weren't chosen," he replies. "You tend to have the property of not being able to die. Unless you get to that sword and save yourself.""Bullshit. Get me out of here. I'm done!" I say, getting annoyed."If you don't believe me, take a knife and try to stab yourself," he says."Oh, this is unbelievable. Get away from me, and stop talking to me," I say. He taps his finger on the desk, as if waiting. "I am telling the truth, you have my word." I turn to him angrily."Yeah, and what is your word to me? I don't even know you!""Wake up, Floyd!" I yell, and immediately I open my own eyes. I look around as I sit up, seeing the dorm room as messy as I left it the other night. I look around for a good couple of minutes, seeing that it was only a dream.I sigh and lie down on my back. "Jesus, what the hell kind of dream was that?" I ask to myself out loud. I lie there for a good few minutes, before realizing that to Peter. I am sick, so I don't have to go to classes for a while. I am kind of happy, but also worried what this'll do for me.I shake it off in my mind. "Oh well, I guess Peter is right. I am going insane," I say out loud to myself again, looking up to the ceiling as I ponder to myself. I hear my phone going off, and grab it from my nightstand, then begin to look through all of my notifications. Three notifications from three different people. The first notification is from Peter, saying. "If you wake up while I am in class, stay in the dorm room until I get back. Also, just want you to know, I got a doctor to check you up. They took a blood sample and will come back with me with anything that they find. See ya soon."I check the other notifications, one being from Stephanie. "I heard you got really sick shortly after I invited you to the party. Hope you get better, guessing you won't come then?" I decide to respond to the text message."Sadly, no, sorry for breaking the promise." I send it, then check the next message. This one being from Mom, which immediately gets my attention as I read it."Floyd, I heard something about you being sick. This is the first time I heard anything about you getting sick. This must be some nasty virus then. If you ever need something, call me." I stare at the message for a bit."First time?" I say out loud to myself. I look over the message again, then decide to respond to it with the exact thing I just said. "First time?" I send it, waiting for a response.It takes a bit, but soon I see the bubble of my mom typing. After sending the message she is typing, it says. "Yes. Do you not remember? Me nor your father have seen you sick. We thought you were the most special son I've ever had. How are you feeling right now, Floyd?" she asks.I answer her question, then place the phone down on its screen after replying. I sigh, and look around the room. Especially back to the symbols across the wall. The phrase "First time" begins to fill my mind. It probably means nothing, but I am sure there has to be something off about it. I go over to Peter's side of the room and grab the remote. I flip to cable, and begin to flip through channels and shows on the network. Trying to find one of my favorite shows called Future Life Decisions—a show talking about two teenagers who have to live as adults.When I get to the show, I begin to watch it. I sit back a little and relax as I continue watching it. I soon start to feel a bit dizzy once again, though I try to shake it out of my head.I continue trying to watch the TV, but I soon begin to feel sick again. I get up and go over to the table in the middle of room and grab the medicine that sits on there. I take out some pills and eat them, swallowing them shortly afterward.I take a deep breath, then sigh. I take my water bottle again and begin to drink from it. Afterward, I look around the room again, wondering what I should do while I am here. Knowing that I can't go to class till I feel better. I grunt. "So bored," I say out loud to myself. I stare at the TV, but it doesn't grow on me. I am getting more and more bored with what I am doing. Soon, I get the words that not only my mom said, but also what that strange guy said in my sleep. Hearing the words gets me wondering about something. Can I not get sick? I get up from my bed, sit up, and take my wallet from my nightstand.I walk out of the room and begin to head out. I want fresh air so I decide to head to the nearest restaurant. I leave the campus, walking on the sidewalk, heading to a restaurant called Lotta Bits. When I see it across the street, I look both ways before crossing. Though, without noticing as I cross the road, the next intersection to the right of me flips to green. I don't notice, however, so I continue to walk across the street. As I do, I ponder to myself about not only my mom, but also about what that one guy said in my thoughts. I get to the middle of the street when I hear a car beeping as it goes full speed at me.I look over at it and I'm surprised. The car doesn't stop, the guy behind the wheel steps on the brakes. Though, it's still going too fast. Right before it finally touches, I curse to myself. However, when it hits me with its force, I don't get pushed back or rolled under the car. Instead the car smashes into me and rolls around my body. I lift my leg up and cover my face from the impact. However, the guy behind the wheel flies through the windshield and rolls across the street.The car finally stops. The front is rolled and smashed badly around my body. I look down at myself for a second, then at my hands and arms, trying to think of what just happened, before I soon get the attention of the guy on the ground behind me."Shit!" I run over to him; he has a shitload of scratches and bruises on him. "Oh shit! Oh fuck!" I say. I take out my phone, and type 911 into the phone app.Once the call goes through, I hear a familiar voice you find whenever you call 911. "911, what's your emergency?" "Hi! I need an ambulance immediately on North Clark Street in Milledgeville, Georgia. I was crossing the street and a car crashed," I reply. "An ambulance is on the way!" they say shortly afterward."Thank you," I say, hanging up and checking the guy's pulse. I feel his heart pumping pretty fast, but not too fast. I wait beside the man lying on the ground for a bit longer, until I hear and see the ambulance coming over.When the ambulance arrives, a police cruiser also appears. The police come over, and I tell them about what happened, mostly a lie. I head back after I see them taking the man to the hospital. When I get back, I go over to Peter's side of the room and take out his pocketknife. Although, by the time I get the knife part visible, I see Peter entering the room. "Hi, Floyd, apparently I heard from the teachers that Anderson was taken to the hospital from a car crash or something. So we were let out early, or the football team was." I hide the pocketknife behind me as I turn to him. "Oh . . . that sucks to hear. Is he okay?" I ask, trying to act normal."The teachers didn't say, but it seems to be bad enough that they let us out earlier than usual," he says, seeing that he has a soda can in his hand. "Anyway, what's up with you?" he asks."Oh, uh, nothing, just trying to find anything I can do since I am bored," I say. "I hate not being able to go to class.""I get it, Floyd, the classes are like the only thing you do on a regular basis. It's kind of like video games but for nerds, in a way. You like to learn more about how the world works." "Yep. That's why I can't stand being at home. Heh." I walk over to my side of the room, place the pocketknife under my covers. As I do, I look at Peter. He places his soda on the bedside table and sits down. "Welp, the guys are gonna have the party earlier than usual at the place. Sorry that you can't go, Floyd," he says."It's fine, I understand why you're keeping me here." "Just helping you out is all. Anyway, here." He takes out a Lotta Bits bag of food. "Decided since you're stuck here, to just give ya some food for dinner later." He hands it to me, and I take it. "Oh. Thanks." I open the top and look inside, seeing the delicious delight of food inside. I lick my lips, wanting to eat it and forget what just happened a good thirty minutes ago.I place it beside me on the bed and sigh, taking the contents out, placing them on the other side of me. Meanwhile, Peter is checking everywhere on his bedside table. I look up at him. "What are you looking for?" I ask. "My switchblade, or pocketknife, in other terms. I need it for the party. I want to do some mad tricks with it while I am there to impress not just Samantha, but all the other ladies," he says, continuing to search for it. "Oh, I don't know either," I say, trying to not look suspicious. I take a burger, unwrap it and take a bite from it. Soon, Peter gives up. "Oh well. It's fine, I can just borrow one from the other guys if they have one," he says, going over to the closet and taking out a tuxedo that he used for prom one night."Hope the party goes well, Peter, wish I could come," I say."Don't worry, Floyd, I think Samantha said that they're hoping to do these once a month. If you can't come to this one, you can come to the second one," he says, in a comforting tone. "Really? Guess you're right about that." After Peter is fully dressed, he stretches. Goes over to his backpack and takes anything he needs before leaving. "All right, see ya, Floyd. Be back around 8 or 9. p.m. tonight." He opens the dorm door and walks out, closing it behind him.Once Peter is gone, I take out the pocketknife from under the covers where I hid it, then hold the sharp part to my arm, kind of unsure if I want to test this or not. If it works, I also don't want to break it, as Peter would be pissed with me. As I stare at the pocketknife, I sigh and place it down, giving up, knowing that what I am about to do isn't going to show anything. I am just imagining things. I am also sick, which is probably causing side effects.I look around the room again before picking up the knife and deciding to put it back. However, as I pick it up, I feel the sharp part on my wrist, being pointy as it is. It hurts, and I have incredible reflexes from the pain. I yank my arm away. Though, when I look back at my arm where the sharp was felt I see nothing, almost like it didn't do anything. I look back at the knife and immediately see it sort of bent in a weird way. I take it and hold it closer to my face. "What the hell?" I say out loud to myself as I examine it. I take the sharp part of the knife and try to scrape it across my arm. However, the knife breaks entirely when I do so. It cuts in half, and the broken part falls to the floor.Instead of freaking out that I broke the knife, I am more scared of what the hell I am. I lift my arms in front of me and check for any sign of damage or scrape. Although, the only thing I see is completely healthy skin.I retract the knife part back to its hiding position, then head over to Peter's bedside table, placing the switchblade back inside. I close the cabinet of the table, then I think to myself, I can't be harmed, not even get sick. This is exactly what that guy was telling me, and also what my mom was hinting at.I sit back down on my bed, seeing that I am more than human, I am some kind of superhuman like in the movies. Though, am I destined to fight crime? Or am I supposed to show a greater purpose than to fight crime? Either way, if this is what my skin is like, then that means what that guy told me in my dream the other night was true.I think to myself, If the guy was telling the truth, then how do I get to the sword? Not long till I realize that if a car can't stop me, then that means I can just wander in with no consequences. Or at least, no consequences like getting injured or killed.I nod to myself, get up, and leave the dorm room once again. I leave the college campus dorms, and head to the street. I look both ways, until I see a taxi. I wave to it, and it stops. I go over to the back of the taxi and get in, sitting down in the passenger side. The taxi guy looks in the middle mirror at the front, looking back at me. "Where to, sir?" I look to him and say, "Take me to Georgia Military Fort." Though this shocks the guy. "Wait, you mean where the sword is being studied at?" he asks. "Sorry, but I cannot do that." "Why is that?" I ask. "The guys at the taxi place say that the military fort is not allowed to be entered under any circumstance. We are to be forced to decline.""Just take me right outside the base, I don't know. Anywhere that isn't restricted where to park." "Okay. I'll park right outside the street that goes up to the main entrance," he says, then steps on the pedal and begins to drive in that direction.It takes a good while until we get to the stop. I pay the driver and get out. As the driver leaves, I look ahead to the base and see a dirt path heading straight to the military fort entrance. Of course, a fort is much different than a base as this tends to not have any air field or tanks in the place.I begin to run over to the bushes and hide in them. I look ahead, seeing that the entrance has three military guards with automatic rifles. The fort tends to have these tall fences that are electric, though I don't know if invulnerability includes electric currents.I decide to jump and grab the fence, but soon start to feel a large shock of electricity burning my hands. However, I don't feel like I am dying nor getting harmed. After just a few more minutes, I let go and jump back onto the ground and land on my feet. I immediately look at my own hands, seeing the blackness on the palms, but not seeing any physical damage. I look back up to the fence for a minute, then immediately notice a light shining at me. I look over and see a soldier with a rifle aiming straight at me, I raise my hands. "Get onto your knees and put your hands behind your back!" he yells, aiming with an armed rifle at my chest. However, instead of listening to the soldier, I snatch the rifle from his hands and bend it from the middle. I then bring the soldier closer and knock him out. I look around for a few more minutes, checking if the surrounding is clear. Then I use the soldier's clothes as a disguise to get in. Once I am done, I immediately head to the entrance, keeping my rifle in hand, trying to fit in with the rest of the soldiers and army men. I walk through the entrance and go into the fort, realizing the large amount of military surrounding this place. I gulp, then place the top of my hat closer to the front of my face. The farther I walk into the fort, the more clearer something in front of me comes into view. It's not long till I see that it's a giant sheet cover like dome, with a lot of military vehicles around it. I also see several normal vans and vehicles parked outside the dome. When I come to the entrance, a few military men walk out to the right of me as I walk in. I look around, seeing many lights and cases meant for storage. I clear my throat real quick, before I begin to mimic being a soldier. At least I do so until I get to the room where a general and many scientists are seen. Several of the scientists and engineers are trying to study and work on computers. Meanwhile, I notice the general looking straight at the object in the pit. I come closer, trying to not get into anybody's way. When I see the sword sticking out of the ground right outside the window I immediately smirk a bit and say, "There it is . . . now to see what these voices want with me." I look to the left to an open door leading straight into the pit. I begin my way there. I soon hear the general from beside me speak. "Isn't it a beautiful sight, Marshall?" he asks.I turn around and look back at him, then over to the sword. "Yes, sir." I say, still trying to not get caught."The more I look at it, the more I just wish I could hold the thing," he says. "I know many of these men and women see it as an energy source." He stares at the sword, still knowingly sticking out of the ground. "However, I see it as a weapon . . ." I also stare at the sword, trying to not say a word. "Even though our weapons are useful as it is . . ." He takes out his pistol and looks at it. "Weapons are remarkable things, aren't they?" he says. "Yes, sir," I reply, looking at the pistol he is wielding. "Although, we don't use them enough," he claims. "Like how you're mimicking a soldier right now." He immediately points it at me and shoots straight into my head. I flinch, but the bullet does nothing. Instead, it simply squishes and falls to the floor like it hit some kind of blocker. The general looks at the bullet for a minute on the floor, then straight at me, which is the sign I need to get in there and fast. I start sprinting toward the sword, and the general keeps shooting regardless of the bullet smashing up. It misses, and the general calls in for backup, saying there is an intruder. When I get to the doorway, four soldiers stop me with rifles. I look over to my rifle in my hand and attempt to aim at their legs. They fire, but the bullets just bounce off of me. Though, I can feel the flicks and somewhat pains of them hitting my skin at fast speeds. I shoot my rifle and hit their legs successfully, not wanting to kill anybody. I sprint into the room with the sword, seeing it still stuck in the ground. The general from the window breaks the window and carries a rocket launcher, aiming it straight at the sword, then immediately fires just as I jump and hold out my hand for its handle. By the time I grab the handle, the rocket hits the sword and explodes. I can feel the intense heat for only a second before it vanishes. I see darkness, but then realize it's just my eyes closed. I open them and immediately see me holding the sword in my hand, with the explosion seeming to not have caused any damage in the surrounding area. I look around for a minute, seeing the general staring, confused. It's not long till I feel a sudden urge of energy surging through my body. I scream and close my eyes, feeling it release around my body and hearing it cause crashes and smashes around me. Although, instead of reopening my eyes once it's done, I stop screaming and fall to the ground on my side for a good long while.