Resistance: The Last Hybrid

Day 3

You find something strange off in the distance, a chain link fence. Approaching it allows you to see further beyond. Brown buildings stand over a dozen yards away. You see something flying from a pole, a familiar flag. You've seen it a number of times in the past when going through cities and towns. Sometimes it was tattered, sometimes not. Watching it fly in the wind allows you to assess the damage. The flag is torn and shredded. You remember back to your mysterious past, this time further back, back to when you were small. You remember placing your hand on your heart and saying the Pledge of Allegiance in school. The memory quickly fades from your mind.

    You find a way to the building, your companion following behind you. It matches so many other buildings when it comes to the damage. Broken windows, and massive holes displaying the interior. Above the two front doors was a logo; an arch with a five-pointed star in the middle. Below it are four letters from the foreign language you've been slowly remembering. The letters spell "SRPA." The entire logo looks oddly familiar to you. So does the building itself. The eerie sense of déjà vu plagues you.

You step up to the doors, open them, and enter the building, coming into chaos. The desk in front of you is mostly in ruins. The marble floor is cracked. There's a hole in the ceiling, and the entire building is powered off. The sun was the only thing illuminating the interior.

You look down a hallway and find different rooms. The first one you investigate is small and filled with different objects. One of these objects is black and cylindrical. You pick it up, press a rubber-like button, causing a light to shoot out from the front. You feel relieved after finally finding something that can light your way. You exit the room and head over to a metal door at the end of the hallway. A panel with two buttons with arrows on them hangs out from the wall. The metal door is slightly open. Using what strength you have, you open the door. You shine your light into what you just opened, finding it to be an elevator shaft. It appears to go down for about a mile or a little less. There is only one way to find out.

You sign your companion to sit and wait for your return. The dog sits and sighs. You pet it before jumping into the shaft and clinging onto the metal rope. You slowly make your descent towards the bottom of the shaft, hoping the doors below are open or able to be pried open. You reach the bottom, finding the elevator door open. You activate your light before journeying into the hallway. You head left, finding it to be the only direction to go in. Descending the hallway leads you to another where there are many rooms with glass windows. Looking into the rooms lets you see the contents. One of the rooms has a table of some kind with a light above it and two small, mobile tables to its sides. The other rooms were similar, but their contents differ.

You find yourself in a hallway where the rooms no longer have windows allowing you to see into them. Many of their doors are open, easily inviting you. You walk into the first open room, finding a desk with papers and folders on it. One of the folders is open. You shine your light at it, getting a look at the first paper. There's a picture of a solemn, bald man with dog tags around his neck. Looking at the rest of the page, you learn about the man in the picture, from his date of birth to military background. What strikes you the most was the name of the man: "Nathan Hale".

Another memory of your mysterious past returns, the name Nathan Hale echoing in the background. You remember standing in the room with the table, watching a group of scientists strap a man down to it. The scientists injected the man with something via a needle. At first the man seemed to feel all right, but the effects started to come in. His reaction to the injection was horrifying. The man continued on about seeing horrible things whenever he closed his eyes. Before they knew it, the man was out cold. He didn't die like many past subjects you seem to remember, but a part of you wishes he did. You begin to put the pieces together and remember that man was Nathan Hale. You remember seeing his name in other papers you received in your past. You remember working at SRPA, the Special Research Projects Administration. You remember being among the group of doctors and researchers at the building you are currently in, taking part in Project: Abraham, the project to create super soldiers using the Chimeran virus. However, Hale was injected with something else, and so was another subject named Jordan Shepherd. What they were injected with, you can't remember. Your series of memories ends there. What's strange is that you've heard that name before in your current life as a soldier, as a Chimera. The voice that once controlled you said the name of Nathan Hale once or twice, but you've never had a care for it then.

You look through other folders, discovering the other subjects. Joseph Capelli, Jordan Shepherd, and Nathan Hale were the only ones who survived their injections. One subject was spared of it all, and the others had died from the effects of the injection. It angers you knowing the lengths SRPA and the United States government went to, to create super soldiers. So many young, innocent men died, and for what?

You leave the room, heading back to the elevator after concluding your time at the building is done. You ascend the rope, finding your companion still sitting and waiting. After getting on the floor, you pet the dog and sign it, saying it was time to leave. You both exit the way you came in, and return to the main road.

As you both walk down the road, you begin to see something familiar about it. Your muscle memory goes off on something. Your mind shifts your attention to a vacant car. You get in, not minding its decrepit state. You place your hand on the steering wheel, unlocking another memory, this time of driving down the road to your home. You begin to remember where home was. Miles away from here. It'd be quicker to get there via a car, but the ability to drive one is out of your reach. You leave the car, continuing your journey with your companion in tow.

When the night came, it felt like you were right around the corner, almost home. But the need to sleep overpowers your want to continue. You and your companion find a comfortable spot in the grass where you lay down and look up at the stars. You begin to think about how you were once connected to the race of another planet, to the original Chimera. They were your last overlords, the first being the Angels, and the second being Jordan Shepherd, aka Daedalus. You remember Daedalus' voice being the only one you could hear when you first became a Chimera, a Hybrid. Hybrids were the most common breed, or strain, of Chimera; the most disposable. After Daedalus died, the voice of the original Chimera took over. How and why? You don't seem to really care.