HUMAN

Chapter 11 - Old Franky

Without a second to spare, the group hurled all sorts of questions toward me, which I chose to answer, and others. . .let's just say private for now. Guess who those types of questions are coming from.

But everyone seemed to forget to ask the big question and were too caught up with their own beliefs of humans and trying to debunk it through me. "Wait, wait! Everyone shut up for a moment and give him a break!" Vannie sat up and calmed down the commotion.

"I have a question to ask." I sighed. "Yes? What is it?"

"How are you alive? What brought you here, and what is your purpose?" I smiled. Something that I can confidently answer. "Well, I need to provide context first, so you may understand what will follow shortly." I started, and everyone took this as their cue to get comfy and pay full attention to me.

Gulping at the sight of everyone's attention on me, like preschool children settling down after the teacher begins to tell a story or a fable and whatnot. "I'd like to re-introduce myself first. My name is Vincent Armani. My father, Anton Armani, had been working alongside the government to create a special enhancement serum similar to Captain America." The group tilted their head to the reference and realized they didn't know about him.

"Oh, well, don't worry about him. Anyway, my father was on a government contract to create a special serum specifically for soldiers. This serum, or the X-R07 serum, enhances human reflexes, strength, agility, and more. Essentially bringing humans to their peak form."

"But. . .politics and corruption were still evident, no, stronger than before. The serum was somehow handed to the enemy, creating more of the serum than we could produce, but we didn't know how. Then, that's history from that point. War followed, along with nuclear missiles from all over the country launched simultaneously worldwide. I believe this occurred shortly after I was placed in the cryo-pod."

Vannie, Gina, and the other science fanatics perked their ears up. One was about to say something, but instead, they began taking notes. I took note of this for me to continue. I explained to them how my father was able to successfully turn Max into one of them, how I was placed into the cryo-pod, how I now have the serum within me, and how I escaped the bunker.

There was a moment of silence in the living room when I mentioned the deaths of my closest family. Each individual had their thoughts written across their face, and I could only guess what they were feeling in a general sense.

"Wow. . that's a lot to take in," Abigail commented.

"Yeah. I could not imagine the magnitude this will have an impact on what we know about your species' history. Let alone accept it." The fox mimicked 'The Thinker' statue pose. "What do you mean by that exactly?" I asked.

"Well. I'm just a bit worried right now. I think everyone here knows what I'm talking about. Your words about how humanity brought itself to near extinction through corrupted politics over this serum and other factors make me realize that we, the anthropomorphic society, are heading down this path."

Everyone turned to the fox. "And how could you be sure that's the case? You probably pulled this off from one of those whacko conspiracy theorist sites to sound smart." Gina huffed. "No, no, no. Hasn't anyone noticed that more headlines about a nuclear arms deal between other countries have been popping up? How are there 'heavier army concentrations' within the borders for no solid reason?" The room grew tense. I decided to put an end to this as I could notice some of the others shooting some unpleasant glares towards the fox.

"Alright, alright. I reckon we will calm down. Even if this is happening right now, what much can we do?" The dog beat me to it, which made me shut my mouth as he already spoke what I would say. The fox sighed. "Look, sorry for looking into the pessimistic side of things. . .wait, we haven't even properly introduced ourselves to him yet!"