The Kingdom: Successor

Chapter Two

Zeke walked through the front doors of the lab to be met by the four scientists, all wide-eyed.

"What the hell is going on here?" he demanded.

"It worked! He's awake!" one answered.

Zeke was suddenly very interested as he followed the four back to the lab room, where the line was a straight horizontal line once more.

"Hello, are you there, Mr. Johnstone?" Zeke asked, staring at the screen.

There was a pause. "Yes, where am I?"

"You're in Horizon Labs, my friend," Zeke answered.

Another pause. "Horizon Labs? Who are you?"

"Horizon Labs is a laboratory outside of-"

"No, you personally. The one who's speaking," Reilious interrupted.

"I am Zeke Akoso," Zeke announced.

"And why am I here?" Reilious asked.

"You, Mr. Johnstone, are here because you are in need of life. We are here to help you with that, as you passed before the rise of the New Order. We thought you could help us in keeping the peace, as you've been quite the hero to us," Zeke answered.

"Mind giving me some sight?" Reilious responded. "Oh wait, I'm connected to something..."

"What are you connected to?" Zeke asked, glancing at one of the scientists.

The lights flickered and cameras in the room swiveled towards Zeke and the scientists. The five exchanged glances as worried expressions filled their faces.

"Well, your cameras now," Reilious responded. "Along with what looks like lights and doors."

"Please don't look any deeper, Mr. Johnstone," Zeke said.

"Right, sorry if I open anything on accident," Reilious replied.

"Yes... Apology accepted," Zeke said slowly.

Reilious woke up in the middle of the night, the screen lighting up in the otherwise pitch black room. The cameras swiveled around. The lights turned on seconds after, as Reilious activated them with his mind, or he assumed so. He looked around, finding the hallway. He switched to the cameras in there, the lights from his room turning off.

He checked signs and looked through windows, searching for anything that could give him the ability to move. He didn't like the forced resting place he was supposedly in. He thought for a moment, PROCESSING showing up on the screen. He then started opening files.

"Here we go, synthetic tissue building. This looks like it could help," he said to himself.

He connected to the lab where it was taking place, the cameras in the room swiveling to look around. The computer terminal for the machine turned on.

Code began to fly past on the screen as the machine came to life, shuddering and whizzing. A pool next to the machine began filling with water, lights turning on around the pool. As the machine finished starting up, there was a single word on the terminal screen: READY.