Genesis | Book One, The Genesis Series

FIVE

Kai was awoken by the harsh, booming sounds that flowed through his ears, finding himself in a bedroom that looked strangely similar to his own.

As he coughed up blood and checked around his sweaty body for wounds, he couldn't find a single bruise on his body. As his dazed brain retraced it's steps, the memories came flooding back to him.

"I've come to save the world."

That phrase echoed throughout his mind endlessly. It was all he could think about.

Ajax.

All of that bloodshed...all because of him.

His chest tightened as he gripped the side of his bed, thinking about the brutal beating he'd taken from Ajax the night before. The mercenary's twisted, maniacal smile stayed with him, chilling him to the bone. He'd find a way to deal with him later, though.

After all, he was apparently bulletproof now, at least according to Dylo and the others. That was what they'd told him in the van shortly before they'd all fallen asleep.

But where was he now? Who had taken him?

He wasn't a fan of secrets, and he probably never would be. He feared what he didn't know, but he would never admit it to himself, let alone anyone else. Slowly gazing around the room, his line of vision struggled to focus as he thought about what happened last night.

As he got up, he stumbled, as his legs felt like jelly. Shortly after regaining his balance, he slowly walked to the bedroom window and peeked through the blinds. What he saw astonished him.

Through the double-paned window, he saw the exhibit. The very exhibit that he and his friends had been in the day before-or at least something that looked like it. In it, he witnessed scientists in white lab coats with red outlines on the seams.

They moved periodically, with a stern motion, utilizing quick commands. What were they doing? Building some sort of machine?

After wondering what these scientists were doing, he then began to wonder what the scientists were going to do to him. After backing away from the blinds and sitting on his bed for a solid 5 minutes, trying to process everything, he turned and looked at his nightstand.

There, on his nightstand, sat the very same alarm clock that was in his room the day before.

This couldn't be happening.

He stood up and walked to his bedroom door, checking to see if his captors had locked him in. To his relief, the door was unlocked. With the stealthiest of movements, he cracked the door, peeking outside to see if anyone was guarding him.

Finding no one outside the room, however, he carefully tiptoed outside of his colorless bedroom, fully intending to find a way out of the cursed area. But before he could do that, he had to find his friends.

As he maneuvered through the dimly lit hallways of the facility, still unsure of where he was, Kai peeked around the corner as a man in a white lab coat with a blue outline traversed the hallway. "Excuse me, sir." Kai began.

The man turned and looked at Kai, wearing an expression of awe on his face as he swiftly backed up. Kai took note of the man's awkward expression, but didn't think much of it.

"Would you be so kind as to tell me what I'm doing here? Who the hell are you people? Where are my friends?"

"Oh god, you're finally awake." The man gasped, a frown engulfing his face.

A puzzled expression overtook Kai's facial features. "What do you mean by "finally"? How long have I been asleep?" He squinted his eyes and arched his eyebrow as he desperately attempted to make sense of all this.