《Seeking Clarity》 [Ch. 1] Rude Awakening Emptiness. Peaceful nothingness. A boy experiences nothing but these things. He drifts in a dreamlike state, unaware of his own existence. It is a blissful experience. If he were conscious, he would never want it to end. "Wake up." His mind stirs for a moment. Who was that? Oh well, nothing important probably. "James! Wake up!" The boy''s mind is aware again for a moment. James? I know someone named James. Oh well, I''m sure James is alright. "You want to play that game? Fine. But you won''t like this." ''Wait, what? What won''t I like?'' The boy thinks. Suddenly, he is overridden with agony. The boy sits up in with a start. A dull feeling of pain pulls at his stomach. He groans. Wires are attached loosely to his temples. Several tubes stick out from his arms, feeding him mysterious substances from bags hanging from a pole. He looks down at the thin paper gown he is wearing, then around at his surroundings. A hospital? The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident."Was I in a coma?" the boy thinks. He remembers suddenly the blissful nothingness he had just been torn from. Eager to return to it, he begins to lay back down. Suddenly, he feels a blast of cool air rush through his body. "Aah!" he gasps, immediately more alert. He sits up once more, this time with such force that the tubes rip from his arms and hang meekly from the poles. Where had that blast of air come from? He looks around and finds no air vents or AC machines pointed his way. "What the..." he mutters to himself. After a few moments of sitting quietly, he decides that he won''t be able to go back to sleep, and swings his legs over the side of the bed. [Ch. 2] Borrowed Clothes Short chapter, but I intend to upload Ch. 3 later today. :) They should get longer as the story progresses. The boy stands up and pulls back the curtain surrounding his bed. He walks away from the bed, but looks back briefly. Something shiny catches his eye. Walking back to the chair beside his bed, he sees what had caused the glare. A name tag attached to a dark green polo, sitting on the chair along with a pair of navy pants, gray boxer briefs, and black socks. The socks have no logo anywhere on them. He looks closely at the name tag, which has ¡°James Kanite¡± engraved into it. Whose clothes are these? Obviously they belong to someone named James. He¡¯d heard that name before¡­ The boy looks from the set of clothes to his own thin paper robe. Well, he figures if he knew the name, they must be a friend, and probably wouldn''t mind it if he borrowed the clothes. As he pulls on the shirt, he notices it is a bit too large. It might fit him two years from now. He decides to just deal with it, and leaves the name tag on the chair. Pulling on the socks, he spots shoes under the seat that completed the outfit. Like the socks, no logos are present on the sneakers. They¡¯re comfortable enough, but also a bit big for him. Silently thanking whoever had left them, he walks away from the bed. He notices for the first time that he is in a hallway, each wall lined with curtained beds like the one he just left. All the curtains are drawn, shielding what lay behind them. He decides it¡¯s best not to invade anyone¡¯s privacy, and walks towards the doorway at the end of the hallway. The sneakers make surprisingly little noise on the ceramic tile floor. As he nears the doorway, he sees that some of the beds on this side of the hall had their curtains pulled back, revealing empty beds identical to the one he had just left. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.Why is this hospital so quiet? Surely it must be nighttime and everyone is asleep? No, but even at night doctors and nurses would be rushing back and forth in this hospital. And yet, he appeared to be alone in the hallway. Just what is this place? Another blast of cool air rushes up the boy¡¯s spine. He spins around, body rushing with adrenaline, and scans the room for the source. Yet again, there is no vent in sight. He also realizes that nothing around him had been affected. None of the curtains were fluttering, his hair sat still on his head. Is he imagining things? What in the world is going on here? [Ch. 3] Meeting New People Shaking off the lingering chill, he turns around and continues through the doorway. It leads to a much darker hallway. Red lights blink slowly high up on the walls every 30 feet or so. The place gives the boy an extremely eerie feeling. He feels a sharp pain in the back of his skull. Suddenly, the room is much easier to see around in. ¡°What was that?¡± he asks out loud. It¡¯s almost as if a night vision filter has been placed over his eyes. Feeling more confident with this newfound eyesight, he continues down the hall. After walking for a bit, the boy encounters a double doorway. These doors are shut. The boy debates for a minute whether or not he should go forward or turn around and go back to the hallway with the beds and wait to see if anyone comes to explain things to him. -- Two men in white lab coats are standing in a room with many different screens displaying camera feeds from around the facility. They are in the middle of an argument. ¡°But what if she can¡¯t handle the dosage?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter! You heard the queen! If she continues to give us no response, we need to increase the dosage! We¡¯re behind on schedule already, we can¡¯t have another one of the pawns falling behind in the procedure.¡± ¡°What if we kill her? The company doesn¡¯t need another body to dispose of.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not our problem to worry about. What the queen says goes. And she says to double this girl¡¯s-¡± He stops mid-sentence. The door on the other side of the room creaks open, revealing a boy in navy pants and a dark green polo shirt. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.¡°What is he doing here?!?!¡± one of the men yells. He storms over to the boy. ¡°Where are you supposed to be right now, pawn?¡± -- Maybe he should have chosen to go back to his bed. The boy has no idea what was going on, but he can put together that he was now somewhere he shouldn¡¯t be. ¡°What quadrant are you supposed to be in?¡± The man in front of the boy is getting impatient. ¡°Quadrant 3. I came to retrieve the latest security footage.¡± The boy says without thinking. ¡®What am I saying?¡¯ he thinks to himself? He wasn¡¯t trying to speak, and yet the words fell out of his mouth, like someone was talking for him. Whatever he had just said, it seems to please the man in the jacket. ¡°Oh. Steve! Get him a copy of tape 4-21.¡± The second man places down the syringe he was holding and grabs a DVD of some kind. ¡°Here you go.¡± he said gruffly. ¡°Now get out.¡± The boy turns to leave, but the first man stops him before he can leave. ¡°Hold on pawn.¡± ¡°What is it sir?¡± ¡°Where¡¯s your name tag?¡± The boy¡¯s mind begins racing. He¡¯d left it on the chair by his bed. He didn¡¯t think he would need it. Apparently he did. ¡°I-I-I must have lost it sir.¡± The man frowns. ¡°Incompetent. I¡¯ll get you a new one. What¡¯s your name?¡± The boy thinks hard. What had that name tag said? ¡°James Kanite, sir.¡± The man types a few things into a computer in the corner of the room. ¡°What the¡­¡± he says. ¡°You¡¯re not supposed to be awake yet-¡± The man turns around. The boy is gone. [Ch. 4] Old Memories The man walks swiftly towards the door. ¡°Where did he go?!¡± the he demands. ¡°He just bolted out the door after you turned around!¡± the other man replies. ¡°Well, don¡¯t just stand there! Help me find him!¡± ¡°Isn''t there some loud speaker we can use to tell everyone else to search for him?¡± ¡°Oh yeah, just go ahead and start yelling over the loudspeaker! We¡¯ll just hope we don¡¯t wake up the hundreds of kids in conditioning and ruin the whole plan.¡± The second man begins to feel uneasy. ¡°Well, can¡¯t we at least get some others to help us search?¡± he suggests meekly. ¡°No. We can¡¯t tell anyone about this. That kid was being injected with the Knight Formula. We can¡¯t tell anyone! If this gets back to the king or queen, they¡¯ll have our heads!¡± ¡°What do we do then?¡± ¡°We search on our own, find the boy, get him back in suspension, and act like nothing happened.¡± Unlike all other standard chess pieces, the knight can ''jump over'' other pieces. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.-- The boy continues running down the dark hallway. What the heck is going on here? Who were those men? Why did they call him a pawn? Who said those things about quadrant 3 and security tapes? It had come out of his mouth, but he didn¡¯t think of it. This is all getting too weird. The boy slows down and stops outside of the hallway with the beds. He takes a moment to catch his breath, and walks in as silently as possible. Three seconds later, another cold chill hits the boy. ¡°Augh!¡± he cries out. This one is stronger than the last two. Suddenly, memories flood his mind. Thousands of people talk at once, each for only a second. They each say the same name: James Kanite. The boy remembers. That¡¯s his name. To his left, something shifts on a bed. Then, a curtain is drawn back. There stands a small girl in a paper-thin hospital robe, tubes still protruding from her forearm. She wipes sleep from her eyes, and stares at James curiously. ¡°Is everything alright out here? I heard someone yell.¡± [Ch. 5] New Friends James stumbles back in surprise. The girl has black hair, almost reaching her shoulders. She has deep hazel brown eyes. Her figure is small and frail. She can¡¯t be more than 13 years old, probably younger. ¡°Who-¡± he begins. ¡°-am I?¡± she completes. ¡°What, you don¡¯t know either?¡± ¡°No, just completing your sentence.¡± Despite how rude it was for her finish his sentences for him, James begins to laugh. ¡°So then you do know. What is your name?¡± ¡°Abby.¡± she states simply. ¡°Got a last name?¡± ¡°Does it matter?¡± she retorts. ¡°No.¡± Now it¡¯s Abby¡¯s turn to laugh. ¡°Hill. Abby Hill.¡± ¡°Well Abby, you wouldn¡¯t happen to also know where we are and what we¡¯re doing here right?¡± Abby thinks hard for a second. ¡°No, I haven¡¯t a clue,¡± she admits finally. ¡°Well, that makes two of us.¡± James begins to stand up. ¡°I¡¯m James by the way. James Kanite.¡± A look of recognition flashes briefly on Abby¡¯s face, then quickly disappears. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± James asks. ¡°Oh, nothing. It¡¯s just a nice name, that¡¯s all.¡± James can now hear heavy footsteps in the dark hallway he just came from. "Crap, they''re probably the lab coat guys," he mutters to himself. "This way," instructs Abby. "Huh?" "Come on!" Abby grabs James by the arm and half guides half drags him to the other end of the hallway. There''s another doorway that James hadn''t noticed before. Abby thrusts one of the doors opens and rushes inside, and James runs in after her. This hallway has its lights on unlike the other one. The two rush past about a dozen doors, and the hallway splits in three different directions. Abby chooses the one on the left, and James follows her. After another 30 seconds of running, Abby screeches to a halt and darts into one of the doors. James stops for a moment in confusion, then goes through the door as well. He finds himself standing in a girls bathroom, not a urinal in sight. One of the stall doors shuts and James watches two bare feet disappear behind the door, the owner obviously standing on the toilet. He enters the stall next to Abby and does the same. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.¡°So, why are we-¡± Abby cuts him off with a sharp shush. A few seconds later, they listen as two pairs of footsteps run past the bathroom. They both breathe a sigh of relief, and exit the stalls. After a moment to catch their breath, the pair nod to each other and silently make their way towards the door. James takes one last look in the bathroom. He hadn¡¯t been in a women¡¯s bathroom for as long as he can remember, and still found the absence of urinals odd. He also noted that there were no mirrors in front of the sink. Also weird. Aren¡¯t girls always coming in here to fix their hair and makeup or something? Shrugging, he follows Abby back to the hallway with the beds. Abby returns to her curtained space, and returns from it wearing an outfit perfectly identical to the one James is wearing. ¡°Feels good to wear real clothes after a while,¡± she jokes. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± James answers dully. He¡¯s had something on his mind for a while now. ¡°What¡¯s up? Something wrong?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just wondering how you seemed to know the layout of the building so well.¡± Abby looks caught off guard. ¡°Oh. Well see, about that¡­¡± [Ch. 6] Confessions Abby sits back down on her bed. She pats a spot beside her, beckoning James over to sit with her. He obliges; this is obviously going to take a while. ¡°So, obviously I¡¯ve been keeping something from you,¡± she begins. ¡°I¡¯ll say.¡± ¡°Well, don¡¯t go acting like I¡¯m a dirty liar! I intended to tell you, eventually. We just got caught up in that chase and¡­ anyways, this used to be an abandoned hospital, when a married couple purchased and renovated it. They were in charge of a big corporation called Hillside Laboratories, but it was shut down for ¡®health violations.¡¯ Before the company went under, they were working on a series of formulas to inject into people.¡± ¡°What kind of formulas?¡± ¡°You know Captain America? It¡¯s kind of like that. The US government was funding the company to create a super soldier formula for use in the military, but they shut it down after it was discovered that the company began testing the formulas immediately, without getting approval from the FDA.¡± ¡°So, they made super soldier drugs, and got shut down. What¡¯s that got to do with this place?¡± ¡°Well, the Co-Founders of the company didn¡¯t give up so easily. They had been developing multiple versions of the formula without the government''s knowledge, and planned to use them to take over the nation once the formulas were complete. They just needed funding from the government, so they pretended to have good intentions. After they were shut down however, the Co-Founders decided to purchase this property and continue to develop the formulas in secret. They also were working on a process through which to brainwash people so that they would follow orders once injected with the formula.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why there¡¯s so many beds here? These are all people being tested on with the formulas?¡± ¡°Not exactly. Almost all of the formulas are fully developed. This isn¡¯t where they test them, because they don¡¯t need testing. This is where they condition people to follow orders once they¡¯ve been injected.¡± This is a lot of information to take in. James takes a moment to think about things. ¡°Well, then shouldn¡¯t we wake everyone here up? Get them out before they become mindless soldiers of these Co-Founders?¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.¡°It¡¯s not that simple. You can¡¯t just wake people from conditioning. It¡¯s a deep state of sleep that takes a while to wake up from.¡± ¡°Well then how did I wake up? Have I been brainwashed already?¡± ¡°Considering how you ran away from those lab coat guys, I would bet on no.¡± James breathes a sigh of relief. ¡°Okay, well do you know what these formulas are designed to do?¡± ¡°There are five of them. Each one enhances the vision of the person injected with it. One of the variations of the formula enhances a person¡¯s movement speed. Another enhances overall agility, including speed, as well as things like weaving through a group of people. The third type merely enhances a person¡¯s physical strength, and the fourth does the same, only more so.¡± ¡°And the fifth?¡± ¡°The fifth is like a jack of all trades. It enhances speed and strength to some extent, as well as overall agility; just not as much as the others that specialize in one or the other. It also has a unique characteristic that allows a person to jump extremely high, and make very sharp turns.¡± ¡°Do these formulas have names?¡± ¡°The strength one is called the Pawn formula. The speed formula is called the Rook formula, and the agility one is the Bishop formula.¡± ¡°Like the chess pieces?¡± ¡°Yes. Also, one of the Co-Founders was the only one injected with the super strength formula. He goes by ¡°The King.¡± The other, known as ¡°The Queen,¡± was injected with both the Rook and Bishop formulas.¡± James smiles to himself. This really is like chess. It also explains why he kept getting called ¡°pawn¡± before. ¡°The final formula that grants enhanced jumping, among other things, is called the Knight formula. That one is the most experimental.¡± James figured this was the case. The Knight formula sounded interesting to him. After all, the knight is the only piece that can single-handedly take down the queen in chess. Perhaps such an advantage was present here too. ¡°One last question. How exactly do you know all of this?¡± Abby shifts uncomfortably once again. She was afraid he would ask this. ¡°Because,¡± she says, ¡°the King and Queen are my parents.¡± [Ch. 7] Discovered Two men in lab coats are in a hallway, catching their breath. ¡°Where did he go?¡± one asks. ¡°I don¡¯t know! If I did we wouldn¡¯t be searching!¡± the other yells at him. ¡°What are you two idiots doing?¡± The two whip around. ¡°Your highness! We were just-¡± ¡°I heard you talking,¡± the woman snaps. ¡°Who are you searching for?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s not really a person, we were just looking for a security tape we lost,¡± one of them begins. The woman darts across the hallway toward the men with incredible speed. The man who was speaking feels the Queen¡¯s fingers wrap around his neck. ¡°Don¡¯t lie to me,¡± she hisses. ¡°Who are you searching for?!¡± The other man speaks up. ¡°A boy who escaped from conditioning.¡± The Queen¡¯s cold stare focuses on the second man. ¡°How?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Not good enough!¡± The Queen throws the first man on the floor. He gasps for air. ¡°Find him and bring him to me. Gather some pawns to help you. You two obviously are too incompetent to continue this search on your own.¡± And with that, she disappears down the hallway. -- James stares in shock at Abby. ¡°Your parents?¡± he exclaims. ¡°Listen, James, I¡¯m not like them. I don¡¯t want this to happen.¡± ¡°How can I trust you after hearing that?¡± ¡°Would I have told you if my intentions were bad? I told them I didn¡¯t like what they planned to do, but they just put me in here for conditioning, so I would behave.¡± James relaxes a bit. He can believe that. She does have a bed here after all. ¡°Okay, okay. I believe you. So, what do we do now?¡± ¡°We need to get out of here. There¡¯s a way to exit the building, but we¡¯ll have to pass by the King and Queen¡¯s living quarters. That could be dangerous. If they find out we are awake, there¡¯s no telling what they may do to us.¡± At that moment, there¡¯s a loud bang that comes from the end of the hallway. About a dozen kids around the age of 15 come pouring in the doorway. They are all wearing the same dark green polo and navy pants that were laid out for James and Abby. Bringing up the rear of the group are the two men in lab coats. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.¡°Shoot! They¡¯ve got backup this time.¡± ¡°So much for them not knowing we¡¯re awake,¡± says Abby. ¡°Which way to the King¡¯s quarters?¡± asks James. ¡°Through the door that all the pawns just came through,¡± Abby answers grimly. ¡°Well, the other door is a dead end, so I guess we¡¯ll have to face them here.¡± ¡°Wait, what are you doing?!¡± James begins to run towards the dozens of pawns on the other side of the room. ¡°There he is! Seize him!¡± shouts one of the men in lab coats. Every pawn turns to look at James, and run towards him, arms outstretched. James elbows one of them in the face, and twirls around kicking another pawn into a third. ¡°Woah! Didn¡¯t know I could do that.¡± But it¡¯s not enough. Seconds later, the three have gotten up, brushed themselves off, and joined the crowd of pawns that now surround James. ¡°Didn''t think this one through too well, did you boy?¡± taunts one of them. The group of pawns closes in on James, but at the very last second, ¡°Jump!¡± says a voice in his head. And jump he does. 10 feet into the air, and touches the ground outside of the circle. James looks around at the faces in front of him, all as astonished as he is. ¡°Alright! That was cool! Now, lets get this party star-¡± someone hits James from behind. He hears Abby scream his name before everything goes black. [Ch. 8] Royal Welcome Chapter 9 will be out later today, so don''t worry about this chapter being so short ;) When James regains consciousness, the first thing he feels are a sharp tugging on his wrists and a rough burning sensation on his heels. He is being dragged along the ground by a pawn. His hands are bound together by a zip tie. At first, he struggles to free himself. ¡°Don¡¯t bother,¡± says a voice beside him. He sees Abby being dragged in a similar fashion. ¡°I¡¯ve tried squirming. It doesn¡¯t do anything except hurt.¡± James takes her advice, and focuses on trying to make the ride as comfortable as possible. It doesn¡¯t improve much. They come to a large wooden door, and one of the pawns knocks on it. The door swings inward, revealing an extremely muscular man. ¡°What do you want?¡± he demands. The pawn gestures to the two prisoners they have in tow. ¡°Oh, Abby.¡± he says as his expression softens. Abby scowls at him. ¡°Father,¡± she spits. ¡°Bring them in here,¡± he says. ¡°We need to talk.¡± ¡°Talk about what?¡± James asks as he is dragged through the doorway. ¡°About your plans to take over this country with your chess army? Because we both already know about that.¡± The King laughs. So does the Queen, who is in the room sitting in an armchair. ¡°Oh, you foolish boy.¡± The Queen says maliciously. ¡° If control over the nation was what we wanted, we would have gotten it a while ago. No, we have much bigger plans in store.¡± ¡°What kind of plans?¡± asks Abby. The expression on her face has shifted slightly from one of anger to one of curiosity and fear. ¡°You both know what the black market is, correct?¡± says the King. ¡°No¡­¡± Abby whispers. ¡°No, you can¡¯t be thinking of¡­¡± ¡°Oh yes, that is our plan exactly,¡± the Queen answers. ¡°You may not know this, but super soldier formulas sell for a lot of money on the black market. Preconditioned super soldiers go for an even higher price. In the millions, I believe.¡± ¡°So, what? You¡¯ll just sell these brainwashed children all over the globe and let the leaders of the world¡¯s most devious cults and mafias take over?¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.¡°You don¡¯t think your father and I are that stupid, do you dear? There¡¯s another formula I don¡¯t believe we got the chance to tell you about. It¡¯s called the Masterpiece formula.¡± ¡°Masterpiece? What does that even mean?¡± James asks. ¡°Do you know how chess works? None of the pieces are in charge of how the team moves, it¡¯s the player that makes those decisions.¡± the King says matter-of-factly. ¡°So, this formula allows a person to telepathically give orders to the pieces. Once we have every ¡®devious cult and mafia¡¯ filled with our super soldiers, we¡¯ll call them all to follow our leadership, and them we shall take over the world, one nation at a time.¡± ¡°You, Abby, were going to have the privilege of leading our empire with this new formula,¡± the Queen informs her daughter. ¡°But since you¡¯ve been resisting conditioning, we¡¯ve been forced to look into other options. Darling, could you come in here?¡± Another little girl, perhaps two years younger than Abby walks into the room. She has freckles covering her face, and dark green eyes. She has the same black hair that Abby does. In fact, it¡¯s the same black hair that everyone, all the pawns, the King and Queen, even the men in lab coats all have. Abby recognizes the girl. ¡°Briana? No...¡± she says quietly. ¡°You know her?¡± inquires James. ¡°That¡¯s my sister.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Hey big sis!¡± Briana says joyfully. ¡°Check this out!¡± She concentrates on one of the pawns next to Abby, and the pawn begins to perform the chicken dance. Briana giggles at him. ¡°Alright Briana, that¡¯s quite enough,¡± instructs the King. Briana looks slightly disappointed, but looks at the pawn again and it ceases dancing. ¡°We must go and continue preparations,¡± says the Queen. ¡°Keep an eye on them here,¡± she tells the pawns. With that, the King, Queen, and Briana all leave the room. [Ch. 9] Checking Out There are only three pawns in the room now with Abby and James. Abby has a look of shock still on her face. James is planning an escape route. ¡®We can¡¯t just sit here and wait for them to come back,¡¯ he thinks to himself. He begins pulling his wrists apart. The tie stretches a bit. He pulls harder. His wrists begin to sear with pain. The tie pulls against his skin. He continues pulling, and grits his teeth. The tie breaks! The three pawns look down to see what has happened, by the time they''ve registered what James accomplished, he already is standing up and punching one of them in the face. He rushes across the room and knees another in the stomach. She falls to the ground, gasping for air. The third pawn rushes towards him, leaving Abby unguarded. As she goes over to the desk in the middle of the room to search for scissors, James leaps over the third pawn, kicking his jaw on the way down. The three pawns lie on the ground, each writhing in pain. Abby finds scissors and manages to cut herself loose. James grabs her arm and leads her towards the exit. They burst through the door and begin sprinting down the hallway. ¡°Which way towards the exit?¡± James asks Abby. ¡°Just up ahead!¡± she responds. 20 yards in front of them is a door marked with one of those red Exit signs. James throws open the door and begins down the stairs that lie behind it. He sees signs in the stairwell that tell him which floor he¡¯s on. ¡°8th floor, 7 levels down to exit.¡± ¡°7th floor, 6 levels down to the exit.¡± Eventually they reach the first floor, and find a door marked exit. Abby pushes it open, and the two of them rush outside. They are standing in a parking lot late at night. Nothing can be seen for miles except rolling green hills, tinted blue by the moonlight. A man in a lab coat in on the other side of the parking lot, rifling through his keys. He find the right one and unlocks the door to his car. Moments later, James knocks him out and takes the keys out of the car door. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.¡°Get in!¡± he tells Abby. She climbs into the passenger seat. ¡°Do you know how to drive?¡± she asks him. ¡°It can¡¯t be that hard, right?¡± James reassures her as he puts the key in the ignition and turn it. Abby hurriedly puts on her seat belt. James looks in the driver¡¯s mirror. It¡¯s the first time he¡¯s gotten a good look at himself since he woke up. He admires his own blue piercing eyes, and¡­ black hair? He could have sworn he had golden blonde hair. Why is it black? Another rush of cool air overtakes him. His mind is flooded with more memories than he imagined one person could ever have. He sees his mother filing for divorce several years ago, his kind father winning custody in the court room. His older sister going off to college a few years before that. Every birthday he¡¯s experienced. His father¡¯s three story house in Chicago. The park down the street of it. The pizza place they always go to on Saturday nights to get a cheese pizza and pepperoni pizza, despite the fact that the two of them never completely finish both before it needs to be thrown out. And then he¡¯s back in the car, fingernails dug into the steering wheel. He realizes now why there were no mirrors in the bathroom. Throwing the car into reverse, James carefully pulls out of the parking lot, and starts driving on the main road. [Ch. 10] Road Trip Sorry for the lack of chapters. School is stupid. I won''t be able to write this weekend because of vacation stuff. But I''ll be back Monday with chapter 11 (hopefully)! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- James is shaking for two reasons. First reason is because he¡¯s never driven a car before, and he really hopes he doesn¡¯t end up crashing and killing both himself and Abby. The second reason is because of the overload of information he had just regained in a matter of seconds. Abby noticed the nervous look James was wearing, and now is beginning to feel a bit concerned. After they went a while without flying off a cliff however, she begins to calm down. ¡°So, what happened back there?¡± she asks carefully. ¡°Oh, I just saw the man near the car and decided it was our best and fastest method of getting away from-¡± Abby cuts him off. ¡°That¡¯s not what I¡¯m talking about, and you know it. What¡¯s gotten you so jittery? You¡¯ve been like this since you turned the ignition.¡± James is silent for a moment. Then, he begins to explain what he saw. ¡°When I looked in the rear view mirror, I remembered some things.¡± ¡°What kind of things?¡± ¡°Who I was, who my family was. What life was like before we ended up here. Basically my entire past had been ripped from my mind, and now it¡¯s been shoved back in.¡± ¡°Oh. I see.¡± Other than the rattle of the engine, nothing makes any noise. Abby decides to attempt to start conversation again. ¡°Well, maybe if you started talking about it, it would help you to process.¡± James considers this. After a few seconds, he decides to give it a go. ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll try that.¡± James takes a deep breath. ¡°So, I have a mother, father, and older sister. My sister is named Hayley, and went off to college four years ago. A year later, my mom, Janet, divorced my father, David.¡± James smiles a bit. He¡¯s glad he got to live with his dad. ¡°My dad got custody of me, and I went to live with him in the three story house he bought in Chicago. My mom got ownership of our old house in Maine. I go to visit her every other weekend. My dad and I go to this pizza joint called PepperToni¡¯s Pizza, which is across the street from a park that I would go to regularly after school up until last year.¡± He smiles again, remembering how cheesy the name is. ¡°Most days we have food delivered from various Chinese food places, and fast food restaurants, but we went to PepperToni¡¯s every Sunday to eat and watch whatever sports game was on. We always sit in the same booth, the second to last one on the front left side of the restaurant. Every time we go there, we get two pizzas, one cheese and one pepperoni. We always bring home the leftovers and eat them for lunch until they go bad or we finish them off, the latter of which has only happened on two occasions.¡± Abby looks at him in awe for a moment. James continues to stare at the street ahead of them. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.¡°Wow, that¡¯s quite a bit of information,¡± she says finally. ¡°That all came back to you at once?¡± James just nods his head, and continues to drive. *bing bing* James looks down at the dashboard. The light next to the gas meter is on. He¡¯s almost out of fuel. Looking back up, he notices a small building on the side of the road, a few hundred yards away. It¡¯s almost not even a building, just a flat single story square structure that couldn¡¯t have been more than a couple yards wide. ¡°Well, we¡¯re out of gas,¡± he tells Abby. ¡°Good news is,¡± he points to the building, ¡°that place looks like a nice place to spend the night. What do you say?¡± Abby nods in approval, and James pulls carefully onto the small gravel road leading off to the building. As he draws nearer, he notices a man and a woman standing in the way, both with white hair that the headlights illuminate. The woman holds a clipboard in one hand. The man is pointing a rifle at the car. ¡°Stop!¡± he yells. James doesn¡¯t argue. The car comes to a rest 30 feet away from the two. ¡°Exit the vehicle now!¡± the man orders. Abby and James look at each other, then slowly open the car doors and step out, with their hands above their heads. The man and woman look over the two for a second, and then they both realize something. ¡°Come with us,¡± the man says firmly, rifle still trained on the two. The woman handcuffs both of them, except she uses a sort of block with two holes instead of standard handcuffs that the police use. When James¡¯s hands are forced into these holes, they each collapse to fit his hands exactly, making it impossible to pull his hands out through the holes that are now the size of his wrist at the opening. The woman then traps Abby¡¯s hands in an identical block, and the man and woman lead them toward the building. [Ch. 11] Captured Pieces Holy guacamole! It''s been a while! Sorry about that. I''ve been busy with life throwing all kinds of stuff at me, and then I wanted a break for this weekend. That said, enjoy the new chapter! I really hope this is the last time I have to go on Hiatus for this long. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The man walks behind James and Abby, while the woman walks ahead of them. When they reach the building, she pulls open the door, and holds it only long enough for everyone to pass through before continuing on. The interior of the building is as rundown as the outside. The large single room has several rectangular pillars spaced out evenly to support the roof. The white paint on the walls peels, and the floorboards creak under the group¡¯s footsteps. This place must have been abandoned long ago, for obvious reasons. So why were these two white-haired people here? The four continue silently through the space, stepping over broken or missing floorboards. At the end of the room are two doors, one marked men, and one marked women. The men¡¯s door is boarded up, and the male stick figure is barely noticeable behind all of the wooden planks nailed across the door frame. The woman leads everyone into the women¡¯s bathroom. The stalls reek of piss and vomit. Once the door squeaks closed behind him, the man walks over to the sinks, presses down on one of the soap dispensers four times, and then turns the hot water on in the next sink over. A rattling sound comes from the pipes. James half-expects brown sludge to erupt from the faucet. But the rattling continues, growing louder by the minute, and eventually resonates throughout the entire room. It then transforms into a low groan, like metal scraping against metal. For a split second, James feels a bit lighter, then a bit heavier. They are moving. The room is moving. ¡®It¡¯s an elevator¡¯ James realizes. Abby appears to also figure it out. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.Eventually, the scraping sounds cease, and the room comes to a halt. ¡°Through the door,¡± the man orders. James and Abby push open the door, revealing a much cleaner area than the room that door previously led to. A long hallway, similar to the ones in the hospital stretch out in front of them. Only this hallway has every florescent light shining steadily, reflecting off of the clean tile floor. James feels the man push him forward. His shoes squeak on the shiny tile as they are led past countless doors on either side of the hallway. They eventually come to a stop, and James and Abby are forced into separate rooms next to each other on the left side of the hallway. The man follows James into his room. He orders James to sit down on the bed. Once James has sat, the man plucks a hair from his head. ¡°Hey!¡± exclaims James. ¡°What did you do that for?¡± The man ignores him, pulling a small device from his pocket, and placing the hair inside. A small noise comes from the device, and it speaks. ¡°Hair dye detected. Pigment hex code 000000.¡± ¡°As I suspected.¡± The man mumbles to himself. ¡°Handcuffs! Run tests for F1 through F6, as well as BWF.¡± The box on James¡¯s hands makes a small whirring noise, and James feels a quick sharp pinch in each wrist. ¡°Aah!¡± he cries out in pain. The machine continues to make odd noises. It then speaks. ¡°Subject tests positive for BWF and F5.¡± ¡°So, a wiped Knight huh?¡± The machine speaks again. ¡°Subject tests positive for BWF. Release subject now?¡± ¡°No, keep him restrained for now,¡± the man tells the box. He then begins out the door. ¡°Wait!¡± says James. ¡°What¡¯s a wiped Knight? What did your box just do to my wrist? What is this place?¡± ¡°Just be quiet and stay here until I come back.¡± And with that, the man closes the door. [Ch. 12] Interrogation It seems to take an eternity for the man to return. When he does, he just leads James out of the room without speaking. ¡°Where are we going?¡± James demands. The man does not respond. Frustrated, James looks down at the floor. Eventually the man leads him into a room with three chairs and a small table. One wall has a long mirror on it. ¡°An interrogation room? What did I do wrong?¡± ¡°Just sit tight.¡± The man leaves again. A few minutes later, the woman from earlier enters the room, followed by Abby. ¡°James!¡± Abby says. The woman leads her over to the table and has her sit in one of the chairs before leaving the room. The two are about to talk, when the door opens once again, causing them to jump. A man, different than the one from before, walks in and sits down in the third chair. He wears a light gray business suit and has white hair. He looks about 35. ¡°Why are we here?¡± James blurts out again. ¡°Well, if you want me to answer that question, you¡¯ll have to answer one of mine first. Seem reasonable?¡± James nods. ¡°Good show! Now, first question, how much do you know about a company known as Hillside Laboratories?¡± Abby speaks up. ¡°That¡¯s my parents¡¯ company. They have been developing formulas that give people superpowers, and they intend to brainwash and inject an army of people to take over the world.¡± The man looks surprised for a moment. ¡°All of this is true. You said they are your parents?¡± the man asks. ¡°Yes, but you have to answer one of our questions before you ask that one.¡± James says quickly before Abby can elaborate. ¡°Smart boy. Alright, ask away.¡± ¡°Where are we?¡± ¡°You are in a government facility that develops formulas similar to the ones from Hillside Laboratories. Now, about this young lady and her parents¡­¡± Abby thinks about what to say for a minute. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.¡°They tried to turn me into one of their soldiers, and inject me with something called the ¡®Masterpiece Formula¡¯ which would supposedly allow me to mentally control all of the soldiers. I resisted conditioning however, so they injected my sister instead.¡± ¡°Very interesting.¡± the man says. ¡°My turn,¡± says James. ¡°Why are you developing the formulas too? Are you trying to take over the world also?¡± ¡°No no, of course not!¡± the man chuckles. ¡°We¡¯re developing them so that we can have volunteer soldiers fight against the Hillside Laboratories army. Now, one last question for you. How did you get here, and why?¡± James thinks for a minute. ¡®Should I tell him? He seems pretty trustworthy¡­¡¯ He looks over at Abby, who gives him a little nod. ¡°We were being brainwashed, but escaped before they could do it. We stole a car and drove away, and thought this would be a good place to sleep for the night.¡± ¡°It seems then that you have good intentions and are not threats. Handcuffs, release!¡± The boxes make a small whirring noise, and the holes open back up. Abby and James pull their hands from the boxes and massage their fingers. ¡°Sorry about the discomfort. It¡¯s for security reasons. You understand. Now, I believe that¡¯s all we needed to know from you two.¡± The door opens and the man and woman from earlier step in. ¡°If you have any other questions,¡± the man continues, ¡°just ask Dr. Reed,¡± the man raises his hand, ¡°or Dr. Channington.¡± The woman smiles and waves to them. They all leave the room, and the man walks down the hallway, leaving the other four outside of the room. Dr. Channington holds the boxes under her arm. ¡°So,¡± she asks, ¡°want to see the facility?¡± [Ch. 13] White Lies Dear Lord! Ten days since my last chapter! I guess I''ll never be able to update as regularly as I''d hoped. Especially since I''m taking a course online over the summer which sucks. And I started a new story to write, which in hindsight was probably a terrible idea, when I need less work to do. Go check out my new story btw! Link in the signature. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The four walk around the facility for about half an hour, Dr. Reed and Dr. Channington occasionally pointing out something interesting or important, and explaining how it works. Abby is fascinated, taking in every word the doctors say. James is listening, but doesn¡¯t understand a lot of what they discuss. Eventually, the group settles down in a cafe. ¡°So, do you have any questions so far?¡± Dr. Channington asks the two teens. ¡°Yeah, a lot of them actually,¡± James admits. ¡°But it would take to long to ask them all. I will ask, where¡¯s the bathroom?¡± Dr. Reed chuckles. ¡°There are some right over there, about 30 feet down the hall, second door on your left,¡± he answers. James gets up and heads in the direction Dr. Reed pointed. He finds the men¡¯s room, and does his business. As he exits the restroom, he notices two doors down on the opposite side of the hallway, there¡¯s an open door that is marked ¡°Keep Shut.¡± He goes to close the door, but right before he begins to push it shut, he sees hospital beds through the opening between the door and door frame. He opens up the door a bit, and pokes his head inside. This room is lined with hospital beds. James remembers a very similar room in Hillside Laboratories. ¡®This must be where they inject the volunteers with the formulas,¡¯ he realizes. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.¡°How¡¯s the dye formula development coming along?¡± James freezes. There are two men in the middle of the room, with white hair and labcoats. He quickly pulls his head out of the room, but presses his ear to the door in order to continue listening. ¡°Where have you been for the past 4 days? We finished developing that Monday! All of these soldiers have had their hair dyed with it,¡± the second man says. ¡°Great! Now they¡¯ll follow the orders of the Masterpiece?¡± ¡°Of course! It¡¯s just that we combined it with the dye. One less thing to inject the pawns with, you know? Saves needles.¡± ¡°Right, right.¡± Two sets of footsteps grow louder from the other side of the door. ¡®They¡¯re coming this way!¡¯ James realizes. He quickly but silently begins walking back to the cafe, trying to process what he had heard. Follow orders? That sounds like brainwashing. But weren¡¯t these soldiers volunteers? Why would they need to sneak that into the hair dye then? Why did they need to dye hair at all? Abby smiles at James when he returns. ¡°What¡¯s got you so excited?¡± he asks. ¡°They said we could help them fight my parents! All we need to do is have our hair dyed so they can tell our soldiers from theirs. I¡¯m gonna do it. How about you?"