Beginning of Chapter One
The moon shines down on a derelict looking neighborhood. The streets are completely empty, save for the few wandering animals looking for scraps of food.
Suddenly, there is a bright flash, and a giant bubble of light engulfs the area...
**********
Doctors and nurses rush a gurney down the hallway. On it lays an unconscious young man: Damien Watts. At first they seem to be heading towards the emergency room, but turn and enter a restricted area of the hospital. Waiting for them is a woman with glasses and short hair: Evelyn Rice. She stares at Damien as he's taken inside. One of the doctors comes over to her.
“So, what do you want us to do,” he asks.
“Stabilize his vitals,” she responds, “Then my people will take over.”
The doctor nods and begins to walk off.
“Oh, and doctor...”
The doctor stops and turns around.
“...I shouldn't have to remind you that anything that takes place here is strictly confidential,” she says sternly, “But I will, just in case you get any ideas.”
The doctor nods once again, slightly unnerved, before he walks into the room, closing the doors behind him. Evelyn takes out a phone and dials a number. The other end answers.
“How far out are you,” she asks.
“Not very far,” the voice on the other end answers.
“Good, I'll let you know when it's ok to enter”
“Yes ma'am.”
Evelyn hangs up.
**********
Damien slowly opens his eyes to see a bright light above him. He squints, and turns to the side. Sitting next to him is a young girl, reading a book. She notices he's awake. “Oh, hey! It's about time,” she says, hastily putting down her book. “How are you feeling?” Damien is confused by her presence, and starts to look around.
“Wait, am I...” “Hospital room,” Jill quickly answers. “You know, you're pretty lucky!” Damien looks at Jill, then looks down at his wrist. There are healed cut marks across both of them.
“But…why,” he asks, obviously in disagreement with Jill's statement.
“Look, you should be happy there's someone that wants you alive,” she says, pouting slightly. “Oh, and would that be you,” Damien asks. “No, not me,” Jill says, “someone else.” “So why would you care,” Damien says antagonistically. “Look, I didn't mean it like that,” Jill shouts, “I wouldn't like to see anyone die!” “Sure,” Damien says, looking away. Jill hesitates, then extends her hand.
“My name is Jill.”
Damien looks at her hand, then looks away again.
“There's no need,” he says. “I'm just gonna try again once I get out of here.”
“Well you failed the first time,” Jill says, almost teasingly. “Maybe it just wasn't meant to be!”
“And how would you know that,” Damien grumbles under his breath.
“Because, we're here to offer you an opportunity,” Jill says as she leans in with a giant smirk on her face.
“And what could a loser like me possibly do,” Damien says, dismissing her comment with a smirk.
“Help people,” Jill says, “...like your mother…”
Damien's heart seems to skip a beat as he looks at her. She had obviously struck a chord.
********************
“…She died just five days ago….”
Evelyn stands at a podium in the middle of a large congressional room. Around her sit government officials in podiums that are vastly taller than the one Evelyn is on.
“And do you think this had something to do with his actions,” one of the officials asks.
“Yes,” Evelyn answers, “among other things.”
“Well, I'm still not convinced of his purpose within the Infinity Project,” says another official. “I mean, what use is someone that doesn't even have the will to live?”
“I concur,” another one chimes in, “I'm starting to feel as if our time is being wasted with this case.”
“That's because you don't see what I see,” Evelyn responds.
“Then please enlighten us,” the first official retorts, obviously losing his patience. Evelyn steps off of her podium and places her hands behind her back. Her face is stern.
“It's obvious to even the most simple of simpletons that the boy has a tremendous amount of power. You need only to look at the crater that used to be Section 77 as proof of that!”
The officials grunt to themselves at Evelyn's indirect insult. She continues.
“Wouldn't you rather have that power used for a worthy purpose than to have it misused like the others?”
“That still does not excuse his obvious psychological issues,” the second official yells.
“Because you over-complicate it,” Evelyn shoots back.
The official is taken aback by this comment.
“You look at him as a boy that obviously doesn't want to live,” Evelyn continues. “I look at him as an individual that wasn't able to help his mother, that didn’t know what to do with his life and is looking for a purpose, a reason to exist!”
Evelyn pauses and looks around at the officials.
“…Much like all of us. And I'm here to give it to him.”
The room is silent. Evelyn stares around her at the officials, conviction in her eyes. Suddenly, the first official lets out an exasperated sigh.
“It's your responsibility,” he says.
“I know,” Evelyn responds.
The official pauses and looks to his associates. They all begrudgingly nod their heads in agreement.
“…Very well then.”