effort. Catching my eye, he joked, “Are we really sure that’s Gideon?” His deep booming laughter burst forth as he laughed at his own joke, and I couldn’t help but laugh in reply. Every now and then, the sergeant had his moments where he was actually funny.
Once his laughter died down, he helped himself to a bottle of water from the fridge and paused to take a few sips before schooling his features. After clearing his throat, Sergeant Ramsey reached into his pocket and withdrew a small device that looked like some sort of remote control. Turning at the waist, he aimed it at the camera on the wall above the door behind him and suddenly the little red light on the camera vanished as it appeared to have been turned off. Glancing at the three of us solemnly, he sat down on one of the armchairs across from us while the Doc and Jamie followed suit and sat down on the last remaining sofa so that we all faced each other. Jamie caught my eye and offered me a tentative smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. Hmmm….curious. I had never seen her look this serious before.
Sergeant Ramsey was all business, and his current expression was completely different from when we parted ways with him three hours prior.
“I turned off the camera so that we could have the freedom to talk privately. I don’t want the others to hear what is said in this room,” the sergeant began mysteriously. “Dr. Duffy is here because some of the information I’m about to give y’all may be difficult for you to accept or understand. He’s here to offer emotional support to whoever may need it.” Glancing at the Doc, I felt my gut clench in response to the rising tension emanating from either side of me. I had a feeling I knew which direction Sergeant Ramsey was going with this but opted to keep my mouth shut for the time being.
“You’ve heard me mention several times in the past that y’all are part of a secret government military program. We’ll discuss the actual program in detail momentarily, but for now I’m thinking some of you may be confused as to how you actually ended up here. I would like to clarify that none of y’all voluntarily offered your services; you were drafted by the US government.” He paused a moment, looking each one of us in the eye to let his words sink in before continuing.
“Currently, the government is experimenting with introducing genetically enhanced animal DNAs into human test subjects for the purpose of creating a superior breed of soldiers. Our hope is to form a special group of covert operatives who can successfully carry out the more difficult, high-risk missions that ordinary soldiers cannot. Now as y’all can imagine, once someone hears the term “genetically enhanced with animal DNA”, they instantly become fearful of volunteering for the program, especially since we’re still in the experimental phase.” Suddenly standing up from his armchair, Sergeant Ramsey began to pace the floor almost as if he was summoning the courage to deliver the next blow.
“The US military has numerous connections in various hospitals across the Continental US. Since we had very few volunteers for this program, we decided to take matters into our own hands and select a very specific group of people. Occasionally, one of our contact hospitals would receive a patient into their ER who would be very close to death at the time of their admittance. If the hospital was able to successfully revive that patient and save their life, then that person was deemed worthy of being accepted into the program and was immediately brought here for the first stage of their training following their recovery.”
Sergeant Ramsey paused, glancing at us again to verify that his words were sinking in. I could feel the weight of Sam’s stare on me and I turned my head in his direction to see his expression of horror. I purposely kept my own expression blank for fear of aggravating Sam further. Glancing at Gideon, I could see that his
Once his laughter died down, he helped himself to a bottle of water from the fridge and paused to take a few sips before schooling his features. After clearing his throat, Sergeant Ramsey reached into his pocket and withdrew a small device that looked like some sort of remote control. Turning at the waist, he aimed it at the camera on the wall above the door behind him and suddenly the little red light on the camera vanished as it appeared to have been turned off. Glancing at the three of us solemnly, he sat down on one of the armchairs across from us while the Doc and Jamie followed suit and sat down on the last remaining sofa so that we all faced each other. Jamie caught my eye and offered me a tentative smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. Hmmm….curious. I had never seen her look this serious before.
Sergeant Ramsey was all business, and his current expression was completely different from when we parted ways with him three hours prior.
“I turned off the camera so that we could have the freedom to talk privately. I don’t want the others to hear what is said in this room,” the sergeant began mysteriously. “Dr. Duffy is here because some of the information I’m about to give y’all may be difficult for you to accept or understand. He’s here to offer emotional support to whoever may need it.” Glancing at the Doc, I felt my gut clench in response to the rising tension emanating from either side of me. I had a feeling I knew which direction Sergeant Ramsey was going with this but opted to keep my mouth shut for the time being.
“You’ve heard me mention several times in the past that y’all are part of a secret government military program. We’ll discuss the actual program in detail momentarily, but for now I’m thinking some of you may be confused as to how you actually ended up here. I would like to clarify that none of y’all voluntarily offered your services; you were drafted by the US government.” He paused a moment, looking each one of us in the eye to let his words sink in before continuing.
“Currently, the government is experimenting with introducing genetically enhanced animal DNAs into human test subjects for the purpose of creating a superior breed of soldiers. Our hope is to form a special group of covert operatives who can successfully carry out the more difficult, high-risk missions that ordinary soldiers cannot. Now as y’all can imagine, once someone hears the term “genetically enhanced with animal DNA”, they instantly become fearful of volunteering for the program, especially since we’re still in the experimental phase.” Suddenly standing up from his armchair, Sergeant Ramsey began to pace the floor almost as if he was summoning the courage to deliver the next blow.
“The US military has numerous connections in various hospitals across the Continental US. Since we had very few volunteers for this program, we decided to take matters into our own hands and select a very specific group of people. Occasionally, one of our contact hospitals would receive a patient into their ER who would be very close to death at the time of their admittance. If the hospital was able to successfully revive that patient and save their life, then that person was deemed worthy of being accepted into the program and was immediately brought here for the first stage of their training following their recovery.”
Sergeant Ramsey paused, glancing at us again to verify that his words were sinking in. I could feel the weight of Sam’s stare on me and I turned my head in his direction to see his expression of horror. I purposely kept my own expression blank for fear of aggravating Sam further. Glancing at Gideon, I could see that his
Similar Books
