<<Untitled Yet>>

Chapter 1

The sound grows to a deafening level as I wake. My eyes hurt as I opened them. The deafening sound is now being replaced with skull cracking pain. I want to scream but something is choking my throat. I try to bite whatever is in my mouth. What is going on? A dream? Nightmare. But you don't feel pain in dreams. My blurry vision slowly brings the air vent in the ceiling into focus. The pain is getting more real. This is definitely not a dream. White hot pain surges through my head when I try to look around. The noise is getting louder. My head starts to spin with each pulse of the pain. I could feel my stomach turning. I'm going to throw up. My eyes go back to blurry. My skull is splitting. Every breath makes me dizzier. As everything goes dark, I saw a hand. It rested on my chest and pressed me down. Someone end this. I try to scream and push the hand away. But more hands show up and push me down in my pain.

All of a sudden, cold starts to spread. I don't know where it started from but its spreading.



I open my eyes. The same pain and the ceiling greet me. I try to focus on my breathing. It gets heavier as I wait for the pain to increase. And it does. Soon the cold sensation sprawls through me, soothing the pain a little. A hand floats above by face, waving. My eyes follow the waving hand. I try to look whose hand it is. I couldn't. Something is stopping my head from moving. I try to look around without moving my head. I see a face in the corner of my blurry vision. I keep looking at it. That's all I can do right now.

The face moves out of my pathetic field of vision. For some reason the fear in me doubles. Now I'm panting and rolling my eyes to search for the face.



The white ceiling again. I know the pain is going to hit me from somewhere. I ready myself for it. But it didn't come. The fear of the pain makes me breath heavy. Confusion and fear bring me to tears. I touch my eyes. My hands, I can move them. I try to move rest of my body. I can.

I'm in a room. The walls are same as the ceiling. There were no windows or doors. What is this place? I shout for help. The shout sounded like a groan. I want to see the hand and the blurry face. No answer. I shout again. A hand rests on my chest and my arm. The face, not blurry anymore, was looking at someone else. The distant sound got deafening. I try to grab my head and turned my body towards the face. I pull my legs to my chest. The pain is coming back.



I shot open my eyes, yelling at the ceiling. This time my eyes focused quicker. A pair of hands, different hands, holds me by the shoulder.

"Calm down." I hear. "Calm down."

I stop fighting and the hands slowly release my body. A face slides before my eyes.

"Can you hear me?" He had to ask twice before I summon the strength to tilt my head slightly.

"You're doing good" the man says with a smile.

"He is feeling pain but lesser."

I turn my head towards the other voice. A woman. It’s the same face I saw earlier when I was.... What was I doing? Where am I? I try to sit up but the man stops me. He retracts his hands quickly as the pain contorts my face.

"Can you talk?" asks the man.

"Yes." I barely heard my voice. But the attempt brings smiles on both of their faces.

"Good. I will have to clone your situation and start the simulation environment with new arguments. You will be fine with Rose."

The woman hands a device to the man. He taps the screen on several places and walks away giving me another smile.

"You're going to be okay" says the woman.

"Pain" I manage to say.

"I know it hurts a lot. Hold on a little longer for Dr. Patak to finish cloning your vitals. I'll give you pain killers once he's done."

I close my eyes tight, squeezing them with my eyelids.

"You are strong. Don't give up now. Not after all these days."

I look at the face and it gives me strength. "What’s happening to me?"

"You're getting better."

Chapter 2

I open my eyes and the white ceiling stares back at me. I notice an air vent. It is not exactly above me. Looks like, one of its edges coincides with my bed. Waking up this time is not excruciating, comparatively. I stare at the air vent in the ceiling, taking deep breaths and preparing myself to meet the pain for what I’m about to do.

I turn to my side and push myself up. I let out a small scream. I tried to choke it but couldn’t. Sitting up I clench my teeth and realize I don’t have any. I put a finger in my mouth to make sure.

"We had to remove your teeth” says Rose walking in with a bright face. “There was not much left of it anyway."

I pull my finger out and bring my hands in front of my eyes. This is horror. It feels like I forgot how to breathe.

There are pieces of metal sticking to my hand.

I touch them but don’t feel the metal. I look inside my shirt. There are metal straps sticking on my chest and ribs. These are bigger than those on my arms. I trace my fingers on my face. I can’t tell if there are metal pieces on my face because I can’t feel anything my fingers are touching.

If there are metal all over my arms and chest then it won’t be a surprise to have them on my face. I’m thinking what do I look like with metal straps on my face? My breathing gets a little heavy. I can’t imagine my face. What is going on?

I turn to see Rose. She is checking the screens next to my bed with her chin between her index finger and thumb. “Are you feeling like vomiting or dizziness?”

"My face" I say but the words hardly come out.

“The system says you are not experiencing any pain at the moment. That’s good.” She turns towards me and smiles.

“Pain” I manage to say loud enough for her to hear but not without hurting my throat.

“What?” The smile vanished from her face. Looking back at the screen she asks “Where?”

“Everywhere.” This time my throat gives up. I am now in a coughing spree. Each cough is accompanied my pulsing pain. I close my eyes and let myself fall back. I try to suppress the cough but that’s even more agonizing.

Rose puts a mask covering my mouth and nose. A cool liquid flows in my mouth and fills my throat. I feels like I’m suffocating now. I try to take the mask off but Rose is holding it down on my face. She is still looking at the screen. She feels my struggle and takes the mask away. A small pipe pulls out of my mouth and the mask sucks it in.

“I’m sorry. Did it go to your lungs? It can’t be. The system would have warned me.”

This is too much. All of this. Whatever is going on is too much for me. My head is spinning now. The air vent in the ceiling is wobbly and getting blurry with every breath.

Chapter 3

The ceiling. The vent. I turn my head around and take in the room. There are few chairs, a table and a sofa on which Rose is sitting. She is busy with her phone. On the other side there is a closet.

“Oh good, you’re awake. Dr. Patak was here. He waited for some time and just left.”

Rose comes to me with a bright smile. For some reason, despite all the pain and confusion, I get the urge to smile back. I’m not sure if I’m actually smiling because I can’t feel my lips moving.

“He’s a busy man. But that’s good.” Rose picks up the phone attached to the screens next to my bed and looks at me. “He’s busy for you.”

I try to sit up. Rose holds the phone between her shoulder and ear and helps me.

“Dr. Patak, he’s up. Okay.” She put the phone back. “He’s coming.”

“Where am I?” My throat doesn’t hurt as much as last time. I think it was yesterday. I don’t know.

“Riverbank Hospital. You … uh” Rose shuts her mouth but then says “I’m only allowed to talk to you through these screens. So … uh, I think you should wait for Dr. Patak.”

I wait.

Rose is afraid to talk to me when she knows Dr. Patak is about to show up. Even when I cough and make painful moans she looks at the screen first. I bet they don’t show me having pain. Some system, huh. Then she looks at the door before asking me if I’m alright.

Dr. Patak walks in with a white tablet in his hand. The tablet has two black wings on its back. That must be the manufacturer’s logo.

“How are you doing today?”

Look at me. How does anyone with metal sticking on his skin do on any day?

“I came here every day during my free time since you woke up last week.”

Last week! I was unconscious for a week!

“Rose said there are some malfunctions with the Medisys.” Dr. Patak nodded his head towards the set of screens next to my bed. Rose fetches two chairs and looks nervously at the door. “He is not here today, Rose.” he says and sits in one of the chairs. “I asked our technicians to look into it and they couldn’t find anything wrong with it.”

He looks at my face and back at the screen.

“What is happening to me?”

My question for some reason surprises him. His eyes opens up wide and a big smile with almost all of his teeth showing comes to his face.

“You can talk without pain now!” He puts a finger to his ear and stays silent for a couple of seconds. Rose nervously looks at the door.

One there is pain. Two the screens are not working for all I can tell. And three, why did Rose bring two chair? Who isn’t here today? Someone has been visiting me? Why is Rose so nervous? Questions, so many.

“What is happening?” I repeat.

Dr. Patak puts his finger back to his ear. He pulls his finger away and smiles at me and nods.

“You are in Riverbank Hospital. You were brought here six months ago.” He stops abruptly and then says “How much do you remember?”

I shake my head a little.

Dr. Patak now stares at the closet on the other side of the bed. What is he doing? I look at Rose for explanation but she just presses her lips. Finally he closes his eyes and exhales. He pulls a small chip out of his ear and drops it in his coat pocket.

“Rose, close the door please.”

Rose rushes to the door and closes it.

Dr. Patak taps his tablet a few times and waits for something. Rose comes back and looks over his shoulder. He pulls his chair closer to the bed and shows me the screen.

I try to ignore the metal straps on my hands as I take the tablet from Dr. Patak.

The screen shows a picture of a man’s face and some information about him. The man had short trimmed hair, blue eyes and a hint of a smile.

“Your name is Sidero Hammond.”

Sidero Hammond. I repeat the words in my mind.

“That’s all I can tell you about your past” says Dr. Patak pointing at the tablet. “You were handed to me six months ago by the UGF. Do you remember them?”

I stare blankly.

“Unified Government Force.” Dr. Patak tries to see some sign of recognition in my eyes but he didn’t see any. “You were a soldier. They trained you darn well. I can’t imagine anyone sitting up after undergoing all this procedure.”

I drop the tablet on my lap and look at my palms.

“When they brought you to me you were…” after shaking his head slightly trying to find a word he says “crumbled. Your bones were broken and in some places they were almost powdered.” He taps my leg.

I try to take the cover off. Rose tries to stop me but slowly stands back when Dr. Patak assured her that it’s alright. Instead of my legs I find metal legs. There were slits through which I could see red burnt skin.

“Why am I like this? What did you do to me?” I’m at the brink of freaking out.  I grab Dr. Patak by the collar. He gasps as the metals at the tip of my finger scratch his neck. I release and close my eyes trying to gain control over myself.

When I open my eyes I see Rose making sure no one heard Dr. Patak shouting and closes the door. She then picks the tablet that fell when I reached for Dr. Patak’s collar. She checks if it’s working and hands over to him.

“I fixed you, Sidero. I tried my best” says Dr. Patak. “These metals are holding your body, your leftover body, together. There are no more bones left in your legs and your right arm. They were crumbled to pieces. Trust me, this was your only option of surviving.”

“You said, accident” I say without looking at him.

“I don’t know. You were in a freaking war. Anything would have happened. I tried to ask them but they silenced me. The UGF, they have their ways. And they don’t want you to know. I was talking to them.” He taps his pocket in which he dropped the chip from his ear. “They will be here to talk to you personally. They didn’t want me to talk to you but I have to. My consciousness compels me. I know you were one of them and you fought to protect us and all but… I don’t trust them. I don’t trust them. I’m not saying you shouldn’t either. All I’m saying is the fact you lost your memory makes it easier for them to make a story of their own. So when they come here tomorrow, be skeptical.”

He pushes the chair back as he gets up. Rose takes the chair from him and puts both chairs where it belonged. He walks towards the door.

“Dr. Patak” I say looking at him. He stops and turns towards me. “Thank you for saving my life.”

He smiles and says “Not yet, Sidero. Not yet.”