Chapter 3

Daniel was laying on a cold, hard metal table.

He stared up into lights blinding him.

All over his body was straps, keeping him down and unable to move.

“Are you ready Daniel?” A loud voice asked through some sort of speaker.

Daniel took a long and deep breath.

Ths was the first time he felt nervous in years.

“Yes sir.” Daniel replied.

“We won’t be sedating you for this. We need to make sure that your organs and brain don’t try to reject the drugs or tech.” The voice said.

Daniel’s face changed to one of confusion. He tried to sit up, but he couldn’t move anything.

“Wait…did you say…”

Before he could finish, a drill suddenly stabbed into the back of his skull.

Daniel immediately screamed at the top of his lungs, the drill going deeper and deeper into his skull as blood poured out.

As that was happening, a hundred needles stabbed into his body from different angles, injecting him with a wide variety of liquid and drugs.

Daniel’s eyes went completely blank and emotionless as he laid on the table.

A pair of robotic legs were carried over by large mechanical arms.

The legs had wires sticking out that resembled arteries and nerves.

Daniel’s stubs for legs were suddenly sliced open and the skin spread out to look inside.

Smaller arms suddenly popped out and grabbed hold of his nerves and arteries down in his hips and waist, forcing them to stretch out and connect with the wires of the legs.

Sudden and violent shocks filled his body as his eyes rolled back.

Everything happening at once, his body being overloaded by pain and suffering.

Every organ was screaming and burning as they tried their best to run.

The drill hit Daniel’s brain before suddenly pulling out very quickly.

Multiple needles stabbed into the hole at the same time, stabbing into his brain and immediately causing Daniel’s body to start spasming and seizuring on the table.

After the needles all pulled out, his body was laying limp and lifeless.

“Daniel?” The voice asked.

Silence.

“Well…I don’t think it worked.”

The man speaking was the one wearing the shirt and lab coat. He was sitting in a chair, staring at multiple monitors full of vital signs and other readings.

“We’ll just have to find another candidate.” The woman said, leaning forward to look closer at the wall of data.

“Omni really needs a win. I don’t think we’ll find anybody like Daniel. We need that killing machine.” He replied.

“Mr. Chetman. We have multiple failed soldiers before this. We need to keep pushing. The world needs a…”

Daniel’s vitals all suddenly fired off at the same time.

His eyes opened wide as he screamed, ripping through the straps as if they were made of paper. He fell to the ground and began to vomit a violent stream of blood right onto the floor.

His body was violently shaking and shivering, every square inch of his body drenched and soaked in his own sweat.

The back of his head was still split open, the blood pooling and soaking into his skin as he kept violently coughing and gasping.

“Well…shit.” Mr. Chetman said, quickly jumping up and running into the room.

Daniel slowly stopped coughing, his body still shaking and covered in hundreds if not thousands of scars and wounds that were still fresh.

“Daniel?” Mr. Chetman asked.

Daniel’s eyes were darting around before he began to slowly push himself with his hands.

He looked down, seeing the robotic legs supporting his weight on the knees.

He slowly began to sit up, lifting his arms off the ground and looking down in near shock that he wasn’t falling over.

He looked down at his hands, then back down at the ground.

He very, very slowly began to shift his weight to one side.

His leg slowly shifted and bent with ease, the bottom of the robotic foot planting into the ground before pushing hard and lifting his body into the air.

His other leg swung out before going straight and touching the ground in the same manner.

Daniel looked down, almost losing his balance as he wasn’t used to being this high up.

He grabbed the table, almost falling as his legs were subtly shaking, like they were real and weak legs.

Daniel was panting hard and tried to stand up straight again, his hands very slowly releasing from the metal.

His legs were still shaking, responding perfectly to his brain and nervous system.

Mr. Chetman and the nameless woman stood to the side, watching on in silence as Daniel looked down again.

He was finally able to get his legs to stop shaking, the shining metal reflecting light in every direction.

Daniel very slowly and carefully began to shift his weight to one side.

His other leg very slowly and cautiously lifted off the ground.

His other leg was beginning to shake again, but he managed to make it stop rather quickly.

Daniel took one, very long and labored breath.

He moved his other leg forward, gliding slowly through the air.

He nearly lost his balance, extending his arms out as a way to stay centered on his leg. He didn’t plant the other one down yet. He kept it in the air and waited.

It took a few seconds, but he managed to fix it.

He put his foot forward, toes first before slowly lowering more and more.

The metal feet were perfectly identical to a human foot. Five toes that all moved around with his thoughts, as if they were his real body parts.

Daniel swallowed hard before shifting his weight to the other leg, lifting his first one off of the ground,

He began to lose his balance again, so he carefully put his arms out in order to keep his balance.

“How do you feel?” Dr. Chetman asked, finally breaking the silence.

“I…I…” Daniel kept looking down as he moved his legs, continuing to very slowly walk.

He resembled a small child, learning how to walk for the first time.

He chuckled, smiling wide from excitement and joyous shock.

“I can walk.” Daniel said.

As he spoke, his eyes suddenly burst into tears. He loudly began to cry, continuing to walk as he did so.

Tears of pure happiness ran down his face as he kept letting out short bursts of laughter and ecstatic wonder.

“I can walk!” Daniel shouted as he started to walk normally and easily.

He had gotten used to it quickly, walking as if he had never lost in legs in the first place.

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