Colorless

My mind felt like it numb, I could feel but I couldn’t it was a sensation that I didn’t truly understand but had gotten use it.

“Report in.” I voice in my head told me. My body automatically started to move where it needed to. I didn’t know why I needed to report in just that I did. I looked around at everything like a person watching things happen on a screen. People moved about their lives normally. I thought about how I noticed there were some people that didn’t really fit in with the crowd…I was one of those people. I looked down at my hand, a uniform was there. I blinked not understanding why I was wearing such a particular piece of clothing. Was I a soldier? At the thought the voice rang out.

“Lieutenant Andrew Vargias, combat specialist in the in the Union army” it was my voice, but it was flat.

I don’t remember enlisting in the army… I frowned internally as my body continued its journey to ‘report in’  I tried to think out everything but it felt like my head was swimming and it was like trying to walk through water that was waist deep you couldn’t move very fast. By the time I had given up trying to think about what was going on, and how I had ended up in the army, and how I managed to get the rank of Lieutenant, I realized I was in a building now. The walls were white, almost blindingly so. Screens displayed words that seemed irrelevant to me. I continued to walk through moving down a long hall, I didn’t look at anyone else just forward on my task. I entered a room and stopped my arm snapping at attention as someone in a white coat walked up to me.

They shined a light into my eyes, I recoiled sluggishly and my voice finally came out of my mouth. “What, stop…the light…hurts.” My voice was thick as if I was drunk, it matched my mental thoughts.

The white coat nodded “That time again.” I frowned at them, thought I felt like I was starting to feel like myself again.

“what time?” I asked confused, I felt like a child. I took a step forward to grab at the white coat. It was a man with dark hair.

He looked at me. “Back in line Lieutenant” I wanted to protest but a small part of me thought it would be best to listen to him. I nodded slowly frowning before I stepped back to my place against the wall. I felt tired, so I leaned against the wall resting my head as I continued to think about my situation.

I wasn’t able to think long because the white coat came up and grabbed my wrist pulled the uniforms sleeve up. I looked down at him confused and even voiced my concern. He ignored me and pushed a needle into my skin, I barely felt it. The clear liquid left it’s containment and flooded into my bloodstream. It took a few moments before I started to feel it but once I did, I found that standing was very hard now like suddenly being very tired.

“I need to sit, I can’t…” I tried to talk but the fog in my head seemed thicker and heavier.

The white coat nodded and helped me into a chair. I looked at him numbly. “wha…the needle?”

Is all I managed, I worked my jaw frowning at him. he didn’t answer, and I didn’t try to talk again because talking was a lot of work, as if my tongue didn’t really fit right in my mouth and the obstructive muscle wouldn't let me talk around it. I instead found that looking up at the bright lights of the ceiling much easier and oddly calmly….soon enough my eyelids closed and I swam in darkness.

I thought I had felt someone helping from the chair, my legs awkwardly moving and my feet not able to find their footing. “You should’ve had him lay down first!” I heard someone scold. “this guy is huge.” There was a grunt and everything felt soft against my face and chest. I smiled a little it really was nice laying down.

I felt the need against, at the base of my spine, and again at the nap of my neck. I ignored it thinking of how much I liked the pillow. It started to get harder to think like nothing made sense, so I stopped just let myself float in the fog it was comforting, and shielding.

“Now, Andrew can you stand for me?“ The large form on the bed raised itself up and looked emotionless at the two doctors before it stood up straightly and saluted again.

“Good” Doctor Floux said. He patted the large man’s shoulder and smiled. “You’re cleared for duty again Lieutenant” The man nodded and looked down to him.

“Thank you Doctor.” he brow was furrowed in a consistent scowl, his voice was flat, and unwavering. He looked back up and walked out of the room.

Floux looked to his colleague frowning “Someone is trying to wake him up, it’s making his body go through the injections at a faster rate.”

His colleague nodded “Yeah…we can’t afford to lose him, he’s one of the most promising soldiers we’ve developed.”

Floux nodded to himself. “I know…our jobs are on the line here. If someone figures out how to really wake him up, then his brain will fry the command modem, and the AI will be gone.” Floux rubbed the bridge of his nose “He needed to find out which one of his interns was trying to sabotage him and the union’s work.”