Chapter 2 : System Activate

Although Doctor Roach didn't act close to Shawn in the last five years, he didn't openly despise him either as there was a possibility of Shawn developing his powers. His actions towards Shawn seemed only professional till now. He was neither too friendly nor too harsh but only kept an average attitude towards the child. But now Shawn was already fifteen years old and a failure, there was no reason for him to act cordial anymore.

Shawn's face paled as he heard the answer from Doctor Roach. It felt like his world came crashing down, and every word of that sentence hit his heart like a bullet.

Tears lurked, making his eyes glittery, his vision blurred as he tried to fight back the heartbreak and emotional pain he was feeling. He gritted his teeth and refused to cry out his pain.

“But you can still help humanity. So you're not completely useless. Come with us.” Doctor Roach further said in a villainous tone as his eyes shone like a vulture under thick gold-framed glasses.

Shawn stood up with a blank look on his face and followed after them as a few drops of stubborn silent tears left his eyes.

They brought him to a room that Shawn had never been to before. There were strange machines all around the room with a single bed at the center.

“Go lie down on the bed.” Doctor Roach commanded.

Shawn followed the order silently and walked up to the bed with little steps. He lay down on the flatbed, his ocean eyes placed on the ceiling. With no movement, he lay there balling his fists as Doctor Roach's words roamed inside his head.

“Doctor McKnight, prepare him.” Doctor Roach said before he turned and started working on the screen panel not too far away.

Doctor McKnight walked up to Shawn. He picked up a headband-like object that was connected to a machine behind him and placed it around Shawn's head; his heart churned while doing so, but he continued. There were many wires of different colours connected to that headband-like object, which further linked some other machines around the room.

'I'm sorry Shawn. Even though I respect your parents and care for you, I can't help you.' Doctor McKnight thought apologetically as he walked back, his eyes full of sorrow.

“Everything ready, Doctor Layman?” Doctor Roach asked the third scientist.

“Ready. Waiting for orders.” Doctor Layman replied.

“Alright. On my count!” Doctor Roach said.

“3.. 2.. 1.. Begin!”

Doctor Layman pressed a button on the laptop, and with a slight sound, the process began.

“AH!!!” Shawn screamed as loud as he could as he felt the heart-wrenching pain course through his body. He felt like his body was being torn into shreds.

He kept screaming but the torture didn't stop. Instead, it went on and on for what seemed like an eternity.

“Heartbeat rising rapidly. The pain index reached 60 per cent. Cell destruction has begun.” Doctor Layman declared as he read the data on the screen.

“Stop it now!” his cell destruction has begun! If you don't stop, his entire body will become useless! This should already be enough data for our use!” Doctor McKnight couldn't help shouting as he heard the stats.

Doctor Layman looked towards Doctor Roach.

“Continue! Increase the pain index by 10 per cent! I want to see how long it takes for a human body to be destroyed by pain.” Doctor Roach commanded. There was not even an ounce of sorrow or hesitation in his voice.

“This is not research anymore but plain madness! I said Stop it!” Doctor McKnight roared, but none paid heed to him.

Shawn kept screaming for twenty minutes straight. His voice had turned hoarse, his eyes were bloodshot red with tears still flowing down his cheeks, and his body kept trembling in pain. Unfortunately, the pain didn't stop. It felt like with time, it was becoming more unbearable. Shawn's eyes roamed from Doctor McKnight to Doctor Layman as he begged them to stop. His face was covered in tears as he watched the smirk on Doctor Roach's face.

“Why!?” Shawn yelled like a lunatic as he glared at Doctor Roach with his bloodied eyes.

“He can still speak. Not bad. I guess the pain is not enough. Increase by 20 per cent. Take the pain index to 90 per cent!” Doctor Roach ordered Doctor Layman who followed his commands without any question and increased the pain index.

“Heartbeat slowing down rapidly. The pain index reached 90 per cent. Cell destruction has reached 70 per cent.” Doctor Layman said.

“Good. Increase by another 10 percent. Take the pain index to 100 per cent.” Doctor Roach said as he laughed.

“This is good. Let us see if the human body can bear 100 per cent.”

Doctor McKnight was watching silently till now, but he couldn't hold it in anymore as he jumped on Doctor Layman to prevent him from increasing the pain index.

“Are you two even human!? Stop it! He's a child for God's sake!” he screamed at them.

Doctor Roach ignored the sharp words as he called the security and made them take Doctor McKnight away.

Meanwhile, Doctor Layman increased the pain index and turned it to maximum. Shawn's body twisted in pain for one last time before his screams stopped entirely. His bloodied eyes were still open, but there was no focus in them anymore. Shawn's entire body had turned blue as he lay there.

“Heartbeat has stopped. The pain index reached 100 per cent. Cell destruction 100 per cent.” Doctor Layman announced.

“So he died. He was a good testing subject to last this long. So I guess humans are not as useless as we thought. If it can survive for so long under such pain, it's anything but useless.” Doctor Roach muttered as he looked at the screen. He seemed unconcerned by the fact that they had just murdered someone brutally, that too a fifteen-year-old boy.

“Let's leave. The nurse can clean the body and throw it outside. We have more important things to do.” Doctor Roach said as he turned his back and walked towards the exit.

“Arrange the data we decided in proper charts. I want it on my table tomorrow.” Doctor said. He was about to leave when Doctor McKnight appeared in front of him.

“You killed him!” Doctor McKnight screamed at Doctor Roach while tears flowed out of his eyes, he could not bear the emotional pain of aiding these monsters to murder a child, so he sat down on the ground.

“A necessary sacrifice for the growth of humanity.” Doctor smiled as he walked past Doctor McKnight and left the room.

“Don't feel so attached to the subjects, you will feel less pain if you follow that rule.” Doctor Layman placed his hands on Doctor McKnight's shoulders we he comforted him.

“Although Doctor Roach is slightly psychotic, he is a great scientist. Anyway, let's go and eat. There is no point in fighting and crying over a kid who is already dead. He won't be coming back after all.” he continued as he took Doctor McKnight outside.

The maids arrived in the room after 20 minutes and saw Shawn lying on the bed lifeless.

“Hmm, so he's the one that died today.” The maid said casually as she glanced at Shawn. They were used to seeing such stuff, so it didn't bother them much.

They picked up his body and wrapped it up in a ziplock bag. Then they took the body outside and threw it in a dumpster before they walked back into the facility like nothing happened. There was no remorse, no regret, and absolutely no sympathy towards the dead kid. All their hearts were sealed and had turned to stone a long time ago.

The following day, a truck arrived that took all the trash from the dumpster and left the place. All the trash from the facility was dumped in a desolate place, far away from the facility. As far as the eyes could see, only waste was visible. The truck left we usual after dumping everything it had collected that day.

In the vast wasteland, one body was lying. Seemingly dead yet not quite.

*

Shawn's tranquil body was lying in the trash in eternal silence. There was no heartbeat, no movements. His once shiny silver hairs were now dull and dirty. One of the maids had closed his eyelids before putting him in the bag, but his mouth still hung open as if he was trying to breathe, except he wasn't breathing anymore. But in that ominous, sorrowful situation, a miraculous thing was happening.

Even though he was declared dead, and his heart had stopped beating, somehow his mind was still working.

«Data collection complete. The host matches the requirements of the system. Host's current status: Deceased. Injecting revitalization serum into the Host. Host current status: critical. Injecting advanced healing serum into the Host. Host current status: Salvageable. Injecting Immortality elixir to Host. Host current status: Perfect.»

Thump... Thump... Thump...

Shawn's completely stopped heart started beating again. His chest heaved as his nostrils sucked oxygen in, making him alive again. His body which had gone pale started gaining colour again as blood flow resumed in his body. His body gained back all the senses he had lost. He could hear the sound of the wind as well.