THE REN UPGRADE: MONSTERS WITHIN

The Extraordinary Intern

The flames were angry. They wanted to eat him up.

Ren stood helpless inside its walls, a meek expression on his face as he stared up at the skies. He did not seem bothered by the fire, no. Instead, he seemed enraptured by whatever he was looking at. 

“Mother..father, I’m sorry. I failed you.”

“No need to be sorry, Ren.” A deep voice echoed everywhere around him. “It's not over until it's over.”

“But father—”

“Remember my favorite line? Nothing good comes easy?”

Ren heaved a sigh and shook his head. “What’s so good about losing you all and staying here alone? I couldn't even save Rei!”

The pain bounced off the walls of his chest, rendering him weaker. 

“It's good because you have the power to avenge us all now, Ren.” It was his mother's soft whisper that echoed around him this time. It was just as he remembered. Calm, soothing, hypnotizing. 

“Mother…”

“You can't join us yet, my sweet boy. You have a lot to do.”

“I-I c-can’t do anything, mother,” he cried, the tears choking him now. “I'm just a weak, pathetic loser!”

“No, you're not.” He felt the soft brush of her hand on his hair. “You’re much more. This is just the beginning, Ren. An extraordinary path awaits you. Make us proud.”

***

Ren was screaming when doctor Zara walked into the clinic the next morning. Fat tears fell from his eyes as he clutched his pillow to his chest, kicking his feet.

The sight shocked the doctor to the marrow of her bones. Her bag slipped from her fingers to the floor. 

The more uncanny fact was that Ren’s burn scars were gone. His skin was healed.

“Mr. Carter!” She dashed towards his bed and grabbed his shoulders. “Mr. Carter!”

Ren seemed to snap out of it, fixing his wild gaze on her oval face. “Doctor?” He looked around him, noting where he was for the first time. “W-What… Why am I here?”

Zara blinked in confusion. “You were in a fire accident, remember?”

Ren was taken aback. “A fire?” He sniffled, the tears streaming quietly now. “So, it's real then?”

Zara couldn't believe what was happening. Was this the same man that threatened her with a scalpel yesterday? Was he the same one that used the vulgar words? Was he the same one that stabbed his own gut with a knife?

Her hands dropped from his shoulders and she took a step back from him. “I don't understand what's going on here.” She planted her hands on her hips. “Why were you screaming?”

Ren wiped his face but the tears kept flowing. It baffled her.

“I-I had a nightmare,” he explained. “There was a fire. Some really angry flames. And I could hear my parents.”

Zara arched her brow. “Your parents?”

“Yeah,” Ren nodded slowly, a bemused expression on his face, “they're supposed to be..dead.”

“Supposed to be?” Zara heaved a sigh and weaved her fingers through her hair in agitation. “Mr. Carter, are you okay? I mean, you seem healed and all, but I don't think everything is quite okay upstairs,” she jammed a finger against her head. 

“Healed? So the fire was real?”

“There was a fire yesterday, and unfortunately, you and your cellmates got caught in it. Everyone else died, but you somehow made it out alive.”

A wave of dizziness washed over Ren. He glanced down at his skin. It was slightly tainted with burn scars. 

How come he couldn't remember the fire? 

Zara peered cautiously at him. “Are you going to tell me the secret to your speedy recovery?”

He snatched his gaze to her face. For the first time, he noticed her pretty features. Green eyes, red hair, freckled face.

“W-What?” he stammered.

“Just yesterday, you had zero rate of survival. You suffered a fourth-degree burn, Mr. Carter.” Her gaze slowly moved down his body. “How are you… I mean…no one's going to believe this.”

He shook his head in disbelief, caught in the same turmoil. “I can't explain it.”

“What do you mean?” Zara demanded. “You requested some strange ingredients, and mixed a salve with them. I've never heard of such in all of my years of studying and practicing medicine.”

Ren blinked at her. “I did what?”

Zara heaved an exasperated sigh. She wasn't sure if he was pretending just to mess with her, or he really did not remember what happened the previous day. Did he really lose his mind?

“You know what? I don't have the time for this.” She turned and walked away from the bed. 

“Y-You’re leaving?” Ren called. 

“I have patients that need my attention, and I have to be at the funeral mass. You look very much healed. So there's nothing else I can do for you.”

“I'll go with you!”

Zara had no time to protest because a guard appeared at the doorway. “What's the update on the inmate?” he asked, trying to look past her into the ward.

“Thankfully, he's a lot more stable this morning.”

“Stable?” The officer looked skeptical. “He suffered a fourth-degree burn. And you say he's stable almost twelve hours later?”

Someone sucked their teeth. Zara whirled to see Ren behind her. Her heart jumped into her mouth.

“Morning, officer.” Ren flashed a nervous smile and rubbed the back of his neck. “Do you think I could go back to my cell now?” 

The guard cursed in disbelief. “H-How..”

Zara rushed in. “We got our hands on some kind of magic balm. I mean, magical, isn't it? His skin healed in less than twelve hours!” 

The guard did not look convinced. “A magic balm? Is that…possible?”

Zara snapped her fingers. “Absolutely!”

“Well,” the guard cleared his throat. “You can't return to your cell because it was blown to pieces, alongside your cellmates.” He narrowed his eyes in disbelief, because he still couldn't understand how this ordinary-looking inmate escaped with his life. “So,” he continued in a quieter tone, “you'll be moved somewhere else.”

“He can't leave just yet, officer,” Zara cut in. “We have to monitor him here for a few more days.”

Ren cut her a nervous glance, and something surged in his chest. “So, can I attend the mass too?”

Five minutes later, Ren appeared in the chapel, trailing behind the doctor who walked fast away from him.

He made his way to the pew that held fewer inmates, and sank into a seat at the far end. He almost crawled into the wall, because people kept pointing at him and whispering.

The mass started in the next few minutes. A priest walked in sprinkling holy water. When droplets landed on Ren’s body, fire seared his skin from within.

He hissed in pain and tried to duck away from the water. He couldn't explain what was happening to him, but he knew it was not normal. How could he have survived a fourth-degree burn? Why didn't he just die?

“Let us rise in honor of the dead,” the priest’s voice rang through his thoughts. He rose to his feet alongside everyone else.

Ren just closed his eyes when someone hissed in his ear, “It's you, isn't it?” 

His eyes flew open and he whirled. A brute was staring him down like he owed him money. The man’s visage was lined with very bad-looking scars. 

Ren shrunk back from him, slightly terrified. “Do I know you?”

Thorne was Scarface's beastly junior brother. He was a seasoned, vicious boxer who never played by the rules. And that was what led him behind bars. Everyone in the penitentiary knew his story. How come Ren did not know him? 

“How did you survive the fire?” Thorne snarled, startling Ren and everyone else around them.

Ren heaved a sigh and looked to the skies. “I wish to know the answer too. How did I survive?”

Thorne stared at him in disbelief for a long moment, his jaw ticking. Then with a growl, he grabbed an unsuspecting Ren by the collar of his prison wear and yanked him off his feet. 

“You think I'm here to play? Huh?!”

Before Ren could respond, he was flung across the space to the front of the chapel. He collided into the urns on the table with a violent impact. CRASH!