PROJECT M THE AWAKENING

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER 2

Two weeks prior a vessel carrying crude oil from the coast of Nigeria slated for the United States of America came under attack from some group of pirates (Niger Delta Militant). This vessel had on board its captain, 20 crew, 15 trained armed personnel, and about 7 petrochemical scientists. 1 of the armed security personnel using binoculars spotted about five-speed boats heading toward them and immediately raised an alarm causing a panic, with everyone running around in confusion. Bruce the head of the security agents ordered that all civilians be taken below deck and all armed personnel to take positions and prepare for an assault.

This was Bruce’s first mission to Africa after joining” Desert Cobras” a private security agency that acts as a hired gun to whoever could afford their fees. Before Desert Cobras Bruce worked as a US Marine who was deployed to Iran but was dishonorably discharged from the marine after refusing a direct order to shoot some rebels using women and children as shields. After he was repatriated and discharged from the army, he could hardly fit into society he kept on drinking and getting into fights, no matter how hard he tried nothing could numb the pain and gradually he drifted away from his wife(Jenny) his high school sweetheart, after their divorce he knew he needed to get his act together, he went for rehabilitation for about five months, after he came out he saw Desert Cobras recruiting people with military experience and he applied, after three years later he was heading his team on a mission.

Bruce: Take a position, aim, and wait for my signal (Bruce barked at his team)

Bruce noticed the speed boat slowed down and started forming some sort of horizontal line as if instructions where been given to them, though far from the range machine guns could cause any lethal damage, all of a sudden the boat picked up speed and started forming an arc shape

Bruce: They’re trying to surround the vessel, take position!!!

The arc formation of the speed boat changed its dimension in such a way they were coming toward the vessel from different directions and when they were close enough they started circling the vessel and with each circling they got closer to the vessel

Bruce: Open fire!!!

The assault began with the command from Bruce, though there was minimal fire back from the speed boat as if circling their prey and trying to look for a weak spot. This movement had the security personnel shooting randomly and confused from moving to and fro in all directions.

As they got closer and closer Bruce noticed that not even one of the pirates had been knocked out yet and he was beginning to wonder if it was the rush of the moment that had him and the rest of his teammates off their game, he tried to take a deep breath, calm his nerves and took a look into the sight of his gun and began firing directly at the pirates but he noticed something that threw him off balance, the bullet was bouncing off their bodies and it seems to be exciting to them, for each one that got shot, they screamed out loud with excitement while the rest cheered with loud voices immediately Bruce knew something supernatural was going on, he knew he had to think of something fast or they will all be doomed. He immediately screamed asking his teammate to sink their boat and they responded by firing sporadically till they sank the pirate's boat.

Something didn’t add up to Bruce, coz it was like the pirates intentionally let them sink their boat without resistance, though they watched over the waters for over five hours straight, they were no form of movement, surely nothing can survive that long without coming out to the surface of the water to breath except if they transformed into some sort of aquatic creatures.

Bruce had some ruffling outside his door and immediately his instinct kicked in, he grabbed his pistol about the same time the door was kicked in and he opened fire but none of the bullets seemed

to cause any bodily harm to the tall dark man with scars across his face as if he was clawed by a Lion or a Bear. Bruce reached for his pocket knife and tried to stab the man but the knife broke, the man in front of him broke out with a huge laugh, and with an African accent he said you fool, don’t you know you can’t kill Efe? Efe is like water, I don’t have enemies but if I become your enemy you cannot stand me, with that been said he clubbed Bruce by the side of his head with a wood-like object and Bruce was dazed from the impact, Bruce knew he was being dragged like a carcass but no muscle in his body could even move and he was conscious, as he was losing consciousness he could see all the bodies of his comrades sprawled on the floor soaked in their blood and his eyes slowly closed.

When Bruce's eyes opened partially he could hardly focus, it took him some seconds to figure out what was going on as his vision was a blur, he was been loaded into a helicopter he could see someone putting on some fully kitted uniform to show that they was some form of military-trained man. He heard, hang in soldier you’re lucky to still be alive, with those word and An oxygen mask was placed over his face and he lost consciousness.

Bruce opened his eyes and tried to study his environment before sitting up slowly, using his elbow as a form of support as his body was still sour and was seriously aching, his room door opened and a doctor came in to check his vitals and didn’t seem to care much if he was conscious.

Bruce: How long was I out?

Doctor: Three days straight

Bruce: My team members?

Doctor: They didn’t make it

Doctor: You need to rest you have a long day ahead tomorrow

Bruce: Long day ahead? Where am I? What is going to happen tomorrow?

The doctor pulled out the syringe from his pocket and took the cap off, leaning forward towards Bruce, Bruce tried to fight the doctor off him but was weak, all effort put into fighting the doctor was futile and the doctor pierced the syringe in his arm and backed away while watching him struggled to stay conscious but within seconds he blacked out.

When Bruce opened his eyes he was strapped to a bed on wheels and was been wheeled into a theatre with many people putting on lab coats, some men were dressed in suits, and others in military uniforms, he saw some coffin-like structures of different sizes with needle-like object sticking out of the upper part of the structures. All Bruce could say to himself was “Holy s**t” after all these years I’m going out like a lab rat, just another Guinea Pig to stick a needle in and see if I provide a cure for one of those deadly diseases, no not like this “God”, he tried to scream but his mouth was stuffed with some sort of guard to prevent him from biting into his tongue when the pain of what he was about to experience gets severe, the thought of that alone made his heart race faster with sweat dripping from all over his body as if a bucket of water was poured on his body. The bed on wheels came to a halt in front of a coffin-like structure and beside the coffin-like structure were transparent long cylinder-shaped tanks with tubes of all sizes dangling inside them. Bruce could see from the corner of his eyes about fifteen people that were been strapped to different beds like him, he could hear some of them making groaning sounds out of fear since their mouths were stuffed and they couldn’t scream out.

Bruce noticed a man in a military uniform of a general walking to a podium opposite them that had a barricade, his movement commanded respect and authority and by the time he got to the podium and cleared his throat everywhere became very silent all those groaning became silent to hear what he wanted to say.

General Ryker:I am general Ryker I head the unit called “LLD” which stand for the last line of defence,a unit that stands against foreign and domestic terrorism, we walk in the shadows so that the light of our country can glow, you’re all about to go through a procedure that some of you volunteered for and the rest of you were found necessary to add to our course, plus no one really gives a rat ass about you all,you should find this a s a privilege, though not all of you Margot are going to survive these procedure, for those of you that don’t make it your country appreciate your sacrifice and to those of you that will make it you will come out better and stronger, with those words, the general backed away from the podium with his eyes still fixed on the test subject he removed a cigar from his pocket and inserted It between his lips and then bit hard into the butt of the cigar with his canine tooth and chewed on the tobacco slowly and the men in the lab coats picked up their scissor and began to cut into their cloths until they were naked, then they pulled out their syringes and needles to inject them. Immediately Bruce was injected, and within seconds his body went numb, he was conscious but could not respond to any touch, he watched himself get picked by a huge man and placed in the coffin-like structure with about a thousand needles sticking out facing him, he was in panic mode but couldn’t do anything not even to pee on himself, he was just a vegetable. A man closed the coffin-like structure, pressed a button on the structure and it began closing and the needle-like projection sunk into Bruce’s skin, Bruce could feel the needle-like projection pushed against his bones. He could feel every drop of whatever was been pumped into his body, his body could no longer withstand the pain and he passed out.

The general was still chewing on the butt of his tobacco when a man in a tight-fitted T-shirt and cargo pants walked up to him and stood beside him looking at what the men in the lab coats were doing from the podium.

General Ryker: Colonel Leo I know you don’t approve of my methods

Colonel Leo: Permission to please speak freely sir

General Ryker nodded his head slowly

Colonel Leo: Don’t you think we are going too far sir, we are not God, no one survived the last procedure all the test subjects died at the end of the day, and the only test subject that survived the procedure, his body wasn't able to take it, he kept on hallucinating and seeing demons and s**t, he put a gun in his mouth and blew his f*****g brains. The doctors kept saying some s**t about him having some chemicals that his body couldn’t absorb from the serum his body was injected with.

General Ryker: Ohh shut the f**k up and pump those balls of yours up, we are in this s**t too deep to be growing conscience now, to get things done we all have to make some sacrifices and this needs to be done. The sacrifice of few for the greater good of many Besides none of this pile of bones is innocent no one gives a s**t about them, we are doing ourselves and the country a favor.