When he comes to again, Kevin is strapped to a bed and looking up into lights that make him feel like he has woken up during surgery. He can’t move anything because of the straps on his wrists and ankles, at his knees and elbows, around his pelvis, torso, neck and head. And there is something in his mouth preventing him from speaking. His vision is blurry at first, but then the fuzzy forms of doctors or nurses slowly come into focus and he can hear them talking.
“Just like I thought, there’s no removing that thing. It’s a waste to open his skull, its completely tangled around his brain, like it’s grown into it.”
“Well that’s the source, we’ve got one objective here…”
“I know what our objective is, but are you telling me that’s more important than this man’s life?”
“Honestly…”
“You’re a bigger asshole than I thought Peters, this is insane. And look, he’s awake now, he can hear us. I’m talking to the boss, this is ridiculous.” The outraged doctor leaves and Kevin can hear his footsteps loudly, angrily leaving.
The other doctor leans over Kevin and looks him in the eyes.
“You’re something special, you know that? You can manipulate dark matter, the device in your head stores regular matter in the most efficient way possible, in ways we never even conceived of, and you’ve confirmed what people have been trying to prove for years. There’s no way that thing in your head was made on Earth. And I’m gonna get it. You’re gonna help us advance technology on this planet by leaps and bounds. But you have to make a sacrifice for us, Elroy. If that’s your real name. I know that it isn’t. That’s a ridiculous name, but that agent that brought you in is insisting on anonymity.”
Kevin tries his best to move his body, anything, but he is very tightly secured to the table.
“Don’t panic. You’re safe for now,” the doctor continues. “And don’t think you’re going to use that device to get out of this, we think we have figured out a way to suppress its activity, so don’t even bother. I’m gonna put you back to sleep now. But thank you so much for giving your life for the advancement of science. Your country, all mankind, owes you gratitude for sure.”
Kevin closes his eyes and he prays that the doctor is wrong, that they haven’t disabled the gift he’d worked so hard to be responsible for. And he imagines lasers at every point where he feels the straps. He doesn’t feel the sensation deep in his mind that he is used to when his powers work, but he does feel a dull feeling that encourages him to concentrate, to have patience, to breathe easily in order to make his vision manifest before he is knocked out again. And then he hears destruction to the room he is in, the lasers have done their job, shooting up from his head and neck, and out from his appendages, damaging equipment in the room.
“Security!” Kevin hears the doctor screaming as he stumbles onto the floor from the bed. His mind is starting to become cloudy from whatever drugs they use to knock him out and he can’t focus well enough to make a quick escape. He limps around the room and spots a door, and just as soon as he does, two armed security guards enter and train their guns on him.
“Elroy, stop. Please trust me.” It’s Anish, Kevin struggles to see her face.
“That doctor…he wants to cut my head open…he wants to kill me.” Kevin collapses into sleep.
He slips in and out of consciousness for a period and it is impossible for him to keep track of the time that passes. At one point he is confronted by Jessica, the woman he wanted to love before the alien killed her. She seems angry with him.
“You let me die.” She says, and Kevin sobs at her feet on the beach where he last saw her alive.
“No,” he manages, “I didn’t. I would give everything to make it right.”
There are gulls flying overhead and they morph into crows. Jessica points at them angrily and then she point out at the beautiful waters of the ocean that lay flat to the horizon before it becomes a gloomy field with gravestones. The crows call loudly at one another and then at Kevin; their noise frightens him.
“Coward.” Jessica says and then she slips into the ground, leaving Kevin kneeling before her gravestone.
Kevin stands shakily, and notices that all the gravestones in the row next to Jessica are for the people he cared the most about. The people he tried to protect by hiding himself. There were his parents, his sister, his old boss from TX, the woman Sandra from TN, and her son. Then there were the people he killed by accident in TN. He soon realizes that he has filled the graveyard. All of the death around him was his fault.
And then one of the crows becomes the tall alien who had killed Jessica, and he is laughing at Kevin with his crow beak, taunting him. “I will kill everyone on this planet and make you watch me.”
When Kevin lunges at him, he wakes up with a start in the white room where he first awoke after his fight with Anish. And she is there in a corner, her face sincere and sympathetic to the anguish he feels.
“Where the fuck am I?” Kevin says in between deep breaths. He is sweating buckets and he feels drained of all energy, but he is not strapped down.
“We’re at a secret CIA facility in Seattle. You’re safe here.” Anish approaches him cautiously. “I’m sorry about all this, but you’re more dangerous than you realize. When you dream, sometimes your nightmares come to life and it’s horrific. We’re doing our best to help you.”
“Let me go, that’s the only way to help me.” Kevin is too weak to stand and does his best to sit upright.
Anish sits next to him on his bed. “You were attacked by something? It killed your friend, Jessica? We can help you find it. What was it?”
“It was dangerous. It looked like a man but it wasn’t. It thought I was the same thing it was.”
“Let us help you,” Anish says. “And you can help us, you can help your country. There’s a lot of bad things out there hurting people and you can help a lot of people.”
“That crazy doctor from before said I had to die to do that.”
“He wants to remove the part of you that’s special. He’s the only one. Sure, there are scientist here who are going to study that thing in your head, but we want to put you in the field. We want you to help protect this country. We live in crazy times.”
Kevin sighs and he is feeling woozy again. Maybe he was exactly where he needed to be, contained and protected from hurting anyone. And maybe the CIA could help him, put his gift to good use. But how much could he trust a secret organization?
Anish puts a hand on his shoulder. “Promise me you’ll give us a chance and I promise you we won’t drug you anymore. You’ll know every test they have planned for you. And I promise you’ll have the chance to do good. I know that’s what you want. I heard you while you were sleeping. We’ll help you miigis.”
“You said that before, what does that mean.”
“You’re the magician Elroy. Or should I call you Kevin?”
He thinks that he hasn’t been Kevin since he left his parents’ home. “Call me anything but Kevin.”
“I’ll let you sleep miigis, you look exhausted. I’ll bring you food when you wake up and then we’ll brief you on our plans. We’ve got special things planned for you.” Anish stands in front of the smooth white wall opposite Kevin’s bed and then a panel slides up revealing a doorway. “Sleep well. You will have the chance to make good, I promise.”
When he is alone, Kevin can’t help but collapse back down on the bed. He wants to trust Anish, it would feel good to live without looking over his shoulder, and the promise of redemption was tempting.
PRL Serials 