Kill for Cure - Ishvam Sahi (100 best novels of all time .txt) 📗

A World Update

9th February 2023. Political hostility between the United States of North America, The Great Libertarian Europe and Russian Federation was characterized by heavy militarization, nuclear threats and propaganda. Multiple proxy wars across multiple fronts plunged the world into another Cold War. The Third Cold War having the Americans, West Europeans and Russians competing over world influence led to rapid developments in artificial intelligence, robotics, space technology and weapons technology through experimentation driven by geopolitical tension. The Great Libertarian Europe was an alliance between the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Sweden. After the collapse of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the countries of The Great Libertarian Europe formed a covenant to provide economic and military support to one another. Nations even went so far as to conduct their experiments on their citizens. The government of America had appointed a group of agents tasked with selecting specific individuals suited for the type of testing. 

"Boring"; the word returned back in Jacob's mind for the hundredth time as he slowly strolled through the streets of Los Angeles returning from a tiring day at the university. Maybe pulling an all-nighter wasn't such a good idea afterall, he thought as he rubbed his sleepless eyes. The lush green leaves of the palm trees swung as a gush of wind came by, slicing through Jacob's straight, brown hair. He reached the door of his lonely appartement. As he began to unlock the door, something interesting caught his eye. A jet-black vehicle was cutting through the dense traffic like a heated knife through butter. He knew who it was. "Again? Can't those creeps just leave me alone", he murmured as he entered his appartement. The blaring doorbell filled the neat lobby of Jacob's appartement. He creaked the door open. Unsurprisingly, Nicholas Moore stood on the other side of it. Nicholas was one of the thousand government agents tasked with searching and selecting suitable candidates that were to be used for their tests.

Jacob said, “Why are you here again?”

“I'm sure you know all too well why I'm here, Mr. Miller”, Moore said as he flashed his wide, perfect grin.

"Another boring experiment?"

"Oh I can guarantee that you would not be calling it 'boring' once you hear what it’s about."

"Just come inside and talk", Jacob said with a sigh

"I will tell you about the experiment, but you must not tell anyone about it, as it is a top-secret experiment and only a selected few know of it. We will be testing the newest version of a serum, created by our best scientists, which enhances the user physically and mentally, beyond average human capabilities. Now, I know what you are thinking, but the chance that the serum might have a side effect on the user is none, so you shall not worry. This serum will be then be used for the military to create unstoppable forces"

A small torch of excitement lit up in Jacob's eyes. It had been a while since he had felt like this; he did not want to miss this chance.

“Count me in. I gotta say, I'm impressed. I was not expecting an offer like this from you”

“Perfect. So my assistant will come to pick you up at five o'clock sharp. Don't stress about it, and I will see you in the evening", Moore said as he exited through the main door.

After a while, Jacob started researching about any kind of recent serum testing, as he expected, he couldn't find anything. Soon the clock ticked five. Jacob was ready to go. He saw the same black car arriving outside his house. He locked the door and went towards the car. The door of the car opened as got near it. He got inside the car and saw a young man sitting on the seat. It was the assistant Nicholas had told him about. The assistant, Thomas, greeted Jacob, and then gestured to the driver, who began driving. They had a little chat, in which Jacob was trying his best to get some information out of Thomas, but he could not extract anything regarding else the experiment. Soon they reached the area where the lab was. Jacob read the signboard: Area 51. It took them about 4 hours to reach it. Most of Jacob's time was spent signing all the documents and papers that they had asked him to sign. The area was controlled by the military and the security looked over-the-top. The assistant gestured Jacob to get out of the car when they reached the lab. Two soldiers escorted Jacob towards the entrance of a lab. The lab had ten gunmetal doors, and Jacob was sent into one of them. The gunmetal door slid shut behind him as he entered the gloomy and dull-grey room. The room had people on the first floor spectating through a fully glass covered balcony; bulletproof. He spotted Nicholas standing in the crowd, who gave him thumbs up. There was a human size glass pod in the middle. He was told lie down in it, then they strapped him to it and closed the lid. The scientists gestured to the people sitting with the computers. They pressed some buttons and a different kind of gas started coming inside of the chamber. Two serums were injected in both of Jacob's forearms with the use of computer-controlled injections. He started feeling uneasy and then slowly fell unconscious.

The glass pod hissed open. The straps swiftly unfastened. Jacob got out of the pod, still feeling a little dizzy. When he saw that nobody else was in the room except him, he went near the metal door and started banging it.

“Hello? Is anybody there? I am awake now. Nicholas? Anyone?” Nobody answered, so he started observing the room he was in. One of the computer screens had “touch the screen” displayed on it, so he touched it. Suddenly a familiar voice filled the room. It was Nicholas. He said, “If you are listening to this, that means you are awake. First off, what is your name?" He was confused, how could he not remember his own name. He pressed his hand on his head. Nicholas said," Its okay if you don't, it just proves that the experiment was a success. Don't worry I have already chosen a new one for you. From now on you will be known as Aiden, the ninth test-subject." He paused for a moment, then continued," I know I told you about the experiment very briefly, but let me explain it properly. It was for testing out a new serum we invented, the one injected in your forearms. That serum gives its user an inhuman ability. I won't be telling you what that ability is; you need to figure that out for yourself. But as you know, everything comes with a price. This time the price is a lethal virus, that you inhaled while you were in the chamber. This virus will kill you in exactly a month. Today is June 1st; you have 30 days till the 1st of July to live. You can still have a cure for it. For that, you will have to kill all the others. Yes, you heard me, you were not the only one who was selected for this experiment, in fact there were 9 others. All 10 of you have completely different powers. The twist is that I won't be telling you who they are, you will have find them and eliminate them within the given time period. We don't care what method you use to finish them. You don't need to worry about the civilians seeing you use your abilities either. Every power is given accordingly to the person's physical and mental state. You all will be sent to another island that was the reason we gave you these new names. By doing this, we will be able to make sure none of you try to attack us. It is a populated island though but it is an American territory, so we will have control of where you go. The island is quite tiny and the population isn't much either, so it will be easier for you to find the other 9. All the 10 experiments took place today, so you all will have the same amount of time to get the cure as they did. After this message ends, the doors will automatically open and the guards will take you back to your home where you will have some time to pack-up, don't worry we have arranged a place for you to live in. That was all, I wish you good luck and I hope you survive. I chose you, don't let me down. Goodbye” Aiden’s mind was all jumbled. He sat down on one of the chairs to process everything. It was a lot of information to take at once. But it only took around five minutes for Aiden. After that he got out of the room and sat in a car with the guards, who took them to his house. On the way, he was thinking about what abilities will the 9 have, and what was his own. Once he got home, he began packing. In the end he packed a picture of his mom and dad, took a last look at his house and sat in the car. They took him to a government hangar, where he sat in a private plane that took him to the mysterious island, where he will have to kill for cure.

The Island was invaded