Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 17:55:54 -0800 (PST) From: joshua burnette Subject: Missing Death I know this has been said on most every submission to this site, I think it must be said again. So like, heh, this is like my first time, hehe....ok that was way to queer even for me. Yes, this is my first EVER submission, and I truly enjoy the art of writing. And if you enjoy my writing, please feel free to express a positive or constructive response, on anything about it, even a way as you, the reader, would like me to take with this. By the way, all you idiots who like to curse out these wonderful authors on here, don't bother sending anything to my email, it will be deleted and quickly forgotten,. Any emailed response please title it Missing Death, otherwise I will look right past it, (I get way too much junk mail in my inbox.) Thanos71185@yahoo.com Second, I would like to point out all normal warnings, this is homosexual oriented sci-fi. So, if you don't like either, then don't read it, furthermore, if you are not OLD enough to read this, then you should not read this.....definitely should not read this =) And I am inexperienced, and I HATE grammar..I like to write stories, I don't want, to, get, an ulcer, over incorrect, comma, usage or sumthin like spelling. I am pretty sure the reader will decipher the meaning even if my English professor would have a stroke =P Ok, so I think I covered the basics. And, this Is a story of fiction, purely the author's imagination. Oh! Yea so I write this between my college classes, so it comes out as it comes out...and I WILL not let this story die. Ok, my tirade is over. MISSING DEATH Pt.1 Nine-hundred thousand people went missing last year. Half of these are unexplained murders and suicides. Another quarter are runaways. Yet where have the other two hundred some odd thousand people gone? No explanations. No reports that last more than a week. No official explanation. Every year hundreds of thousands go missing. But to where? My name is Thanos. Every day is the same. I was captured at thirteen and have been here the last three years. Big brother watching at every moment, there is never a chance to escape. Hopefully this transmission will find someone...anyone. I'm not asking for help, I'm probably going to die for this. I just want the truth to be exposed and.... "And that's when the vid fails," remarks Steven to the desk sergeant. "You know kid, I ain't got time in the day for my work, much less pranks. Probably some other kid with nothing to do made it for a joke. Now get out of here and don't come back." ""Why will noone believe me, believe him?" steven says to himself. Sitting back in his room, he stares in disbelief at the frozen frame of the vid. Nothing can be seen in the gloomy background. Only the face of Thanos. By his account, he is sixteen. Steven is only fourteen. Dirty blonde hair to Thanos' jet. Blue eyes to his dark purple. He wanted to help Thanos so much, but what could he do? His friend's think he's crazy, parents don't care. Authorities think the broadcast is a joke. Even steven only found it on a file sharing program listed under conspiracy theories. Yet the conviction in the boy's eyes said it was true. That he really believed everything he said. Not some good acting job, but a true message in a bottle. The .mpg was created two weeks prior. Steven had no idea as to even how to begin a search of his own. He replayed the video a few more times before turning in for bed. His laptop still on with the vid in the background. He could only wonder as to what had become of the boy in the vid. Spitting out another tooth that would be replaced by morning, Thanos looked up and grinned, "That the best you got?" Another jab to the face. These guys are really predictable after a few days. They ask a question. I tell them I fucked their mother, and they hit me. All over a stupid webcam that probably didn't make it out of the facility. "Thanos, we want to know what you said in that vid. It is very important to us." "Yeah, just like me, right?" snarled Thanos," ok I'll tell you." the toughs and the labcoat all leaned in. "I said, 'Dr. Simons' mother does a donkey show on Friday and if you act now...." Yeah, that's all I got out before the lead pipe had been administered to the back of my head. Steven woke up to a beautiful Saturday morning pouring in from his window. Inside his head, everything is far from serene. He had been tormented by odd dreams. Snippets of conversations and actions, none of which were his. He dreamt men in whitecoats were beating him, calling him by the name of the boy in the vid, and asking him about what he said in it. All very strange, but he decided it was just a nightmare spawned from worrying over something that he is beginning to be sure is nothing at all. He wakes up and continues with his day... G'mornin sleepy, said a voice in my head. No need to think it, I feel the pain. Yea yea, but I ca take it. I was made for it, I thought back. Val, how are things in the bay? Ever since they took you, the younger ones have been scared, hell I'm scared. For you. No need for that, but I felt someone last night watching with me. Was that any of you? Oh god Thanos, no one here is strong enough to break through your barriers. Maybe you imagined it, you know, like to help you through it. Yeah, like I need anyone to help me. There you go again. Always the strong one. You need to get yourself out of there and back here, at least you won't be beaten all day. Because life is so good there. I'll think of something, but until then jsut watch out for everyone for me ok Val? Ok thanos, but please don't be stupid. Sitting up I feel the now everyday ache of my body. I didn't even realize I had half the places I now felt pain from. Tonguing my incisor, I confirm the new growth nearly complete. Bastards. Luckily I can regrow certain things. I still feel unsettled though that someone could have been there in my head, even if only watching through my eyes. No one has ever been able to do that. Not the entire time I have been here at the Facility. I know I could have killed all three in the room yesterday. But like everyday since I sent that damned transmission, I find myself restrained. Like I'm waiting for my knight in shining armour or some other romantic bullshit. Not to mention they would have drugged my with darts soon after and it would change nothing. Only make them watch me more closely, hindering any attempt in the future for escape. But gods it would have been nice to take down dr. simons. One day, I swear one day I will kill him for what he has done to all of us. Steven woke up to the wonderful sensation of soreness running down his back. Ow, what did I do to deserve that pain? Maybe I am just obsessing over this vid. That desk sergeant is probably right, it could have been a fake...but what if it isn't? Steven left his house to walk around the shopping district of downtown. Hopping off the bus, he had all but forgotten the vid. He kept to himself, for he never really had friends to socialize with and had become comfortable with being alone. Steven decided to take a shortcut through an alley between two clothing stores to get to the computer shack on the other side. He was too lost in his own thoughts to notice the two men in black suits and sunglasses . He looked up when he realized that someone was at the end of the alley when he was half-way in. The man has on a white labcoat and syringe in his right hand. "Um, hello?" questions steven, more scared by the second. "Hello, steven, please do not resist and this will be over quickly" said the labcoat. "....No?" Steven turns to run, and smacks face first into the abdomen of a very large man, with an equally large man beside him, both in suits and glasses. The man whom he ran into "hugs" him fairly strongly, strong enough to take the wind from him, and his resistance. Steven's leg comes up on instinct and knees the man in the groin. Released from the bear hug, steven promptly falls on his butt. "Ow!" "Jim, don't go berserk on him like the last kid that did that," politely states the man besides "Jim". "It doesn't even phase me anymore John." even more politely a reponse from the non- flinching man who just received a strong knee to the groin. "Now if you two would just please restrain the subject," Subject!?!," we can return to the Facility before lunch is over. And besides, we are not finished questioning young Thanos." that coming from the labcoat. "You guys know Thanos!" "...yes, we do, and more importantly is, how do you?" "He was in this broadcast I downloaded saying that people were being captured for research or something..." "All the more reason for us to return to the Facility as promptly as possible. John?. Jim? If you would be so kind" With that, steven is hauled to his feet deftly injected. "Wait! what are...you...do," exclaims steven before he is unconcious. "Is he awake?" came a young voice. "Not sure, better to let him sleep off the drugs as much as possibly though." explained a older teenaged female voice. "Val, they took Thanos again...I'm really scared," nearly cried a young boy. "It's ok sweetie, he will be strong for all of us." "Ugh, can anyone please turn off the cymbals?" groggily awoke Steven. "Hehe, wakey wakey newbie," said the voice of "Val". Opening his eyes, steven sees a girl of about 15-16 before him, shoulder length"blonde hair, tipped in glacier blue. Her appearance gave off a frosty temperament, but her personality seemed warm enough. She was very beautiful, but he couldn't understand why she was standing over him, accompanied by 5 or 6 children between the ages of eight to ten. "Uh, where am I?" "Well, first off, I am Valevis, but everyone calls me Val," she smiled really really big, scary big as she said this," and you have been abducted by aliens!" "HUH!" "No, not really, but it is probably worse." her smile became sad at this point," geneticist have been toying with human DNA, "improving" us for years, but now, the government is willing to let private companies "procure" as many test subjects as they wish, and as much funding as they need, with the hopes of military applications in the future." "You mean like super-soldiers?" "Yea, pretty much, basically the stealing of people is covered up by the government, and the fact that it is private companies makes it impossible for the government to ever be held responsible if and when these shady dealings are ever found out by the public at large." "And I'm now a test subject?" "...I hate to be the bearer of bad news but yes, you are, and so are we. I have been here for nearly three years. Most of the children have only been here for less than two years. They keep you here until you crack and accept their brainwashing and become thugs like the two who brought you in." "So....this sucks."at that most of the children laughed. Laughing herself Val responded in kind, " Well yea, but maybe one day we can have a life once again. We just try to be strong until that time." "Be strong, stay strong, until we can break out of this Hell hole and get back at the damned think tanks that made us this way," said a very enraged female from across the room. No two ways about it, she just looked pissed. "Down Mel!" shouted Val," That little bucket of sunshine is Melvalin." "What's her problem?" Steven softly whispered in Val's ear. "I CAN STILL HEAR YOU ASSHOLE!" shouted Mel. "I'm sorry, I just.." " Don't worry about her, this is her on a good day," frowned Val, "so what is your name?" "Steven, I sort of know about this place already..." "Huh?" said everyone in unision, with the exception of Mel, who just scowled a little less in steven's direc ion. "Yea, there was this video on the I found on a file sharing program," not a single mouth stayed closed, and all eyes were in rapt attention to steven as he continued," He said hundreds of thousands of people go missing every year, and that facilities like these were responsible. He said his name was Thanos," Steven stopped to look around wondering if they were frozen or involved in his words," that was the same response I got when I told these guys about to capture me a few hours ago..." Before anyone could really move, Mel had crossed the room, picked up Steven by the windpipe, and screamed," Thanos is now being beaten for what you said to those bastards! Do you have any idea how much he is going to suffer because of you!" "Ugh..I..gurgle..sto...p...gagh," was steven's only answer as his legs looked for a ledge to stand on. Val moved behind Mel and placed her hand on Mel's shoulder, Mel looked back with intense hatred, as her hand ever so slowly began to releaseits grip on steven's neck and lower him to the floor. "Mel, please, he did not know then, and he still does not fully understand, the boy has just been abducted, you do remember how we all our first day?" "...Fine, just don't ever ask me to help him. Thanos does NOT deserve what is being done to him, what he did for us, and he is paying the price for." "Come with me steven, we need to talk, maybe it will help you better understand how things work here." Steven and Val started walking out of the room they were in, it seemed like a white washed recreation room in any hotel, if it had been designed for kids, and the table he had been laying on seemed to serve as a game board table. I think I my butt was laying on a monoply shoe, oww. Out of nowhere, Val softly laughed to herself. "Lets head to my room, it is a little more private than our general area. And the kids do not need to here what I have to say." We walked through one of many numbered doors out of the "common area" and into a double bunked room, once again, white. A few chairs, the bunk bed, two desks, and some scattered books next to a movable closet. It was closed, and like many teenage rooms it had magazine clippings attached onto it. Unlike most teenagers' rooms, the clippings were not of celebrities and sex symbols, but places like the Biltmore estate, Disney world, and Buckingham palace. Val motioned for me to sit on a chair nearby while she sat on her bed. She took a breath before starting," almost all the research from any of these companies can be broken down into two areas, physical or mental. Most physical experiments are crossing of human and animal DNA, to make stronger faster and more lethal humans...The mental side is forcing the development of psionic, and psychic abilities. By the way, forcing human evolution is painful and more often than not, unsuccessful, otherwise they would not care. But they use their own, or I should say, people who were once scared kids like us that decided it was better to be on the devil's side rather than under his foot, to find anyone with a smidgeon of mental abilities beyond the norm. This facility is focused on the mental aspect, so I assume you are probably at least slightly psychic, or some offshoot," she raised a hand to silence me until she had finished," the reason they are now focused solely on mental, is because this was the first facility to try altering DNA and enhancing mental capabilities at the same time, out of the sixty- seven subjects to be administered with a chosen "cocktail", only two survived, Thanos and Melvalin. "They have been here ever since, no one knows what the full extent of their transformation is, but as you can tell from when Mel throttled you, she is very enhanced in strength and speed. The animal DNA used for her was thought to be some prehistoric panther or tiger. And Thanos has been injected with some sort of dinosaur DNA," She saw the expression on my face, one of shock, and continued," none of the scientists from that experiment survived, nor any notes or material, we are not even in that building anymore, it was three states away, at least that's what Thanos and Melvalin say. "Thanos is the more dangerous, he wont show off any of his abilities to anyone, I personally think it more of a fear tactic against his current opressors. However, we all know he can heal any damage in a matter of hours, which is why he loves taunting the tough guys around here," Val smiles as if thinking of a pleasent memory," and he watches over all of us, he is the only one they can not control, can not break through he psyche to suppress him in anyway, because of his regeneration, most knock-out gases or injections wont work for longer than a few minutes. He looks out for all of us, and makes sure no one messes with us, we have had orderlies who wanted to have their way with some of the younger girls and boys...now they do not have a way to "have their way with" anyone anymore. "A few weeks ago, Thanos knocked out most of the staff, and made his way to a computer in I guess their lobby, which had a webcam, so he tried his best to make a movie and send it out, but we didn't even think it had reached anyone. The staff here is more concerned with other similar companies getting wind of how ineffectual and negligent this facility is in coming close to alerting the nation on the goings on in here." "I guess it wouldn't be pretty,"remarked steven. "Not for any of us," said Val in all seriousness," well we need to find you a bed, I think some of the younger boys..." Steven woke up again to see Val shaking her head as if she had just woken. "Yes, that happens from time to time, they do it when they want to take one of us out or put someone back in. Safer for them tehy assume, and with Thanos not in here, I guess they don't have to hurry anymore." "Why would they have to hurry?" Val grinned, "Because Thanos will tear them apart if he gets the chance." "THANOS IS BACK!!!"jubilantly exclaimed a little gurl that ran past Val's door. "Well lets go see how bad it was this time." with that she got up and ushered me back to the common area. Upon arriving steven noticed everyone huddled around an unseen groaning figure, Mel is on here knees holding a hand with a sad expression on her face. She turns to see steven approaching and scowls. "Stay away from him newbie, he doesn't need anymore pain," she hissed. "Uuhh, nonsense Mel, let me see the boy that was able to give me the oppotunity to knock Jim on his ass." at this all the children giggled and cheered. "Oh, dear lord, that rib is going to be cracked until tomorrow Thanos," expressed val as she ran her hand over Thanos' bare chest. He grinned through the busted lip and swollen eye socket and replied, " It was shattered earlier, my own fault really, I didn't know John was so touchy about his mother working in a brothel." Upon finishing his statement, Thanos coughed upbloody plhegm that one of the kids quickly wiped away with a towel. "Thank you though," he said to steven," At least I know the vid got somewhere." and with that, he passed out. "Help us carry him to his room please?" asked Val. "No need, I'll do it," sneered Mel as she very gently picked him up and carried him away. "Mel is just worried about Thanos, she's taking it out on you b/c you she views as the reason for his situation." sadly stated Val. "Go easy on him will ya Mel?" groggily said Thanos as he is gently laid down on his bed. "Thanos, you need to be careful, we were soo worried." pleaded Mel. "Hey, can you tell...um...." "Steven?" "Yea, Steven, can you tell steven ask steven to move in here with me?" "Um, may I ask why?" "Yea, I don't think he would like to be in the younger boys rooms too much." "Is that all?" Thanos blushed, "Of course that is all!" "...ok, so you want me to take it easy on him too?" "That would be nice," an even more flustered Thanos stammered. Mel look ahead and closed her eyes for a second. "Val is bringing him now," she grinned. "I'm never going to hear the end of this am I?" "Not as long as we live...which might not be too long so take comfort in that," a sting of sarcasm could be felt in her statement. Val had been in the middle of a joke when she started to giggle, she looked at Steven, and giggle again. Back in Thanos' room, Mel started to chuckle under her breath. "And just what are you two talking about?" said Thanos. "Oh, nothing." Val looked over Steven and asked, "So did you havea girlfriend?" "Was that the punch line? If so it doesn't make any sense..." replied steven. "Thanos would like it if you moved in with him, he's got a bigger room than Mel and I share, so I think you two will have enough space. Besides, he doesn't think you would like it to much to be with the younger boys," she leaned in close," they pull pranks on everyone except me, Thanos, and Mel." at that moment a nerf ball struck the back of Steven's head, at the same time an unseen force started giving him a wedgie. "Ow!" The boys he saw as he turned around were all giggling. "Thanos just wants someone to kiss all night!" and with that they ran off laughing. "Um...huh, I....what?" stammered out Steven. After blushing a furious shade of red, Val disclosed," Well, if you don't mind, Thanos is gay, I hope that doesn't turn you off on being his roommate." "Um," Steven blushed, " no it doesn't turn me off, it turns me ...I mean...o damn." " I have never seen so many people blush in so short a time," smirked an obviously pleased Mel.