Hey All, Thanks very much for the notes and positive feedback so far on the story. I try to respond to everyone who writes - and actually found some really awesome people here! You readers are fantastic - and I'm really grateful for those of you who take a minute to write. Hope you like the latest installment...
If you're enjoying this - drop me a note...Ty_Stoner2002@yahoo.com
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Chapter 3 The Bunker...
Lars grabbed my hand and led me through the dark corridor. It felt like the hallway passed around the perimeter of a few rooms and eventually we raced down two flights of stairs, lit only by dim emergency LEDs. It took my eyes a few moments to become accustomed to the lower light. My mind continued to race madly replaying the images of what had just happened. I had never seen a dead body before and it seemed even more crazy that he had just been telling me something about the secret to never aging. Who were those men, maybe military, who chased us in here? Before, I had assumed they were security, but now it seemed like they were guarding Tyler not protecting him. Or, maybe not guarding him at all - but maybe guarding his secret.
At the bottom of the stairs there was a heavy door which Lars opened then shoved me through into a huge, brightly lit underground room. Banks of medical machinery, testing equipment and a thousand things I had never seen before and couldn't possibly begin to describe filled the room. The room looked like an unholy union of a research hospital and NASA Mission Control. Lars closed the door behind us and sealed 3 separate bolts, making me feel a bit safer. At least for the moment.
Spinning around, I immediately saw there was another person in the room with us. He grabbed me and roughly guided me towards a leather covered chair, not unlike a dentist's chair, forced me to sit, then elevated my feet onto the extended base. His hands worked with clinical precision, switching exam lights on, reclining the chair and attaching some tight straps to my arms, waist and legs before I knew what was happening. I was completely immobilized.
This was it - I was going to die right here in the bunker and no one could hear me scream. The victim of some evil human vivisection that would likely see my innards ripped out while I was conscious. I was gripped in a powerful terror and screamed with all the force of my lungs. My hands felt cold as the blood drained from my extremities, while my eyes bulged from my agonizing terror.
"it's ok, it's ok..." Lars repeated loudly trying to get my attention. "We will explain everything shortly, but we don't have much time."
"BP 190 over 125, pulse is through the roof and he's hyperventilating...fuck, this pussy." The stranger's voice was full of disdain, disgust almost. "Hand me the diazepam..."
Instead, Lars reached for a paper sack, and held it up to my face. "Here," he said gently holding it over my nose, "breathe slowly and deeply." He stroked the side of my head rhythmically helping me slow my breathing to a manageable pace.
I could feel my robe open, exposing my naked form on the table, and then quickly he stuck a series of sensors and electrodes around my torso, head and legs. A holographic image of my body suddenly flickered to life hovering about 2 feet above my body, and various images showed my vitals and bodily functions animated in real time. I could see my animated heart beating, blood flowing, lungs breathing and many other things that I could barely understand. It was more advanced than anything I had ever seen or could even have dreamed. I expect this is how alien abduction nightmares begin, and I had already experienced the anal probe (true, I had liked that part).
As my breathing slowed, I finally got a better look at the person who had strapped me into this chair. Still sitting beside me, working simultaneously on both the hologram in virtual reality and quickly tapping at a computer keyboard was a man about in his mid-20's, long brown styled hair on top, and shaved sides. Full rough ruddy beard sat underneath dark rimmed, nerd-style reading glasses. His eyes a deep brown, quickly darted between my own naked body, the hologram and a computer monitor beside me. His high cheekbones beguilingly attractive. He had a certain rough beauty about him, full sleeve length tattoos peeked out from his white lab coat sleeves and jutted up from his collar and most notably, his earlobes were stretched in a `flesh-tunnel' style piercing. The whole package together was some upper West-side combination of savage and styled. Tribal, while simultaneously modern.
"That's better," Lars said acknowledging my slowing breathing. Far from comfortable, I was at least becoming accustomed to lying naked on this exam table. "Now listen very closely, all our lives depend upon what I'm about to tell you." Lars' voice was now serious. Not the voice of a party-loving house-boy, but the voice of a man with a mission. Something told me that mission now made me a part of the life or death proposition he was about to make.
"Those men outside want us dead. We know something they will do anything to keep from getting out of this house." Lars face now almost pressed up against mine in earnest, holding my chin so I stayed focused on him, despite the machinery that began to whir around my prostrated body. "So you need to cooperate with us, or this bunker won't be the place that saves our lives, this room will become our coffin."
I nodded agreement, still in stunned silence.
"OK, that's good." Lars said. "We don't have much time... but Doctor Stone cracked the code to reinforcing human chromosomes. Those `telomeres' he mentioned by the pool." His eyes searched my face for some sign of recognition. Oh shit, I thought. I didn't know there'd be a test.
"The things that protect the chromosomes ...from...ah...aging." I said finally.
"Yeah, that's right." Lars said, apparently pleased with my pre-school level understanding of bio-genetics. "By tailoring a particular virus, and tricking it into supporting certain DNA structures, we can give telomeres infinite strength."
"So you made a virus that stops aging..." I said, which now seemed blindingly obvious.
"And there's more," the stranger added, before warning, "...brace yourself, needle..." right before some kind of robot arm inserted a thick needle into my chest, and quickly withdrew with speed and precision, not even leaving a mark.
"So that's Jordan." Lars said, nodding towards the stranger, still working on his keyboards. "And he means we learned that not only does the virus stop aging, but it restores aged tissues, organs and muscles also."
"That sounds pretty cool." I said, honestly impressed, "but what the hell is going on?" All these medical discoveries sounded incredible, but why was I strapped to this damn chair?
"...'pretty cool'...?!" Lars mocked. "See this?" He said as he lifted his perfectly formed bicep in front of my eyes. "And this, " he added as he motioned to his bare and perfectly muscled chest. "I'm 44 and I've never lifted weights in my life. Was always just a skinny guy."
"I'm 39, " offered Jordan, as he lifted his shirt up and flashed his muscular abs and pecs, a few tattooed butterflies and pierced nipples, " and I should be nearly dead from congenital muscular atrophy. Doctor Stone saved my life."
I couldn't believe it. Both these guys couldn't possibly be over 30, and they were clearly in the physical prime of their lives. If indeed they were closer to 40 than 20, there must be some serious science involved.
""The secret was, it has to work in two parts, "Lars explained. "Doctor Stone realized that the virus could edit the chromosomes making them more resilient. Using a virus that was coded to a specific DNA sequence ensured the virus was correctly targeted to the particular cells they needed to support.""...and the particular PERSON they were supposed to work on," added Jordan. "We couldn't risk this kind of virus getting loose in the environment!".
"And the second part," continued Lars, "were those modified stem cells we just punched into your liver." he motioned to where the injection had just occurred in my abdomen. "From now on, your liver will begin producing a vitamin that your infected cells will use to ward off all effects of aging. We call it Vitamin K+." Lars looked relieved he had finally got it all out.
"You were the fucking unicorn!" Jordan said, confusing the living shit out of me.
"The second part of this process almost never worked," explained Lars as he started to release me from the chair. "Re-coding so much DNA was too complex to manage and wasn't easy to control. Doctor Stone had isolated which proteins needed editing, but it was random and almost we couldn't move one without damaging another. Like a Rubik's cube. We needed a particular DNA starting position to get reliable results."
"And I was the right starting position?" I asked stupidly.
"The NSA identified you 6 months ago," Jordan said. "Doctor Stone confirmed it last night, with a sample of your, umm," he hesitated, "... your DNA."
"Wow, ok. So I'm going to live forever?" I asked.
"Not just you, " Jordan said gravely, " you are now the only living Universal Donor. The vitamin K+ you produce can be used to heal anyone that has been primed with the virus."
"Don't you see how important this is?" Lars asked as he lifted me up off the table."Your DNA allows us to make a vaccine that can heal anyone. Stop aging in anyone."
BOOM A large explosion went off right outside the door we had entered minutes ago. The room shook and pieces of concrete fell off the walls surrounding the door, but it held firm.
"Here, put these on quickly." Jordan said as he passed me a T-shirt and shorts. "There will be sneakers in the car." Quickly he reached under his desk and pulled out a Glock G27. Checking the .40 caliber ammunition in the chamber, he ditched his lab coat exposing his beautifully tattooed arms, from wrist to collar, hidden only at the shoulders by his tight fitting t-shirt.
Lars went to a closet on the wall and retrieved an AK-47 with enough cartridges of ammo to sustain a small war. He positioned himself behind a set of filing cabinets across from the doors and aimed his weapon at the doors in anticipation of a second blast potentially making it through the doors.
"Whatever happens from now on, " Lars said, " we keep you safe. YOU are the culmination of Tyler Stone's life's work."
At that moment a much more powerful blast shook the whole room. At once the door intact, fell forward as the whole concrete wall collapsed behind it. Pulverized dust billowed out from the destruction and rocks, large and small scattered throughout the room. Equipment and machines closer to the blast site were blown out like they had been torpedoed. Rapid gunfire erupted out from the gash in the wall and soldiers attempted to enter the room.
Lars immediately began to return fire, slowing their rapid advance. Jordan grabbed my shoulder and turned me towards the back of the room. We raced together towards a door, through the thick dust cloud. I pulled my shirt over my mouth so I could breath and filter the airborne concrete out.
Through the door, I saw a black 4 door vehicle. Jordan quickly pushed me into the passenger side, then raced around to get into the driver door. The Maserati Quattroporte GTS could go from 0 to 60mph in 4.6 seconds. With a few more moments, it could reach it's top speed of 190 mph. The interior felt more like a cockpit than a car. The engine roared to life and Jordan hit the gas, sending us speeding like a bullet down a dark tunnel, to what I hoped would be an escape.
"This is what it must be like riding in the Batmobile," I said adrenaline thumping in my ears as we raced toward the final tunnel exit. Then as the exit came into view, I could see several armed men there, waiting for us.
"Duck down," Jordan yelled.
Our seats reclined quickly as he floored the accelerator and we raced towards them. I could hear gunfire and screeching tires, and then at least 2 separate thuds as we must have hit our assailants, their bodies rolling over the top of the vehicle.
"That was crazy close!" I said, relieved to have made it out alive watching the road ahead as we picked up speed on the empty suburban road. Suddenly, Jordan's tattooed arm reached out in front of my face, and his fist held the glock right in front of my nose. "What's that?" I asked.
"Pest Control." he answered, pulling the trigger and blowing a bullet through the window beside me, and right into the head of a man hanging on the outside of the vehicle. My ears seared with pain and the flash in my eyes burned briefly. I heard the assailant's body slide off the car, and felt the thud as we drove over him with the back wheels.
For a moment I thought we had got away safely. Then I looked down and saw my shorts were red with blood. A bullet had pierced the car door, and I couldn't move my right arm.
"Ah, Jordan..." was all I had to say, his eyes looked down and saw the carnage on my lower body.
"Oh shit." came his response.