"Come on Henry, you remember right?" Henry looks up from the beer in front of him. He is sitting at a round table with a sofa surrounding half the table. It's located in a bar, with semi loud music playing, and people talking and yelling all around him. Through the windows you can see the dark street outside, the street lamps lighting up a poorly maintained road. The lights in the bar are dimmed down, and a thick smoke from cigarettes hangs in the air. Up by the bar, a man is moving slowly from one person to another, talking with each one, and having a laugh while pouring a beer or grabbing a shots glass from behind him. In front of Henry are three guys about his age. He recognizes them as his friends from when he was deployed. Just to his right is Dustin. A tall guy with a lot of muscle and always a serious look on his face. He is looking at a screen up above the bar, playing the news, a hand on the beer and the other playing with his fairly long beard. Next to him is Jonathan, the oldest of them, at 29 years old. He is laughing as he looks over at Henry, taking a whiff of his cigarette. He is a tall guy, a little smaller than the rest of them, but is still lean and in good shape. Lastly, opposite Henry, is Victor, looking at Henry intensely with a hand raised towards him gesturing wildly. His short blond hair is all over the place after a brawl with Jonathan.
"You remember i gave old Mari to Jonathan just before we returned from Afghanistan, right?" Victor asks again, looking over at Jonathan as well. "I swear it's the truth" he exclaims, talking loudly enough that the table behind him looks around at him. There are multiple empty beers on the table already, and it's fairly obvious who had the most of them. Victor had always been full of energy, making jokes and noise all the time.
"No you didn't man, you got it after Dustin forgot to bring his water bottle on a village patrol, and you still had it when we left", Jonathan laughs giving him a light punch in the shoulder, and simultaneously taking a another puff of his cigarette. "Old Mari" was what they called an old poster of Marilyn Monroe that would get passed around their group on turn. Every time the person who had the poster fucked up in any way, they had to pass the poster on to the next person. It became a challenge to see who could have the poster hanging next to their bed the longest, but after they had returned, the poster had gone missing. Henry couldn't remember who last had the poster, and so he just shrugs, laughing as Victor makes a exaggerated sad face in reaction to his response.
"I am still certain that one of you guys took my water bottle," Dustin says looking away from the tv and over at Victor. Victor looks back and leans back lifting both of his hands up next to his head.
"Why are you looking at me man? I didn't do anything, you just forgot it, nothing wrong with that," he says defensively, but adds; "If you're stupid," while looking away from Dustin. Jonathan bursts out laughing and Dustin tries reaching over the table to grab Victor. Henry can't help but laugh as well. It is so long since the four of them last met, that Henry can't help but just enjoy their company. The four of them had been together both times they had been to Afghanistan, and so even though they didn't meet very often, they always knew they were there for each other if they needed it.
Suddenly Henry's vision becomes blurry and the noise from the bar fades. The silhouette of Jonathan looks over at Henry.
"Hey, time to wake up young man".
-
Henry opens his eyes slowly, and is met with a bright white room lit up by the light in the middle of the room. He squints as he slowly sits up from the bed, his eyes struggling to adjust to the light. He looks over towards the door, and sees two guards and a man standing in the room. Henry blinks a few times to get the sleep out of his eyes. When he checks again, he is greeted by James. Henry immediately gets up from the bed, and the two soldiers raise their guns in response. James simply smiles.
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"Well good morning Henry," he says in a calm voice. His demeanor is nonchalant, showing a lack of fear, and a certainty that he is in complete control. Henry, even though he dislikes the notion, is inclined to agree. With two guns pointed straight at him, there wasn't much anyone could do. The guns looked very similar to the standard gun of the military, the M4A1, but something about it's appearance seemed off, even if Henry couldn't tell what. What he could tell though, was that the soldiers knew how to use them. The gun brought up to their face, cheek firmly welded onto the stock, and hands placed optimally for accurate shooting. They wouldn't miss if he gave them a reason to shoot.
"I'll be frank with you Henry, we are going to be conducting another surgery, and I would appreciate if we didn't have to sedate you once again, as I am sure you would as well." He isn't wrong. Henry is getting tired of being knocked out every time he has to go anywhere. Even so, he feels reluctant to go with the man. He had already proven that he was mean spirited, and even though the pain in his left forearm had disappeared at some point throughout the night, he still didn't know what had even caused it. Henry looks at the two soldiers, then back at James. His thin grey hair is a mess, pointing in every direction at once, making him look like a mad scientist. Henry felt certain the description wasn't off by much either. He sighs, finally coming to the conclusion that he won't be able to avoid it.
"Fine, I'll come with you." Henry says after a long pause. James' smile widens, as he gestures for the soldier to grab Henry. The soldier quickly move up and grab Henry, moving him out the door and down the right hallway. The hallways are as bright and boring as the rooms. Just a long, white box, extending for what looks like eternity. Henry completely loses track of where they are, after taking rights and lefts multiple time, each hallway looking exactly the same as the last. Finally, after walking for quite a while, they stop in front of one of the doors in the hallway. James gets in front of the soldiers and Henry, opening the door. On the other side is the operating room Henry had already found himself in a couple of times already, or at least one that looked similar. It had already been prepped, as a few doctors or nurses where walking around, placing tools on a table, putting plastic around the big light above the operating table or other similar things.
"Go ahead and take off your shirt, and lay down on the table," James says, as he walks over to one of the nurses, who helps him get ready. Henry does as he is told, taking of the shirt, and moving over to the operating table. The table is set low enough that Henry can get up without jumping, presumably because it has been set to fit James' height. The man is short, even compared to Henry. Henry lies down, and one of the nurses comes over with a blue surgical drape, placing it on a table next to Henry. She proceeds to place some electrodes on Henry. Once placed, Henry's heart rate, among a lot of other things, pop up on a screen opposite of him. The nurse turns to Henry,
"We will be operating on your left arm today, so please place it with your palm facing upwards." Henry does as he is told, and the nurse quickly places the surgical drape on his forearm, and covering the rest of his body. While Henry is looking at the nurse working, a hand suddenly grabs his right arm, and before Henry can react, he sees that he has been locked to the table, unable to move his arm at all.
"What the hell?" Henry asks, raising his voice. He tries to reach over with his left arm, but realizes that this arm is also restrained. He looks over, and sees that the nurse has constrained it without him realizing. Henry tries to struggle, but in vain.
"What the hell is going on? Why am I being constrained?" James walks over, finally prepped for the surgery. He is wearing blue scrubs, matching the other nurses and doctors.
"Well you see, I want to do this surgery a little differently than how I usually do things. My last surgery went well, and I learned a lot, but I want to test how your powers work in different scenarios, and so we will be doing this surgery without sedation. The constrains are only so that you don't end up trashing around, ruining the results, and potentially hurting yourself." Henry stares at James, flabbergasted. This man was beyond insane, far worse than Henry had imagined. Finally it dawned on Henry. Something he should have probably realized a lot sooner. As James picks up a scalpel, and moves it around in his hand, finding the perfect grip on the instrument, Henry can do nothing but reflect on how he got here.
"What the fuck is this place?!" Henry yells as the scalpel makes contact with his skin, moving like a hot knife through butter as it splits the skin open. Henry can do nothing but scream.
