The waiting room was sterile and blank. There was nothing but white walls with the dullest of gray coloring for the furniture. A simple cushioned seat and table with a magazine and a remote for the small flat screen in the corner.

  One of the walls had an opening, and behind it was a woman typing on a computer.

  In the small seat behind the coffee table, an emaciated man with thin hair and sunken cheeks watched the news. His hair was thin and a dull black with gray streaks here and there. He was dressed in light loose pants and a shirt. Both of which were incredibly baggy on his sickly frame.

  “-- a startling crime committed tonight. Just outside the campus’ hottest nightclub. So far there is only one confirmed death, though apparently not the intended target. Three students, friends of the deceased, have stepped forward, crying out for blood against the driver who committed the crime in question.”

  In the background, behind the reporter on the screen, a large man was struggling against several officers. He was clearly enraged and screaming obscenities that weren’t being picked up by the microphone. Behind him were two women, one crying into the arms of the other while paramedics tried to help them.

  All the while, another man was being pulled out of a car, the front end smashed, with the camera angled just the right way, to not show what could only have been the mangled corpse of the deceased.

  “Xander... Xander!” A voice cut through the room, and the man in the seat turned his head. A bright smile lit up his face as he saw who was calling for him.

  It was a woman dressed in a clean black dress suit. Her blonde hair was tied back into a bun, and she had a pair of glasses that were big and round. On her chest was a platinum pin of a silver owl perched on a branch, sitting on a navy-blue rectangle.

  The logo of Sage Pharmaceuticals. One of the leading companies in medical innovation and life extension.

  “Katie! Sorry... I was a bit too focused...” Xander stood from his seat, wobbling for a moment before gingerly stepping around the table. “Can you believe it... I can remember when we went to that club back when you were a student...”

  Xander smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He was lost in the melancholy of the moment, and the worry of what was about to happen to him.

  Katie smiled, it was just as sad as his was, and he worried that he had upset her in some way.

  “Yeah... I remember. Dad was pissed I came home too drunk to walk, but if I remember, you got a promotion for dragging me home safe and sound.”

  Xander snorted at the memory. That hadn’t been the first time he had met Katie, but it was one of the more distinct moments in their time together.

  “I’m just glad he decided not to fire me and let me explain things first.” That had been a tense night, but he’d impressed his boss and gained his approval in the process.

  Becoming the fiancé of the woman in front of him would’ve been far more difficult if he didn’t have both of those going for him.

  “C’mon. It’s time to get you in the pod.” Katie wrapped her hand around Xander’s arm. She was nearly a foot shorter than his 6’3”, but with how little meat he had on his bones, it wasn’t hard for her to lead him forward. “You know the process, at least the gist of it, yeah?”

  A shudder ran through Xander’s body as he recalled the countless files and forms he’d had to go through to get approved for this process. Even after getting help from both Katie and her father, it was still a slog that he didn’t want to go through again.

  “I remember. New tech, special preservation formula, total blood and fluids replacement, followed by submergence into some more fluids that will preserve my body for potentially years and years to come, right?” He gave her an overly exaggerated dopey grin that made her giggle.

  “That’s the gist of it.” The pair crossed through a sealed door, now well away from the waiting room. A heavy-duty elevator opened in front of them, and they began a rapid descent after entering. “Thank you for doing this... I know you had some reservations, but I’m glad that you’re taking this opportunity.”

  He frowned at how quietly Katie was speaking. It had often been hard for him to get people, even though he eventually got the hang of it. Just like how it was also hard for him to get numbers and science, and most schooling. But this was the woman he loved, and he knew that something was bothering her.

  “What’s wrong? You seemed so happy when I finally agreed to do this? Did something happen?” He was more than ready to back out if it meant making her happy. No matter how much it confused him, since she was the one who pushed for this in the first place.

  “I guess I’m just finally realizing everything... It’s possible that it’ll be years before we see each other again. If at all, since there’s no guarantee that we’ll even be able to cure whatever it is that’s making you waste away...” Katie looked like she was ready to burst into tears.

  Reaching forward, Xander wrapped her in his arms, even as the elevator came to a stop. They both ignored the opened doors. They closed a moment later.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Hey, it’s going to be alright. You and your father are two of the smartest, if not the smartest, people on the planet. You successfully put a person in stasis and brought them back out several times already. If it was anyone else that tried to convince me to do this, I never would.” Xander leaned in and gave her a kiss.

  “Besides,” he continued, “if we don’t do this, I’ll die and never get to see you again. At least this way, there’s a chance, right?”

  Katie sniffled, “Right.”

  With that said, she reached to push the open-door button. Stepping out into the large, nearly hangar-like basement of Sage Pharmaceuticals. Here, hundreds of pods, most empty, but some filled, were spread out in neat rows with technicians and doctors all bustling about.

  Just a few rows down, and elderly man with gray hair and a bushy mustache was looking over some paperwork with one of the scientists next to a pod that looked ready to be filled.

  “Daddy,” Katie called out. The elderly man turned around.

  “Mister Sage.” Xander inclined his head out of respect. Raymond Sage: this was the man who had both hired him at his lowest point, and eventually agreed to let him marry his daughter. Even if the latter was now on hold for an indefinite amount of time.

  “Katie, Xander.” Though shorter than him by a few inches, Raymond was in a much healthier state, so he was more than capable of making Xander wince when he patted him on the shoulder with a broad smile on his face. One that fell away when he noticed. “I’m sorry about that... Things have happened far too fast, for all of us...”

  Given that he’d been nearly 250 pounds of solid muscle and was now barely more than half of that after just over a month, Xander was well aware of Raymond’s troubles.

  “It’s alright, sir. Figuring out how to fix me is why we’re here, isn’t it?” Xander tried to smile again, but he could tell it didn’t work. Not with how Raymond and Katie just frowned even more.

  He decided to try a different approach. “Is this my pod? I gotta say, they all look a lot more impressive in person. It’s really an honor to be allowed a spot like this.”

  “Oh, yes, this is it, and really, it was no problem at all. Not even a third of the spots have been reserved just yet, so we’re still looking for volunteers, just like you.” Raymond seemed happy for the change in topic. “That being said, I guess it’s time we get you ready to go. Katie, you know all the processes. I’ll let you finish things off.”

  Xander turned to Katie. She gave her father a smile before turning toward him.

  “C’mon, Xander, we should finish getting you ready to sleep.” Holding out a hand she led him to a side room where he laid on a table after stripping down. “Are you ready?”

  Several needles had been stuck into him, both for draining and replacing the blood in his body.

  He nearly said yes but thought for a moment. There were so many things he wanted to say. First and foremost, however, he wanted Katie to be safe, and happy, no matter what happened to him. Even if it wasn’t what she wanted to hear from him right now.

  “Katie... I love you, more than anything else in the world... But if I don’t wake up, don’t wait for me... Please. Don’t hold yourself back just for me.”

  Tears welled up in Katie’s eyes, and Xander could only hope that she wouldn’t hate him for what he’d said. But he couldn’t say anything else. He refused to be a dead weight that dragged her down if things went wrong.

  No matter how hypocritical he knew he was, since there was nothing in the world that would stop him from finding her, if he woke up.

  “Good night, Xander... I’ll see you when you wake up...”

  She flipped a switch, and Xander felt a cool sensation fill his body before the edges of his vision faded away.

  His eyelids grew heavy, and in moments he felt them close against his will.

  The last thing he saw before falling asleep was Katie’s face, smiling down at him with tears running down her cheeks.

  His last thoughts before the world went dark were that he’d see her smiling face again, and when he did, there would be no tears.

  ----------

  There was a flash of light, followed by a ringing sensation that pierced his ears and made him jolt forward in an instant.

  The world was blurry, and his balance was off. He could barely stand up, but he forced himself to his feet.

  “Xander! Xander!” A voice was calling out to him.

  Who are you?

  He tried to call back, but the words did not escape his lips. The world suddenly spun and the blurred world he was looking at cleared up. A building, broken and torn down to nothing more than rubble stood before him. A group of bodies were laid out just a few feet away from him.

  Parts were missing. As if ripped off and strewn about amongst the debris.

  There was a coppery taste in his mouth. Alongside the dusty feeling of ash.

  Something roared. It was a loud and agonizing scream of rage and pain. It was followed by a sea of fire that filled Xander’s vision, and he could feel the burn on his face... And in his throat.

  I’m the one that’s screaming... He realized with a horrible certainty that made him sick to his stomach.

  A burst of gunfire echoed from behind him. A shower of pellets hit his back. They were barely more than pin pricks, but he found himself turning around anyway.

  The fog filled his sight once more, and he failed to see what was shooting at him.

  Nor did he find out why what could only be bullets felt so small, so tiny, when he knew that such things should’ve been far more deadly.

  “Xander! Xander!” The voice called out again, this time from above him.

  The world became clear once more, and this time he saw something even more horrific than before.

  Monsters of all sorts roared in anger in front of him. Each one was crying out balefully at the sky. Fire spewed from their mouths, while steel and lightning rained down upon them.

  Fighter jets shrieked overhead, and the whistling of bombs falling toward them screamed in his ears.

  A burst of white light and the fog returned once more.

  This time, the world remained blurry, but he could feel himself moving, sluggishly, and with far too much energy being used to so much as a twitch.

  He could feel himself crawling. A pair of boots appeared in front of him. Armored soldiers, each one standing as tall as his head, even though he was crawling on his hands and knees, readied their weapons, bulky tools that shone with coolant and energy charges. Weapons that were far more powerful than what were used on him before.

  Wait... How Do I know that? His question remained unspoken and unanswered. His body continued to operate on its own.

  Is this a dream? He couldn’t ponder things for much longer. With an electric whine, the soldiers fired.

  Burning pain was all he felt before everything turned black, but only for a short time before a blinding white light was all that he could see, with muffled voices calling out to him with unintelligible words.