Atomic

The stark brightness hits Nick’s eyes like an unbearable solar beam as he opens them for the first time in what feels like forever. He closes them again, and takes a few deep breaths that grow more rapid with each inhale and exhale. He feels so dizzy and so disoriented, confused and actually sick. He reaches up to his face, finding an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. He tries to remove it but a firm hand moves his own away, making sure the mask is left in place. He tries to speak now, but a female voice shushes him.

“No, no just take your time.” He recognises that voice. It’s Jodie, the woman from the ambulance and the plane. Only when his eyes are finally able to focus, does he see that he is in fact in a proper hospital bed, surrounded by stainless steel counters and cabinets. Several people in lab coats are stationed at various locations throughout the room, as incredibly bright lights shine down on them from the ceiling.

Once again Nick reaches up and this time is allowed to remove the mask from over his face.

“Where am I?” He asks Jodie, incredibly scared. He places his hands at his side and tries to push himself up a bit, but stops when he feels an intense sharp pain course through his head, down his spine, in his chest and at his wrists.

“Calm.” Jodie tells him. “Just lie down, you’re safe. You just need to stay lying down.”

Nick nods now, and rests his head back on his pillow, aware of the constant aching that starts at the back of his head.

“You’re at Area 51.” Jodie tells him openly and honestly. “With what has happened to you it’s currently the safest place for you.”

“What?” Nick asks, looking around confused. He looks down to his right hand, to where a needle is draining a silver fluid from him. “What the hell’s that?”

“Nick, remember we told you-“

“I’m a bomb.” Nick cuts Jodie off. He nods, once again looking over his body. He is covered in pads attached to wires, has bandages around each of his wrists, and has a blood pressure cuff around his upper left arm.

“Nick to save your life and to prevent the chemical inside you from activating we’ve had to make a lot of alterations in your body.” Jodie starts explaining, not that she thinks Nick will necessarily process or remember any of this in his current state. “We’ve had to invent three synthetic glands. One in your brain and one in each of your wrists. The glands secrete a substance called Truedox. It’s a neutraliser that keeps the HX896 from activating and makes it compatible with your body. However as these glands are synthetic we have had to develop a vaccine that you will need to have every day to stop your body from rejecting them. We have also had to contaminate your blood stream with millions of tiny robots we call nanites. To regulate your body temperature and to keep the HX896 from becoming too hot or too cold. These nanites transmit information back to us via a small device we’ve inserted directly into your heart.”

Nick silently nods, looking at his bandages wrists. It’s all too much, why couldn’t he have just been killed in the accident? Why did he have to survive it? Death would’ve been better than this.

“So you have direct control of my body?” Nick asks. “Nanites are robots, they’re transmitting information to you, so you must have some control over them. That means you have control of my body.”

Jodie smiles a little.

“Not at all.” She tells him. “I cannot tell the nanites to do anything except for what they are already doing, and reboot if something were to go wrong.”

“Reboot?” Nick asks.

“I know reboot sounds scary, but believe me, it’s very simple. If that were to ever be needed, all it would mean for you is going to sleep for a few hours.” Jodie explains.

“You didn’t answer my question.” Nick tells her as he looks down to the fluid being drained from him once more. “What’s that?”

“Truedox.” Jodie answers. “We flooded your system with it and now we’re simply draining away the excess.

“How long have I been out?” Comes Nick’s next question.

“Eleven days.” Jodie tells him. “Medically you’ve responded incredibly well to all of the changes we’ve had to make. The rest is up to you now. You’ll be here in the lab for the next few weeks while you adjust to you’re new way of life. I believe the plan after that is to have you live with Agent Fairbanks four nights a week, and here in the lab for the remaining three.”

“How long will that go on for?” Nick asks, but doesn’t need an answer. He already knows. The. Hangs that has happened to him is permanent, therefore this will be the plan for him for the rest of his life, however long that may be.

Without anymore questions, Nick settles back down now, just watching everything going on around him. After a few hours he is allowed to eat for the first time since the accident. Just a little bit at first, a piece of chicken and some rice. It doesn’t matter to him though, it still tastes amazing, as does the water that he is finally allowed to drink.

A few more hours pass, Agent Fairbanks comes to see how Nick is getting on. He sits and they talk for what seems like hours. Getting to know one another, getting to know each other’s interests, getting to know each other’s music tastes, each other’s favourite TV shows and movies, video games.

For the first tine since the accident, Nick seems to be truly happy, just a normal teenager who has been involved in an accident, sat propped up in a hospital bed, talking with an older brother figure. That all changes though, when two more people walk into the lab. Both of them wearing suits with red ties, one of the Nick recognises instantly.

“You know who I am son?” The one Nick recognises asks.

Nick’s jaw drops, and for a moment he can’t think of what to say.

“Yeah.” He nods and replies eventually. “You’re the president.”

“I was made aware of the accident as soon as it happened.” The president tells nick, and looks over to Jodie, who is focussed completely on a monitor. On the screen before her are Nick’s vital readings. One spike too high, and it could lead to disaster. But the readings are fine, meaning all of the chemicals and the nanites are doing their jobs.

“I wanted to come and meet you personally” the president tells nick. “I want you to know you’re safe here, and we’re going to do everything we can to give you a normal life.”

Nick scoffs a little.

“Normal isn’t possible for me anymore.” He tells the leader of the free world. “I’m a bomb. I’m property of the United States, I’m not ever going to have a normal life again.”

“But we can give you as close to that as possible.” The president responds, but still Nick scoffs.

“For all I know you could give the order to detonate me at any moment.” He tells the much older man, and then looks to Dylan, suddenly feeling like he’s made a terrible mistake.

“Calm.” Jodie warns from her station.

“Son you have my word now, I will never, never allow that to happen to you.” The president promises as he comes closer to Nick. “What happened to you was tragic and I wouldn’t ever wish that on anybody. So we are going to give you the best life that we can possibly give you. Now I know it means your life is pretty limited now, I know it means your future is far from what you had originally hoped for, but I want you to know that you have so many people here for you. We aren’t going to turn our backs on you.”

Nick doesn’t respond, he just looks down and nods, before the president turns and leaves with the other man.

“You okay?” Dylan asks.

“I just don’t like the idea of belonging to a maniac.” Nick shrugs. “And I know he’s your president and everything but, he commissioned the creation of this chemical right? He bought it, he gave the order to ship it to the United States and bring it to this base. That means he was planning on making weapons strong enough to end the world. And now he has one. But I don’t want to be his weapon.”

“You think I’m Gonna let him use you as a weapon?” Dylan asks as he crosses his arms over his chest. “Truth be told we all think he’s a maniac too. He’s not using you. That’s why you’re staying with us, and why we’re gonna give you as much of a normal life as we possibly can.”

Nick smiles a little, and looks back down at his wrists. Then he reaches up to touch the back of his head where the most discomfort is.

“So am I like, a mutant or something?” He asks, his mind rushing to the comic books he often reads, the movies he’s seen, and the video games he’s played. He smiles a little, and watches in silence as Jodie comes over to him with a syringe that has a rather long needle. It should terrify him, but it doesn’t.

“You’re something alright.” She tells him as she injects the needle into his upper arm. He doesn’t wince once, just shivers as he feels the cold of whatever that was in there entering his system.

“Relax it’s just an antibiotic. You picked up a bit of an infection in the accident and of course you no longer have normal blood cells to fight it.” Jodie tells him. “You’ve got three more days of treatment in here for it, and I think at that point we’ll be ready to talk about sending you home with Dylan.”

Dylan smiles down at Nick, who smiles back.

“So I have your room ready for you.” He tells the teenager. “Purple theme, Star Wars and Spider-Man. Rock music, favourite band is Foo Fighters. I think you and I will get along just fine.”

“You like Foo Fighters?” Nick asks.

“Seen them in concert over 200 times.” Dylan smiles.

“That’s awesome!” Nick cheers, and then is suddenly reminded of his situation when he feels pain in his head.

“Look you need to rest up for now okay?” Dylan tells him. “Tomorrow we’re gonna get you out of that bed and get you moving around, get you used to your new life.”

Nick nods, and rests back on the bed. Not that he feels tired.

“See you tomorrow.” Dylan smiles, and then leaves the lab.

“Okay so, it’s actually pretty late. I’m in here overnight with you.” Jodie tells him. “I’m going to give you a little something to get you to sleep, and then we’ll do exactly what Dylan mentioned when you wake up tomorrow okay?”

Nick nods, and then watches as Jodie injects another needle into his arm. Within moments he feels himself drifting off to sleep, unable to fight the heavy feeling of going under.