Travis woke up in what appeared to be a hospital room. White walls the steady beep of an ekg, he wore a patient's gown, and was laying on a bed just a bit too small for him.
Then a nurse walked in. She had long brown hair tied back in a pony tail wore square black glasses and wore light blue scrubs. She was pretty. He panicked.
Jumping out of bed and into the far corner of the room he clenched his fists and crouched into a defensive position. As he did his fists split open between the middle and ring fingers and slid back towards his wrist. Out of his right wrist slid a long blade, and out of his left came the barrel of a gun.
"Who are you?? Where am I?? Why are my hands weapons??? What did you do to me??"
She looked at him with pity. "First I have a couple of questions for you. Do you remember your name?"
He scowled at the odd question. "Travis Miller."
"Do you have any family Mr. Miller?"
"I have two younger siblings, Cory and Taylor."
"And do you know what year it is Mr. Miller?"
"Its 2250"
"Mr. Miller its currently 2254, youve been missing for 4 years."
"4 YEARS!?!?"
"Mr. Miller, ill make you a deal. I can't answer all of your questions, but I do have food for you. If you agree to put your sword away and come eat, I'll get you someone who can answer them."
He thought about it for a moment 'If they wanted me drugged they wouldn't have let me wake up, or left me unrestrained. I guess I can trust her for now. And that food looks really good'
"Okay, that sounds like a good deal."
Retracting the sword and gun turned out to be easier than expected. He just had to think about it and his hands went back to normal. Returning to the bed, the nurse brought in a cart of food and set it in front of him. It was a heart breakfast. Scrambled eggs, two waffles with butter and plenty of syrup, four slices of bacon, an apple and a glass of orange juice.
"Thank you."
She smiled at him "Of course, im glad we could be civil about this" and with that she pushed the cart full of trays back out of the room.
○○○
Ten minutes had passed. He had finished the food, which was delicious, and tried to process the fact that 4 years had passed. It wasn't going well.
'4 years... are Cory and Tay ok? Is the war over? What happened to me?'
A knock on the open door brought him out of his thoughts.
"Mr. Miller?" A man stepped through. He wore a crisp black uniform with a red tie, a black jacket, and a red belt around his waist. The dress uniform of the Republic of the Americas.
"Yes, I'm Travis Miller."
"Good morning Mr. Miller, my name is Sergeant First Class Smith of the Republic Armed Forces. My platoon is the one that found you."
"Sergeant Smith, what happened to me?"
"You were kidnapped by a cult. They were running experiments trying to create super soldiers. You were their first and only success."
"What did they do to me?"
"They found something called a divine shards. By mixing the divine, mortal and mechanical, they struck a balance making you something more than human but less than godly."
"What does that mean for me?"
"Your natural lifespan has been increased to 250 years, you can't get sick or die of natural causes, although you can still die in battle. You are stronger, faster, and smarter than the average human. As you discovered earlier, weapons are integrated into your body, and you have a limited form of cyberkenisis. And its hypothesized you have other abilities, but we won't know for sure without proper testing."
"What happens after 250 years?"
Your soul loses the ability to keep all of the different aspects of you whole, and you die"
"Thats terrifying. Where are my siblings?"
"Taylor is on her way here, she should arrive within the hour. But I regret to inform you that Corporal Cory Miller was killed by troops of the Kingdom of Oceania late last year."
Upon hearing that his younger brother was killed by the Kingdom's troops, he couldn't stop the tears from telling up in his eyes.
"So... the war?"
"It still wages on, we are losing ground to the Empire, but we've been mostly successful at keeping the Kingdom at bay."
"Mostly?"
"Last year we lost the Hawaiian islands, thats where your brother died."
"So, what happens to me now?"
"We will run some test to determine your capabilities, then you are being conscripted into the army."
"I dont even get a chance to re-enter society?"
"Unfortunately not Mr. Miller. These are desperate times, all able bodied citizens are being conscripted, and that includes you. However, for right now, your sister is on her way here, and i assume you dont want to be dressed like that when she gets here."
"Definitely not. But... I dont have any clothes."
"No you don't, luckily for you, I have some. Throw these on." At that he set some folded clothes on the bed.
Travis picked them up and walked into the bathroom and took off the hospital gown.
"Holy shit, I dont remember working out this much."
In the bathroom mirror he saw he was muscular, and well defined at that. Unfolding the clothes he saw an outfit he used to wear all the time black jeans, a black shirt, a red bomber jacket and athletic shoes.
He took a quick shower, Tay would roast him alive if he smelled, and threw on the clothes. Then he combed his hair and walked out of the bathroom.
Just at the perfect time too, because in walked Taylor Miller.