Search the Community

These were the days when the Vietnam War and the Draft weighed heavily on this run-of-the-mill college student. The dream began with waking up for morning classes and passing through an area under construction. Then there's the sound of snapping cables, shouts of "look out!" a sudden pain in the head, then darkness. I awake, shivering on a metal table, covered by a sheet. Still feeling a little woozy, I get up halfway and see someone in a white uniform. He's got the strangest look of horror on his face, as he sputters something, then runs out of the room. I look around and see some containers with bloody matter, bits of bone, hair, and a brain. What a headache, I think to myself, and reach for the top of my head. WHAT IS THIS? Instead of flesh and hair, I feel something metallic. Frantically, I look around the room for a mirror. Who is that wearing a metal hat? I wonder. I blink, and it blinks. I move my hand and it does too. I can dimly make out some blinking lights on "my hat." There's a tag on my toe...with My Name On It! Taking another look at the containers, I see my name and a case number on a label. So that's why that guy in white ran out of the room, he's surprised that I'm...Alive? Still a little foggy, I search the room for clothes or something to wear and Get Outta There! In the distance, I can hear a commotion, so I take what's available and exit the room. Still not myself, I find a room to rest in before figuring out my next move. I hear the voices of people in the room I just left. "Where is the subject?" "He was supposed to be dead, that's why I skedaddled." "The government is gonna skeedaddle you into jail if we don't find that experimental subject right now!" "Can you track it with the control box?" "Only at close range, I wasn't counting on that dead student coming back to life." I'm that "dead student"? Panic sets in, but I wait until the group moves to another room before making a break for the street. Hey, where am I? This doesn't look anything like Hawaii, more like a mainland small town. Then it hits me, this is a military base! I should have figured that out from the military uniform and cap I scrounged on my way out. I try to remember what I was taught in high school junior ROTC, saluting officers and trying to look like I fit in. Now what? I had made it out of the base, to a town just outside the gates. Then I woke up, as ordinary as any other college student. Hey, it's time for morning classes, so I gotta hurry...