He dreamt of home, his steps against the cobbled pathway from his orphan home towards the highway. A bus would wait for them at exactly seven and would depart after seven fifteen with or without them. His orphan mates would be with him to school. His dreams of mundane happenstance - his orphan mates exchanged experiences, and would laugh about something corny.
A loud bang cut his dream and pulled himself awake with sloppy body coordination. Quickly, he glanced at the time. It was 0500 H.
'Reality,' He sighed greatly.
For less than six hours of sleep, a headache loomed right after. Nica stood beside the door with a metallic tube in one hand and a metallic stick in the other, banging them against each other with force. It was their alarm and an indifferent stare streak towards the newcomer. He was unsure if he would be happy seeing Nica, or not.
Her voice called out the soldiers, roaring inside the quarter. Her friendly face vanished. She transformed into a different person, now. His bunkmates huddled to get dressed. They were fast, without words. Somewhat, strong coffee powered their senses. However, they had not gobbled anything yet, except their own saliva.
Luke's mouth and throat dried up.
With droopy eyes and heavy hands, his fingertips found his shoes under his cot. No need for a jacket, he assumed. He only needed his shirt and shorts, just like the others. He tried to catch up their speed but they had fled the room hastily, leaving Luke behind. It was a blur, like a dream. He hoped it was. He hauled himself up, yawned, and scrubbed his eyes with his knuckles.
'I am not a soldier like them,' He convinced himself.
He let himself out and tried to quicken his pace. A crisp morning dew embraced him, and the cold air mocked him once again. It awakened his senses though. His stomach ached, begging for a chunk of food. He had no appetite yesterday because of the vomiting, and the nausea effect of portal jump. That morning, his body took a beating. Looking at the soldiers lined up in the clearing, about five hundred of them, he was intimidated. Suddenly, he wanted this reality to become a dream. He wanted to jump back to his bed and tranced off to sleep.
Luke thought about a thousand soldiers, but it did not count as a thousand. It was not close to it. Then he realized that the seniors and the night shifters probably didn't need this training early in the morning.
"What are you doing, Luke?" Nica spoke from behind him, her direct and fearsome voice startled him.
"They have their drills, but I will make an exception for you. You will not go with them. You follow me. Major George would like to see you."
Nica took him to a much wider structure that held an empty room. Major George stood at the center of the clearing.
"This will be your lab for now," George said, his voice echoing inside the space as he heard their steps closing in.
"The lab should be situated outside the camps, Major. There will be a risk of contamination and infection." Luke retorted.
"We have done that before and Jameson's lab was turned into ashes. They are determined now to hunt down Evolvers like you. So, it is best that you stay inside the camp. Of course, we will take precautions. Demarcations will be installed and restrict human traffic within the area, and boundaries for this building, and people won't be able to enter freely."
"It is still risky, Major," he groaned. "But, if you say so, I'll accept it. My approach is different from Jameson's. I will be needing two giant glass canisters instead of one."
"What? Why?" George was perturbed.
"I think Jameson's problem is how he attacks using the virus. If you attack only one mutated virus, the cure evolver will detect it easily and can adjust immediately. It is better to use two kinds of virus to confuse their evolver."
"You have a point there, Luke. But you will need twice the evolution genes to mutate your virus. That's twice the work!" George exclaimed.
"I know, Major. But there is a new development. Before, Jameson used his blood as an evolution gene only limits his mutation. Then there's animal blood as an evolution gene. We can't just kill all animals nearby to harvest mutation genes. Another way, and a new discovery, is the blood of the Bugmen. We can kill them and harvest their blood as evolution genes."
"Humans as evolution genes?"
"Not exactly. Aliens. Bugmen had somehow mutated the human's blood genetic makeup close to that of an animal and would be compatible for mutation." Luke answered.
Every live animal would only provide a limited amount of evolution points. Every blood had unique genome structures that provided an evolution gene for the virus. However, it would only require a small amount of blood from the live animal as the virus's genetic makeup tended to establish immunity and would resist mutation any longer. Hence, the need for another live animal to harvest.
Mutation would take hundreds of ways to approach, depending on how the Evolver would manipulate the evolution genes. Luke trained to understand the approaches to arrive at his desired viral state.
"Really, now. That's good news, Luke. We have to kill Bugs and use them as your evolution genes." George was rather ecstatic. "Tomorrow, we will attack the Fort Cygnet, northward sitting outside Brigham City. I'm gonna harvest blood for you."
"Northern? That's on the other side of the city." Nica said.
"Yes, Sergeant Nica. We need to create a diversion. You said that their scouts are now roaming the Southern parts, we will attack the Northern base to divert their attention to the North. Their scouts in here will be pulled out and deployed someplace else." George said.
"How many men are you taking with you, sir?"
"Around fifty or a hundred of us. Haven't got that part yet. The attack will be covert. Just bombing their fences and destroying only portions of their base. We can't wipe them out in just one attack. Only a diversion, remember." George responded. "Luke, we will start constructing your lab today. And by then, you train with Nica first. Go easy on him, Nica."
Nica nodded. They headed out of the building and took him to the firing range. In an open field, targets were installed a few meters from the shooting line. A few soldiers were present practicing, too. Every gunshot loomed and gave Luke a jolt of uneasiness. Luke hated guns. He had been born to be non-violent and obedient, taught to grow in the name of religion. Hence, guns screamed against his moral and ethical values.
"Today, let me see you shoot first. I can see that you are trained with a handgun, let's see if you can really hit the target with it."
Nica showed him behind a table with a handgun and a magazine in place.
He took the gun with shaking hands. He could not control it, surprisingly. The handgun's metallic handle felt cold and heavy. It might be the cold air of dawn moistened the gun's handle. It felt slightly slippery. He wiped it with his shirt. Then, he placed the magazine in. He aimed the handgun, with a metallic circular target standing ten meters from him.
He squeezed the trigger.