A middle-aged man was sitting inside a dimly lit room holding a beer bottle in his hand.
His legs were strangely limping, screaming that they could no longer used.
*knock*knock*
A sudden knock on the door alerted him as he hurriedly picked up his pistol from a nearby table.
"Who's there?" He asked in a serious tone.
"Pandora corporation, Mr. Holmes. We came to talk to you about some business matter, Mr. Holmes" a male voice answered from the other side of the door.
Ethan picked up his phone and unlocked the digital lock to open the door, but he kept his gun in his hand in case he needed it.
After all, he had faced some robbery attempts in his house before, so he was not letting his guard down.
Soon, two men clad in formal black suits entered the room.
"Good evening, Mr. Holmes. I hope you are doing well," one of them asked as he approached me.
*click* Ethan clutched his hand on the gun at his sudden approach.
"Who the hell are you?" Ethan asked.
"Oh, my apologies, Mr. Holmes. I'm Vector Collingwood, a senior executive at Pandora Corporation. We came here to talk about some business," he spoke as the person behind him remained silent.
"Hmph, business?! What business do you have with disabled trash like me? If you are looking for money, sure, take my wheelchair over there if it can fulfill your investment shortages," Ethan stated sarcastically.
"Surely you jest, Mr. Holmes but my words are not lies. I came here with a proposal. By the way, I read your file, Mr. Holmes, and man, what an amazing man you truly are... entered the military as a recruit in 2018, was promoted to the elite division of special forces in 2020, and served in various special missions including regime change operations and assassination assignments under the direct orders of defense ministry...yet, here we are, Mr. Holmes. You lost your legs in a terrorist attack and were discharged from the military. Later, you are declared to be in the last stage of blood cancer," the man spoke with a confident tone as he sat on an empty chair nearby.
"Is that so? Are you here to mock me for my disability?! Don't play with words around me, you damn corporate slave; just tell me what you want?"
"Well, Mr. Holmes, our company has started some, let's say, some experiments for the benefit of humanity but we need some human test subjects for further research. We are here to ask if you are willing to work with us. We will provide you with all the basic facilities to live, eat, and sleep"
"What...the hell are you talking about?! Why would I agree to become your lab rat, you bastard?!"
"Because this experiment can help you to cure your cancer, Mr. Holmes. Even if it couldn't, how long do you think you will live anyway?" The man spoke.
Ethan clenched his finger tightly on the gun but eventually loosened his grip as the gun dropped to the floor. He also knew that the man before him was not wrong. He is destined to die anyway because he lacks the money to have proper treatment.
No one's running a charity, so he has to pay a small price by becoming a lab rat for Pandora corporation to cure his cancer, and if he dies during the experiment...well, he will just die a little sooner in that case.
"Can I truly cure my cancer?" Ethan asked.
"Not only cancer, Mr. Holmes...you will also be able to walk on your legs once again if this experiment succeeds."
"Fine...there isn't much to feel good about this life anyway. Nor do I have a family that awaits me back home"
***
One year later,
One year has passed since the experiments started.
Every week, scientists inject some sort of thick golden liquid inside my body. Every time, Ethan feels immense pain in his body. Left inside tube pods for three days. What happens in those three days? He has no idea as he always goes into a deep slumber for those three days.
He was no longer allowed to consume alcohol or any other type of drug or poisonous substances, which made him feel extremely uncomfortable sometimes. But overall, he wasn't treated badly at all. He never had to go through content and painful experiments. They provided all kinds of food and games for the subjects to enjoy in their free time. What more could they ask for as they willingly stuck to the subjects with every bit of their soul, mind, and body? As for dead subjects, well, they are destined to die sooner or later anyway due to their diseases.
Initially, there were hundreds of people like me who lost the meaning of their lives but with the increasing dose of the liquid and the severity of the experiments, only five of us remained alive.
***
Five years later,
Five more years passed, and only Ethan survived the experiments. How and why...no one knows.
With time, He even forgot the stinging feeling of the needle as he always littered in them for days.
The only thing that helped him to see the progress of the experiment was that his legs had regrown somehow. How and why did this happen? He didn't care at all. He was just glad to get his legs back.
"Mr. Holmes, are you ready?" The old scientist asked Ethan who was lying on the stretcher.
"Sure, doc" Ethan muttered as he smiled at the old man.
This old man was in charge of overseeing Ethan and his experiments, and surely, within the past six years, they became close friends to some extent.
"This is the last phase of our experiment, Ethan. This is the moment that will decide what humanity will achieve. History will be created if it succeeds"
"Hmm..." he just nodded with a smile.
The old man helped Ethan to enter the tube pod and pressed some buttons. Initially, the tube was attached to a massive holder, and pipes connected with needles pierced his body, injecting three big glass tubes of golden liquid inside his body.
Ethan felt no pain at all as he became numb to such pain. His pain receptors stopped reacting after constant struggles with pain in the past six years.
Ethan felt his vision going buzzy as his head felt heavy dizziness. Slowly he closed his eyes as the last face he saw before his eyes was the old and wrinkly face of the doctor he considered a friend.
"See...you...soon, old man..." he mumbled these words as he eventually closed his eyes.