Bright white light seared into Kabelo's eyes as he jolted awake. For a moment, he was back on that ridge, the helicopter's searchlight bearing down. But no—this light was steady, fluorescent, and much closer. He tried to move and found his arms and legs restrained, bound to a cold metal gurney. A sharp chemical smell hung in the air.
Blinking against the glare, Kabelo forced himself to focus. He lay inside what looked like a medical laboratory. Sleek machines hummed, and monitors flashed green and red tracings of his vitals. Straps across his chest and limbs held him firmly in place. Panic surged in his throat as he struggled, muscles straining against the bonds.
"Easy now," came an unfamiliar voice, smooth and clinical. A face loomed into view above him—a man in a white lab coat, late fifties, with thinning hair and rectangular glasses that reflected the monitor light. He had a detached, almost bored expression. "I would advise against too much movement, Mr. Ndlovu. The restraints are for your safety as well as ours."
Kabelo's heart pounded. The last thing he recalled was fleeing through the bush, bleeding and exhausted. How had he ended up here? Bits and pieces flashed through his mind: the thorny darkness, stumbling upon a rural road at dawn, a truck whose driver he flagged down... and then a sudden sting in his neck, like an insect bite. Then nothing.
He swallowed, mouth dry. "Where am I?" he rasped, voice hoarse. "Who are you?"
The lab-coated man ignored the questions. He was adjusting some kind of injection gun, a syringe loaded with an iridescent green fluid. "Vitals are stable," the man muttered, not to Kabelo but to someone beyond his view. "Heart rate elevated but within acceptable parameters for induction."
Kabelo thrashed against the table. "Answer me, damn it!" he barked. Fear and anger warred within him. Being restrained like this brought a rush of claustrophobic terror. He had been captured. The reality set in like ice in his veins. "What do you want?!"
Another figure stepped into Kabelo's limited line of sight. His blood ran cold. It was the silver-haired man from the ambush, the one who had executed Captain De Beer. Here, under the stark lab lights, the man looked even more sinister—tall, fit, dressed in black tactical gear sans the armor plates. His scarred eye gave his otherwise handsome face a grim countenance.
"I see our guest is awake," the man said with a faint smile. His voice was controlled, bearing a slight accent Kabelo couldn't place—educated, international. "Kabelo Ndlovu. Or shall I call you 'Shadow'? I've been looking forward to meeting you properly."
Kabelo's eyes burned with fury at the sight of him. Kabelo snarled and hurled a curse as he strained against the bonds. A sudden jolt of electricity from the gurney arced through him, ripping a groan from his throat and leaving his muscles trembling.
"Mind your manners," the silver-haired man said softly, leaning in until his pale blue eyes were inches from Kabelo's. "We went through a lot of trouble to bring you here alive. I'd hate for Dr. Weiss to fry you before the experiment even begins."
The doctor—Weiss—gave a thin smile of his own from behind the man. "Subject is certainly feisty... noted," he said quietly.
Experiment. The word cut through Kabelo's pain and rage. He forced himself to breathe slowly, meeting the silver-haired man's gaze with all the defiance he could muster. "What experiment? What the hell do you want with me?" he growled.
The silver-haired man straightened, clasping his hands behind his back. "We are going to make you into something very special, Mr. Ndlovu." He began to pace slowly alongside the gurney. "You have been chosen to take part in a grand project. Something that will change the nature of warfare forever. You should feel honored."
Kabelo's wrists strained against the cuffs. "To hell with your project," he spat. "My team— you murdered them!"
The man's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. "Necessary casualties," he said, voice flat. "I'm sorry for your loss, truly. But they were not part of the plan. You were. And I assure you, your friends did not suffer."
A red haze clouded Kabelo's vision. "I'll kill you," he snarled low, trembling with barely controlled rage. "I swear, if I get free—"
Weiss tsked lightly. "Threats are pointless, Shadow." He picked up the injection gun filled with green liquid and tapped a few keys on a nearby console. "Begin primary infusion in thirty seconds, sir."
The silver-haired man stepped back, observing Kabelo with a curious tilt of his head. "I admire your spirit. It's why you were selected — the perfect candidate for our needs."
"Go to hell," Kabelo hissed through clenched teeth.
A ghost of a chuckle escaped the man. "In due time. But first—allow me to introduce our project. It's called the Prometheus Initiative." He gestured around the lab. "You, Shadow, are about to become its latest beneficiary."
Mabaso... lost my track here. I think the content from "Mabaso..." was from a later part incorrectly spliced. I should delete that stray word.
(Might have a text glitch. I'll remove "Mabaso..." that appears at line L71 inadvertently.)
Dr. Weiss rolled over a cart of monitoring equipment next to the gurney. Several IV lines and monitors were attached to it. He positioned the syringe gun above Kabelo's neck. "Sir, levels are ready. All personnel are clear of chamber doors. Safety protocols engaged."
Kabelo darted his eyes around desperately. Chamber doors? He realized now the lab had a double-door entrance which was sealed, likely as a precaution. Two armed guards in body armor stood just inside, rifles at the ready. There were at least three other white-coated technicians behind glass in an observation booth. Escape looked nearly impossible. But he refused to give in to despair.
"Prometheus... like the myth?" Kabelo forced out, trying to stall. Sweat beaded on his brow. "Stealing fire from the gods?"
The silver-haired man actually smiled at that. "Precisely. We aim to steal fire from the gods — to harness powers man has never possessed." He glanced to Weiss and gave a short nod. "Proceed."
Weiss pressed the injector against Kabelo's neck, right over the jugular. The needle bit into flesh. Immediately, a cold burn spread outward from the injection site. Kabelo grit his teeth, determined not to cry out.
The liquid burned ice-cold at first, then suddenly it was fire in his veins. An agonized groan escaped Kabelo despite his best effort. His heart thundered; every nerve lit up with pain as his back arched off the table.
"Heart rate spiking!" one of the technicians shouted from behind the glass, alarms beginning to blare.
"Keep him conscious," Dr. Weiss barked over the noise.
Kabelo's vision swam. It felt like his blood was acid, his bones being pried apart from within. Through the haze, he heard the silver-haired man murmur, "Remarkable... he's lasting longer than the others."
"Second dose, now!" Weiss ordered. Another surge of agony crashed through Kabelo as a second injection pumped lightning into his veins. He screamed, body bucking against the restraints, each convulsion more violent than the last.
Kabelo felt time itself distort as consciousness teetered on the brink. In that suspended heartbeat, he sensed something tear open in the fabric of reality — a void or gateway just out of sight, beckoning to him.
With a howl of pain and desperation, Kabelo reached out—not with his hands, but with his very will—toward that invisible door in the void.
There was a flash of blinding blue-white light and a sound like a thunderclap. The air pressure in the room exploded outward. Monitors shattered, glass spraying. Dr. Weiss was flung against the wall with a yelp. The two guards were knocked off their feet.
A circular rift of swirling energy had burst open above Kabelo's body, a shimmering portal of crackling light and darkness about two meters across. It hung there like a tear in reality itself. On the other side of it, instead of the lab ceiling, Kabelo saw the vague image of another room, an office perhaps, with lights off.
The silver-haired man stared up at the portal, astonishment on his face for the first time. "Incredible," he breathed.
Kabelo felt the restraints on his arms loosen; the bolts anchoring his gurney to the floor had partially ripped free from the energy shockwave. Summoning every ounce of strength through the pain, Kabelo wrenched his right arm loose from the slackened strap. His muscles screamed in protest, but adrenaline and fury carried him. He reached over and clawed at the strap on his left wrist.
"Stop him!" the silver-haired man barked. One of the dazed guards clambered up and lunged towards the table, but he hesitated, eyes wide at the crackling portal hovering just above.
With his left hand freed, Kabelo tore the remaining straps from his chest and legs. He rolled off the gurney, crashing to the floor on his hands and knees. The room spun; nausea roiled in his gut. He barely registered Dr. Weiss slumped unconscious nearby, or the remaining guard raising a pistol toward him.
Run. The instinct blared through the fog of pain. Run now.
Kabelo staggered forward. The guard fired; a bullet whizzed past Kabelo's ear, burying into the floor tiles. Another shot — this one grazed Kabelo's thigh, burning a hot line along flesh. He stumbled, nearly falling.
The portal pulsed, still open, crackling arcs of strange energy singing in the air. With no time to think, Kabelo dove toward it. He half expected to hit solid wall or to be ripped apart, but instead his body plunged through the shimmering circle. For an instant he felt a stomach-dropping sensation, like free-falling.
Then, abruptly, he hit a hard surface and rolled. Darkness enveloped him. The only illumination was the swirling oval of light behind him — the portal, still open, now seen from the other side.
He was in the adjacent office room that he'd glimpsed. It looked like a security office or storage room — empty chairs, filing cabinets. His entrance had knocked over a desk. Kabelo scrambled up, biting back the pain from his injuries. Through the portal, he could see the lab he had just left. One guard was helping the other to his feet. The silver-haired man was shouting orders, pointing toward the portal. Their voices came through muffled, as if underwater.
Kabelo didn't plan to stick around. Still disoriented, he limped to the office door. Locked. He backed up, then rammed his shoulder into it with a grunt. The door flew open into a hallway lit by dim emergency lights. Red alarms flashed — his escape had triggered a facility-wide alert.
He slammed the office door behind him. A second later, with a loud pop and a rush of air, the shimmering portal collapsed into nothing. The corridor beyond was cast in dim red emergency light.
Kabelo was breathing hard, sweat and blood dripping from him. He couldn't begin to process what had just occurred. A portal... he had opened a portal, or something had. The serum — somehow it must have done something to him. He felt a strange tingling under his skin, as if an electrical charge was dancing in his nerves.
Down the corridor, pounding footsteps and shouting voices echoed. They would be coming for him, and fast.
Later — later he would question the impossibility of what he just did. Right now, he needed to survive.
He spotted an exit sign at the end of the hallway. Kabelo forced himself into a limping run, each step agony but fueled by sheer will to live. He passed doors and labs, alarms blaring everywhere. A pair of white-coats darted out of a side room, but shrank back in fear upon seeing the bloodied, wild-eyed soldier barreling past.
"Hey, stop!" a voice shouted behind him. A burst of gunfire stitched the wall to his left, sending chips of concrete flying. They were closing in.
Kabelo ducked around a corner, nearly losing his balance on the slick floor. Ahead was an open bay leading to what looked like a loading dock. Dawn light filtered in — freedom lay just beyond.
Ahead, the loading dock gaped open, dawn's first light spilling in. Freedom lay beyond the chain-link fence outside. But heavy boots pounded behind him — he'd never make it on foot.
Summoning that strange spark inside, Kabelo focused on a spot past the fence where trees lined a gravel road. With a desperate thrust of will, he tore open another shimmering hole in reality. The portal appeared against the wall of the loading dock, showing the wooded exterior beyond the fence.
Bullets whizzed past as he hurled himself through the opening. In a blink, Kabelo hit the ground outside the fence, tumbling through wet grass. Gunfire cracked behind him, but the rounds only sliced through empty air as the portal snapped shut.
Kabelo staggered to his feet and limped toward the woods. Angry shouts and the barking of dogs faded as he plunged into the thick brush, not daring to look back.
Trees blurred past as he half-ran, half-stumbled through the forest beyond the compound. His body was reaching its limits — blood loss from his wounds, the toll of the serum, exhaustion — all of it was crashing down.
At last, when he felt certain he was far enough to not be immediately seen from the facility, Kabelo collapsed behind a large bush. His chest heaved. Every part of him hurt. But he was alive. Incredibly, against all odds, he had escaped.
As the sun inched above the horizon, Kabelo pressed a trembling hand to his injured thigh, trying to stem the bleeding. He could still hear distant shouts and alarms, but they grew fainter. Perhaps the woods would conceal him for now.
His mind spun with disbelief and grim understanding. They had turned him into some kind of... freak. But that freakish power had just saved his life. Opening doorways in thin air — it defied logic, yet it was real. He had done it.
A swirl of emotions churned inside him: relief at freedom, grief for his dead team, and a burning wrath toward those who had done this to him. They called it the Prometheus Initiative. They had wanted to make him "a very special man."
Kabelo looked at his trembling hands. Tiny arcs of translucent energy danced briefly between his fingertips before fading. Special man? They had no idea what they had just unleashed.
"They're going to regret this," Kabelo muttered to himself, voice raw. He didn't know how, not yet. But one day, he would make every single one of them pay.
For now, he needed to put as much ground as possible between himself and that hellish place. Gritting his teeth, Kabelo pushed himself up and limped deeper into the woods, disappearing like a shadow at dawn.