Revenge Best Served Cold

The attendants were so busy tossing corpses into the crematorium’s furnace that the idea that one body was missing never crossed their collective minds. I stayed low while keeping the attendants in view. What was keeping me in that hell hole of a place wasn’t that the doors were guarded, it was how was a naked man supposed to go roaming around outside unnoticed. The only ones with clothes were the employees, and I was trying to avoid them.

A subtle smile crawled across my face as a plan blossomed in my mechanically enhanced brain. It was so simple I didn’t understand why I needed the implant to come up with it. There is an old saying that proclaims patience is a virtue and patience is all I need to get out of this predicament. Moving as stealthy as a cat, I slipped on to a recently emptied gurney and lay as still as possible. My implant brought my breathing and heart rate down to a bare minimum. It would take a med-tech to tell if I was alive. Now, all I had to do was wait and listen.

Once again, the frigid air bored into my skin causing every inch to sting, but I remained still and listened to the conversations going on around me.

“Hey, Peter you missed a stiff over there.”

“I what? No way. I cleared that corner out. Okay, which one of you clowns are screwing with me? The next thing you’re going to tell me is he just walked in.”

“Well, it could have happened, after all, they were supposed to be Cyborgs so maybe this one is more machine than human.”

“And maybe you’re more pain in the ass than normal, Jerry. How about lending me a hand so we can get this section cleared before the next delivery shows up? I can’t believe their still experimenting on humans. All these bodies and not one success yet. It’s not right.”

Well look at you. Pete the bleeding heart. All these losers are former cons. If the scientists figure it out, then none of our families will have to go to war. Keep the project going I say.”

I couldn’t stay quiet any longer. Jerry stood the closest to my right hand. A bad place for someone talking so much smack to be standing. I reached up with blinding speed and grabbed the self-righteous ass around the throat. My strength was far beyond any I had ever felt in the past. Sitting up straight on the gurney, I hoisted the man up with one hand and launched him across the room and into the open furnace.

“How do you like it you sack of shit?” I had just spoken, but it didn’t sound like my voice. Pandemonium broke out in the crematorium. Those that were not dead were doing their best not to end up that way. As I worked my way through the panicking attendants, I would pull off a shirt or pair of pants so I would be able to walk outside fully clothed. A few more workers ended up in the furnace, but not Pete. I needed to prove to myself and others that I hadn’t become a full fledged machine. The heart that beat in my chest was still 100% human and I am capable of mercy. Peter was the only one that showed any empathy for me and those of my fellow lab rats, so he would live. With no one left to stop me, I walked away from the facility.

Later that evening I took the time to understand how I had been transformed. Yes, I now had a computer interfacing with my brain but how was it changing me? The answer became clearer as the night went on. Fear, or the lack of it, is what controls me now. Because my implant blocks all my fear I am separated from the rest of the human race. Will this be a good thing, only time will tell.