Part 213: Conversation with A Colonel Part 1

Mia walked into the room; quickly noticing the cigar scent. She recognized the smell cause her Uncle back home smoked them. She always found the odor as little more pleasing than cigarettes. The colonel walked over a shelf and poured him a glass of scotch. The Lakota girl then sat down and crossed her arms. Within minutes, another soldier came and brought her a glass filled with ice and a can of coke. She stared at it; hardly believing it was real. “I would offer you liquor,” Fender said, “But something tells me you are not old enough to drink yet.”

Mia looked at him. Then looked at the Coke. It was a simple soda she had been denied due to the plane crash. She enjoyed Mountain Dew a few weeks ago but it wasn’t the same. She then reached up, pop the top and poured it into the glass. She then slowly sipped it, relishing in it’s taste; enjoying the fizzing bubbles erupting into her nose. “Well done,” the colonel said, sitting down, “I was hoping we could start out by having a polite drink together.”

“What do you want with me, Colonel?” she asked, holding the glass to close her mouth.

“I want to learn more about you, Mia,” he sighed, “I want to know where you come from and why you are here.”

“Uh . . I am not sure how to take that.”

“Take it however you need.”

Mia then leaned up and brought her legs into the sit with her. It was a comfortable position that she was used too. It offered a psychological security blanket when she was nervous. “I . .uh . . .my name is Mia Ray,” she whispered, “I am a half white, half Lakota Indian. I. .uh . ..I . .I don’t know what else you want me to say.”

“You arrived on this Island by way of a plane crash, is that right?” he asked.

“Yes. I was one out of 20 survivors, four were dead upon impact. We twenty then become 17, due to four deaths and a miraculous recovery. Now I see that I a part of a larger group. We were in the tail section when it came off from the plane . .or as I learned from my friend, It was brought down by one of four monsters guarding the island.”

“That pretty much sums it up, huh?” Fender sipped his scotch.

“May I ask you a question, colonel?” she twitched.

“Ask me anything.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Just over 21 years.” He leaned back in his chair.

“How . . .how did you find this place?’ she said, not believing he was going to say that long of a time frame.

“I was on a rescue mission for a trapped vessel,” he said, twirling his finger in his scotch, “When we arrived, we were taken apart within two days. More than half my men were cut down like they were paper-dolls. As me and my second in command tried to survive, then it happened.”

“What happened?”

“The whispers out in the darkness. They were whispering to me various things. Then the buzzing in my ears. The buzzing would begin and end but I noticed a connection. Every time the buzzing happened, it would rain. The Island was telling me . .when it would rain.”

Mia raised an eyebrow; remembering that Locke also knew when it would rain. The Colonel leaned up, staring in the distance, almost as if he was staring into the past. “Then I found this place. The Outpost that you see around you, the equipment, the computer, the notes, the dead bodies,” he whispered, “I read the notes and realized how complete they were. I realized what they could do.”

“Where does all this stuff come from?” Mia looked around.

“Based upon the notes, I gathered it was a government run facility that was shut down just slightly after World War II. It would seem they had contracted several German scientists. Their goal was to create Super Soldiers, men who could withstand attacks and have their bodies. These soldiers were trained but they failed. They never perfected the procedure. And the rejects were left here to die . . .only they can’t die.”

Mia then raised eye brows with a realization that hit her like a thunder bolt. “Those things at the bottom of the hatch!” she gasped.

“Yes,” Fender nodded his head, “You are very smart, Mia. Those things have been down there for nearly 50 years.”

“That’s . . .impossible. That is too much like science fiction.”

“You need to wake up, Mia. I have more processing power in my watch than the Apollo 13 Lunar Module. Time progresses technology and it usually winds up being a little fact to every fiction. People have been performing genetic experiments for years. I was just lucky to find out where they left off.”

“Did you perform . . those experiments too?”

“I didn’t personally. I hired out a Canadian scientist. I gave him the notes and using modern equipment he was able to perfect the genetics on himself. He then began to steal children and transform them into super soldiers. But there was one thing he couldn’t master; the will to survive. Some of the kids were turned out to be perfection in physical strength; however, they would not be able to follow a man such as Ethan.”

“Ethan?” Mia gasped.

“Oh, you know him?” Fender chuckled.

“He . .uh . ..he was shot by one of my friends. He was trying to steal a woman’s baby.”

“Hmm, that sounds like him,” the colonel leaned back into his chair, “He would have been either still conducting his experiments or perhaps he saw something in the woman’s baby that no one else could have seen as well. Ethan is dead, eh? Well, I meet your friend who shot him, remind me to thank him.”

“What exactly did Ethan do?”

“He kidnapped the babies of various women across the world and brought them here,” Fender stood up, “He would experiment on them with his partner, Porter. He even brought his own French Foreign Legion regiment to aide in guarding their progress. But the kids continued to result in failure. Only a few had become obedient but the rest had minds of their own. Ethan would refer to them as Tainted. His greatest achievement and his greatest failure is currently the occupant of my well cell.”

“Alexander?” Mia gasped.

“Yes, the leader of one half of the kids that were experimented on. When failure came more than success, I told Ethan to stop it and let’s put our resources to something else. He refused, saying that he was on his way to a breakthrough. I didn’t believe him. I ordered my men to kill his regiment and then he disappeared into the jungle, scurrying like a rat. Porter thought he could convince one half of the group of the kids to join him but they had witness the French soldiers getting wiped out. They saw that Porter had no power and they killed him.”

“They hanged him.” The Lakota girl whispered.

“I am afraid we taught them that. They witness the French Foreign Legionaries getting hanged and the rest is history.”

Mia finished her coke and then slowly placed it down on the table. She crossed her arms again, trying to study the man. She figured, learning about him might save them all. “This is all very fascinating, Colonel, “ she said, “But it still doesn’t explain what you want with me.”

“I don’t know anything from you,” he rubbed his forehead, “I just want to rest.”

“Excuse me?”

“Mia . . .have you ever had a premonition?”

She felt a shiver go down her spine. “My people called them Visions.” She whispered.

“Of course, “Fender smiled, “Have you ever had a vision that showed you the face of someone and you don’t know they are . ..but later you see them?”

Mia thought of Locke defending her from the Black Faction in her dream. But she had seen him at the Walkabout Station, she just didn’t know it. “Kinda,” she replied.

“I have had such a vision,” He sighed, “I’ve had a constant dream . . .nightmare for the past two months. As a result, I’ve had to take a special medication that suppresses synaptic chemical imbalance during sleep. I sleep but I don’t want to dream. The nightmare is always so real and I wake up, more exhausted than when I went to be bed. I fear if I have that dream again, it will kill me.”

“What sort of dream is this?”

“The dream, Mia . . . .is of YOU.” He looked at her.

Mia suddenly felt very, very cold.