Colin's posts

Meanwhile, at the morgue, the man had sighed, as he shelved another body.

"So many killed." he said quietly.

"Why?" he asked, looking at a fresher one. A new one. A young lady that had taken ill, and it had gotten the better of her... because she was refused treatment.

"You poor thing." he mumbled.

"You had no reason to die..."

"..................." Jackson was silent as Sierra spoke to him, and said what she did.

His eyes seemed to be as dull and lifeless as before. Yet... something seemed different.

They were shaking a little less than usual... and he was looking intently at her. As intently as he could, in that state, anyway.

He then opened his mouth to say something, before one of the soldiers spoke.

"NOW!" they barked.

This caused Jackson to grab her once more, and she felt her world turn grey, then black, and found herself expelled from the body, yet again.

"Looks like we'll need a little extra 'fine-tuning' tonight." one of the man said with an ominous and cruel chuckle.

The response was swift.

She was slapped. Hard. And thrown out of the van.

She was then dragged roughly to the room she'd been in before, and thrown up against one of the statues. Ironically, the body she'd inhabited earlier.

After another few minutes, she saw Jackson get brought in again.

And he looked no different than before.

They just laughed.

"We don't utilize a mutant." one said.

"We utilize a TOOL." they corrected her.

"An implement. A thing." they went on.

"That is all. And soon you will feel what our weapon can do." they finished, as the van came to a stop.

"That is an unconfirmed rumour!" one of them responded.

Suddenly, one of the others started to feel her up, checking every single part of her clothing and body, as though they were searching for something.

"No wires or devices." they said.

The first one then laughed out loud.

"Then it's with our secret weapon. You'll see soon enough." he told her.

The guard responded to this by blowing a whistle, which summoned more guards.

And the next thing she knew, she was cuffed behind her back, thrown into a van, and being driven off.

"There's always at least one of you." she heard.

"Don't know how to shut up, or what's best." they growled.

"It's almost like you WANT to die!"

Sure enough, it did.

And it was attention from a soldier. She knew this because she heard the click of a gun being readied.

"Excuse me." she heard in a low tone.

"You are defiling a monument." he told her.

"With mutant sympathizing propaganda, no less." he went on.

"You'd better have a damn good explanation." he then warned her.

He returned the hug and watched her leave, sighing, and shaking his head.

"...I'll do all I can for you." he said quietly, as he looked at the bodies that surrounded him, safely put away.

"Even if it's watching you die again and again." he went on.

"Please... for your sake... succeed in this." he begged to the air.

"You need it." he finished quietly.

The man just chuckled.

"You're quite easy to kill." he told her.

"As easy as whatever body you inhabit." he said.

"It's KEEPING you dead that's the hard part." he reasoned, shaking his head a little.

"Regardless... good luck, dear." he told her.

"Always know that I have your back." he assured her further.

"It's hard to imagine Jackson being broken." the man responded.

"It proves how frightening they've become." he said.

"Sierra... just be careful." he went on. "As much as you can, given this mission, anyway." he then clarified.

"If Jackson's still there... if any part of him remains... he's in hell." he said further.

"He has to be." he went on.

"I can't think of any other way he'd been feeling."

The man was silent, and his eyes widened.

"....Jackson?" he asked.

"You... you found him?" he asked her.

She just nodded.

"............." he was then silent again, before looking away.

"....then it's true, isn't it?" he asked.

"These statues. They were once people, weren't they?"

The attendant just sighed deeply.

"....yeah." he replied.

"Probably." he said.

"Sierra, be careful." he told her.

"I mean...there's plenty of bodies here, but... just... yeah." he mumbled.

"I hate seeing you come back for bodies to inhabit." he admitted.

"What are you doing, anyway?" he asked. "To garner such a need for containers?"

"Come on!" she then heard.

"Back to the cell!" Jackson was ordered.

"...kay." Jackson replied blandly.

And even though he started to walk on his own, he was shoved and prodded violently to get him moving along.

"Come on, come on! Filth." one of them spat.

"Kay." was all Jackson responded with... again.

As they walked, Sierra saw that it was... barren inside Jackson's consciousness. Empty and barren. Almost like a dungeon. There wasn't a single trace of who he used to be inside of him.

But... she swore she could sense... SOMETHING... deep within the recesses of this monotone hell that was now his psyche.

"........" Jackson was silent as she said what she did, and didn't react.

"DO IT!" one of the men barked.

Sierra saw Jackson's eyes shaking and quivering in his skull, before he just lifted his hands and placed them on her cheeks.

As soon as he did so, Sierra's world became a mess of grey, until it went all black... and then she found herself expelled from the body as it turned to stone.

"Excellent." one of the soldiers said.

"Her expression of sadness and despair is... exquisite."