The Man With Infinite Lives? | Teen Ink

The Man With Infinite Lives?

March 6, 2018
By Anonymous

Author's note:

We we assigned to create a piece of fiction for english. Here it is.

It’s a warm sunny day in Los Angeles, the sun is shining, birds chirping, cars honking, and Joe is walking down the street. He feels a grumble in his stomach, and figures he needs to eat breakfast.He stops in his tracks, pulls out his phone, and orders a sandwich and coffee from starbucks. Since the starbucks is only 3 blocks away, he figures he can just walk there. So Joe, starts walking toward the shop, mouth watering, stomach aching just to get a morsel. He begins to walk a little faster, he cannot wait any longer. He starts jogging to his destination not worrying about his surroundings. He sees the starbucks in the distance, he needs his food now. He doesn't pay attention to the road, or the crosswalk, all he wants is his warm savory sandwich. He runs across the street without looking both ways, hears a loud screech from his right, everything goes black.

Joe wakes up in his cubicle startled, sweating, and his heart is pounding at the speed of light. It was only a dream, Joe thinks to himself. His train of thought and confusion is then broken up by a phone call. The caller ID was private, so Joe picked it up just because. All Joe heard on his phone was deep and heavy breathing. Joe was confused on what was going on so he hung up. As he hung up the phone display closed, and the starbucks notification popped up telling him that his order was ready. Joe could not believe what he was reading, he thought it was just a dream. He walks out of his cubicle and stares out the window and was shocked to was he had just observed. There was an ambulance parked outside of his office. The EMT’s were picking up a body that looked just like him. Joe could not believe what he was seeing, he glanced to his right and saw his reflection on the computer screen. Joe stood there shocked to observe that he wasn’t himself. His hair was black, he had a medium sized beard, and he had a scar on his right cheek. He looked at his nametag and it read in full caps, “MARCUS”. Joe’s head filled with questions, he could not believe what had just happened.
Marcus didn’t know what to do so he walked to a fellow colleague next to him and asked,” what is this place?”
“What do you mean?’ said Juan
Marcus responded more aggressively, “WHAT is this place?”
Juan responded, “Jeez, its ABC offices, how could you forget you've been working here your whole life.”
Marcus was flabbergasted since it was always a dream to work for ABC, and somehow now he is working there.
Marcus was filled with nausea and asked his boss if he can go home for the day. Of course his boss would say yes, he acted very nice and polite. As Marcus hit the elevator button, he reached in his pocket to find a car key with and Audi logo on it. He didn't know the person he took over was that wealthy. As he entered the elevator and pressed garage level, he couldn't wait to see an Audi R8 waiting for him in the garage. As the floor number gets lower and lower, Marcus starts getting excited. The doors slowly open and Marcus sees a shiny white and red audi R8 parked in a reserved spot. As he clicks his car keys he hears a *beep* *beep* to his right. Marcus glances to the right, and with disbelief spots a Grey Audi A4. Marcus sighs and hops into his car. He had no idea where to drive, but luckily he found home on the cars built in GPS. He clicks on the destination and realizes it’s only 10 blocks away from his office. He then starts driving to his destination and figures out that this person lives in a high-rise condominium. Marcus shrugs his shoulders and says to himself that things could have been worse. He parks his car, hops into the elevator and goes to floor 11, which he had read on his keys. He walks around for a couple of minutes, then finally finds his humble abode.

He puts the key into the door, slowly opens it and to his surprise spots a 80 inch flat screen Tv. Great! He thinks to himself. He then hears a yell from his right, “Honey, is that you?”. Marcus had no idea how to respond. The door opens to his right and cannot believe his eyes. A very beautiful woman walks out smiling with Joy. She asks Marcus why he was home from work so early. He had no idea how what to say so he lied and just said he wasn’t feeling good. She told him to go try and take a nap so he can feel better. Marcus of course listens to her advice, and heads toward the bedroom. He lays in the soft silky sheets and dozes of.
Marcus wakes up to a loud noise coming from the kitchen, and is curious on what that noise was. He then is alarmed by a second noise, and sits up on the bed. He checks the clock that reads 1:30am, and has no idea why someone would be at his place at this time. He picks up the baseball bat that he somehow knew that was under his bed, picks it up and heads toward the door. He plants his right ear on the door and heard a faint conversation between two men. He slowly opens his bedroom door, and spots two men in the living room. One was a pretty short, but build man in his late forties at least. The other one was a scrawny skinny man at least in his thirties. He saw a shiny thing in the scrawny man’s hand, and he identified it as a gun. He turns on the light and says to the men in a deep voice, “Leave Now!”. The scrawny man gets startled and immediately pulls the trigger on Marcus. The buff man looked at his fellow friend with a shocked face. At the same time, Marcus feels a sharp pain in his chest, and falls on his side in slow motion. As he hits the ground everything goes black.

Marcus was suddenly woken up to a cold feeling on his chest and face. He hears a faint yell in the distance calling out, “Steve, Steve, WAKE UP!”. Marcus, still laying down not being able to see anything is wondering who Steve is. He opens his eyes and sees a distorted man on top of him screaming this name. As things come into focus he realises its an officer from the LAPD. Marcus then realises that his clothes- which to his amazement is a police uniform- are soaked with sweat and water. “Steve, can you hear me?” Calls the officer.
Marcus replies,”Who’s Steve?”
The Officer reacted with a scrunched up face and a loud, “Huh, it’s you.”
Marcus was still trying to put the pieces together and finally noticed what had just happened, he just died.
Marcus or should I say Steve, starts to pass out and he heard the officer talk into his microphone, “ We need the paramedics immediately, OFFICER DOWN, I REPEAT OFFICER DOWN!!”

Steve wakes up to a beeping sound, and can’t recognize where he is. He reaches over to his right, calls out baby, hoping to see his beloved wife, he sees a nurse who replies, “ This ain’t yo baby sweet cheeks.”Steve showed an uncertain facial expression, looked around his environment and noticed that he is in a hospital room. As he was looking around he felt a sharp pain in his right forearm. He glances over at his arm, muscles aching, and notices something black forming on his arm. It appears to be a number, but Steve is not certain about what number it is supposed to be. It finally shows up after about 30 seconds and it reads on his arm 98 in a bold black font. Steve was concerned on why there was a number on his arm, maybe he’s the ninety-eighth patient today. Or maybe there is a code number for what treatment to take. He could not figure it out, until he thought about his past deaths. What if he had 98 lives left to live on this planet, of course he didn’t know for sure, but he was willing to test this out. He was feeling pretty woozy from the medication, so he thought to himself he could just be hallucinating. During this thought a strange looking man walked into the room, and greeted Steve. Steve waved back at the man, and the man asked him,”What is your name?”.
Steve replied, “My name is Steve, why?”
The nurse said, “ What?”
Steve answered back glancing to the door,” No i was talking to the ma-.”
The man was gone, he vanished in mid air. Steve tried looking out of the door, and saw a head peeking in. The head said,” meet me in the back, once you get out.”

Steve tilted his head in confusion, thinking what could that mean. He tried getting out of his bed, but felt pain all over his head. He grunted as he struggling just to sit up. The nurse tried to get him to lay back down, but he refused and sat up. He noticed a mirror in the corner of the room, and saw his head wrapped in bandages. He also saw a figure behind his left shoulder in the reflection grinning at him. The figure had dark eyes, and rounded horns coming out of the figures skull. Steve looked behind him startled, and once again, the figure he saw disappeared. He stood up, and asked the nurse where the bathroom was. She said to walk out the door and head to the left. Steve did as she said, found the men’s room and opened the door. The door creaked open, Steve walked in then closed the door with a loud thump. He then turned the door lock, and turned on the light. He could hear the hum of electricity coming from the light. He could also hear a small fan turn on, to let air flow in there. He walked to the sink, and turned on the faucet. He put his hands in the running water, and realised that this water is too cold. Steve then turned the H handle, and the water cot warmer. While doing this Steve cupped his hands under the running water, until he had a good amount in there. Once he thought he had a good amount, Steve used all of his might to bring the water to his face. He used his hands to rub off all of the sweat. Once he opened his eyes, his face wasn't exactly his anymore. He saw what had looked like the devil himself in his robes, and with the bandages on his head.

Steve observed the giant grin on “his” face and noticed that the devil was opening his mouth. All of a sudden, a sound splitting screech came out of the devil’s mouth, and it made Steve feel like his head was going to explode. He couldn’t take this agony anymore, and tried to get out of the bathroom immediately. The creature still screeching, Steve couldn’t even get up. He looked up at the bathroom light, and the light got brighter by the second. He saw a hand reach out of light, and a face yelling, “TAKE IT, TAKE MY HAND!!”
Steve pulled his body up trying to reach for the hand, but the screeching was too much for him. He told himself that he’s not trying to die like this, so he used all of the power left in him, and grabbed the hand. Everything turned to a bright light, so blinding that Steve passed out.

Steve is suddenly awaken by a rush of cold air blowing into his face. A man looking at him said in a country accent,”You’re finally awake.”
Steve looked at his surroundings and noticed he was in a boat. Observing all the men around him, they looked like World War II soldiers. Steve started to laugh and said to them,”Is it halloween already?” All of the men looked at him with straight faces, then Steve realised that he was actually in a WWII vessel.” What am I doing here?” He asked.
The strange man, who looked like someone dressing up as a WW2 officer in halloween said,” You are our only hope of winning this damned war.”
Steve looked around his atmosphere once again, and sees all of these men looking at him. He notices that they all are wearing the same costume/uniform. Quite flabbergasted, Steve finally realises that it is actually June 6, 1944, and that he is on a U.S vessel heading towards Normandy. He looks at the kernel and asks,”Why do you need me?”
Colonel Bass responded,” Well, you see kid. We need to get through these beaches if we want to win the war, and with all of our men dying it’s very difficult. Since we stole some Germain technology, our scientist made a portal and somehow found you. It attracts a weird energy, or somewhat, and you just appeared. That screeching noise yah heard was the Nazis tryna getcha, but we got there first.”
“How am I important then?”Steve responded
“Well you see, Dr.Neemus said that you are some typa special infinite lives thing, that would help us out today at Omaha.”
“I don't even know how to use a gun though, and you can't force me to get on these ships, I won’t do it.” Says Steve
Colonel Bass gives him a funny look and smirks, “Oh yes we can, and we will.”

Steve once again wakes up to a cold rush of air in his face. He hears waves crashing upon something, and smells the cool air of salty water. As he opens his eyes, he notices he is in a LVCP boat, in the middle of the ocean. He feels the rock of the boat as it hits each wave, and barely noticed that there were soldiers in here with him. “Where are we going!?” He yells.
A fellow soldier says,”We’re going to hell, that’s where we’re going.
Steve tilts his head and looks at his outfit. He’s wearing tan pants, that look more green than tan, a green shirt, and a helmet. He looks at his straps and sees two green grenades with a labeling that has the letters US, which obviously stands for United States. He feels some weight on his shoulder, finds a sling connected to something so he brings that oddly long abject around his shoulder. He is filled with butterflies after he sees in his hands a brown M1 garand with looped iron sights. Steve now realises, he’s about to go to war.
“100 YARDS, CLOSING FAST!!” cries the “captain” of the small life vessel. Steve sighed,”it’s now or never”. “OPENING GATES!” yells the same man. Steve hears a cranking followed by a man throwing up over the side of the vessel. As the gate slowly drops, Steve hears bullets whiz by him, and the men in his boat dropping fast. He only has one option, and that is to jump. He looks to his right, grabs ahold of the side railing, and hoists himself up and over the wall. He lands with a splash, followed by an icy rush of the cold ocean water. Dazed, he feels a tug on his arm by a fellow captain,”WE NEED TO GO, FOLLOW ME, NOW!”. Still dazed, steve makes out a barrier and runs as fast as he can, he’s not giving up on this life. He sits behind the barrier, back facing the enemy. Disorientated, Steve looks around horrified to see a fellow soldier holding his severed arm in his only hand running to cover. He looks to his left and sees two LVCP boats crash into each other creating one massive explosion of fiery red and orange.
“HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, MOVE UP TO THE BEACHHEAD. THAT’S AN ORDER”yells Sgt.Boob
“Aye Aye sir” replies Steve. As he peaks around to gain a vantage point, a bullet barely misses his head. This path was obviously not clear. Steve peeks to his left, and does not get shot at, he stands up and runs all the way to the sea-line. He lays down to take cover, and notices a soldier using a pipe looking object, throws it at the barbed wire and crawls away. After a few seconds, it blows up, taking the barbed wire and the sand mound with it. Men start running through, so Steve follows them with his M1 held triumphantly. As he is running, he feels something odd under his foot, and in a split-second Steve sees flash coming from his foot. Steve then becomes airborne.

“So what happens next, gramps?” says Steve III
“Well, that's why I only got one leg lil man” replies a much older Steve
“Well, what happened to all of the other dudes?” asks his grandson..
“That's up to history to decide” Elder steve says grinning. Steve looks out the window and smiles up into the clouds. He whispers under his breath,”Thank you, I don’t know how, but thank you for letting me keep this life.”...
The End. 



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