“Good, I’m glad to hear you seem lucid,” she said. “If you want, I can increase the pain meds again. It’ll put you back in a gentle sleep.”
He thought about saying yes. About returning to that beach again. But there was nothing for him in those dreams. He thought that he wanted death.
But in death, there was no retribution.
There was no chance to help others from turning into the monster he had become.
Drug-induced sleep was no better either. It was a deceptive escape filled with false promises.
“No,” he said. “I don’t want to be put under again.”
“I understand,” she said. “We’ve been working on figuring out what happened to you. Do you want me to catch you up on everything or would you prefer to rest?”
No use hiding from his present or his future anymore.
“Tell me everything,” he said.
She started with what had happened to the rest of the men that had been sent on the mission. How the Rangers had evidently been wiped out. How the brass had tried to send other groups to rescue the SEALs, but they disappeared elsewhere in Europe or Morocco. The Hunters had been lucky to make contact with a group of local Moroccans who had helped them infiltrate the base. Khalid hadn’t been lying after all.
She promised him there was far more to that story, that he would have to ask one of the field operatives as she didn’t have all the details. What she did know was that he had indeed been infected with a biological weapon adapted from the Oni Agent. She wanted to study that agent, to learn more about the changes to O’Neil’s body, but promised she wouldn’t experiment on him without his permission. There was so much they didn’t yet understand about this new weapon.
What they did know was that the people responsible for that biological agent had been hoping to use the Hybrids to guide hordes of Skulls to invade those few cities and bases around the world resisting the monsters. It was part of a much larger conspiracy the Hunters and the United States were still fighting to unravel. But she and her team believed that the blow they had struck in Tangier had set back the Russian forces considerably.
Humanity might yet have a chance at recovery, although their ultimate future was uncertain.
He heard the smack of boots against the deck as Lauren finished explaining all this to him. Into the small sick bay room walked the man who had led the Hunters into Tangier.
Captain Dominic Holland. Lauren caught Dom up on O’Neil’s condition and told him what she and her medical team had discovered regarding O’Neil’s condition.
Dom turned to O’Neil. “I never really thanked you for what you did for us.”
“You don’t have to,” O’Neil said, pulling himself upright. His bony spikes rattled against each other, and a fresh wave of pain echoed through his body with the movement. “You freed us.”
“But the sacrifices you and the others made can’t be taken lightly.”
O’Neil thought about it for a second. Recalled what it was like to be stuck in that prison cell. To be experimented on and treated like an animal.
Worse than an animal.
“They weren’t sacrifices,” O’Neil said. “Not really. We wanted revenge for what those people did to us. The torture they put us through. The experiments.” He could not help the shudder that rippled through him. “We spent every day wishing we could die. You gave us a chance to free ourselves from that prison—both the one with the bars and our bodies. You owe us nothing.”
Dom looked away for a second, his brow furrowed like he was thinking about what he should say next. Finally, he spit it out. “Do you still feel the need to free yourself?”
O’Neil let those words sink over him, considered the chaotic emotions churning in his brain. He swallowed hard. “I thought I still wanted to die. But I’m not ready. As long as the doc here can keep me at a dull seven or eight instead of an agonizing ten on the pain scale, I still want my revenge. Because until every last one of the people responsible for what has happened to the world are dead, they’re just going to keep making more monsters. Monsters like me.”
“Understood,” Dom said. “If you want, I can get you back to your command. See if they want to assign you to work with the SEALs again.”
O’Neil thought about it. But he knew what USAMRIID was doing to the Skulls in their possession. He would be a unique specimen. The scientists would want to dissect him and figure out everything they could about how he had been turned into this monster. They would probably consider him more valuable as an experimental specimen than a SEAL. And he had a hard time believing they would find a place for him on the teams again.
He looked at his claws.
Not like this.
“That’s the last thing I want,” he finally said to Dom. “You know what’s going to happen if you hand me over to the military. More poking and prodding. I don’t want to be an experiment again.”
“I’ve already promised not to do any research on O’Neil without his consent,” Lauren said.
Dom took another step toward O’Neil’s bed. Put a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t even wear a glove to protect himself from touching the bony armor on O’Neil’s body.
“You’d make a damn fine Hunter if you want to stay and fight with us,” Dom said.
O’Neil thought of his brothers. The ones he would never see again. He wasn’t sure he belonged in the SEALs again. And he wasn’t sure he would ever really be accepted on a team of mercs like this either. But he saw no better way to carry on the torch of their memories, honor what they had given for the country than to fight to end this war.
“I was hoping you’d ask.”
Dom gave him a nod and a slight smile. “Glad to have you aboard.”
-For the Reader-
Dear Reader,
Thanks so much for reading Hybrid, a novel in The Tide universe. If you are an old fan of The Tide, I hope you enjoyed learning more about one of my characters from the original series. O’Neil seemed to be a fan favorite (and personally one of mine), and when I finished the main series, I realized I hadn’t told enough of his story.
If this is the first time you’ve read a book in the world of The Tide and want to learn more, please consider checking out the series. You’ll learn far more about the Hunters, the Oni Agent, and the biological weapon that twisted O’Neil’s fate. You can check out The Tide, Book 1, here: http://amzn.to/2FeuFq3
Or as of this writing, there is a box set with the first four books in the series here: https://amzn.to/2QoeDRK
I hope you’ll dive into the world of Skulls and Hunters if you haven’t given it a try yet.
In the meantime, if you’re interested in future releases and other works of mine (I’ve got plenty more new ones coming out), please consider joining my mailing list. I won’t spam you and I won’t share your emaiclass="underline" http://bit.ly/ajmlist
I love to hear from readers. If you want to get in touch, there are a number of ways to reach me.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/anthonyjmelchiorri
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Website: http://www.anthonyjmelchiorri.com
-About the Author-