Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 17:55:54 -0800 (PST)
From: joshua burnette <thanos71185@yahoo.com>
Subject: Missing Death

     I know this has been said on most every submission to this site, I
think it must be said again.
     So like, heh, this is like my first time, hehe....ok that was way to
queer even for me.
     Yes, this is my first EVER submission, and I truly enjoy the art of
writing.  And if you enjoy my writing, please feel free to express a
positive or constructive response, on anything about it, even a way as you,
the reader, would like me to take with this.  By the way, all you idiots
who like to curse out these wonderful authors on here, don't bother sending
anything to my email, it will be deleted and quickly forgotten,.
     Any emailed response please title it Missing Death, otherwise I will
look right past it, (I get way too much junk mail in my inbox.)
Thanos71185@yahoo.com
     Second, I would like to point out all normal warnings, this is
homosexual oriented sci-fi.  So, if you don't like either, then don't read
it, furthermore, if you are not OLD enough to read this, then you should
not read this.....definitely should not read this =)
     And I am inexperienced, and I HATE grammar..I like to write stories, I
don't want, to, get, an ulcer, over incorrect, comma, usage or sumthin like
spelling.  I am pretty sure the reader will decipher the meaning even if my
English professor would have a stroke =P
     Ok, so I think I covered the basics.
     And, this Is a story of fiction, purely the author's imagination.
     Oh! Yea so I write this between my college classes, so it comes out as
it comes out...and I WILL not let this story die.
     Ok, my tirade is over.


                         MISSING DEATH
                             Pt.1


Nine-hundred thousand people went missing last year.  Half of these are
unexplained murders and suicides.  Another quarter are runaways.  Yet where
have the other two hundred some odd thousand people gone?  No explanations.
No reports that last more than a week.  No official
                          explanation.
     Every year hundreds of thousands go missing.  But to where?

     My name is Thanos.  Every day is the same.  I was captured at thirteen
and have been here the last three years.  Big brother watching at every
moment, there is never a chance to escape.  Hopefully this transmission
will find someone...anyone.  I'm not asking for help, I'm probably going to
die for this.  I just want the truth to be exposed and....

     "And that's when the vid fails," remarks Steven to the desk sergeant.
     "You know kid, I ain't got time in the day for my work, much less
pranks.  Probably some other kid with nothing to do made it for a joke.
Now get out of here and don't come back."

     ""Why will noone believe me, believe him?" steven says to himself.
     Sitting back in his room, he stares in disbelief at the frozen frame
of the vid.  Nothing can be seen in the gloomy background.  Only the face
of Thanos.  By his account, he is sixteen.  Steven is only fourteen.  Dirty
blonde hair to Thanos' jet.  Blue eyes to his dark purple.  He wanted to
help Thanos so much, but what could he do? His friend's think he's crazy,
parents don't care.  Authorities think the broadcast is a joke.  Even
steven only found it on a file sharing program listed under conspiracy
theories.  Yet the conviction in the boy's eyes said it was true.  That he
really believed everything he said.  Not some good acting job, but a true
message in a bottle.  The .mpg was created two weeks prior.
     Steven had no idea as to even how to begin a search of his own.  He
replayed the video a few more times before turning in for bed.  His laptop
still on with the vid in the background. He could only wonder as to what
had become of the boy in the vid.

     Spitting out another tooth that would be replaced by morning, Thanos
looked up and grinned, "That the best you got?"
     Another jab to the face.  These guys are really predictable after a
few days.  They ask a question.  I tell them I fucked their mother, and
they hit me.  All over a stupid webcam that probably didn't make it out of
the facility.
     "Thanos, we want to know what you said in that vid.  It is very
important to us."
     "Yeah, just like me, right?" snarled Thanos," ok I'll tell you."  the
toughs and the labcoat all leaned in. "I said, 'Dr. Simons' mother does a
donkey show on Friday and if you act now...."
     Yeah, that's all I got out before the lead pipe had been administered
to the back of my head.


     Steven woke up to a beautiful Saturday morning pouring in from his
window.  Inside his head, everything is far from serene.  He had been
tormented by odd dreams.  Snippets of conversations and actions, none of
which were his.  He dreamt men in whitecoats were beating him, calling him
by the name of the boy in the vid, and asking him about what he said in it.
All very strange, but he decided it was just a nightmare spawned from
worrying over something that he is beginning to be sure is nothing at all.
     He wakes up and continues with his day...

     G'mornin sleepy, said a voice in my head.  No need to think it, I feel
the pain.
     Yea yea, but I ca take it. I was made for it, I thought back.  Val,
how are things in the bay?
     Ever since they took you, the younger ones have been scared, hell I'm
scared.  For you.
     No need for that, but I felt someone last night watching with me.  Was
that any of you?
     Oh god Thanos, no one here is strong enough to break through your
barriers. Maybe you imagined it, you know, like to help you through it.
     Yeah, like I need anyone to help me.
     There you go again. Always the strong one.  You need to get yourself
out of there and back here, at least you won't be beaten all day.
     Because life is so good there. I'll think of something, but until then
jsut watch out for everyone for me ok Val?
     Ok thanos, but please don't be stupid.
     Sitting up I feel the now everyday ache of my body.  I didn't even
realize I had half the places I now felt pain from.  Tonguing my incisor, I
confirm the new growth nearly complete.  Bastards.  Luckily I can regrow
certain things.
     I still feel unsettled though that someone could have been there in my
head, even if only watching through my eyes.  No one has ever been able to
do that. Not the entire time I have been here at the Facility.
     I know I could have killed all three in the room yesterday. But like
everyday since I sent that damned transmission, I find myself restrained.
Like I'm waiting for my knight in shining armour or some other romantic
bullshit.  Not to mention they would have drugged my with darts soon after
and it would change nothing.  Only make them watch me more closely,
hindering any attempt in the future for escape.  But gods it would have
been nice to take down dr. simons.  One day, I swear one day I will kill
him for what he has done to all of us.

     Steven woke up to the wonderful sensation of soreness running down his
back.  Ow, what did I do to deserve that pain?  Maybe I am just obsessing
over this vid.  That desk sergeant is probably right, it could have been a
fake...but what if it isn't?
     Steven left his house to walk around the shopping district of
downtown.  Hopping off the bus, he had all but forgotten the vid.  He kept
to himself, for he never really had friends to socialize with and had
become comfortable with being alone.  Steven decided to take a shortcut
through an alley between two clothing stores to get to the computer shack
on the other side. He was too lost in his own thoughts to notice the two
men in black suits and sunglasses . He looked up when he realized that
someone was at the end of the alley when he was half-way in.  The man has
on a white labcoat and syringe in his right hand.
     "Um, hello?" questions steven, more scared by the second.
     "Hello, steven, please do not resist and this will be over quickly"
said the labcoat.
     "....No?"  Steven turns to run, and smacks face first into the abdomen
of a very large man, with an equally large man beside him, both in suits
and glasses.  The man whom he ran into "hugs" him fairly strongly, strong
enough to take the wind from him, and his resistance.  Steven's leg comes
up on instinct and knees the man in the groin.  Released from the bear hug,
steven promptly falls on his butt.
     "Ow!"
     "Jim, don't go berserk on him like the last kid that did that,"
politely states the man besides "Jim".
     "It doesn't even phase me anymore John." even more politely a reponse
from the non- flinching man who just received a strong knee to the groin.
     "Now if you two would just please restrain the subject," Subject!?!,"
we can return to the Facility before lunch is over.  And besides, we are
not finished questioning young Thanos." that coming from the labcoat.
     "You guys know Thanos!"
     "...yes, we do, and more importantly is, how do you?"
     "He was in this broadcast I downloaded saying that people were being
captured for research or something..."
     "All the more reason for us to return to the Facility as promptly as
possible. John?. Jim?  If you would be so kind"
     With that, steven is hauled to his feet deftly injected.
     "Wait! what are...you...do," exclaims steven before he is unconcious.

     "Is he awake?" came a young voice.
     "Not sure, better to let him sleep off the drugs as much as possibly
though." explained a older teenaged female voice.
     "Val, they took Thanos again...I'm really scared," nearly cried a
young boy.
     "It's ok sweetie, he will be strong for all of us."
     "Ugh, can anyone please turn off the cymbals?" groggily awoke Steven.
     "Hehe, wakey wakey newbie," said the voice of "Val".
     Opening his eyes, steven sees a girl of about 15-16 before him,
shoulder length"blonde hair, tipped in glacier blue.  Her appearance gave
off a frosty temperament, but her personality seemed warm enough.  She was
very beautiful, but he couldn't understand why she was standing over him,
accompanied by 5 or 6 children between the ages of eight to ten.  "Uh,
where am I?"
     "Well, first off, I am Valevis, but everyone calls me Val," she smiled
really really big, scary big as she said this," and you have been abducted
by aliens!"
     "HUH!"
     "No, not really, but it is probably worse." her smile became sad at
this point," geneticist have been toying with human DNA, "improving" us for
years, but now, the government is willing to let private companies
"procure" as many test subjects as they wish, and as much funding as they
need, with the hopes of military applications in the future."
     "You mean like super-soldiers?"
     "Yea, pretty much, basically the stealing of people is covered up by
the government, and the fact that it is private companies makes it
impossible for the government to ever be held responsible if and when these
shady dealings are ever found out by the public at large."
     "And I'm now a test subject?"
     "...I hate to be the bearer of bad news but yes, you are, and so are
we.  I have been here for nearly three years.  Most of the children have
only been here for less than two years.  They keep you here until you crack
and accept their brainwashing and become thugs like the two who brought you
in."
     "So....this sucks."at that most of the children laughed.
     Laughing herself Val responded in kind, " Well yea, but maybe one day
we can have a life once again. We just try to be strong until that time."
     "Be strong, stay strong, until we can break out of this Hell hole and
get back at the damned think tanks that made us this way," said a very
enraged female from across the room.  No two ways about it, she just looked
pissed.
     "Down Mel!" shouted Val," That little bucket of sunshine is Melvalin."
     "What's her problem?" Steven softly whispered in Val's ear.
     "I CAN STILL HEAR YOU ASSHOLE!" shouted Mel.
     "I'm sorry, I just.."
     " Don't worry about her, this is her on a good day," frowned Val, "so
what is your name?"
     "Steven, I sort of know about this place already..."
     "Huh?" said everyone in unision, with the exception of Mel, who just
scowled a little less in steven's direc ion.
     "Yea, there was this video on the I found on a file sharing program,"
not a single mouth stayed closed, and all eyes were in rapt attention to
steven as he continued," He said hundreds of thousands of people go missing
every year, and that facilities like these were responsible. He said his
name was Thanos," Steven stopped to look around wondering if they were
frozen or involved in his words," that was the same response I got when I
told these guys about to capture me a few hours ago..."
     Before anyone could really move, Mel had crossed the room, picked up
Steven by the windpipe, and screamed," Thanos is now being beaten for what
you said to those bastards! Do you have any idea how much he is going to
suffer because of you!"
     "Ugh..I..gurgle..sto...p...gagh," was steven's only answer as his legs
looked for a ledge to stand on.
     Val moved behind Mel and placed her hand on Mel's shoulder, Mel looked
back with intense hatred, as her hand ever so slowly began to releaseits
grip on steven's neck and lower him to the floor. "Mel, please, he did not
know then, and he still does not fully understand, the boy has just been
abducted, you do remember how we all our first day?"
          "...Fine, just don't ever ask me to help him. Thanos does NOT
deserve what is being done to him, what he did for us, and he is paying the
price for."
     "Come with me steven, we need to talk, maybe it will help you better
understand how things work here."
     Steven and Val started walking out of the room they were in, it seemed
like a white washed recreation room in any hotel, if it had been designed
for kids, and the table he had been laying on seemed to serve as a game
board table. I think I my butt was laying on a monoply shoe, oww. Out of
nowhere, Val softly laughed to herself.  "Lets head to my room, it is a
little more private than our general area. And the kids do not need to here
what I have to say."
     We walked through one of many numbered doors out of the "common area"
and into a double bunked room, once again, white.  A few chairs, the bunk
bed, two desks, and some scattered books next to a movable closet.  It was
closed, and like many teenage rooms it had magazine clippings attached onto
it.  Unlike most teenagers' rooms, the clippings were not of celebrities
and sex symbols, but places like the Biltmore estate, Disney world, and
Buckingham palace. Val motioned for me to sit on a chair nearby while she
sat on her bed.
     She took a breath before starting," almost all the research from any
of these companies can be broken down into two areas, physical or mental.
Most physical experiments are crossing of human and animal DNA, to make
stronger faster and more lethal humans...The mental side is forcing the
development of psionic, and psychic abilities.  By the way, forcing human
evolution is painful and more often than not, unsuccessful, otherwise they
would not care. But they use their own, or I should say, people who were
once scared kids like us that decided it was better to be on the devil's
side rather than under his foot, to find anyone with a smidgeon of mental
abilities beyond the norm.  This facility is focused on the mental aspect,
so I assume you are probably at least slightly psychic, or some offshoot,"
she raised a hand to silence me until she had finished," the reason they
are now focused solely on mental, is because this was the first facility to
try altering DNA and enhancing mental capabilities at the same time, out of
the sixty- seven subjects to be administered with a chosen "cocktail", only
two survived, Thanos and Melvalin.
     "They have been here ever since, no one knows what the full extent of
their transformation is, but as you can tell from when Mel throttled you,
she is very enhanced in strength and speed.  The animal DNA used for her
was thought to be some prehistoric panther or tiger.  And Thanos has been
injected with some sort of dinosaur DNA," She saw the expression on my
face, one of shock, and continued," none of the scientists from that
experiment survived, nor any notes or material, we are not even in that
building anymore, it was three states away, at least that's what Thanos and
Melvalin say.
     "Thanos is the more dangerous, he wont show off any of his abilities
to anyone, I personally think it more of a fear tactic against his current
opressors.  However, we all know he can heal any damage in a matter of
hours, which is why he loves taunting the tough guys around here," Val
smiles as if thinking of a pleasent memory," and he watches over all of us,
he is the only one they can not control, can not break through he psyche to
suppress him in anyway, because of his regeneration, most knock-out gases
or injections wont work for longer than a few minutes.  He looks out for
all of us, and makes sure no one messes with us, we have had orderlies who
wanted to have their way with some of the younger girls and boys...now they
do not have a way to "have their way with" anyone anymore.
     "A few weeks ago, Thanos knocked out most of the staff, and made his
way to a computer in I guess their lobby, which had a webcam, so he tried
his best to make a movie and send it out, but we didn't even think it had
reached anyone.  The staff here is more concerned with other similar
companies getting wind of how ineffectual and negligent this facility is in
coming close to alerting the nation on the goings on in here."
     "I guess it wouldn't be pretty,"remarked steven.
     "Not for any of us," said Val in all seriousness," well we need to
find you a bed, I think some of the younger boys..."

     Steven woke up again to see Val shaking her head as if she had just
woken. "Yes, that happens from time to time, they do it when they want to
take one of us out or put someone back in.  Safer for them tehy assume, and
with Thanos not in here, I guess they don't have to hurry anymore."
     "Why would they have to hurry?"
     Val grinned, "Because Thanos will tear them apart if he gets the
chance."
     "THANOS IS BACK!!!"jubilantly exclaimed a little gurl that ran past
Val's door.
     "Well lets go see how bad it was this time." with that she got up and
ushered me back to the common area. Upon arriving steven noticed everyone
huddled around an unseen groaning figure, Mel is on here knees holding a
hand with a sad expression on her face.  She turns to see steven
approaching and scowls.
     "Stay away from him newbie, he doesn't need anymore pain," she hissed.
     "Uuhh, nonsense Mel, let me see the boy that was able to give me the
oppotunity to knock Jim on his ass." at this all the children giggled and
cheered.
     "Oh, dear lord, that rib is going to be cracked until tomorrow
Thanos," expressed val as she ran her hand over Thanos' bare chest.
     He grinned through the busted lip and swollen eye socket and replied,
" It was shattered earlier, my own fault really, I didn't know John was so
touchy about his mother working in a brothel." Upon finishing his
statement, Thanos coughed upbloody plhegm that one of the kids quickly
wiped away with a towel. "Thank you though," he said to steven," At least I
know the vid got somewhere." and with that, he passed out.
     "Help us carry him to his room please?" asked Val.
     "No need, I'll do it," sneered Mel as she very gently picked him up
and carried him away.
     "Mel is just worried about Thanos, she's taking it out on you b/c you
she views as the reason for his situation." sadly stated Val.

     "Go easy on him will ya Mel?" groggily said Thanos as he is gently
laid down on his bed.
     "Thanos, you need to be careful, we were soo worried." pleaded Mel.
     "Hey, can you tell...um...."
     "Steven?"
     "Yea, Steven, can you tell steven ask steven to move in here with me?"
     "Um, may I ask why?"
     "Yea, I don't think he would like to be in the younger boys rooms too
much."
     "Is that all?"
     Thanos blushed, "Of course that is all!"
     "...ok, so you want me to take it easy on him too?"
     "That would be nice," an even more flustered Thanos stammered.
     Mel look ahead and closed her eyes for a second. "Val is bringing him
now," she grinned.
     "I'm never going to hear the end of this am I?"
     "Not as long as we live...which might not be too long so take comfort
in that," a sting of sarcasm could be felt in her statement.

     Val had been in the middle of a joke when she started to giggle, she
looked at Steven, and giggle again.

     Back in Thanos' room, Mel started to chuckle under her breath. "And
just what are you two talking about?" said Thanos.
     "Oh, nothing."

     Val looked over Steven and asked, "So did you havea girlfriend?"
     "Was that the punch line? If so it doesn't make any sense..." replied
steven.
     "Thanos would like it if you moved in with him, he's got a bigger room
than Mel and I share, so I think you two will have enough space. Besides,
he doesn't think you would like it to much to be with the younger boys,"
she leaned in close," they pull pranks on everyone except me, Thanos, and
Mel." at that moment a nerf ball struck the back of Steven's head, at the
same time an unseen force started giving him a wedgie.  "Ow!"
     The boys he saw as he turned around were all giggling.  "Thanos just
wants someone to kiss all night!" and with that they ran off laughing.
     "Um...huh, I....what?" stammered out Steven.
     After blushing a furious shade of red, Val disclosed," Well, if you
don't mind, Thanos is gay, I hope that doesn't turn you off on being his
roommate."
     "Um," Steven blushed, " no it doesn't turn me off, it turns me ...I
mean...o damn."
     " I have never seen so many people blush in so short a time," smirked
an obviously pleased Mel.