One Red Eye

 “I’ve always had one red eye, I suppose.” The man sat on his porch looking up at the military general.

            “That’s something we’d like to determine for ourselves,” the general replied. “If you would come with us, I’m sure all the questions you have will be answered.”

            “I suppose they will.” The man looked again this time with his one red eye.  He got up and followed the general to the government vehicle, a standard-issue Chrysler.  Two other soldiers waited to open the door.  They took no note of this man with the abnormality. 

            Once in the car, the general sat across from the man who from appearances seemed perfectly normal.  The man regularly went to the gym, ate cereal in the morning, and even fed his goldfish. He didn’t seem like the type of person prone to violence.  Harold Keyes’ past cloaked itself in mystery.  One red eye identified him on numerous occasions with the military as a potential threat to national security.

            Harold reportedly appeared in restaurants, grocery stores, the mall, and local parks--each occasion similar to the last-- and that is why the military got involved.  On the way to the bunker, General Hutchinson stewed over the facts, the rumors, and the photos of these incidents.  The evidence supported his fears, but still it didn’t explain the man’s odd behavior.  Soon he would know the truth behind the strange events. 

            Harold sat nervously looking out the window, only revealing his normal eye.  It was almost grey in color when the sun hit it correctly, which added to his enigmatic appearance.  Perhaps he chose to reveal his normal eye out of self-consciousness.

            The military complex sat in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, a perfect place to hide this specimen, the general thought.  The vehicle made its wide turns around the mountain roads and soon came upon a large cavern.

            “Where are you taking me?” Harold asked.

            “Where you will be safe; we just have to get some things straightened out. It’ll all be over soon,” the general soothed.  He remained silent as the vehicle entered the darkness of the tunnel. 

            Within minutes, the car came to a stop in front of two large metal doors.  Ten soldiers came through and lined up to the car.  The soldiers in the car exited first.  Harold stood up slowly from the car, watching the men in their camouflage.  Each wore an MK47 around his shoulder.  This made him more uneasy over these tests.

            The general motioned for Harold to go through the doors, which made a hissing noise as they opened and closed.  The hallway he walked down was plastered with taupe paint and cold cement floors.  The florescent lights ran the entire length of the hall.  Harold looked ahead at the doors down the long corridor, which were his destination.

            General Hutchinson increased his pace and pushed Harold through the doors to the small room ahead.  Harold felt the muzzle of a pistol in his back.  He knew they were serious.  In the small room, a massive mirror hung in the wall; a middle table with two chairs, a small recording device and a lamp sat waiting.  Twelve armed guards encircled the room for security.

            Harold didn’t know what to expect next.  His worst fears came crawling into his mind at that moment.  He decided to sit at the table.  The general paced the room and finally sat down. 

            “Where do you go at night?” The question was unexpected.

            “I go different places. Sometimes I feel like going for a meal, or maybe I’ll go to the mall to read,” Harold answered.

            “Do you remember what happens when you are at these places?”

            “To start, yes. When I leave, I see that bad things have happened, and I don’t know who did it.”

            “You did the bad things, Harold.  You must block out what you do, because we have it on video.” The general turned a video on the large mirror.  It displayed three different occurrences where Harold spun and fought his way out of the senerios.  In each instance his red eye glowed while the people in the scene either fought or ran from him.

            “That’s not me.” Harold spoke quietly.

            “There’s something more…” General Hutchinson switched to the audio of the recordings.

            “Assimilation in progress.  More will come.  Utility Media in coming.  Beware, all will be known,” Harold boomed in the videos.

            “What do you think now?  Are you a cyborg? Are you being controlled?  What is driving you?” The general stared into Harold’s eyes.

            The answer became clear in moments.  The eye glowed fiercely.  Harold stood and in a human voice his growled, “My time is up here. I must return.”

            “What time is that?” The General queried, holding off the guards for a moment.

            “The future,” Harold stated.  He went into a crouching stance and whirled past the general.  The general tried to capture him and grab his arms, but Harold just fought him off, sending him to the floor. He ran around the room immobilizing all twelve guards.  He used a combination of Muay Thai, Judo, Jujutsu and Kickboxing to incapacitate his victims.  He then stood in front of the general with his shoulders slouched forward.  The red eye continued to glow.

            “I leave you with this…” Harold handed a small key to General Hutchinson.  The general accepted the key and looked down.  It held the words Utility Media on it.

            When he glanced up from the key, Harold disappeared before his eyes almost like smoke.  The guards slowly recovered from the blows they received from Harold’s attack.

            “I guess we need to look into the Utility Media Company, boys.  That will be all.” The General adjusted his tie and walked out of the room.

 

            Miles away and three hundred years later, Harold walked through the munitions lab of Transport Mechanics.  A beautiful woman in a tight skirt and long white lab coat turned to him.

            “Did they listen?” she asked.

            “I’m not sure.  I know the General was listening.  However, the other guards I’m not positive about.  Being half cyborg body parts has its advantages.  If I have to go back, can we please get rid of my Red Eye?” Harold half smiled.

            “We’ll get it out soon.  Hopefully things will change for our present and events will improve.” She winked.

            “Time is on our side, and I think we have the ball rolling.  Let’s go, we have work to do.” Harold gave the woman a quick kiss, and they walked through another set of doors, leaving the Transport active.  Before the lights dimmed, another transmission came through.  A single entity walked off the transporter pad; he held two large blades attached to his arms.

            His only words were, “This time I will not fail.”

 

END

Author's Note

What do you think of the story? Could it be expanded to create an entire novel if I kept my own ideas?
Re-edited

Reviews

[Weaver]

period, not question mark, after "I suppose"
"the man sat" - "The"
comma, not period, after "for ourselves"
period, not comma, after "general replied"
comma after "Once in the car"
"one who ate cereal in the morning" - delete "one who"
"marked him on numerous occasions with the military" - This is confusing. Marked him how?
dash, not comma, after "similar to the last" (if you set off a phrase with a dash on one side, you need to use a dash on the other too - it's symmetrical that way *g*)
"to the military bunker" - delete "military"
"The evidence supported his fears, but still it didn’t explain the man’s odd behavior." - This has got me curious. I'm looking forward to the explanation of what this guy has been doing, and why the military is interested.
"a perfect place to hide this specimen" - Y'know, this sort of thing is making me more sympathetic toward Howard. I worry about him - "Oh, no, they're going to lock him up in some lab and study him!"
comma, not period, after "all be over soon" (Nobody likes to hear that in this kind of situation - could be a polite way of saying "soon you'll be dead")
comma after "Within minutes"
"through the doors. The doors made a hissing noise" - combine - "through the doors, which made a hissing noise"
"was decorated with taupe paint and cold cement floors" - I'm not sure "decorated" is the right word, unless you're going for irony.
"Harold felt the muzzle of a pistol in his back" - Wow. These guys ARE serious. 'Just a few simple tests, nothing to worry about,' but they're prepared to shoot this guy if he refuses to take those tests...
"a massive mirror hung on the wall" - I know what that is. The massive mirror is actually IN the wall, no? One of those one-way things so people on the other side can watch him unseen... Right now, before I forget, I want to thank you for helping me with my own writing. This bit is enough like part of the backstory for my novel that it has definitely gotten me in the right mindset to write those scenes...
period or semicolon, not comma, after "on the wall"
"The General"- "general"
"the question was unexpected" - "The"
comma, not period, after "to read"
period, not comma, after "yes"
comma after "When I leave"
comma after "happened"
comma after "what you do"
"The General" - "general"
Well, looks like I was wrong about the mirror...
"out of the situations" - Situations? If he's fighting, this suggests something dangerous, but what?
period, not comma, after "in progress"
period, not comma, after "is coming"
comma after "Beware"
comma, not period, after "be known"
"The General stared" - "general"
"eye began to glow fiercely" - "eye glowed fiercely"
period, not comma, after "up here"
I have to say that I'm a little disappointed that Harold is a cyborg, but this is ONLY due to my personal obsessions. I did sort of suspect it, just from the red eye itself.
comma, not period, after "The future"
You have to be careful with this so as not to make your story too much like the Terminator movies. I'm not saying that it is, but that's what a lot of people are going to automatically compare it to.
"past the General" - "general" (Don't capitalize "general" unless it is either before his name or used as a direct address.)
comma after "grab his arms"
comma after "fought him off"
"used various martial arts" - bland description for such violence
"General Hutchinson" - this is correct
"words Utility Media on it" - italicize "Utility Media"
"Harold disappeared before his eyes" - "Harold had..."
delete "disintegrated him"
"However, the other guards I’m not positive" - "...not positive about"
" Having half cyborg body parts" Um... The word "cyborg" implies that there's a mix of biological and machine parts anyway. Unless you mean "Being half cyborg body parts," meaning that he's about half machine.
comma after "to go back"
comma after "on our side"
comma after "quick kiss"
I liked the last scene except the very end. Is there a sequel to this story? Where'd the character with the blades come from? He's not mentioned, or even implied, in any previous scene.

And yes, this could be expanded into an entire novel.