5 The Immortal Gene
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He was just floating there, just floating. His body feels like needles are all over it.
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He sees many bright lights flying over him.
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He sees a woman, mouth covered by her hands.
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Behind him, he sees two bright lights coming right for him.
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Jack quickly rises out of the bed he was sleeping in, in a cold sweat. He looks around, and finds the alarm clock on his beside table. Annoyed at the beeping, Jack slams the top of the clock, turning that beeping off.
It's been a few weeks since Jack agreed to this whole research thing. So far, the two scientists did keep their promise - the experiments were pretty humane. But so far, they haven't achieved much. So far, they learned that Jack had an incredibly long endurance, something even he thought he didn't have. He was found to be able to run on a treadmill at 10 mph for about 5 hrs without tiring, an endurance that many athletes wish they had, and this bum has it. Not only that, but his muscle strength has drastically increased, essentially quadrupling his strength. After a few days of working out, Jack's body was already becoming more toned rapidly. Jack also discovered that he needed food and water less; he could go for days without food or water. But these abilities were not shown prior to the accident, so what could have caused this? That's where they were stuck on.
Getting dressed into some fresher gray long sleeved shirt and casual pants, Jack walked down the stairs from his solitary room wearing some simple slippers, and runs into Penny. "Oh, hi," Jack said. "Hello Jack. Are you ready for today?" she asked, with the usual excitement. "Sure, why not," he replied with. The two of them walked over to another room, a small one with some syringes, sterilizing tools, a centrifuge, and some equipment that Jack can't recognize. Walking up to the table the items are on, Penny said, "So, you know how we asked to take your blood about a week ago?" "Uh, yeah, I do," Jack replied. "Well, we got the results! And what we found was really odd," she said. "So, you know how aging works?" she further asked. Jack replied, "No, not really. I kinda forgot about that one." "Well, it works like this," Penny said, "When you age, your body replicates itself through cell division. Every time this happens, your telomeres shorten by a bit whenever that happens. But taking a look at your recent cell gathering, your telomeres seem to replicate themselves." "What?" "Well, what I'm saying is, your telomeres don't seem to shorten. You are literally immune to the repercussions of aging." Penny said. Jack was very much taken aback by this. Him? Can't age? "You're kidding, right? There's no way..." Jack said in disbelief. "Well, it's just a hypothesis at this point. We'll never really know for sure until we gather more evidence and wait a couple years, see if your face changes or anything. But due to the fact that your telomeres seem to be never ending, meaning that you cannot die of aging. You are technically immortal."
The conversation made Jack confused, and excited. He was immortal. I mean, sure he could die from sustaining heavy injury, but he can last as long as he wants as long as he doesn't get too reckless, he could live forever! Jack immediately took his phone out and called Michael.
Ever since Michael heard that Jack was gonna undergo tests to figure out how he survived the unlikely-to-survive accident, he was supporting the choice all the way. He was expecting that Jack was extra durable, could take hits easily, you know, that kind of things. What he did not expect was the words "I am immortal" straight from the horse's mouth. "Dude, you're kidding, right?" He asked Jack, in disbelief. "No, I'm not. Somehow, I literally cannot age." Jack replied, sounding very giddy. "Wow, that's insane, dude. Do they know why?" "No, they don't know yet. That's what we're trying to figure out. I think that the other abilities are part of the whole 'immortal' package." "Cool, cool. You man how you're super buff now?" "Uh, yeah, if you wanna call it that."
The two talked for a long while, talking about their current life. Jack talked about how the research slowed down recently, and the recent calls from his parents. Michael was talking about how he kept on visiting Marie during her stints in the hospital, generally being there for support and being her new friend. "Oh yeah, how is Marie? Sorry I couldn't come with you to visit." Jack asked. "Nah dude, it's fine. She's been doing great, she's all right now, but her sister isn't doing too well." Michael replied. "Wait, she has a sister?" "Yeah dude, you should meet her. She's very kind. Poor girl." "Oh, what happened to her?" "Well, Marie hadn't told me the whole scoop, but something's wrong with her, somehow. Has to stay in the hospital a lot." "Well, what's her name?" "I think her name was Susie?" "Alright, what's the name of the hospital?" "Uh, it's the Saint Carol Hospital. Why?" "Thanks. Talk to you later." Jack hung up.
'Someone who has to stay in the hospital often.' Jack thought that to be interesting. He needed to go see her. If she really did need to stay there so often, then maybe he can help. His DNA has immortality in it, after all, maybe he can help! He checked out the map application on his phone, looked for the Saint Carol Hospital, and went out to travel.
