Short Story Excerpt: The Hero's Journey, Ch2-3

Overview: https://kaylinrosealexande.wixsite.com/kaylinalexanderbooks/post/short-story-the-hero-s-journey-the-others-pt-2

Previous: https://kaylinrosealexande.wixsite.com/kaylinalexanderbooks/post/short-story-excerpt-the-hero-s-journey-ch1

Have fun!

Chapter Two: The Call to Adventure

Jason woke up to the blinding LEDs of the medical bay. He tried to sit up but winced in a throbbing pain in his abdomen.

“Whoa, Grayson, whoa,” said Dr. Jackson, gently lying Jason back down on his back. “You broke your arm in your fall.”

“Huh,” said Jason. “I mean, it was my abdomen that hurt, but now that you say it, yeah, my right arm kinda hurts.”

“Jason, be serious. You’re lucky we have the technology to mend that thing. Back in my day, you broke your arm, you had to wait three months before you could take off a cast. Now it’s one day and boom. It may hurt a bit, but--”

“How long has it been?” Jason interrupted.

“About twelve hours.”

Jason groaned. “Let me sit up; I can’t take this anymore.”

Dr. Jackson, reluctantly, helped Jason into a seated position, just as the door to the med-bay opened.

“Lincoln?” Jason muttered as the middle-aged man shut the door behind him. “Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you out of the computer room before.”

Lincoln rolled his eyes and pulled up a chair. “So, remember a few months ago when we saw that young woman go up to the Others’ ship?”

“Yeah?” Jason remembered her. Lincoln ran a team of hackers whose main priority it was to figure out the Others’ computer system to see if they could stop them in any capacity, or at least slow them down, but that wasn’t their only job; they’d also hacked into the city’s security cams, and while one Rebel member was surveilling the cam posted near the Others’ mothership that they had traveled in from another dimension, he had spotted a young woman around Jason’s age sneaking inside. “What about her? Did you find out who she was?”

“Is,” Lincoln corrected.

“Is?” Jason repeated. He shook his head. “No, no one has ever come out of that place before. They’re dead.”

“Well, she isn’t,” Lincoln said matter-of-factly. “I’m just as surprised as you are. Anyway, her name is Sadie Miller. She’s nineteen years old and was born in Maryland. Her mother died in childbirth, and her father was a police officer killed by the Others a few years after she was born.”

“Where is she now?” Jason asked.

“New Castle,” Lincoln answered.

“Okay, so let’s go over to wherever she’s staying and find out how she survived.” Jason turned his body so his legs were now hanging off the side of the medical bed. Dr. Jackson opened his mouth to protest, but Jason shot him a glare as a warning, and the doctor backed down.

“That’s the problem,” said Lincoln.

“What is?” Jason asked.

Lincoln sighed. “She’s at the psychiatric center.”

“What?” Jason repeated. Although the real Delaware Psychiatric Center building was shut down and abandoned during the first wave of the Others’ attacks, a faction of the Rebellion had set up a center nearby.

“We think she went through some mental torture during her time in the mothership,” Lincoln explained.

“So… why are you telling me this instead of reporting to Starling?”

“I already reported to Starling,” said Lincoln. “He says we should bring her in anyways, ask her questions, run some tests—”

Chapter Three: Refusal of the Call

In an instant, Jason was up, despite the throbbing pain in his abdomen, pushing Lincoln, still in his chair, against the wall. He heard Dr. Jackson’s pleas of disapproval, but Jason did not listen. “We are not going to question her,” Jason growled. “She’s been through a traumatizing experience; we will not make her relive it. And we are certainly not running any tests on her.”

“Jason—” He felt a hand on his shoulder and pushed it off, standing up straight and letting go of Lincoln to face the doctor. Dr. Jackson stepped back. “Jason,” he said softly. “You know that we have the best people and equipment here; she’ll be fine.”

“Jace,” Lincoln said, rising to his feet.

Jason bowed his head. “I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you,” said Lincoln. He sighed. “I’m here right now telling you this because you need to be the one to speak with her.”

Jason swallowed hard. “Why me”

Lincoln took a breath. “Well, firstly, you’re the only one who’s about her age, you could relate to her more, befriend her easier, come across as less threatening. And secondly, it may seem more obvious but harder to talk about—”

“I know,” said Jason. He sighed. “I’ll talk to her. But if she’s not comfortable, she’s not coming.”

Lincoln sighed, but nodded.

Once again, I love how much I improved between when I wrote the original script and this short story. Other than that, I don't have a lot to say about these chapters.

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