Chapter Text
The cell was small eight feet by ten feet with a metal bed and a steel toilet Callum Lynch sat on the floor his back against the cold wall counting the days since his trial Three months He had killed a man a pimp who sold children to monsters The court called it murder Callum called it justice But justice didnt matter in Alabama only the law mattered.
The guards came for him at midnight not dawn That was unusual Death row walks happen at dawn everyone knows that But these guards were different their uniforms too clean their boots too shiny They didnt speak They just opened the cell door and pointed Their eyes were cold like fish eyes Callum stood up He was six feet two inches of muscle and tattoos A scorpion on his neck a eagle on his chest He walked between them without a fight What would be the point.
They strapped him to the gurney in the execution chamber The room was green ugly green like a hospital from hell The warden read the death warrant The priest mumbled some prayers Callum ignored them all He thought of his mother He thought of the day she died hanging from a beam in their living room Her eyes were open staring at him even after she stopped moving The memory was acid in his brain.
The needle went into his arm first the sedative then the paralytic then the potassium chloride to stop his heart The burning started in his hand then spread up his arm to his chest His lungs stopped working He couldnt breathe He couldnt move He could only watch the ceiling as the darkness crept in from the edges of his vision His last thought was finally.
But death did not come.
He woke up gasping choking on air that tasted like chemicals He was in a white room white lights white ceiling white sheets beneath him A woman stood over him beautiful severe with dark hair pulled back You were in a coma she said her voice smooth like glass An accident Callum tried to speak but his throat was raw dry Who are you he managed to whisper Dr Sofia Rikkin she replied You are safe now You are at the Abstergo Foundation in Madrid Spain.
Callum didnt believe her He didnt believe anyone But he had no choice He was alive and alive meant he had to keep fighting.
Callum meets the other prisoners and discovers the truth about Abstergo He learns about the Animus
Days passed in the white room They gave him food pills therapy They made him exercise to rebuild his muscles But Callum watched everything The cameras in the corners The guards with their automatic weapons The other patients shuffling through the hallways with dead eyes.
He met Moussa first in the common room a quiet man from Senegal with deep scars on his arms He spoke little but his eyes missed nothing Then Lin a Chinese woman who moved like water no sound no wasted motion Then Nathan a giant of a man from Germany who looked like he could bend steel with his bare hands.
What is this place Callum asked Nathan one day Nathan looked around checking for guards then whispered Abstergo They take broken people like us and they use us They have a machine called the Animus It lets them see our ancestors memories Why Callum asked Because they are looking for something Nathan replied Something powerful enough to control the whole world.
That night they came for Callum The guards escorted him to a massive circular room In the center hung a giant mechanical arm with a claw like grip at the end Dr Sofia Rikkin waited for him with a tablet in her hands Please sit in the machine Callum she said gently It will not hurt Trust me Callum laughed a bitter sound I dont trust anyone lady But he sat anyway because what choice did he have.
The arm lifted him into the air The claw closed around his body gently but firmly A helmet lowered onto his head electrodes touching his temples Sofia spoke through a speaker Close your eyes Callum Let the machine take you Let the memories flow.
The world dissolved.