Apollo (The Noah Project #1)

PROLOGUE

Apollo

The screaming never ended.

Apollo stared at the same gray concrete ceiling, every crack memorized, every inch mapped and logged.

Eighteen years, one hundred and ninety-eight days, six hours, forty-two minutes, and thirteen seconds.

The sum of his life so far had been spent caged in four concrete walls apart from the mandatory education he’d received at the hands of the facility.

One-on-one tutoring, no one else there but the tired-eyed teacher whose job was to help him grow up into a performing human being. Well, that was what they called it.

Apollo thought it was more like being a trained monkey with an organ grinder.

There were no windows, no sunlight. Stale air was pumped in through small vents, undoubtedly recycled from other, more important parts of the facility.

Places where decisions were being made about who lived and died, what subject would be cut open next, who would have their body, and DNA, sliced and diced in an endless search for perfection. Creating the perfect weapon.

Am I next? Apollo had been in and out of sterile operating rooms more times than he cared to admit.

His only warning he was chosen came from those same vents carrying not only air but something more sinister.

Nitrous oxide, a sedative. It was sufficient to incapacitate him long enough for the goons to come in and inject him with the hardcore tranquilizers.

The bastards had learned early they couldn’t take Apollo head-on without risking themselves in the process.

He waited for the first hints of that sweet-smelling gas and began his countdown.

How long can I stay conscious this time?

Breathe. In, out. Slow, steady. I need to get my recovery time down.

Apollo had been testing his body’s ability to withstand the gas while never allowing the guards to suspect he was still awake when they came into his cell.

He’d use that to his advantage someday soon.

Until then, he’d have to restrain himself from showing the extent of his newfound abilities, no matter how much he wanted to use them on those motherfuckers causing those screams echoing throughout this level of the facility.

Apollo knew he wasn’t the only one down here.

Still, exact numbers eluded him because every time he was removed from his concrete cell, apart from his solo sessions of education, he was unconscious, at least until recently, as his immunity to the sedatives grew.

Roughly seven months ago, Apollo began noticing a new sense forming alongside his human five.

During periods of intense concentration, he swore he could feel or, better yet, sense the other mutants like him, being held here.

The screaming stopped. That meant one of two things. The test subject mercifully passed out or was dead, which in Apollo’s mind was an even greater mercy.

However, mercy would be the last thing on Apollo’s mind when he broke free of the Noah Group and their disgusting project.

No, there’d be no mercy given to those involved.

His only wish when it was all said and done would be to take as many of those assholes to hell along with him before being taken down.

Hell didn’t scare Apollo. He was already there, and as the air around him took on that familiar sweet scent, he began to count and wait.