Deadly Passion, an Epiphany Read Online Free PDF Page A

like a mine. A mine? I’m hallucinating . “Where is everyone? Where am I?”
    “We’re all here, mate. You’re the latest arrival at the Director’s gold mine.”
    “Arrival? Gold mine? Director? God, I’m in a nightmare.”
    “Didn’t you sign up for this?”
    “Sign up? Stop fucking bullshitting me! Where is my fiancée? Her parents? Our friends?”
    “Stop the fuckin’ attitude, mate. You are where you are. That’s all there’s to it. Ain’t no women here.”
    Mark wanted out of the nightmare. He closed his eyes, waited, opened them again only to find himself in the same place. He stood, his clothing hanging in tattered burned strips from his body. A hammer pounded inside his brain and his body hurt like blazes. He looked at his hands while answering, saw the third degree burns and wondered how he was conscious and standing. “I was in a nightclub with my fiancée and there was an explosion. I was hurt, something hit my head, then the fire got me. That’s the last I remember.”
    “Yeah. Likely story. Wait ‘til the Director hears this one.” The man laughed.
    “What the fuck! Who’s this Director? Take me to see him!”
    “I’ll be fucked if I know, mate. He talks to us from some contraption on the wall in the common room. Don’t think anyone’s ever seen him. Come with me.”
    “Where to?”
    “Orientation, idiot, and Medicine Man. All new arrivals go through orientation.”
    Frustrated, angry, Mark followed John. The man ushered him through a rough, wooden door. “There ya go.” To Mark’s surprise, the room was something he would have thought to see in a science fiction movie. Sterile, white, clean, it was the complete opposite of what was on the other side of the door.
    “Remove your clothing and step into the cubicle,” a voice vibrated through the room.
    Mark managed to peel some of the tattered shreds off his body, groaning as skin came off at the same time, and walked to the far side of the room, where he saw a glass door. He opened it and stood inside what looked like an oversized shower but there were no taps and no showerhead. While he was wondering what to do next, suddenly jets came out of nowhere and cleansed him from head to toe. He expected it to hurt, but it didn’t. To his amazement, burned scraps of clothing and skin slid off his body easily. After the water turned off, a warm breeze dried him. A shelf slid noiselessly out of the wall. On it was a small pile of clothing. Astonished at his healed hands, his skin back to normal, he dressed. The pants and shirt fit perfectly as if made for him.
    The voice again.
    “Please enter through the next door for further instructions. You will see Medicine Man to attend to your head wound after your session with the Director is completed.”
    Mark opened the door on the other side and stepped into another sterile room. One lonely chair stood in its center. The walls were white. He saw nothing else. After he sat on the chair, the light dimmed and a screen appeared out of nowhere.
    A deep, male voice spoke. “Mark Samuel Engler, listen carefully.”
    “I’m listening. But I want answers.”
    “Your application was approved. You will now serve the Director until your term is completed.”
    “Application? I didn’t apply for anything. I’ve got a great job. What Director? Who the fuck are you? Serve who? Fuck you! Let me out of here!” He tried to stand up, but it was as if the chair had glue on it.
    “Remain seated and calm and listen to the presentation.”
    He had no choice except to sit on the chair and watch the screens. The images flashed by but he paid little attention. They were mainly of the mines, miners at work and some of the equipment and safety features.
    It was finally over. The last words the voice spoke were, “You are assigned to shaft fourteen.”
    Great. They expect me to work in a mineshaft ?
    “Before leaving this facility, Medicine Man will attend to your head injury.”
    Mark stood, the chair finally