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This book was amazing. It had a good
plot and a lot of action. The book also
gave a good amount of back story for the
reader to understand, but not too much
to where it became unnecessary. I would
love to see this become a film. This is
something I would recommend.
~ Jonah Routin
TESTED
by Zach Jordan
Designed to Be Worthy 2018
.
Published by: Designed to Be Worthy
102 W.McElhaney Road
Taylors, SC 29687
Copyright 2018 Designed to Be Worthy.
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
First printing March, 2018
Dedicated to
I dedicate this book to my camera.
Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge
Wesley Cannon and John Routin. Wesley
modeled for the cover of my book and
Jonah Routin helped me think of ideas
when I came to a writer’s block.
Thanks, guys!
Table of Contents
1. Too Normal
2. Sick
3. Diagnosed
4. Help
5. Subject #4
6. Fight
7. Deal
8. Normal
6
7
Chapter 1 Too Normal
❧
It was just another day. John walked through the
aged double doors. Fellow students swarmed the hallways,
rushing to their classes. As John walked over the old
wooden floor and along the white brick walls people were
constantly greeted him. Everyone seemed to know him. A
group of football players emerged from the class on the left
side of the hall. When they saw John they happily greeted
him and continued to their classes.
John wasn’t well known at his school because he
held a position on one of the sport teams or because he
was a jokester, though he was athletic and humorous. He
was popular because of his photography. John was the
best. He won competitions all over the country. He
obtained the position of the school photographer. He took
pictures for soccer, football, and volleyball. along with
portraits. If anyone at the school knew about cameras, it
was him. He was pretty much a sixteen-year-old Brandon
Woelfel. Still, John felt like he continued to waste his life.
He was meant for more.
8
He finally reached the doorway to his class to turn
in the due paper and plopped down in his chair. The
teacher, Mr. Malcolm, welcomed everyone in. Two minutes
into the lecture, John was already zoned out. In his
imagination he dreamt about super heroes. His parents
figured that he’d have grown out of the “superhero stage”
when he first began his teen years. Here he was at
sixteen; John had never swayed in his desire to read and
watch the make-believe stories. The thought of being able
to help people wherever they were played in his mind on
repeat, all day, every day. He was well aware that reading
comics was not considered “cool” in most people’s eyes. In
middle school, he attempted to tell some of his wanna-be-
friends about The Flash but he was instantly shut down.
Since then, he learned to keep those “unpopular” topics
out of conversations. He yearned for lightning to strike
down and hit him, just like it had done to the The Flash. Of
course, he was aware that it would probably result in death
or at least injury.
Abruptly, the bell rang. School was finished.
Pleasantly surprised, he got up from his desk, shoved the
books he had never even glanced at into his bag, and
walked out. Today was a Friday, meaning he had a
photoshoot in the afternoon, but later that night The Flash
would air. He briskly walked to his flashy and loud Dodge
Dart, rolled down the windows, and rolled out of the
parking lot. The photoshoot was nothing special. He went
to his “makeshift” studio inside his medium-sized, modern
9
apartment. His studio wasn’t anything to brag about. It was
only a few studio lights, a white backdrop, and a wood
backdrop. His parents had originally planned for this room
to be an exercise room but with a lot of convincing and
pleading it was his studio.
He took pictures for roughly a half hour. Betty, a
cheerleader for the school, made the photography easy.
No Photoshop® was needed. After the shoot he ran inside
just in time to watch his show. He practically ran into his
clean, navy blue bedroom, plopped down on his bed,
turned on the TV, and began to watch. Something was
wrong. He switched from channel to channel. The Flash
wasn’t playing on the normal station or anywhere!
Suddenly, he realized they were taking a week break! The
only thing airing was some news report about a major car
chase and wreck down in Greenville, SC. The story of the
still missing drivers peaked his interest but soon it was off.
Disappointed, John stood up and walked to his cluttered
desk. He reached for his camera bag, grabbed his SD
card, plugged it in, and disappointedly began to tweak the
colors in the photos he had taken of Betty earlier.
After a few hours of working and watching
YouTube, roughly at 11 o'clock, green-blue eyed John slid
into his bed. He removed a comic from his bin directly
beside his bed and began to read. He began to read
volume 4 of The Flash. He pondered there wishing he
could have Barry’s speed. Though being rather popular,
still, he felt empty. He felt like his life lacked something.
10
John was a strong believer yet he still felt hollow. He felt as
if he was meant for more than just photography and the
normal activities a student would do. He rested his head on
the pillow and dozed off.
Chapter 2 Sick ❧
The sun was beaming through the window. The
small alarm clock beside his bed flashed, “7:24”. The
yellow warm sunlight painted the walls. Suddenly his alarm
began to obnoxiously ring. John practically jumped out of
his bed. He both loved but hated hearing his alarm clock, it
met he was starting a new day, but unfortunately in order
to do that he had to wake up. Like all teenagers, being
woken up was definitely one of the things he hated the
most. The tall boy scanned his room for clothes he hadn’t
worn too recently. He grabbed a shirt and jeans off of his
chair, smelled them both and decided they were probably
clean.
He ran into the bathroom, splattered water all over
his messy hair. Today his hair stuck up like a mad scientist
from a cartoon. After trying to fix it with all sorts of combs
11
and gels, he gave up and ran back into his room to grab a
cap. The student grabbed an apple, his camera, laptop,
and book bag. Just like that he left.
Since it was Saturday, he planned to walk to to the
center of downtown Charlotte. It was about a mile long
walk, there and back. While walking out the door of the
clean apartment, into the hallway, he called up Joey and
arranged plans to meet later that morning to hang out.
Joey had been John’s friend for as long as they could
remember. They went to the same school together for
about five years but unfortunately Joey had to transfer to
the other side of Charlotte due to his family moving to the
opposite side of town. At first, both friends were incredibly
upset but since then, they learned going to the same
school didn’t make them friends.
Before John met his close friend, he wandered
aimlessly down the busy, rustic streets. He drifted into his
favorite coffee shop, to sit and edit a handful of pictures he
had taken over the past few days. He absolutely hated
coffee, but for whatever reason he loved coffee shops. The
smell of coffee in the air and the rustic art on the walls,
there was just something that he loved about the feel and
aesthetic of the local shops.
After editing the photos, the clock struck noon. Just
as Joey arrived John suddenly felt weak. Joey walked into
the small shop to finally meet his best friend only to see
him sitting there paler than he had ever seen anyone look
before.
12
He rushed to John and confusedly asked, “John! Is
everything all right?”
John didn’t even hear Joey speak, he was focusing
on just trying to stand up.
Joey asked louder, “Is everything all right, man?”
John finally realized Joey’s question and gave up
trying to stand.
He worriedly answered, “Wait— what? Oh! I don’t
know man, I feel normal- I don’t feel like I’m sick I just can’t
stand up!”
Joey helped pull him out of the chair and carefully
walked him to Joey’s car.
“I’m gonna drive you home so you can get some
rest. We’ll hangout another day. Ok?” Joey asked.
He was disappointed but concerned. John didn’t
even hear him.
13
Chapter 3 Diagnosed
❧
John laid motionless. The blankets on his bed were
scattered all over the ground. He was covered in sweat
from head to toe. Suddenly, his eyes opened. John felt
awful. It took everything in him to sit up in his bed. Just
when he felt as if he could actually get up he went limp and
fell back.
Next he found himself rushing through the halls of a
hospital. Half awake, John looked around feeling sicker
than he had ever felt before. He saw a handful of highly
skilled medical personnel running beside the cart he laid
on. His worried mother was amongst the professional
personnel. Knowing his mother was present, he began to
close his eyes and went unconscious once again.
He woke up alone in a plain eerie-feeling hospital
room. John felt like the room was too nice to be a hospital
room yet it had all the hospital equipment. The first thing
he noticed was that he was no longer wearing his
pajamas. He was now dressed in some baggy hospital
garb. Disgusted he wondered who changed him. He easily
sat up. For whatever reason, he felt stronger than ever
14
before. He felt as if he could feel what was going on in the
room. Suddenly he looked up towards the door. A full
second later a doctor walked. How did I know he was
going to walk in? He was silent. John and the doctor made
eye contact and just stared for a second.
The slightly nervous doctor broke the silence,
“Hello-- I’m Wilson.”
Another awkward silence passed.
John interrupted the silence by blatantly saying,
“Hey.”
Wilson walked toward the whiteboard and began
writing some notes about what medicine to take, when to
go to bed, and other advice doctors give.
When Wilson began to stop writing John interrupted
saying, “Why am I here? What happened?”
Wilson walked up to the bottom of the bed.
“You have a very rare condition.” Wilson said,
“There’s not a name for it... yet. There’s also no cure as of
yet. Hopefully all of this will change when the doctors in the
lab get your blood results. Until--”
John worriedly interrupted, “Am I going to be ok? I
don’t feel sick!”
Wilson smiled, “You’ll be out of here in no time.
You’ll have to you come to a special facility every other day
for a while once you leave this place.”
John said, “So I’m ok?”
Wilson patted John on the shoulder and while
walking to the door said, “Yeah you’ll be fine kid.”
15
He exited the room. Sweat was forming on Wilson’s
forehead. Conflicted, he walked through the hall in which
he came.
John hated hospitals. He hated nothing more. Yet
here he was, forced to endure it. He switched from channel
to channel on the TV. No good shows were airing. Every
minute felt like an eternity. The door once again opened. It
was his mom. She practically ran to the bed where he sat
and worriedly hugged him.
She frantically asked, “Are feeling better? The
people at the desk said that you were doing fine.”
John was upset and though he would never admit
it, he was scared.
He answered his mom saying, “Yeah, Mom. Of
course, I’m fine; I’ve never felt better.”
His mom’s emotions were instantly relieved. She
glanced down at her watch and realized she was already
late for work.
“I gotta get to work. If you start feeling sick again
just call me and I’ll be here.” she worriedly said.
She then set the bag of John’s essential belongings
on the chair: his camera, laptop, phone, and a few comic
books. She walked to the door, said, “I love you.” and was
gone.
16
Chapter 4 Help
❧
The next day John was finally able to check out of
the boring and “too-perfect” hospital. They claimed to have
no clue of what caused him to become sick but they
prescribed two different types of medicine, Selenism and
Henves. Just like that he was gone. Unfortunately for John,
his hospital days were nowhere near over. Tuesday he
had to go to a special research center to get tested again.
John didn’t see the point in going if he was already feeling
better, but he listened.
John spent most of the morning at his house just
going over all that had happened. Ever since his injury he
felt like he could feel more. As if he could see what was
about to happen just before it did. He also realized his
reflexes seemed to be much faster than they were. He
dropped his brand new iPhone 7+ but before it could even
come near touching the ground and being shattered into
pieces he caught it without even realizing what happened.
He felt as if he was made “stronger” from this sickness.
Tuesday came in no time. The only bright side was
that he could get out of school during the testing times. He
17
arrived intentionally late to his first test. He dreaded being
a human test subject but there wasn’t anything he could
do. His mom wanted to get to the bottom of what caused
his short sickness. He walked through the building’s sliding
doors. Every doctor in the room seemed as if they were
focusing on John without trying to look suspicious. John
picked up on their eyeballing.
After checking into the lobby, Wilson, the doctor he
met the other day, walked him into his room and got him
comfortable. In the small amount of time John knew
Wilson, he had seemed very cautious. He acted as if he
was constantly conflicted about hiding something. It was
like he had someone planning what he had to say. He
seemed as if he was nervously reading a script. John just
figured that Wilson was extremely self-conscious and
afraid to be himself but unfortunately for John, he would
later be proved wrong.
John laid in the cold, large, and uncomfortable bed.
At this point Wilson had already left. A nurse walked into
the silent, eerily lit room. She had him breathe in some
laughing gas. His eyes began to slowly close. He put all his
energy into keeping them open, contrary to what the nurse
said. Eventually, he couldn’t fight it anymore. His eyes
slammed shut.
The room felt empty. John was the only living thing
in the room, although he looked as if he was not alive. He
slowly regained his consciousness. John rubbed his blurry
18
eyes revealing a new doctor monitoring what was
happening.
John mumbled, “I feel awful. Is everything going
ok?”
The doctor turned and faced John. The name tag
pinned to the doctor’s chest revealed the person’s name
was “Dr. Junker”.
Dr. Junker mischievously answered John,
“Everything is going just as we planned.”
Chills rushed through John’s weakened body. John
tried his best to pretend he wasn’t thoroughly freaked out.
John laid there trying to make sense of what was going on,
while the creepy doctor worked. Suddenly, John realized
the real reason he was in the facility. He was a human test
subject.
Outside of the research facility John’s mom was
worriedly waiting. The tests were only supposed to take a
few hours. It had been 24. The doctors lied to John’s
mother. They had told her John’s sickness flared up once
again during one of the tests causing him to pass out.
They deceptively relayed that his fate was uncertain. They
also told her no one was permitted into his room because it
had to remain a sterile environment.
The facility was clearly not what it appeared to be.
John was trapped and no one knew. He needed help.
19
Chapter 5 Subject #4
❧
A man, armored in goggles, a lab coat, and white
scrubs walked into the room, wheeling a white cart with
glass bottles filled with colored liquids. He lean down and
quietly injected John with a syringe. He began to jot down
notes on a notepad, “Subject #4 still appears to not be
reacting to the compound.” John’s eyes began to sleepily
open. The man in the lab coat stepped back and
confusedly whispered,
“The medicine wasn’t supposed to wear off for
another 3 hours?”
The man behind the goggles ran to the front of the
bed frantically checking the tubes, making sure they were
all attached. John’s blurry eyes blinked revealing a dark
figure in the corner. The figure had its dark eyes set on the
doctor. The figure stepped forward into the light. It was
Wilson. Wilson snuck behind the scientist and hit him in the
back of the head with a microscope causing him to fall over
unconscious.
The hero whispered, “I’m here to rescue you!”
John sleepily mumbled his concern: “Wilson?
What’s happening?”
20
Wilson intensely whispered, “I don’t have time to
explain. Long story short you have an unknown organism
inside you that this agency has been tracking for the past
two months. When your doctor realized this he didn’t tell
you, but instead he told the government. We-”
John interrupted, “Why would the government
care?”
Wilson continued, “I was just getting to that. Having
this organism is rare, virtually impossible. The government
doesn’t know where it came from, that’s why you’re here.
This organism can increase reflexes, make a
inexperienced soldier a pro. They want to find a way to
recreate it and give it to the military program.”
By now the medicine had completely wore off. John
was awake.
He sat up and intensely but thankfully asked, “Why
are you helping me?”
“So far there have been three others like you found:
Jenn, Jonah, and Nips. This agency’s experiments killed
them all…My experiments killed them all.”
John realized the seriousness the situation he was
now stuck in.
“I just followed orders. I wanted to help them but I
was too afraid.”
Tears began to roll down Wilson’s thin face.
John began pulling off the lab equipment attached
to his arms.
21
He looked up at Wilson and spoke, “Wilson, I don’t
know much about you, but you’re here now. You’re doing
the right thing now. That has to count for something.”
With that Wilson nodded and wiped the tears from
his face. John quickly changed out of the comfortable but
annoying scrubs and into more casual clothes. Wilson
slowly opened the door. Suddenly red alarm lights began
flashing.
A robotic voice played over the intercoms. “Subject
#4 door has been opened unauthorized.” The voice kept
repeating. Wilson and John exchanged worried glances
and took off down the now flashing red illuminated hall
toward the exit. John suddenly felt a weird urge to stop
dead in his tracks. Trusting his new instincts he
desperately motioned for Wilson to stop as well. Just as he
did this a agent busted out from inside a room no more
than five feet in front of them. Wilson looked at John in
amazement. If they had continued running, he would’ve
had the jump on them.
Everything turned to slow motion. The thug threw a
left hook towards John’s face. With ease John took a step
back to dodge the first attack. Unfortunately for the agent
his bulky fist slipped past John’s nose and smashed into
the concrete wall. The agent yelled in agony grabbing his
damaged arm. He had easily broken it.
John and Wilson exchanged surprised glances and
stepped around the guard. They continued sprinting down
the dark hallway. They finally reached the door that had
22
the exit sign above it. They burst into the dark, drenched,
and empty roof of the parking garage. The clouds poured
rain onto John’s black Dodge Dart. The door they had
exited swung open again. A handful of shady-looking
agents pursued after them. John vaulted over the slick
hood of the car and jumped into the driver's seat. Wilson
slammed the passenger door behind him. The car roared
to life. John switched it into drive and floored the pedal.
The back wheels spun in place forming a moody cloud of
smoke. The car jerked forward and peeled out of the
abandoned parking lot.
The pursuing agents stopped dead in their tracks.
They all looked at their boss for directions on what to do
next. The menacing leader wearing a full suit barked to all
the agents,
“What are you waiting for? Get back to work!”
The thugs scattered. He remained standing alone
in the rain staring at the black car speeding down the road.
A strike of lightning revealed a mischievous smile
spreading across the man’s face.
23
Chapter 6 Fight ❧
John and Wilson drifted around the corners of the
parking garage leaving a dark moody cloud of smoke. By
the time the corrupt agents got to their vehicles John and
Wilson were long gone. They had already sped and mixed
in with the hundreds of cars in the stop and go traffic.
John and Wilson sat in the traffic wondering what
they could do. The headlights of the cars passing
illuminated both figures.
“Where can we go?” John asked.
Wilson responded, “Your apartment is bugged.
Going there would only put us in more danger.”
“So what can we do?” John asked with concern.
A moment of silence passed. An idea popped into
John’s head.
“Wait! There’s an abandoned building I used to take
pictures at! We could go there!”
“Perfect, as long as it’s secure.”
“The lock on the front door was broken but other
than that I think it’s safe!”
“Perfect! We might actually make it out of this!”
After sitting in traffic for an hour they finally made it.
By now the morning was already dawning. The once dark
rainy sky found itself painted with colors. The soft orangey
light revealed a giant abandoned office building with a jet
24
black Dodge Dart parked in front. The one functioning
glass door was busted off its hinges and lying on the
ground with broken glass scattered all around. The graffiti
covered walls proved not many people hung around the
building hidden in the woods.
Just as John and Wilson began to walk inside the
building a alarm began to obnoxiously ring. John and
Wilson spun around as fast as their feet would allow. They
scanned the parking lot. The noise was coming from the
car. In the wheel well of the car a flashing red tracking
device had been activated. Wilson quickly un attached it
and smashed it with his foot. The sound stopped.
John anxiously looked at Wilson and said, “They’ve
found us!”
“Get in the car! They’ll be here any minute!” Wilson
yelled.
John stuck the keys into the ignition and twisted.
Nothing happened. He tried once again. Instead of the
loud engine roaring to life the car just sat there silent.
“What are the chances? It must be dead,” John
stated.
The sound of speeding cars interrupted their
thinking. They both jumped out of the car and sprinted into
the building. A suburban drifted to a halt and stopped in
front of the door. Four men armed with P90s rushed into
the poorly lit lobby of the once used building. They stood
and listened attentively. The men cleared the lobby.
Suddenly the soldiers heard movement from a room to the
25
left of them. The party slowly entered the dark room. The
light revealed Wilson lying limp on the floor. The attacking
team lowered their guns and ran to Wilson.
One radioed, “We need a medic!”
Just as the man said this Wilson’s eyes opened.
John ran out of a side room, into the light. He threw all his
weight into one soldiers upper body leaving the soldier
knocked unconscious and his gun falling to the ground
right in front of Wilson. The other three quickly spun
around and raised their guns to John’s head.
“Hands where we can see them,” one maliciously
roared.
John slowly raised his arms in the air. Three shots
rang out. All three soldiers stumbled to the ground in a row
revealing Wilson holding a smoking gun. Stunned John
walked over to Wilson and helped him to his feet.
“You killed them!” John said dazed.
Wilson responded, “If I hadn’t they would’ve taken
you back to the lab and killed you. I didn’t have a choice.”
John understood why Wilson made that decision
but he wished that there was another way; there
unfortunately wasn’t.
26
Chapter 7 Deal ❧
“There’ll be a lot more of them here soon. There’s
nothing we can do. There’s no point in running, I can
already hear their drones from outside. We can’t run,”
Wilson admitted in defeat. Wilson sat down against the
wall. John looked down. They both felt hopeless. John
walked to the wall and plopped down beside Wilson.
John asked, “We’re so close! You’re sure there’s
nothing we can do?”
Wilson tried to lighten the mood and change the
subject by, “So you’re into photography or so I’ve heard.”
“Yeah, that and making videos--- Wait! We could
make a video explaining what this organization has done
as leverage!”
They both jumped to their feet.
“Yes! So we film it! Then we send it to someone
trustworthy; and tell them to share it with everyone if they
don’t hear back from us! Who could we send it to?”
“Joey! He would do it!”
“Do you have your camera?”
“I never leave without it! It’s in my trunk.”
27
John sprinted out of the room, through the lobby,
and into the open. The drone instantly spotted him and
prepared to pursue the boy. He whipped open the trunk,
snatched his camera backpack, and ran back inside. The
confused drone pilot went back to patrolling the facility.
Wilson was waiting on John. He handed the
camera to Wilson; then Wilson handed John a list of
names. Wilson powered up the camera.
John began to talk, “Hello, I’m John. A government
organization is operating out of the old hospital on Side
Street in Columbia, SC has gone corrupt. So far they have
experimented on four people, I am one of those people. I
am the only one to survive the testing and escape.”
Disappointed in himself, Wilson looked to the floor.
“Don’t let them die without justice,” John finished.
“Spread the word.”
The video began to upload. The video slowly ticked
on up to a 100%. Before the video sent to Joey they
attached the words: “Send this video to everyone you
know and tell them to do the same if you don’t hear back
from me. Hopefully I can explain later.”
The sounds of a speeding car interrupted Wilson
and John’s thoughts. John motioned for Wilson to run.
Wilson grabbed the gun he had used earlier and
disappeared into the darkness. The front door busted
open. In rushed ten armed men. Merlin, their leader,
walked in behind them.
John glared at the leader.
28
“If you take one more step, your little secret is out.”
John yelled.
The soldiers and Merlin stopped dead in their
tracks. A chill ran down Merlin’s spine.
Merlin coolly chuckled, “Ha ha. Oh really? How
would you manage to do that?”
“That doesn’t matter. If you don’t leave this building
and refuse to continue to test on people like me, everyone
will know,” John bluntly stated.
Merlin glared, “Not in a million years.”
He motioned for the soldiers to walk forward and
grab John.
Everything went into slow motion for John. Merlin
waited as a medalist about to receive his prize. John
swung his fist and made contact with the first advisories’
face. Another soldier grabbed John. John’s legs kicked
through the air.
Wilson, who had snuck behind the soldiers,
grabbed Merlin and screamed, “Let him go or Merlin dies!”
The soldiers froze.
Stunned Merlin grumbled, “Listen to the man.”
John shoved the armed men out of his way and
walked towards Wilson. Wilson kept the gun pointed at
Merlin’s head and kept a firm grasp on his shirt.
“We aren’t messing around.” Wilson spat into
Merlin’s ear.
29
“Lets us go quietly. If you don’t order your soldiers
to stand down you wind up with a bullet in your head and
the world knowing about your tests.”
Merlin angrily agreed, “Fine! Unit A1 I order you to
leave this premise.”
The soldiers stood down and began to exit.
“Ok so here’s the deal,” John stated. “We’re all
gonna leave. We won’t tell anyone what you’re
organization has done as long as you stay away. If you
keep your side of the deal, we won’t publish a video all
over the internet. Do we have a deal?”
An eternity of silence passed.
“Deal!” Merlin yelled.
Wilson shoved him forward and lowered the gun.
Merlin stormed out of the room and returned to his small
army waiting outside. Once they were certain Merlin and
the soldiers had left they let out a giant sigh of relief.
“How did that work?” Wilson exclaimed.
“I have no clue! All I know is that I’m no longer in a
test room, thanks to you.” John responded.
They walked outside to the car, grabbed the jumper
from the trunk, recharged the battery, and drove off.
30
Chapter 8 Normal ❧
John dropped Wilson off at his stop. They both
exchanged emotional goodbyes. John headed to his large
abode to explain to his mother all that had gone down. He
knew Merlin definitely planned to return and kidnap John
once again. That was tomorrow's problem. John parked on
the roof of the parking garage. Instead of getting out of the
car John stayed frozen. He sat and just pondered all that
had just happened. His whole life he wanted more. After
thinking in the car for a eternity he came to the conclusion:
more meant more stress and responsibility. More isn’t
always good.
31
About the Author
The author, Zach Jordan, is a sixteen-year-
old guy. He began writing when he was younger
and wrote off and on throughout the past few
years. To date, this is his biggest writing project.