S1, 02 Becoming A Monster (February 16, 2016)

5th of February 2096

I open my eyes and look up. I appear to be in some sort of vehicle, presumably a van. Armed thugs and hostages surround me. At first I don’t remember why I am here and I start to panic.

"What am I doing here?” I think worriedly. "Have I been arrested by the GI for committing some unknown crime?" “Have I’ve been captured by Aurelians and I am being transported to a military base?” Then, all of the sudden, the memories of my capture flood into my head, the bombings, the door being knocked down, the Marauders rushing into my house.

My first instinct is to escape, run away from this awful place. But then the reasonable part of my mind comes in, if I tried to escape I would probably be gunned down before I got out of the van. Even if I did get out, I would have no idea where I was and would most likely get lost and die alone. I decide to stay in the van and just lay low until we get to our destination.

After hours upon hours of driving we finally stop, the thugs get out and grab me and the other hostages. As they walk us out they shove their guns to our heads, ready to shoot if any of us try to do any thing that they don't want us to do. I take this time to observe my surroundings, we are in a expansive, featureless desert, save a few cacti and rocks.

As we reach what appears to be their base I notice that there are other prisoners being walked to the base. What do they need us for? I think, wondering why they would attack a major city just to capture twenty-some people. The thugs walk me up to one of their many cells and throw me in. I hit the ground hard, the cement stinging my already-bruised body.

'click' They lock the cell door.

[later that night]

I try to get some sleep, but my mind just won't calm down. So I just sit there and rub a scar on the back of my neck, as I always do when I am stressed or worried.

[elsewhere in the base]

"Sir, the testing area is ready for the first X-17 serum test, should we commence testing?"
Yes, yes, very good, commence testing immediately.

[back in Eric's cell]

I am slowly falling asleep when I hear my cell door being opened, I look up and see a few thugs with flashlights. They grab me and drag me away while shouting things like “Move it!” or “Shut up!”

I struggle, hoping to brake free of of their grasp, but they are too strong.
“Damn you, murdering thieves!” I swear.

The only thing I get in response is a punch in the gut. I double over in pain, but they force me to move on.
They drag me to a room on the other side of the camp. As one of them opens the door I peek inside. The room is very empty, the only piece of furniture being a table in the middle of the room. They push me in and tear my shirt off. They then force me onto the cold metal table start strapping me to it.

As they finish strapping me down one of thugs walks to the door and opens it, and person suited in a white hazmat-like suit with a mask covering their whole face slowly walks in. They come bearing a large syringe filled with a mysterious green liquid.

As the figure walks forwards me the thugs quickly slip out of the door and lock it with a \*click\* They seem to know something that I don’t.

Now I am alone with the figure, they walk up to the table, upon which I am bound, and raise the syringe. As I inspect the large needle I feel like a small child going to get a flu shot.

The figure then plunges the needle into my bare arm.

Suddenly a horrible rage fills my body and the whole room goes blurry and red.

"Aaaahhhhhh!" I scream in pain. Then I seem to lose control of my body, I start screaming and throwing my body around wildly.

The belts holding me to the table snap and I thrust myself upward, my mind filled with meaningless rage. I lunge myself towards the white suited figure, seemingly hoping to kill them. They flatten themselves against the metal door, screaming for the thugs outside to let them out.

The thugs open the door, hoping to save their colleague. But they are too slow, I grab them and pull them back with inhuman strength. The thugs rush away, too scared for their own lives to worry about their friend's. I shove the figure to ground.

Alarms are blaring, but my rage induced mind doesn't register it. I am about to slam their face into the ground when, for some reason, my body instantly loses all energy. The rage lifts and my body slumps down to the floor. The figure, noticing my lack of energy, scrambles off the floor and out of the door. The alarms are still blaring, my now normal mind wonders why. Suddenly I notice heavy footfalls out side the room. I try to get up and see but my body won't co-operate.

Figures surround the doorway, I try to look up but I can't. They walk in and pick me up. The hands that support me are gentler than the ones that brought me here, they actually seem to care about my well-being. They bring me outside and into a dropship, seemingly from the Imperium. My body is regaining strength slowly but I still have difficulty getting into the ship.

Slowly, the deep hum off the dropship becomes more noticeable as the ship readies itself for takeoff. As it is I am slowly drifting off to sleep, for I have had a very taxing day.

[one week later]

I sit up in my hospital bed as the automatic door to my right opens. My doctor, Richard Knightgard, walks in.

“How are we feeling?” he asks as the door closes behind him.

“Better, but I still feel weak.” I respond, looking over at him.

“Well, that’s expected. Experimental chemicals were tested on you for god’s sake.” He says

“Don’t remind me.” I say, remembering the horrible experiment. A short silence then fills the room.

“Oh, and I have a question that has been eating away at me for a while and I think you might have the answer.” I say, hoping to fill the awkward silence.

“Well then, what is it?” he says in response, looking up at me.

“I’ve been wondering why they, the people who kidnaped me, attacked Halifax just to capture around twenty people.” I ask.

“Ah, yes. I have been wondering about that myself.” Richard responds, “I have been researching it and I think I have found the answer.”

“Well, what is it?” I ask.

“There is a fungus that only grows on the shoreline of Halifax, it is called the Black Man’s Beard, it produces fumes which, on it’s own is harmless, but when mixed with certain chemicals, like the one they tested on you, it somehow increases the potency of the chemical. We are still experimenting to figure out why this happens.”

“So you are saying that they tested it on us because we breathed in the fumes.” I say.

“Basically, yes.” he responds.

“Ah, that explains it.” I say, glad to have an answer. Another awkward silence ensues.

“Well, if that is it I am going to go tend to my other patients.” he says, turning to the door

“Okay, good to see you.” I respond. Raising my hand to wave good-bye.

“You to. I shall see you tomorrow.” He says, returning my wave.

He then walks out the door and it slides shut behind him.

[Location: unknown]

"You fool! You forgot to administer the second shot of the serum. He is no use to us now!"

"But sir, you have to understand. GI soldiers were coming from everywhere. I had no choice but to run."

"I don't care that soldiers were coming from everywhere, I care that you administered the second shot, which you did not!"

"But sir, you really must understa-" \*Bang!\* \*thump\*

"Oh, I understand."

To be continued…

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And that is all. This one was a bit longer but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. :-)

-Marley Mac-