Warning before reading : Remember english in not my first language. There will certainly be mistakes here and there… ;-) It's still time to run away 8-P
HUMANITY
by Roselyne Marot
Pain.
Pain was radiating from his chest and extending its pseudopodia into his whole torso. He was carried away by other humans, away from the battlefield. Things seemed unreal. He could see faces blurring around him, exhausted people, thrilled people, scared people… All covered with sweat, dust and blood. Some with a fierce and determined look in their eyes, others with the vacant eyes of those who are about to give up.
Somehow, he knew he was under shock. He couldn't exactly remember how he had arrived on that battlefield, or against what precisely they were fighting. Probably machines. Certainly machines.
They were the enemy. As long they would be wandering the world, no human would be safe. They had to be terminated on sight. But the end would certainly not be for tomorrow.
Sometimes, he could hear voices, but they came to him as echoes of voices, or even echoes of echoes. Alarm and emergency were in some of them, agonizing screams were in others. He was dragged in some underground base.
"Check him! There's a lot of blood!". This shout was clearer than others.
He was lifted by other people on what was probably a table, and a woman leant over him. Pretty face, brown hair held in a pony tail, clear blue eyes, a stethoscope around her neck, dark clothes. Probably a doctor. He found it somehow amusing how some details could jump naturally into his consciousness. She pressed two fingers against his throat to check his pulse. She gave him a reassuring smile, and went down to check his torso. A frown appeared. She bent slightly forward.
"Let's see what we got here".
With a quick movement, she tore open his shirt to check the wound. Then, he saw her freezing and her face going ashy. Something was probably very wrong with his wound. She met his gaze and he could read there a mix of pure terror and bewilderment. As she inched backwards, he turned to the black man by her side, seeking for some eventual answers. He was starting to feel very worry about the nature of his wound. All he could thus see was the military man lifting his shotgun and smashing it in his face.
Everything went black.
-
"This thing is something we've never seen before…"
A soft whispering that pierced through the mist of unconsciousness. He fluttered his eyes. A blinding, painful light hit them. He closed his eyes as a reflex, then waited a few seconds before he opened them again. The first thing he saw was the young doctor woman. The look of pure terror in her eyes has been replaced by a look of careful curiosity, even though she still seemed on-guards. There were other people with her, they all shared the same kind of look, towards him. Exception for one of them, a tall brown haired man with a commanding look on his face and in his eyes. His features showed he was exhausted by the many battles, but his eyes seemed more alive than the others' in the room.
He casted a look around, but realized his head couldn't move. He felt something pressing on his forehead and maintaining his head still. Something hard. He could only move his eyes and had a limited range of view. He frowned. He realized also he was in vertical position, his arms were outstretched and blocked, like he was crucified. How long had he been there? Who were these people? What were their plans about him? He vaguely remembered he had a chest wound earlier, but couldn't look down. He started to feel afraid.
"Where am I? Who… Who are you?". He felt panic in his voice. He didn't like to show weakness but he couldn't help the fright tone.
"Decline yourself". The brown haired leader. His voice was commanding, yet there was some hesitation in his tone, as if he didn't know how to question him.
He frowned, trying to gather the puzzle of his memory. He passed a tongue on his dried lips and cleared his voice.
"My name is Marcus Wright." His voice was still slightly trembling.
He realized some of them exchanged surprised look. The leader remained expressionless for a few moments, then something changed in his eyes. A strange emotion like a mixture of pity and hate.
"You think you're human…"
It didn't seem like a question. Marcus frowned. The young doctor woman by the leader's side lowered slightly her face, as if dreading the answer.
"I am human !". Marcus would have laughed nervously, if he was not on the verge of panic. Was it a kind of a joke?
The people in front of him looked almost shocked by the answer. This didn't help him. He could feel the panic inside of him, coming forward, like a little furry animal pointing its muzzle out of its burrow to sniff the air around.
None moved. One by one they dragged their gaze to the brown man in the middle. In their eyes he could read 'And now? What do we do?'. If Marcus still had the slightest doubt about the leading position of the guy…
In the leader's eyes, there was turmoil of emotions. Marcus looked briefly down and saw the man's fists were clenched. He started to walk towards him. With caution. Marcus realized in the corner of his eyes that the other people became extremely tensed. Some even raised their weapons towards him. Like they were afraid of him. Marcus would have found this very amusing if the little panic-animal in his mind wasn't now popping out its whole head out of the borrow in order to sniff more air.
As the leader stepped closer to him, Marcus realised that these men were not exactly afraid for them… But for their leader. As if he could break his restrains and attack him. Marcus almost wanted to retreat but couldn't move. He didn't know who these people were, but their intentions about him didn't seem good.
"You and me". The low voice of the leader brought Marcus' attention back to the leader who was now two feet from him. His gaze was almost piercing through his very soul.
"…we've been at war since before either of us even existed".
Marcus wondered what he was talking about, but the man went on: "You tried killing my mother, you killed my father".
Marcus froze inside. Had he done this? He tried to gather all his memories, but the little panic-animal agitated in his mind and didn't let him room to think. The leader leant forward: "… but you won't kill me!". He had spit out every last words with contained and dangerous anger. Marcus was totally lost, his mouth slightly agape and his eyes full of questions. What was this man talking about? After a few awful moments, he tried to gather himself but couldn't help but mumbling at first.
"My name… My name is Marcus Wright… I… I don't understand what you're talking about… Who are you?". He felt panic rising in his voice, but didn't care to try and hide it. In the leader's eyes, there was a moment of hesitation. The turmoil of emotions was there again. The time froze. Then the leader seemed to come up with a decision. His eyes almost said 'you want to play?', but there was also a sparkle of curiosity and anticipated sadness in them. He raised – with apparent caution - his right hand to the side of Marcus' head, and removed was Marcus realized to be a chain. He blinked. His head was now free to move. This was supposed to be a good gesture. So why did he feel the worst was to come?
The brown leader stepped backwards as if to observe his reactions. Marcus saw that his gaze went down briefly to his chest wound. He realized he was now allowed to check by himself, even if his arms were still restrained.
He lower his head and looked.
The small furry panic-animal in his mind came at once out of the burrow. Except that Marcus realized it was not small at all! It was a huge and wild animal, set free, and ready to destroy everything around it and to tear him into pieces!
The wound in his chest was huge, but where there should have been organs and blood, all Marcus could see was cybernetics and metallic parts.
His scream of pure terror echoed for a long time in the room.
Somehow, somewhere, he had become the Enemy.
THE END.
Okie, I wrote this as a 'break' from the "ZOMBIE DAY 3" video editing on which I was working. "Terminator 4" hasn't come out on theatre yet. I based myself on the glimpses we can see in the trailers…
Anecdote: For those who remember my story "Nexus6 - Gates of Avalon" in 1993, I find it almost 'amusing' (those who remember the scene between L.F. and T.C. where they both realize one of them is a cyborg ;o) ). It was thus easy to guess Marcus' emotions by adapting that "N6 - GOA" scene ;o)
Hope you didn't have too much trouble with my English. ;o)
Thanks for holding on until now, and Heaven Ice Day (Have a Nice Day)
- Roselyne