I wake up and my mind's blank. My eyes are closed, yet I can still see the blinding light through them. My sense of touch returns to me and I can feel cold metal on my back, I'm lying down. I keep my eyes closed as I hear voices to my left and right..
"-itals are all good. Subject's heartbeat has increased, most likely regaining consciousness. Up the sedative dose." The beeps from the heart moniter suddenly increase their pace as my heart starts to race. I gotta get out of here, away from these people. Where am I? What's going on? Why-?
I go numb and can barely register the pain of a syringe being stabbed into my heart. I lay there for a second in sheer oblivion. Questioning my life decisions until everything stops.
And pure, unadulterated, pain courses through me.
A silent scream permeates from my mouth as all of my muscles tense and I thrash against my newfound restraints. Nothing, nothing but pain. I can feel something eating, no, consuming me as if I were some delicious meal. I feel it near my head, my brain, me. My struggling increases tenfold as I shout in denial.
Suddenly, the pain stops. I stop struggling against my restraints as I realise I'm fine. My face itches and I scratch with my right hand. I stop and open my eyes, I've somehow destroyed my restraints. Leather, I idly note. I sit up and push the light to the side, it doesn't seem so blinding now, I idly note..
A fairly attractive and tall woman stands at the far end of the room hiding behind a much shorter man. They both look terrified. They're looking at me with fear. I look down at myself and see that my skins gone pale and is covered by a standard hospital gown. I'm more muscular than I remember too.
I hop off the table and stare them down. I've grown a few inches as well. They aren't too far away from me, around ten to fifteen meters. I look around the room to find it bare of anything but the table, monitors and utensils surrounding it. I look back to the pair across the room with a forced smile, the woman starts to shake.
I start walking towards them, the man shakily raises what I realise to be a taser.
"S-Stop right there! I know how to use this thing!" He's acting tough, but I can see his legs shaking and I can hear his heartbeat. I feel a pang of hunger in my stomach, I look down at myself again in confusion. The short man across from me takes the opportunity to shoot me with the taser.
I crumple to the ground in a spasming fit as my nerves are struck with electricity. I'm like that for a few moments until the flow of electricity stops. I'm still conscious, but they don't know that. The woman falls to her knees and starts to sob, the man turns away from me and takes a knee. Holding her in an embrace.
I lay still as I think. Why am I here? Who are these people? Where am I? What were they doing to me? Why are they afraid of me? I stop my questioning when I feel the man kick me in the head. My head's rocked to the side and he laughs at me.
"Not so tough now, are ya?" He laughs again and helps the woman to her feet. I'm left seething on the ground, anger and rage build up inside of me.
This bastard thinks he can experiment on me and treat me like a piece of fucking shit!?
I'm gonna kill this asshole.
Something comes over me as I stand up and crush the man's neck with one hand. Black and red accented appendages burst out from my abdomen and I watch in horror as the man's corpse is dragged inside of me. I feel my weight increase and turn to the woman. I can't control my body as I lunge at her, digging my arms into her chest and ripping out ribs and lungs alike.
She too is dragged inside of me, to be digested by this, this monster inside of me. When I can finally move independently, I look down at my blood and gore covered self. I'm filled with disgust and then I feel nauseous. I bend over as my body tries to empty my stomach's contents onto the floor. But I stare in horror as, instead of bile or vomit, jewelery, blood and flesh leaves my mouth and falls to the floor with a sickening echo. Underneath all the blood I could make out a ring and a watch and of all things, zippers.
The woman, Michelle Andrews, owned the ring, it was her grandmother's. The man, Anthony Morris, owned the watch. He bought it for cheap off a street vendor in Lanzarote. He was a- How do I know this?
Memories not my own pour into my mind. Friends, families, lovers and lives. They're gone now because of me. I feel sick with myself, but I rationalise that they were experimenting on me, a random patient of some undisclosed hospital, apparently. I feel slightly better after thinking about that, but the fact that I still... consumed them remained.
I'm in Oregon, USA. That makes me pause. I've only been in the states a handful of times throughout my life and I've never been to the west coast, until now. I fall on my haunches and try to come to terms with this situation. Of how I'm in America and how I'm eight years in the past. Because I know for a fact it was 2021 last time I checked. But according to both Michelle's and Anthony's memories it was 2013.
I sat there, in that room for what felt like hours. It could have been minutes but I didn't care to check. I stand up and open the blood stained door in front of me.
It opens up to show me a corridor bare of anything. The soft glow of a green fire exit sign is the only light in the hallway. I blink and I see mirages of people in labcoats walking up and down this hallway.
This used to be a top of the line facility with the backing of the US government, that is until the public found out about what was happening here. One of the scientists had had enough and leaked photos, videos and all sorts of data files onto the web. The public was quick on the uptake and started to spread it all over.
Even with all of the overwhelming evidence the US denied all of the accusations. They went and purged the internet of all the information they could.
Over time, it was forgotten about and became a sort of joke on the internet.
In reality the facility was shut down and the scientists were either locked away or shot dead. Michelle and Anthony had signed so many agreements and contracts that they'd lost count. But that was ten years ago.
Both of them had left their respective 'safe houses' and met up here to finish their job. Creating a biological weapon strong enough to take down a country. Me.
I shake my head with anger as I go to leave the room, gritting my teeth. But I stop as I feel a draft on my backside. I frown at my state of dress and look back to see if there was any left. I sigh when I don't see anything.
I go to move away when I feel something on my legs. I look down to see my flesh morph into a pair of denim jeans and black combat boots. The tendrils crawl out of me and consume the gown. Then the flesh of my upper body morphs into a plad style shirt and a labcoat that I 'unsummon' after a few seconds thought..
I stare, simultaneously amazed and sickened, at the sick imitation of Anthony's clothes. I sigh deeply for a minute and file this all for later, I need to get out of here. I look down for what felt like the millionth time and pick up Michelle's ring and Anthony's watch. I open up my pocket to see the same black and red flesh of the tendrils take the place of the usual cloth. I stared at my 'pocket' for a second before I threw in the ring and watch, making a mental note to deal with it later.
I closed my eyes for a second and let out a deep sigh that shook my body. As soon as I get out of here I'm getting a family-sized dinner for myself and sleeping for a week.
As I leave what I'll dub the 'lab' and come into the hallway a burst of anxiety hits me. What if there are armed forces here? With guns? Grenades? Special weapons desig- I cut that line of thought off as I consulted Anthony and Michelle's memories. Less than a minute later I knew that all they had was a skeleton staff here in this facility, so I continued through the hallway, with caution in my step.
Hopefully I could sneak out of here without arousing any suspicion and find someplace to lay low for a while. As I started to lay out a plan for my escape and survival, a sudden heart wrenching scream tore through the complex. I cursed my legs as I ran towards the source, why am I like this? I banished those thoughts though as I came upon the room that the scream came from. Surprising even myself, I kicked down the door and ran into the room.
A lanky, greasy haired man stood over a heavily scarred and motionless woman on an operating table. The man stared in shock at me before he looked at me in amazement and opened his arms wide.
"Welcome to the world new one! I am the man responsible for your wonderful creation. I am your ma-!" I grabbed the man by the throat and lifted him into the air, as I studied his face information came to the forefront of my mind. Alexander Llions, thirty two years old, was recruited into project NAW (New Age of War) in 2001 straight out of college after government officials saw his skill in biochemistry. After project NAW fell to pieces, Alexander was the one to pick them up. He reached out to the other scientists and brought who he could back in under the premise of worldwide recognition and fame. He ran a tight regimen around here and had gone through countless test subjec-...
...
Alexander grasped desperately at my hand around his throat as he started to lose oxygen. I levelled him with a cold stare as each test subject he's gone through appears in my mind's eye one by one. I look to the woman on the table and Llions suddenly wants to start negotiating as he tries to desperately choke out words. I didn't even pay attention as I dropped him and turned away from him. He greedily gasped for air over the next few seconds before he tried to speak to me. I didn't listen to a word that came out of his mouth before I gave into the hunger I had felt since the moment I had grabbed him. Tendrils burst forth from my back and tore the man to shreds in the process of consuming him. I felt my weight increase again, yet I felt no impediment to my movement.
The anger and disgust and utter helplessness I felt was undescribeable.
But I needed to get out of here. ASAP. Consulting Alexander's memories told me that all other test subjects had been... expended. And that they had yet to arrange a new shipment of them. So with another deep sigh and clench of my fist, I make my way to leave. But I look back at the corpse of the woman who had just been brutally murdered seconds before I ran into the room.
So close, so fucking close.
I shake my head, trying to reason with myself that I couldn't have known or changed her fate. But no matter what I told myself, there was still a dead woman before me who deserved a proper burial. So with a heavy heart I pick... Amber, up in a bridal carry and I walk out of the facility.
The few people who tried to stop me were torn apart without discretion, the tendrils bursting forth from me and massacring anyone who dared to cross me.
As I reach the exit I raise my foot and kick the door open, and off its hinges. A dense forest stands before me, making me feel refreshed for some reason as I breath in the smell of pine and wet dirt. I walk for about 10 minutes before I gently set Amber down on the ground and get to work. I force my hand into the earth and take out a chunk, I repeat the process for about five minutes before I have a hole thats roughly six feet deep.
I climb out and pick Amber up, her body feeling heavy even though I know it feels like nothing to me. I slowly walk to the grave and lower her down and cross her arms, her eyes already closed. I sigh for what must be the millionth time today and start filling in the hole.
...
Amber Powter, 19, orphan and jobless. No friends or family to remember her. A prime target for NAW, and what it had became. Broke and with nowhere else to go, she was made an offer she couldn't refuse and ended up here.
Six feet under the ground in the middle of some godforsaken forest.
"Rest in piece. And for what its worth...I'm sorry." With that, I turn away from her grave, head hanging low.
But as I look up and see the sunlight break through the canopy, a small smile pulls at my lips.
Maybe once this is over I'll go on a vacation, that sounds nice.
But first.
I gotta go kill some fucking mad scientists.
Wrote this over a year ago, maybe two, never got around to publishing it. Gravity Falls with a bit of Prototype thrown in the mix.
No promises that I'll even write a second chapter, just thought someone out there might appreciate it. Feel free to write something similar or even continue it on from here.
Your absentee author figure,
Sparetime.