"Galactic Guinea Pig"

The pain was beyond anything he had ever felt. He tried to open his eyes but saw only darkness. What is that noise? The strange sound resembled the noise of someone chewing on wood chips, a wet crunching sound. He felt something cold and metallic digging at the back of his neck. Where am I?

"Gordon!"

He tried to speak but only a dried croak came from his throat. Screaming! He could hear screaming. Screams and more of that damn chewing sound. He struggled to move but he felt restraints. He heard someone talking: "Specimen one of sixteen is a fine sample indeed!" It sounded male. Like a man speaking through a communicator. Who is that? Answer me god damn it!

"Gordon! Come on Gordon." He heard the voice of a child. Where am I? Cold… It's so cold! How does she know my name?

He could feel sunlight on his face, and he heard music. There was no way that this could even be real. He was on the Gagetown. The object, Ciara, the crew… What the hell?

Lynch forced his eyes open. He was standing in his hometown in Iowa standing on the main street. He could hear carnival music, and laughter. The sweet tempting smell of fresh cotton candy filled his nostrils as he breathed. He looked to his left and saw a small girl waving to him. He had not seen in many years. "Oh my god… Alexis…" He said. He looked down at himself to see that he was wearing his full dress uniform. This wasn't right. He was so cold! Man my head hurts.

UNSC Lieutenant Gordon Lynch felt dizzy and rubbed his eyes. He stared at her in disbelief. Alexis Sampson was her name. She was his fifth grade crush. I know what day this is. This is the day Alexis and I went to the summer parade. The day Alexis….

The girl giggled and jumped up and down. Her sandy blonde hair glistening in the sun like spun gold. "Gordie you're so silly!" She said. "Let's get some funnel cakes…and cotton candy…and hot dogs." She began to cross the road.

"NO!" He screamed, but it was too late. Just as the word wailed from him a truck sped around the corner and smashed into her with a horrifying force. She sailed sickly through the air and landed face first sliding across the pavement for a good twenty feet before coming to rest against the curb at his feet.

"Wait a god damned minute. This can't be real!" He said as he stared down at the motionless body. "This has to be some kind of dream!" He said struggling to suppress his tears. He stared at the motionless form of sweet little Alexis, innocent and beautiful little Alexis.

He watched in horror as her left arm rose into the air and turned unnaturally backward. Her little hand gripped her pony tail as she peeled her own face from the pavement. She stumbled to her feet, staring at him. Her face was torn to shreds and resembled something like a cross between a girls face, and ground meat. Her eyes were jet black and staring at him in utter contempt. Alexis grit her teeth and began to slowly walk toward him. Her eyes were lowered and, looked like a pair of jet black orbs set in a face of ragged flesh.

"Oh I can assure you. You're not sleeping Gordie." She said. "But think you'd rather be." She said through her bleeding mouth.

Lynch stared in disbelief as everything around him seemed to melt into nothing. The street, the people, everything just turned into liquid and melted away, leaving only an infinite expanse of darkness. Alexis was still standing before him, illuminated by some unseen light. She was staring at him with a hatred that could melt glaciers. 'You let me die Gordie. YOU COULD HAVE SAVED ME!"

She giggled her little laugh again and produced a strange object from behind her back. It was a long metal spike that looked like an over sized ice pick. "This might hurt. Please be calm specimen one of sixteen." She said. But it wasn't her voice. This was a male, electronic sounding voice.

Alexis giggled again and dove on him, pinning him down. "What is this?" Exclaimed Lynch. Alexis shook her head. "This, is for the better good, one of sixteen." She said, as she pried his jaws open forcibly. "This is the pinnacle of our research!" She said before suddenly, ramming the spiked object into his mouth with an inhuman strength. "Your sacrifice will prevent the loss of many! With your help we can end this epidemic!"

Lynch screamed. A burning javelin of pain shot from the roof of his mouth to the top of his skull. He screamed until his throat dried like beef jerky. Then he screamed again. "Ring around the rosie! Pocket full of posies!" She sang as she twisted the spike from left to right. The pain was absolutely unbearable. Like having a litre of liquid nitrogen injected into his head. He screamed again. This time his screams trailed off into a low, muffled moan as he felt a strange numbing sensation throughout his body. He could hear voices, and screams in the distance, but he could see nothing at all. He could only feel his brain freezing, and a giant needle picking away at the inside of his skull. He choked on something…it tasted like blood.

"One of sixteen is showing signs of accelerated mental trauma. Asphyxiation eminent! Prepare to administer bronchial a bypass."

Suddenly Lynch could no longer feel the pain and was standing on the bridge of the Gagetown. He looked around. The control panels were all working, and there wasn't a single sign of damage anywhere in sight. He rubbed his eyes and took a few steps toward the center of the deck. His head hurt. Where am I now? He thought to himself as he sat at the telemetry station and stared at the monitor.

"Four of sixteen is showing possible signs of the pathogen. Induce with 90 cc's of serotonicilin." He could still hear that weird voice. Lynch tensed as he heard a blood chilling scream off in the distance which seemed to echo throughout the entire station.

He studied the display monitor in front of him and saw no problems. Am I on the Gagetown…what was that object we fought? Did it really happen?" "Warning one of sixteen is going into relapse shock." Lynch's eyes were suddenly filled with a white light which burned worse than a bucket of mace. He screamed again and opened his eyes. He couldn't move. He felt paralyzed. As his eyes adjusted to the light he gasped. Oh my god…

He was in a brightly lit room. He glanced down toward his legs to see that they were strapped to some sort of metal gurney. He tried to move his head but couldn't. To his left was a mirror, which revealed to him why he couldn't move. He was strapped to a gurney, doubled over a cylinder shaped machine.

Protruding from a bent arm like object was a long spike which had been driven through the roof of his mouth. The tip of the spike was protruding from his head, which was missing its top half. Tiny bolts of electricity were emanating from the tip of the spike sending waves of strange energy across the top of his exposed brain.

Another set of spikes had been jammed into the bass of his neck where his nerve stem connected to his spine. As he took his eyes from the ghastly reflection he saw the other crew members. They were all hooked up to similar butcher like machines. They were all screaming. Lynch joined them, in a tortured choir of screams. They stared at one another, all awakened from their numb rapture. With mortified expressions of panic they screamed so loud it was surprising their cries weren't heard all the way to Reach.

Then…everything went dark.