Chapter 3: defiance
Vaughn bit down hard on the strip of shirt. He slowly dug the blade into his chest with both hands. He cringed and grunted as the blade went deeper into his skin. Blood now poured from around the blade. He pushed it further until he felt it hit the metal. He knew that he had found the chip, since all of his enhancements were made of an organic material and synthetic fibers. He closed his eyes and pried the chip closer to the surface. A scream erupted from his throat, muffled by the strip of shirt. The pain was nearly unbearable. Blood gushed out of the wound as he jarred the blade from left to right trying to un-lodge the chip. He screamed from deep within his throat again and the chip came to the surface. He threw the scalpel to a dark corner of the room and picked the bloody chip out of his chest. He threw it to the floor, got up, and then proceeded to stomp it into a million pieces. He walked over to one of the corners of the room a sat down. He winced as the now deep gash in his chest still burned with pain. The synthetic man put his head against the wall and somehow drifted to sleep.
He awoke some time later, a long enough time for his wound to heal completely. He heard the predator talking from outside of the room. Vaughn snatched up the bloody scalpel and crouched beside the door. The predator walked through the door and Vaughn took his opportunity to attack. Vaughn leapt as the predator walked into the room. It was the predator in the brown tunic, so it had no armor or weapons to defend itself. He plunged the blade deep into the predator's neck. It jerked with surprise and pain. The predator fell to the floor and roared as bright green blood gushed out around the scalpel. Vaughn dashed up and out of the door. Dim yellowish lights lighted the hall he stepped into. It stretched far on into the distance and only in one direction. Vaughn took off down the hall at full speed, passing door after door. He rushed away from the room and the injured predator as fast as he could. After a few seconds a turn came into view. Vaughn breathed heavily, his head spun and his vision began to blur. He stumbled to a stop just before he reached the turn. He dropped to one knee and began choking for air. But there was none to breathe. The predators did not breathe the same air as he did, and the room had been the only place with high enough levels of oxygen to sustain him. Vaughn felt himself slipping away into unconsciousness, and he collapsed to the floor. He lay there, on his back, and vaguely noticed more tunic-wearing predators gathering around him.